second
Kirsten Wright
Ethics Topic Paper
26 March 2008
Is Abortion Moral?
For years now, the argument of whether or not abortion should be kept an option to expecting mothers has been heated. You have one half of the spectrum, pro-life, who believes that abortion is wrong and immoral. There are different degrees of “pro-lifers” ranging from totally against any abortion, regardless if it has to do with the baby being conceived through rape or that the mom’s life is threatened by the pregnancy, to people that believe that while those two situations are acceptable, getting abortion just because you don’t want a child is unacceptable. On the other side of the spectrum, there’s pro-choice. Pro-choice believes that it is a person’s right to decided whether or not they should have to carry out a pregnancy or not. The question is who’s right? What is the moral thing to do?
In the 1970’s, the court case Roe vs. Wade was held. Roe argued that the laws against abortion were unconstitutional. After all the debating was done in court, Roe ended up winning in the supreme court, uplifting restrictions and laws against abortion that were there previously throughout the United States. But, even after this judgment, the fight still continues.
Throughout the last thirty years, the pro-side of the spectrum has come up with several plausible arguments on why abortion is not moral and wrong. A large portion of “pro-lifers” will argue the fact that abortion is murder, because they claim that even though the baby is in the womb, it is still a person, or at least a potential one. Philosopher, Don Marquis, in “Why Abortion Is Immoral”, points out that clearly we see it as wrong to kill an adult human being, so why would we draw the line and say that it’s okay to kill a human that is just unborn for the time being? (420) “Pro-lifers” feel that it is wrong that someone should play God, and take someone’s life in their hands and decide whether or not it gets to live, depending on just how they feel about the situation. The general conception of the public of murder, is that it is wrong and immoral, which leads to support for the pro-life side, if people are unsure of the true definition of being human and murder.
Pro-choice people believe that abortion is a right that a woman is entitled to, and should get to choose, and not be cheated out of just because one thinks it’s wrong. While pro-life argue that abortion is the murder of a human being, pro-choicers, such as Mary Anne Warren, disagree. Warren says that the definition of a human being is a “full-fledged member of the moral community”. (393) Sure we have genetic capabilities of being a human being, but, as we know, fetuses are unable to be a member of the moral community. Later on she explains traits of “personhood”, which include: consciousness, reasoning, self-motivated activity, and the capacity to communicate. (394) None of which a fetus is able to do. If the fetus is not a human being, then it can not be murder, therefore making it okay. Pro-choicers also argue that it is no ones business, but that of the impregnated parent to decide what she can and can not do with her body. While that woman is pregnant, she is the one in charge of what gets to happens to her body, the fetus just lives off of it. If we don’t feel bad about killing viruses that need our body to live on, then why should it be that big of a deal if someone gets an abortion? Someone doesn’t want to host the “virus” in their body any longer. As Warren says, “…a woman’s right to protect her health, happiness, freedom, and even her life, by terminating an unwanted pregnancy, will always override whatever right to life it may be appropriate to ascribe to a fetus, even a filly developed one.”
Ethics Topic Paper
26 March 2008
Is Abortion Moral?
For years now, the argument of whether or not abortion should be kept an option to expecting mothers has been heated. You have one half of the spectrum, pro-life, who believes that abortion is wrong and immoral. There are different degrees of “pro-lifers” ranging from totally against any abortion, regardless if it has to do with the baby being conceived through rape or that the mom’s life is threatened by the pregnancy, to people that believe that while those two situations are acceptable, getting abortion just because you don’t want a child is unacceptable. On the other side of the spectrum, there’s pro-choice. Pro-choice believes that it is a person’s right to decided whether or not they should have to carry out a pregnancy or not. The question is who’s right? What is the moral thing to do?
In the 1970’s, the court case Roe vs. Wade was held. Roe argued that the laws against abortion were unconstitutional. After all the debating was done in court, Roe ended up winning in the supreme court, uplifting restrictions and laws against abortion that were there previously throughout the United States. But, even after this judgment, the fight still continues.
Throughout the last thirty years, the pro-side of the spectrum has come up with several plausible arguments on why abortion is not moral and wrong. A large portion of “pro-lifers” will argue the fact that abortion is murder, because they claim that even though the baby is in the womb, it is still a person, or at least a potential one. Philosopher, Don Marquis, in “Why Abortion Is Immoral”, points out that clearly we see it as wrong to kill an adult human being, so why would we draw the line and say that it’s okay to kill a human that is just unborn for the time being? (420) “Pro-lifers” feel that it is wrong that someone should play God, and take someone’s life in their hands and decide whether or not it gets to live, depending on just how they feel about the situation. The general conception of the public of murder, is that it is wrong and immoral, which leads to support for the pro-life side, if people are unsure of the true definition of being human and murder.
Pro-choice people believe that abortion is a right that a woman is entitled to, and should get to choose, and not be cheated out of just because one thinks it’s wrong. While pro-life argue that abortion is the murder of a human being, pro-choicers, such as Mary Anne Warren, disagree. Warren says that the definition of a human being is a “full-fledged member of the moral community”. (393) Sure we have genetic capabilities of being a human being, but, as we know, fetuses are unable to be a member of the moral community. Later on she explains traits of “personhood”, which include: consciousness, reasoning, self-motivated activity, and the capacity to communicate. (394) None of which a fetus is able to do. If the fetus is not a human being, then it can not be murder, therefore making it okay. Pro-choicers also argue that it is no ones business, but that of the impregnated parent to decide what she can and can not do with her body. While that woman is pregnant, she is the one in charge of what gets to happens to her body, the fetus just lives off of it. If we don’t feel bad about killing viruses that need our body to live on, then why should it be that big of a deal if someone gets an abortion? Someone doesn’t want to host the “virus” in their body any longer. As Warren says, “…a woman’s right to protect her health, happiness, freedom, and even her life, by terminating an unwanted pregnancy, will always override whatever right to life it may be appropriate to ascribe to a fetus, even a filly developed one.”