Essay Sample on Whether Abortion is Morally Justifiable

Introduction

Abortion refers to the deliberate removal of the fetus from a female’s womb. Abortion remains to be a controversial matter throughout the world, including the United States of America. Many individuals, organizations, activists, and the government are struggling to find the appropriate balance between the rights of the unborn fetus and the rights of the mother while at the same time considering the existing culture and religious teachings. Abortion leads to termination of life hence the question of whether the actions that lead to loss of lives are justifiable or not. Given the surrounding circumstances, abortion can be viewed to be morally justifiable given the development stage the fetus is in and the need to protect the life of the mother. The aim of the discussion hence is to justify the ethical premises behind the support of the topic.

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Legislations

Various governments have come up with legislations that tend to permit abortion under stipulated circumstances in which the fetus or the life of the mother has to be saved. Abortion should therefore be viewed under the existing ethical theories such as the situation theory in which the various details of the act are considered before making any judgment on whether to proceed with the abortion or not.

Fetuses are the same as living cells that exist in the human being, which die, and they are not said to have lost their lives. At the early stages, the embryo exists, and it consists of only cells that are continuously multiplying and developing as time lapses. According to Steinbock, Alex, and Arras (2013), aborting the fetus does not mean its denied life since its only cell, and it is not conscious. They are a potential human being and do not qualify for the recognition accorded to human beings. The fetus's body parts are not developed for it to be having life as human beings.

Fetuses are the potential human beings, but they do not qualify to be called human beings; hence the privileges enjoyed by human beings cannot be equated to them. They cannot be treated as corpses in the same manner as human beings since they only die as cells and not as a person. The mother can also decide to terminate the fetus for the selection of the sex or where they are more than one, and there is a threat to their survival unless one or two are terminated. Under this case, a decision is made to save at least one fetus of a certain gender as selected by the mother.

The form of human life should be a person when the fetus gains the ability to feel the pain and becomes conscious. Without meeting the criteria for personhood, the act of abortion can be justified depending on the circumstances surrounding the mother. The fetus is an offspring without any legal, rational, and social aspects to qualify as a person.

Ethics

The situation ethics tend to look at the circumstances surrounding the decision of the mother to carry out abortion rather than relying strictly on the set moral concept. Moral ethics allows the mother to judge the situation through a logical thought process before making any decision regarding the fetus (Greasley, 2017).

The situation ethics tend to make abortion justifiable since the series of episodes leading to the pregnancy may be without the consent of the mother. The events such as rape and incest cause trauma to the mother, and they can end up committing suicide since the actions brought shame to them and made them lose their dignity as human beings. It is rightfully justifiable for the mother to remove the fetus at the early stages since it has not met the requisites to be a person. At this point, no right has been infringed, and by doing so, the mother is saved from carrying out suicidal actions that can even endanger others in society. In many such cases, the woman is not always ready to have a child, and such occurrences force her to have an unwanted pregnancy (Greasley, 2017). The fetus is regarded as an irrational being; hence there is no moral principle that ties the woman from aborting

At times the woman's life is endangered by the pregnancy, and there is no justifiable reason to continue with the pregnancy when the woman could potentially lose her life. Pregnancies can come along with carious complications that make the woman sick, and internal organs start to malfunction. Women who carry out the act prefer not to bring the baby into the world to face the numerous challenges and sufferings they did not ask for; thus, the act will relieve them of the guilt (Mianna, 2011). They prefer to undergo the life struggles on their own without adding human being that would otherwise make the situation worse for them. The situation theory calls for women to apply ethical reasoning and do what is considered right when their lives are in danger.

Women have the right to privacy, including the right to make a decision on matters affecting their body as long as it is justifiable under the law. It is their right and moral duty to decide what happens to them; hence they can decide whether to carry out an abortion or not even though their lives might be in danger. Abortion is morally justifiable only when it is carried out with the authority of the pregnant mother (Mianna, 2011). The laws are therefore required to allow for the right of the mothers to choose what happens to their bodies without being criminalized.

Burdens

The pregnancies tend to be associated with certain burdens such as the extreme labor pains during the delivery and, at the time, even death arising during the process. Women who fear undergoing the process may opt to carry out abortion due to the fear of what may happen to them when the time to give birth reaches. The acts affect their bodies; hence they are at liberty to decide what happens to them as long as the fetus has not attained the criteria necessary to be a person. The burdens related to unwanted pregnancies are experienced by the women; hence they have the sole right when it comes to making decisions regarding the survival of the fetus.

Abortion can also be necessitated by the deformed status of the unborn baby. The unborn baby can be handicapped, and the fear of permanent condition persisting may force the mother to carry out an abortion. The mother, upon her decision, may choose to abort the fetus on the ground that there will be extreme suffering. The pregnant woman may decide not to take care of the deformed baby due to the traumatization likely to be experienced by taking care of the deformed baby. In such cases, the woman may opt to have an abortion and continue living her life.

Conclusion

In conclusion, abortion continues to bring about mixed reactions all over the world, with various groups and cultures putting forward the reason for or against the act. In many cases, abortion can be justified depending on the situations that the mother is in and the need to enhance the safety of the mother. The fetus is considered not to be a person hence does not have the legal right for life and can be terminated upon the justifiable decision by the mother to do so. Instances such as rape and incest lead to unwanted pregnancies hence denying the woman the right to make decisions before the action. The instances are left to the woman to decide the future of the fetus, depending on their psychological state and the ability to raise the baby. Abortion is, therefore, only justifiable under the situations that call for the mother to make the decisions that do not deny the fetus's future life.

Works Cited

Greasley, Kate. Arguments about abortion: Personhood, morality, and law. Oxford University Press, 2017. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=qmXODQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Whether+Abortion+is+Morally+Justifiable&ots=8YNTcAtYki&sig=iGJyvXvtxIPwUyxiwhtdHYFw_iE

Lotz, Mianna. "Ethical arguments concerning the moral permissibility of abortion." Diunduh tanggal 12 (2011). https://nfaw.cdn.prismic.io/nfaw%2Fcaf62abf-1eae-4d26-8649-25a2e36c2950_ethical-arguments-concerning-the-moral-permissibility-of-abortion-dr-mianna-lotz.pdf

Steinbock, Bonnie, Alex John London, and John Arras, eds. Ethical issues in modern medicine: contemporary readings in bioethics. McGraw-Hill, 2013.
https://www1.cgmh.org.tw/library/hold/intro/e169.pdf.