Personal Ethics & Abortion



Personal Ethics & Abortion

Introduction

Abortion is one of the most controversial ethical issues in today's world. Rhetoric of the deliberations about abortion shows that there are two opposite points of view both based on moral insights. (www.cedu.niu.edu).The pro-choice strategy asserts that fetus is not a person or human being. Thus, they believe that abortion is not a killing or murder. On the other hand, the pro-life view asserts that life generates right from the instant of conception. They claim that fetus is just alive babies living inside the mother's womb. Fetus possesses a genetic code that is necessary for being human.

Anti-abortionists appear to believe that abortion is morally equal to murder. Arguments of both the abortionists and anti-abortionists exhibit their confidence in their ideas. Each of them is not successful in convincing the opponent, and the issue seems to be irresolvable (Marquis, 1989).

Discussion

Facts and Figures

The overall percentage of women who are going for abortions is decreasing in the U.S. Almost half of the pregnancies in U.S. are involuntary or unplanned, out of which forty-six percent resulted in abortions. Twenty-two percent of all pregnancies result in abortion. The percentage was increased among financially underprivileged women, while it decreased among financially well-off women. In certain states of U.S., abortion is legal under certain circumstances such as pregnancies resulting from rape, incest, etc. Through the last four decades, nearly 50 million legal abortions have taken place. Eighteen percent of U.S. women getting abortions appeared to be teenagers.

The reasons women give for abortion generally include:

Half of the women say they do not take the child's responsibility as a single parent or are having problems with their spouse.

Three-fourths say that raising a child would interfere with work, school or the ability to care for other dependents in the family.

Three-fourths of women show concern for responsibility to the child.

Three-fourths believe they are not financially well-off, so they cannot afford a child (www.guttmacher.org).

When Does Life Start?

Abortionists claim that fetus is just a body part of woman not a person because life begins from the time of birth. On the other hand, anti-abortionists believed that fetus is alive unborn child; it is just that we can not see this child as he/she is living inside the mother's womb. From the moment of conception, the fetus has a different genetic code. Even the single-cell has metabolism that consume energy and perform cellular functions (Diego, 2012).

Modern technology enables us to see how the fetus grows and passes through all the growing stages in the womb.A week after conception, the fetus gets implanted to the mother's uterus to receive nutrients. This is the first step to motherhood. Three weeks later, the heart begins to from. Through the fifth week, the child develops eyes, hands, and legs. And at around sixth week, brainwaves are can be detected by medical devices. Later, all the vital organs of human being develop. An unborn child hiccups, sucks his thumb. The fetus can respond to sounds that occur ...