Pro-Choice: The Abortion Issue -- A philosophical, as well as a legal issue of rights, responsibility, and the question of when life begins
Just across the border, in the United States, one of the most symbolically significant issues in political life today is the issue of abortion. Abortion is often phrased as question of personal rights and liberties: as in, a woman has the personal right and freedom to do what she wishes with her own body. Abortion is also often phrased as an issue of when life begins -- as in, a fetus is not a human being, or the fetus is a human being. Lastly, there is also another way to perhaps broach these two queries or ways of framing the difficult abortion debate, by stating that, even though when life begins is ambiguous, this should not require a woman, or any human being, to forcibly surrender her body to support the body of another.
In terms of rights, the pro-choice argument for abortion holds that every woman has the right to do what she wishes with her own body. In other words, individuals who attempt to limit the right to an abortion based upon the fact that a woman has the 'choice' to assume the risk of pregnancy before engaging in an act of sexual intercourse are really passing a moral judgment upon the woman's lifestyle that has no place within the legal system of rights. An individual has the right to freely use his or her body, provided it harms no one...
Generally, secular science reminds us that even the distinction between the value supposedly inherent in human life and that of other "higher" non-human life forms is very difficult to maintain logically. In fact, it may very well be that many species are sufficiently capable of complex emotions and other intellectual behavior previously considered exclusive hallmarks of "humanity" as to deserve greater moral consideration. If anything, the convergence of contemporary knowledge made
Thus we ought to take seriously the suggestion that, insofar as "the human individual develops biologically in a continuous fashion... The rights of a human person might develop in the same way (on the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion). Finally, according to utilitarianism, if something is wrong for majority of the people, it should be a rule. For example, if an illegal abortion or any other medical procedure takes
Pro-Choice Position on Abortion The abortion debate in the United States is a debate that has raged for decades, ever since abortion was legalized in the 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade. (McBride, 2008) There are some legitimate arguments for both sides of the debate, but those who have sided with one position or the other aggressively pursue their goals with utmost precedence. These supporters often choose candidates and align
The stance is, of course, preposterous. The solution to lessening poverty of course lies in providing more resources for development rather than encouraging abortion. Similarly, some people justify the abortion of babies with disabilities on compassionate grounds. This reasoning is an extension of the now thoroughly discredited pseudo-science of eugenics that promoted the weeding out of the mentally retarded and feeble-minded populations. There is no 'compassion' involved in the killing
Conclusion Abortion from a purely moral or ethical perspective can never be endorsed. However, in some medical conditions where the life of the mother is at stake abortion as a life saving intervention is certainly approved. Also in cases where the pregnancy is due to sexual victimization the woman has the right to decide about abortion. Irrespective of the methods used abortion leaves a great psychological stigma and guilt feeling. The more
According to Cooper, writing in the journal Feminist Studies, the anti-abortion groups in South Dakota spent $2.65 million to defeat the proposition, and the pro-choice groups spent just $1.84 million. The anti-abortion groups ran television commercials that were "slick" but were not truthful, according to Cooper. One of the television commercials showed doctors (none of which were obstetricians or gynecologists) saying that "This measure [the anti-abortion legislation that was being
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