Abortion: Moral Framework Of Utilitarianism

Abortion follows the moral framework of utilitarianism. Utilitarianism, otherwise known as consequentialism, is the moral theory that holds than an action can be considered good or bad in relation to its end result (Burkhardt, M.A. & Nathanial, A.K., 2014). The only factors that makes actions good or bad is the outcomes, or the end results, that are derived from them. For example, imagine the story of a woman who is mother of four, is recently divorced, and works at McDonalds, then finds out she pregnant with her fifth child. If she knows that having a fifth child would put even more financial stress on herself and would take away time from her other children who she already feels distanced from, then having an abortion is a decision she

One of these is because abortion transgresses the father’s rights. For obvious reasons, abortion is often described as a woman’s issue, and is largely associated with the rights of only the fetus and the mother. This is because only women undergo the procedure. Opponents say that without a say in abortion decisions, men are essentially forced into or out of fatherhood regardless of if they want to become a father or not. According to the Center for Bioethics, men have shown very similar emotional reactions to abortion, especially when it was performed without their knowledge or against their wishes. They found that men reported feelings of anger, depression, helplessness, and grief and reacted by denying and distancing themselves from the event. Men and women have equal rights over a child immediately after birth. Pro-life advocates argue that, assuming a fetus is a person that has basic human rights like all other people, their rights should not change because of their physical location inside or outside the womb (Graham, 2015). Another argument concerning men’s rights in abortion involves autonomy. Some believe pregnancy is a violation of a woman’s autonomy. Both the mother and father have equal rights over their child and equal concerns as the child’s future parents. By aborting the fetus, having an abortion invades the interest of both the mother and the father. Therefore, interfering with the woman’s autonomy also interferes with the men’s. If the autonomy argument is accepted for women, then men too should be given a say in the decision (Graham, 2015). The argument of the father’s rights of an abortion has gone to court a few times. In the 1976 case Planned Parenthood of Central Missouri versus Danforth, Missouri legislators passed a law requiring physicians to obtain a written statement from both the mother and the father, or mother and a parent for those under legal age, before