Within the following essay, one shall discuss all the circumstances in which it is always permissible to have an abortion. The following essay will be split into two parts, the first will discuss Second order reasons for abortion and the second will discuss First Order reasons. First order reasons are reasons for abortion, which are easily justifiable, such as rape and medical complications, whereas Second order reasons are, in comparison, less easy to justify, such as socioeconomic reasons. This essay will approach both, and prove that all reasons one may wish to have an abortion are morally and practically justifiable, and none are specifically harder to justify than others. Eventually one will conclude on the fact that a woman always has the right to terminate their pregnancy under any circumstances. For the sake of the following essay, we shall consider the individual who wants the abortion to be ‘the Woman’, the discussion of gender in pregnancy is for another essay.
This is an important area of discussion, hugely so, especially when in 2017 a number of laws have already been posed to reduce a woman's reproductive rights. In Arkansas, late term abortions are now illegal and men have the right to sue doctors who perform abortions on their wife, even in the case of spousal
…show more content…
Noonan discusses this by analysing the rape fetus with a neighbour. He explains that just because one did not choose their neighbours does not mean that one lacks the obligation to respect their right to life, and decides that the only circumstance that it would be acceptable for the Woman to terminate the pregnancy is in self-defence (Noonan, 1970).
The main issue with Noonan's account is that he does not explain that an instance of 'self-defence’ would be, though many have assumed, that he is referring to medical complications, for either the mother of the