Morality of Abortion For Abortion (utilitarian): Anything having a net output of benefits with consideration of everyone is morally permissible [1, 7]. An abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy and the procedure is performed by a licensed health care professional [2]. Medical or surgical abortions performed in the first trimester do not significantly affect later infertility, ectopic pregnancy, spontaneous abortion, or preterm or low-birth-weight deliveries, according to The Kaiser Family Foundation's statistics on abortion [3], and shows no greater risk of breast cancer, according to research from the National Cancer Institute [8].There is about 1 death per 100,000 legal abortions and the risk of complications from the abortions are rare, about less than 0.
3% [3]. In the question of whether fetuses can feel pain during an abortion, evidence from research concludes that “fetuses from 20-23 weeks do not feel pain” [6] - whereas abortions mostly occur before that time period [3]. In conclusion, since the legal abortions are performed by a professional and the benefits outweigh the costs, abortion is morally permissible. Against Abortion (kantian): Killing an innocent human life form is wrong.The fetus is an innocent human life form, therefore it is wrong to abort the fetus [1].
According to the Women's Center statistics, teenagers are more likely to delay having an abortion until 15 weeks of pregnancy, when the medical risks are greater [4]. The federal law dictates that states cover abortions under Medicaid under cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment [3], but having wider access to contraception would be a better solution to the problem of abortion and enable private companies to take on the burden of the costs[5].A fetus “possesses a property, the possession of which in adult human beings is sufficient to make killing an adult human being wrong” [9]. The arguments for abortion are apt to “'speciesism'” [9] because the arguments center around the notion that a “human being” should have reasoning ability, critical thought, or consciousness in order to pass as a human being. We cannot focus on consciousness or rationality as a definition of a person because it has the fallacy of being too narrow of a definition since a erson in a coma is still considered a human being.
In conclusion, since fetuses possess the ability to gain rationality, and don't need it to be defined as a human being, abortion is wrong because it is murder, and murder is not justifiable. Works Cited Gensler, Harry J. "A Kantian Argument against Abortion. " Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition 49.
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Reproductive Health Technologies Project, n. d. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. ;http://www.
rhtp. org/abortion/documents/Second-TrimesterAbortionFactSheetExternal. pdf;. Christian, Brugger E. "The Problem of Fetal Pain and Abortion: Toward an Ethical Consensus for Appropriate Behavior.
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