Biomedical Ethics Phil 235 Ec - Abortion

ABORTION

Biomedical Ethics PHIL 235 EC

Sunday April 16th, 2006

WINTER 2006

"An abortion is the deliberate killing of a human being. As such, it is a murder. When you kill an unborn child, you rob it of its whole future life. Therefore it is never morally permissible and it should be illegal." Critically assess that claim.

Abortion is one of the most controversial and frequently debated topics in the world. The fact that the topic involves a persons right to choice, the ethical and moral question of what's right or wrong as well as what the definition of murder constitutes, it can easily be rejected or approved by a wide variety of people depending on their personal beliefs. Over the past few generations there have been much advancement in women's liberation and their right to choice. They have been granted the right to vote, females are much more accepted and now even welcomed into the workforce, they have the right to an education, and there are much more women in business and politics now than there ever was. Unfortunately, due to the many ethical issues that are brought up in the abortion debate, the fight for women's rights has not yet been settled. It has been suggested that abortion should not only be banned, but that the act of aborting a child should be considered as equally harmful as murder as it is suggested to be the deliberate killing of a human child. This paper will argue that allowing women the right to abortion is vital to their rights as a human being and their self determination. Furthermore it will explain that the ethical issues when dealing with abortion should not be solely focused on what is right or wrong but based on circumstance of the conception and whether or not the woman is prepared to bear a child.

"Millions of women throughout the world live in conditions of abject deprivation of, and attacks against, their fundamental human rights for no other reason than that they are women." Our right to freedom is what we as a society have strived for over the centuries. Self determination is essentially allowing us the freedom and liberty to do what we want with our lives. It is essentially allowing a person the choice of whether to live or to die. As stated in the course notes in the debate of R. vs. Morgentaler, where section 251 of the criminal code was struck down, the principle issue raised by appeal was whether the abortion provision of the Criminal Code infringes the "right to life, liberty, and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice". Over the years women have made significant advancements in the fight for equality between the rights of men and women for which we fought so hard for. Yet now when a woman wants the right to determine what she can do with her body, she is criticized and attacked. In the principle of human rights women should have the right to ultimately decide how they choose to carry themselves and how they decide to live. Having a baby is a huge decision, and every consideration should be taken so that the right choice is made. Because only women have opportunity to carry a child the responsibility when it comes to abortion is most often placed on them. It is unfair to give a person such a huge responsibility without allowing her to decide whether or not she is ready for it. "A woman needs to desire very much to be a mother, so that she can be able to willingly tolerate the sacrifices, discomforts and risks that result from gestation and childbirth." Many people argue that a woman has a choice whether or not to keep the child, and if unwanted, she could carry it to term, and then give it up for adoption. It is often neglected however, how difficult a pregnancy can actually be and what one has to go through during the process. Quite often women are forced to sacrifice schooling, work and relationships during a pregnancy. This will depend on whether or not they can continue to fulfill their duties and responsibilities even though the limits of physical activity and more absent health risks might interfere. Pregnancy also plays a big toll on people's emotions, health and physical conditions. It is not something one can just neglect at the time, or disregard after the baby is born and the adoption requirements are fulfilled. The study notes on the topic explain further that from a feminist perspective, a central moral feature of pregnancy is that it takes place in women's bodies and has a profound effect on women's lives. For a woman to carry a child inside of her for nine months is something no person can ever forget. Her mind and body will always remind her of that, not to mention all of the people who were in her life during that time. It is absurd to think that with all the pressures that a woman has to face when dealing with childbirth, more specifically in terms of emotional, physical and mental changes that occur, a woman would be denied the right to choose her own self determination.

Those who argue against abortion argue that the act of aborting a child is a deliberate act of murder, killing a human being. But what exactly is a human being? According to definition, a human being means having the characteristic of humans; showing positive aspects of nature distinguishing humans from other animals (an act of human kindness); Subject to the imperfections associated with humans; having the form of a human. According to Wikipedia on fetal development, in the development of a child in the womb, the stage of fetal development doesn't begin until the 11th, 12th, 13th or 14th week of pregnancy, which would be the early stages if the second trimester. Before then it is still considered an embryo. An embryo is defined as "an organism in its early stages of development, especially before it has reached a distinctively recognizable form" which explains rather clearly that embryos possess very little, if any at all, recognizable characteristics similar to that of a human being. Embryos cannot display acts of human kindness or any other examples of positive acts of nature. Furthermore it isn't possible at this time in the development process to distinguish if an embryo has any imperfections that are associated with humans, and at a maximum of 8 cm, the human form is almost as easily compared to a hairless baby monkey as it is to an embryo inside the womb. This stance specifically focuses on the developmental