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9 comments
Against
Lydiamae5y ago
**TL;DR: Women have the moral right to their own bodily autonomy.**
**TW: Mentions of Sexual Assult and Rape**
The debate on abortion is something that is highly polarising in today's society. I believe that abortion as a concept is not unethical, because it advocates for freedom of choice.
As philosopher [Judith Jarvis Thomson] (http://bostonreview.net/archives/BR20.3/thomson.html) writes, 'if abortion rights are denied, then a constraint is imposed on women's freedom to act in a way that is of great importance to them, both for its own sake and for the sake of their achievement of equality'.
Avocating against the right to abortion causes more issues than solutions. For example, if abortion were to be made illegal, women would be forced to carry their pregnancies to full term. This causes issues in certain circumstances:
• **Financial stability** - parents may not have the financial means to provide for a child. This causes a low quality of life for the baby if forced to grow up in poverty.
• **If the child is a product of rape** - women may feel unable to carry and give birth to a child if they were conceived during a sexual assault. The pregnancy and birth would be traumatic.
• **If the pregnancy poses health risks to the mother** - abortions may be required if the mortality rate of the baby and mother is at risk.
• If the child has severe disabilities that would cause it to have a very low quality of life.
Women who get abortions don't take the decision lightly. It is a huge decision to make and often done in the best interest of the fetus, therefore, I argue abortion is the more ethical option than if abortion was not available at all.
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MrStrawHat5y ago
None of that gives you the right to take a human life
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Mixed
SoapIsSoap5y ago
I think it's unethical but it should be allowed. People should be able to do it but be aware of the reality of the situation.
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Turi5y ago
This is a super interesting point: when should the state intervene in matters of ethics, and when not?
Murder and theft, for example, seem obvious. What is the thing that is different about abortion?
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MirandaGavin5y ago
The role of religion is worth considering in this debate and the tension between the aims of religion and those of secularism.
Can they coexist?
Does the state have a duty to uphold certain moral values and principles? If yes, how? And what are these morals and ethical viewpoints based on and who do they serve?
If questions surrounding abortion are also tied to, for example, dominant religious beliefs in patriarchal societies, at what point does a govt have the right and authority to intervene on behalf of an individual, in this case a woman?
Women have had to fight for reproductive rights so that they can control decisions that relate to their body: these rights are vital if women are to be part of an open and equal society. For example, in Ireland until recently (2015) there was an almost total ban on abortion which was repealed in a referendum.
When discussing the abortion question, the argument often comes down to ethical considerations regarding a woman's human right to have control over her own body and her choice to terminate a pregnancy versus the moral rights of the embryo. In countries where abortion is legal under certain circumstances, it is also important to consider the relationship between the medical establishment and the state as medical associations etc help regulate medical and surgical treatments and influence law.
A further ethical consideration which influences state intervention is: at what stage of development is an embryo considered to be a sentient human being with a moral status and rights? If it is believed that a fetus is a human being, with rights which are to be protected from the moment of conception, then abortion is seen as murder.
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For
Breton4y ago
TLDR- It is not the woman's body in question.
Many Leftists will make the argument, "My body, My choice." However, it is not the mother's body. It is the unborn child's. Whether it is rape or not, it is unconstitutional to take away the life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness of another human being, especially one that cannot make its own decisions. If a child was born you would not kill it simply because it was conceived in rape, how is an unborn child any different. That child has rights because it is a human being. The father may have committed a terrible atrocity but that does not mean that the child should pay for their father's mistakes. The punishment for rape is jail. The punishment for being conceived in rape, whether or not you had a choice, is death. Some women claim that the child is a reminder of a painful memory. Rape survivors will never forget their rape whether or not they kill their child. But what will be forgotten is an amazing life that could have been lived if that child had been allowed to live. By doing this we are deciding who gets to live or die. That is called playing God. And humans are not God. However in cases that the mother might die, but that should be held as a completely different situation. When it comes to the mother's life then it comes down to who is more valuable to society. At least in that situation, one life is given for another, rather than a pointless killing. Abortion is not only unethical, it is murder and should be treated as so.
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For
DarkJak4y ago
It boils down to, is it better to have lived and died than to have never lived at all. Is it ethical to deny that as one individual who first decided to bear it?
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