When one engages in controversial topics ethically and culturally like abortion, one has found most people tend to latch on to a specific idea. One example would be those in favor of abortion being legal are unwilling to go beyond the fact that a woman has a right to her own body. Second example would be those that think abortion should be illegal would be unwilling to go beyond the thought that abortion is murder. People have so much confusion on this issue because of one being human and one’s tendency to accept or reject some basic moral principles without a thorough examination of them.The purpose of this essay is to look at abortion critically and to express why abortion should be legal and left up to a woman to decide.
The goal is to point out reasons why one might choose abortion. While one is Pro-choice in the case of abortion, and feels that it should be legal and the choice of the woman. Upon reading a statement on what pro-choice is and how and when abortion was legalized this was found. “The “pro-choice” view is that a baby does not have human rights within the mother’s womb.
The people of the United States never voted on or supported this pro-choice position. Actually, it was the U. S.Supreme Court that “legalized” abortion as a result of Roe vs. Wade on January 22, 1973. ” (¶ 1) There are several reasons why abortions should be legal and left up to a woman to decide.
One a woman may decide to seek an abortion when the health of the fetus is at risk. Second may the health or welfare of herself. Third may be in the case of incest and/or rape. Concerning the first reason that abortions should be legal there is the health of the fetus. A woman should not be expected to bring a child into this world if there is something seriously wrong with them, such as missing limbs, or severely and mentally challenged.One feels that this is not fair to the child to have to live a life in such a way, not being able to do for one’s self.
Not being able to tell someone when one is in pain. Secondly, a woman’s life should be valued as a more valuable life than the life of the potential life of the fetus. One feels this way because if something were to happen to the woman the potential life of the fetus would not even exist. In these cases, there is the possibility of ectopic pregnancy and medications due to other illnesses such as Cancer.
In addition, if there is a chance that even if the woman decided to carry he fetus to full term that it might still be born dead. What would be the point in both of them losing their lives? One also feels that the third reason why abortion should be legal is in the case of incest or rape. One feels that rape is one because a woman did not ask to have a sexual relationship with the other person. Rape is a sexual crime, and one should not be made to carry the child to term. That is only punishing the woman all over again.
Yes, a woman may decide to carry the child if she so chooses, but what of a child say around ten or eleven.Should she be made to carry the child and relive every day the pain and torture she went through? ANTI-THESIS Abortion should not be legal because it is immoral. Abortion is immoral because killing a fetus is just as bad as killing anyone else. If one has an abortion, one is depriving the fetus of a possible life. Life of love, happiness and all sorts of experiences, activities and enjoyment. Don Marquis states that abortion is immoral.
He writes: “The loss of one’s life is one of the greatest losses one can suffer.The loss of one’s life deprives one of all the experiences, activities, projects, and enjoyments that would otherwise have constituted one’s future. Therefore, killing someone is wrong, primarily because the killing inflicts (one of) the greatest possible losses on the victim…When I am killed, I am deprived both of what I now value which would have been part of my future personal life, but also what I would come to value. Therefore, when I die, I am deprived of all of the value of my future. Inflicting this loss on me is ultimately, what makes killing me wrong.
This being the case, it would seem that what makes killing any adult human being prima facie seriously wrong is the loss of his or her future. ” (Waller, 2008, pg. 270) Why should a child be punished for the wrongdoing of the father or of the mother? The fetus has a right to life just as much as the next person. The fetus has the right to be born and to become a productive person in this world. The church teaches one that abortion is wrong.
Helen Alvare writes: If you asked an average group of Catholics to identify the Church’s position on abortion, they might give you a one-word answer: “NO. What a shame. In reality, the Church’s teaching on abortion really begins with a great big “YES. ” It begins with a yes to all human life created in God’s won image and likeness.
As our Holy Father said in poetic fashion in his most recent encyclical on human life; “All human beings, from their mother’s womb, belong to God who searches them and knows them, who forms them and knits them together with his own hands, who gazes on them when they are tiny shapeless embryos and already sees in them the adults of tomorrow…” (¶ 1-2) One is made in God’s own image so who are we to destroy that?There is no reason that one can think of that justifies abortion. Not even in the case of rape and /or incest. It is not the fault of the fetus that the father decided to rape the mother. “Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, offers this judgment in “The Human Life Amendment” (n.
d. :18): The woman who is raped has a right to resist her attacker. But the preborn child is an innocent non-aggressor who should not be killed because of the crime of the father.More to the point, since a woman has a right to resist the rapist, she also has the right to resist his sperm…. However, once the innocent third party to a rape, the pre born child is conceived, has should not be killed….
Incest is a voluntary act on the woman’s part. If it were not, it would be rape. And to kill a child because of the identity of his father is no more proper in the case of incest than it is in the case of rape” (Blanchard, n. d.
¶ 13) If a woman is raped, why does she not give the child up for adoption instead of having an abortion?If one comes to find out that there is going to be Down syndrome or some other handicap one feels they should also check into the method of adoption instead of killing the unborn child. There are many families out there that cannot have children and would love to adopt a baby. One has come to think that some women choose abortion as a means of birth control. They go out and have unprotected sex end up pregnant and say what am I going to do? They say it is just not the right time, not enough money so therefore, they decide to have an abortion.
SYNTHESISIn conclusion, abortion should be legal because as stated above in the case of the fetus being deformed or the child is born with severe mental disabilities. According to the utm. edu website, the site states “among the simple cases take the following example: Imagine a human torso lacking arms and legs that will never develop mental abilities like self consciousness, the ability to communicate, or the ability to reason. ” (¶36) One might think it would be cruel to the child to have to live a life of this sort, not being able to tell someone when one is in pain or that one needs to go to the bathroom.
It may also be thought to be cruel to the woman, to have to try to care for a severely physically, mentally handicapped child. It would be physically, mentally and financially hard to care for a child with this amount of disabilities. It could be said why she not just gives the child up for adoption or put the child in a home. Really, would this be fair to society to have to take on another severely handicapped, unwanted child? One thinks not, it is not fair to anyone to have to live a life like that, where one has no life anyway.
One feels that this is the one basic reason for an abortion. In the second, case her health and welfare. If the woman’s health is at risk then she should have the option to have an abortion to save her life. If something were to happen to her then the potential, life of the fetus would not even exist. In addition, if there is a chance that even if one decided to carry the fetus to fell term that it might still be born dead.
What is the point in both losing their lives? This was found true in many articles read.For example, an article read on the religious to tolerance website as stated below: “Legal abortions protect women’s health: Legal abortion not only protects women’s lives, it also protects their health. For tens of thousands of women with heart disease, kidney disease, severe hypertension, sickle-cell anemia and severe diabetes, and other illness that can be life threatening, the availability of legal abortion has helped avert serious medical complications that could have resulted from childbirth. Before legal abortion, such women’s choices were limited to dangerous illegal abortion or dangerous childbirth. (¶ 2) In addition, another example of why abortion should be allowed for the sake of the woman’s health was found on the Feminist Women’s Health Center in the form of a personal story is stated below as follows: Susan's Story I was told when I was 18 years old that I would never have children.
My mom had taken me to several doctors because of my very irregular menstrual cycles. The doctors never named my problem (that I now know as Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome); they only put me on birth control pills to "regulate my cycle" and told my mother and I that I was completely infertile and that I would never have children.So I hated anyone having anything to do with abortions. I didn't understand why anyone would end the life of a child when there were so many people such as myself that were unable to have children and would adopt, etc. After visiting 7 different pregnancy/fertility specialists in my mid 20's, and being told again that I just couldn't have children, my hatred toward the pro-choice movement grew. I didn't care if it was a woman's right to chose.
I didn't have a right to chose so why should other women. Miraculously, in 1996, at the age of 28, I conceived my daughter.I don't know how or why, (well, yes I do. God), but I do know that doctors aren't always right- and I began to see pro-choice in a different light, though I still didn't believe completely in a woman's right to chose. Then something happened in 2002 that would change my mind and my life forever.
I became pregnant again, but the pregnancy was ectopic, in my tubes. I knew something was wrong and thank God the doctors and I had detected it before it had gone on too much longer. My doctor treated me with a shot. She said it was the "abortion shot".My God I was horrified at first, but then I began to realize something- woman must have the right to chose.
All options must be available to them, surgeries, shots, pills, so that they may chose what is appropriate for them. The alternatives are deadly both physically and emotionally. I am glad that the shot was available. It saved my life. If abortions were illegal, the alternative would have been surgery and I would have lost part of my body and risked never having another baby ever again, or the tube could have burst and I could have died.
Susan, May 28, 2002)Not only should abortions be legal in the case of ectopic pregnancies, one should consider the possibilities of adverse reactions to medications taken by woman who are in chemotherapy. This was found on a website called pew forums. It states, for example, “if they are having chemotherapy for cancer or have a life-threatening chronic illness – and most later-term abortions occur because of fetal abnormalities that will result in stillbirth or the death of the child. (¶ 11) Also, found in the research a Reverend who is a President and Dean at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, MA that thought abortion was a blessing.Reverend Catherine Ragsdale stated, “When a woman finds that the fetus she is carrying has anomalies incompatible with life, that it will not live and that she requires an abortion often a late-term abortion to protect her life, her health, or her fertility, it is the shattering of her hopes and dreams for that pregnancy that is the tragedy; the abortion is a blessing. (¶ 2) The feelings for the right of a woman to be able to make her own choice have only become stronger with the more research done.
On the third reason that abortion should be legal would be rape or incest.One feels rape because the woman did not ask to have sexual relationship with the man. Rape is a sexual crime, and one should not be made to carry the child to term. That is only punishing the woman all over again.
There could be many of cases made on this subject. Yes a woman may decide to carry the child if she so chooses, but what of a child.Should she be made to carry the child and relive every day the pain and torture she went through? One could only think not. According to Francis J.
Beckwith is that it can be argued that it is just to have an abortion in the case of rape. As it is stated below, “It is argued that in these tragic cases the great value of the mental health of a woman who becomes pregnant as a result of rape or incest can best be safeguarded by abortion. It is also said that a pregnancy caused by rape or incest is the result of grave injustice and that the victim should not be obliged to carry the fetus to viability.This would keep reminding her for nine months of the violence committed against her and would just increase her mental anguish.
It is reasoned that the value of the woman’s mental health is greater than the value of the fetus. In addition, it is maintained that the fetus is an aggressor against the woman’s integrity and personal life; it is only just and morally defensible to repel an aggressor even by killing him if that is the only way to defend personal and human values.It is concluded, then, that abortion is justified in these cases. ” (¶ 2) Final there is Bonnie Steinbock who believes abortion is not wrong. She state, “My belief is that abortion is not wrong is based on two considerations: the moral status of the embryo and fetus and the burdens imposed by pregnancy and childbirth on women.
” (Waller, 2008, pg 268) So therefore, one believes that abortion should be legal.
