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Immanuel Kant On Abortion

2115 Words9 Pages

Abortion is a topical issue in the world today. The battle of ethics that has begun between the pro- life and pro- choice campaigners has sparked a thought. Is it really and truly a woman’s choice to decide what she does with her body? .The underlying basis to the many arguments that fall within this category that “a woman has the right to control her own body” is that it would be unfair to the mother to force her to carry her unborn child to term. Therefore, it should be her decision alone to decide whether or not the foetus in her body lives or dies. But in truth it is not her decision alone. She must deal with the ever growing shame that is placed on her. The negative stigma that surrounds the act of abortion has haunted many women in the …show more content…

Kant's ethics are founded on his view of rationality as the ultimate good and his belief that all people are fundamentally rational beings. According to Kant, all behaviours and actions are done by people simply because they are the right things to do. Second, people do things based on whether it is moral rather than on any purposes. Kant would believe that an abortion is morally incorrect because it is not right to kill a person and it is considered as a murder under any circumstances.Kant believes that aborted babies are losing out on the opportunity of achieving Summum bonum(the highest good). The act of killing a life as well as any future possibilities of contribution for that person in their life .Kant believes in the santity of life as he considers each human as individual and highest point of intelligence .human life is sacred and deserves respect therefore abortion in kants view is wrong as life starts from conception. Kant saw that peoples actions were based on an end result .He proposed a shift in peoples thinking. Instead of using people to achieve your goals , make your goals to serve others. Kant believes in the sovereignty of reason . that there is an absolute wrong and a n absolute right and murder ,what abortion is deemed under kants law, is wrong. “The question the consistency of one who holds that abortion is permissible but infanticide is wrong. But let us see whether you are consistent. If it would have been wrong for your parents to have aborted you, wouldn't it have been equally wrong for your parents not to have conceived you? The result would have been the same - there would be no YOU!” (Gensler, 1986). This question is posed to a believer in Kantian ethics this in itself

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