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The Moralilty of Abortion   Term Paper ID:40460 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Defends the the thesis that abortion is morally permissible and refutes counterarguments.... More...

5 Pages / 1125 Words 4 sources, 10 Citations, APA Format $20.00 Return to List of Papers

Paper Introduction: A Defense of Abortion as Morally Permissible Abortion rights and the very practice of terminating a pregnancy andin the process ensuring that the fetus or embryowill not continue to grow or achieve birth is highly controversial andemotionally charged I will defend the thesis that abortion is morallypermissible drawing upon arguments advanced by various ethical theorists I will make note of those exceptions to the right to abortion on demand andthe rationale for arguing that there are and should be cases in whichabortion Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. Third, the individual must be capable of self-motivatedactivity or activity that is relatively independent of either genetic ordirect external control. Using the Kantian categorical imperative, one can argue that forcinga woman to carry to term and then give birth to an unwanted child iseffectively using or treating the woman as a means to an end. Universalizing this principle extends the right to anabortion to all women, everywhere, but it also gives each woman the optionof deciding whether or not she will or will not accept restrictions on herright to control reproductive life. Approaching abortion from this view, one would need to argue that itis morally permissible for any woman under any circumstances to elect todiscontinue a pregnancy that, for whatever reason whatsoever, she does notwant to continue. Don Marquis (1989) contends thatabortion is wrong because it deprives the embryo of a valuable future.Typically, embryos, except for those that are seriously damaged or whichpossess life threatening or damaging birth defects and genetic conditionsare seen by Marquis (1989) to have a highly valuable future which makes itwrong and immoral. Ultimately, abortion emerges as morally permissible when oneconsiders Warren's (1973) properties of the person. Why abortion is immoral. On the moral and legal status of abortion. In such asituation when the putative rights and dignity of a fetus are givenprecedence over the rights and dignity of a living, thinking, andautonomous human being, that human being is being treated unethically as ameans to and end, as nothing more than a host charged with theresponsibility of gestating a potential life without having consented to doso. Journal of Philosophy, 86(4), 183-2 2.Schick, T. There are undoubtedly cases in which abortion is morallyimpermissible. The first formulation by Kant of such an imperativestates that one should act only on that maxim through which you can at thesame time will that it should become a universal law (Schick & Vaughn,1999). It now possesses some level of self-awareness andconsciousness of the effects of external and internal stimuli upon itscomfort. If a person does not have most of these capacities, he orshe is not a person. However, if one accepts hisargument, one must also conclude that contraception in and of itself is aswrong as murder, but such a conclusion is absurd in that even those whobelieve that contraception is wrong do not equate it with murder. Consequently, setting limits on the right to a legal abortion isa moral act which recognizes that after a certain period of in uterodevelopment, the fetus can, if allowed to experience birth, exhibitWarren's (1973) properties that characterize persons. In ethics, a beingwith full moral status and thus possessed of full moral rights is called aperson. If this child is a person, then she has the right to determine herown reproductive future. The argument against abortion advanced by Finnis (1973) suggests thatabortion intentionally causes the embryo's death and that intentionality iswhat makes this an immoral act as opposed to choosing to withdraw lifesupport systems from a comatose person. I will defend the thesis that abortion is morallypermissible, drawing upon arguments advanced by various ethical theorists.I will make note of those exceptions to the right to abortion on demand andthe rationale for arguing that there are and should be cases in whichabortion is morally impermissible. Second, the beingmust have the developed capacity to reason or solve new and relativelycomplex problems. The problem with the argument byFinnis (1973) is that it presupposes that the adult in a coma and theembryo are both persons and that the pregnant woman like the caretaker ofthe comatose adult has an obligation to make decisions that promote thewell-being and preserve the life to the extent reasonable of the embryo. Hence, the fetusis not a person and abortion becomes morally permissible. In the third trimester ofa pregnancy, the fetus acquires more of the properties described by Warren(1973) and is conscious of more than merely pain. Fourth, it must have the capacity to communicateby whatever means messages of an indefinite variety of types onindefinitely many possible topics. Finally, it must have the presence ofself-concepts and self-awareness, either individual or racial or both(Warren, 1973). The rights and wrongs of abortion. Consider, for example, the case of a ten year-old girl who hasundergone early menses and who has been a victim of sexual assault,possibly by a close relative or as a result of a brutal rape. One such case is that of partial birth abortion which is aprocedure used by physicians in the third trimester of a pregnancy toliberally kill the fetus in utero and induce labor so that the pregnantwoman expels the now dead fetus from her body. It now possesses the potential to become able to reason andto communicate. Itis a person only potentially and as such using the categorical imperativeto understand or define the rights of the pregnant woman, the embryo orfetus has no moral standing with which to demand that the pregnant woman bethe means of achieving its potential.ReferencesFinnis, J. & Vaughn, L. (1989). (1973). A Defense of Abortion as Morally Permissible Abortion rights and the very practice of terminating a pregnancy andin the process ensuring that the fetus or embryowill not continue to grow or achieve birth is highly controversial andemotionally charged. The categorical imperative also speaks to the abortion issue inanother formulation. First, there must be consciousness ofobjects and events external or internal to the being. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing.Warren, M.A. Such a girl,were abortion to be considered morally impermissible and illegal, wouldliterally be forced to continue a pregnancy long before her body wasphysically prepared to undergo such an experience, to give birth, andpossibly to raise a child while she is still a child. Doing Philosophy. Even assuming that theembryo and later, the developing fetus, possess one of these properties,that is insufficient to characterize it as a completely formed person. The fetus has at most one of these properties - consciousness - andthis property only after it becomes susceptible to pain. Warren (1973) proposed that if something has all fiveof these properties, it is definitely a person whether it is biologicallyhuman or not. Marquis (1989) equates abortion with the same immoralact as killing an innocent adult human being. In other words, this is a doctrine stating that what makes anaction right is that everyone could act on it and that one would be willingto act on it. Supporting such an argument is Mary Ann Warren (1973) who argues forthe permissibility of an abortion by offering five criteria which establishpersonhood in the moral sense. Monist, 57(1), 43-61. Others argue against this view. (1999). It may not be able toreason, but were the woman carrying this fetus to naturally go into laborand give birth, the infant that emerges can achieve a degree of self-motivated activity with, admittedly, the assistance of advanced medicaltechnologies. Any categorical imperative is one that must be obeyedunder all conditions. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 2(2), 117-145.Marquis, D. (1973). If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.