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Is Abortion Morally Justified

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Is there ever a case where abortion should be considered morally justifiable? This is the question that I will be examining in this essay. I will begin this essay by considering why abortion is justified using the argument by Marie-Anne Warren (1989). I will then cover why abortion is considered an immoral act as objection to my points, specifically I will be looking at the argument of Don Marquis (1989) who believes abortion falls into the same area as murdering somebody in context of morals. In this essay I will be arguing that abortion is morally justifiable under specific sets of circumstances, one circumstance would be abortion is justified if the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape on the mother. Second the abortion is justified …show more content…

It’s important to define the different stages of fetal development. After initial fertilization the fertilized egg moves into the uterus and implants itself in the uterine wall, during this time the egg is known as a zygote this stage lasts around 10 days. The next stage in pregnancy for around the next eight weeks the zygote becomes an Embryo. Then once it has developed organs becomes a fetus until birth at around 40 weeks (Borgerson, 2017). A person has the ability to think and express their own beliefs, ideals, and cognitions. A person should also be able to perform its own self-motivated behaviour and be self-aware (Warren, 1989). I will be assuming in this essay that if this abortion was actually happening, that the pregnant woman is a citizen of Canada. Abortion in Canada is currently a viable option up to about 24 weeks of the …show more content…

One circumstance would be abortion is justified if the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape on the mother. Second the abortion is justified in the case, that if the pregnancy is carried to term it may be fatal to the mother. I also considered two objections to these arguments; Rape is a terrible crime and is morally wrong, but murdering another person is by far a worse crime and even more morally wrong; and a fetus has a right to life because it is as much of a person as you or I. To which I included my own response to these objections; Abortion cannot be considered murder because abortion is legal in Canada, and the mother’s right to life and health are more important than that of a potential person’s. I do believe that at the very late stages of pregnancy that abortion is wrong and should not be performed, however under these specific circumstances I do believe abortion is morally

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128 Words | 1 Pages

Don Marquis’s purpose to his essay is to set out to prove that abortion is seriously wrong. He is addressing that abortion is morally wrong and should not be permitted except in certain cases. The authors thesis is “Abortion, except perhaps in rare instances, is seriously wrong”(Marquis, 754). Marquis’s purpose for exceptions or rare instances is to eliminate those instances that could be considered ethically controversial such as cases like abortion after rape or abortion during the first fourteen days after conception. Marquis provides another exception in the form of a pregnancy that could endanger a woman’s life and abortion when the fetus is anencephalic.

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1739 Words | 7 Pages

Don Marquis, on the other side of the abortion debate begins his essay “Why abortion is immoral” through the frustration of little support being given to the thought. This essay was written to show the falsified belief that an anti-abortion stance is nothing other than irrational religious dogma or a conclusion generated by a seriously confused philosophical argument. The argument is set forth throughout that abortion is, except in rare cases, seriously immoral. This essay sets forth the belief that abortion is in the same category as killing an innocent adult human being. Don Marquis argues with rare exceptions such as a life-threatening pregnancy, all cases of abortion are seriously wrong and are not much different than killing an adult

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1070 Words | 5 Pages

In “A Defense of Abortion,” Judith Thomson argues with a unique approach regarding the topic of abortion. For the purpose of the argument, Thomas agrees to go against her belief and constructs an argument based on the idea that the fetus is a person at conception. She then formulates her arguments concerning that the right to life is not an absolute right. There are certain situations where abortion is morally permissible. She believes that the fetus’s right to life does not outweigh the right for the woman to control what happens to her own body.

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178 Words | 1 Pages

In reflection to the readings, there are many arguments that are for or against abortion. Is abortion ever justified? In feminism point of view, Susan Sherwin believes, yes, abortion is justified because it focuses on woman’s right to abortion in a liberal aspect. She also believes that woman’s right that pregnant woman are the best judge when to considering to abort the fetus. That means, the autonomy is shifted to the woman.

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794 Words | 4 Pages

Mary Anne Warren establishes a belief that a fetus’s right to live is overruled by an expecting mother’s right to an abortion because it is not a technically a true person until it is born. Warren supports her argument by saying that a nearly full-developed fetus is no more significant than a small embryo because “…it is not fully conscious… it cannot reason or communicate message… and has no self-awareness” (Warren, page 499). In contrast, our text states that “…some fetuses develop the capacity to survive outside the womb…” after nearly being two-thirds fully developed; this means that a fetus is ultimately capable of communication and awareness through it’s movements (Munson and Lague, page 469).

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1103 Words | 5 Pages

The issue of abortion creates questions such as whether or not abortion is morally justifiable, rights of a fetus, and explores the criteria necessary to be proven as a person. To summarize, Mary Ann Warren believes the choice of abortion is always the mothers choice. Warren continuously supports this statement through the argument that a fetus is not a person unless they exhibit a sense of moral being, demonstration of the five traits of personhood, and secures the rights that true human beings rights prevails the rights of fetus, regardless of potentiality or value of any

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1261 Words | 6 Pages

Abortion is not only a fluctuating concept in our society, but an ethical and emotional debate, as well. The image I have chosen presents concepts from a cultural and historical background, as well as presents an ethical, emotional, and logical appeal to the audience. The debate about abortion has simply been overblown and exhausted. The truth of the matter is, abortion is murder. Ending a life, whether innocent or guilty, is murder.

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1277 Words | 6 Pages

In this speech I hope to present a persuasive moral argument that abortion is akin to murder and should be avoided, even if the child is unplanned or unwanted or the women would be in danger by the consequences of abortion. (Transition: Let’s look more closely at the health risks posed by cell phones.) Body I. Abortion is a murder. It is the intentionally killing of a human being and it is also can be considered as a war on the unborn which are obviously defenseless and voiceless. A. Abortion denies the right of the eternal being to have a mortal experience and also learning experience in this world.

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632 Words | 3 Pages

The debate whether abortion is morally permissible or not permissible is commonly discussed between the considerations of the status of a fetus and ones virtue theory. A widely recognized theory of pro-choice advocates can be thought to be that their ethical view is that fetus’s merely are not humans because they lack the right to life since they believe a fetus does not obtain any sort of mental functions or capability of feelings. Although this may be true in some cases it is not in all so explaining the wrongness of killing, between the common debates whether a fetus does or does not obtain human hood, should be illustrated in a way of a virtuous theory. The wrongness of killing is explained by what the person or fetus is deprived of, such as their right to life; not by means of a heart beat or function of one’s body, but by the fact that it takes their ability of potentially growing into a person to have the same human characteristics as we do.

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469 Words | 2 Pages

listland.com, says “while fetuses of that age lack a fully developed cortex experiments on animals lacking a cortex show that they withdraw from painful stimuli.” “Dr Nathanson, an early proponent of abortion became a pro-life campaigner after he saw 12 week fetuses shrink from instruments and open their mouths in a scream during an abortion.” This is such a brutal act. This means is that when a baby is in the mother’s stomach it is in fact alive. Most “pro-choice” people say that the reason that they commit abortion is because the baby is not alive yet.

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1018 Words | 5 Pages

An ethical dilemma today in society is that of abortion, which one would define as a deliberate end to a pregnancy. Various arguments exist questioning if an abortion is morally justifiable. Some say the state should decide on the legality of an abortion, some politicians say the federal government should decide, and many believe it should be up to the women since it pertains to their body. In this paper, I will analyze what a utilitarian’s perspective on abortion would be. First, let’s get a clear understanding of utilitarianism.

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992 Words | 4 Pages

The fetus should not be killed just because his/her parents were irresponsible. The fetus did not take the decision that his/ her parents would have sex or use contraception methods that are not very effective. The fetus is totally innocent and should not be punished. Each case can be analyzed to show that abortion is impermissible. In the case of

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863 Words | 4 Pages

For example, if there is a complication in pregnancy and the mother can suffer because of the child, I think it is ok to do abortion. It is important to understand the various ideas that go behind abortion. The right of an abortion for a mother should be left on her own decision as the mother knows best about her condition. She is going to be the 'host body ' for the baby, even though her own, for nine months and according to Thompson, the mother should have the right to decide if she wants to foster and go through with the ordeal. But still, there are also a strong debate going on about the human rights of the child:

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593 Words | 3 Pages

However, in most cases it is the embryo that is aborted and not a fetus, which is the stage in which the embryo starts to develop. As such an embryo cannot be written in statistics as a life lived as it is dependent solely on the carrier, thus aborting at this stage technically should not be considered as the taking of life but as a decision on whether to facilitate this possible life. Personhood begins after a fetus is able to survive outside the womb, not at conception. Conclusion

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948 Words | 4 Pages

In the world today, morality is not black and white anymore, it has developed into a gray area in which can scarcely be defined. The dictionary definition of morality is stated as "the quality of being in accord with standards of right or good conduct. " Be that as it may, everyone has a contrasting opinion or view of right and wrong. This disagreement of opinion on what is moral causes controversy, such as the topic of abortion. Since abortion is simply put as the killing of an unborn child, why are women that kill their children convicted as murders when women who abort their children are not convicted as murderers?

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