The Moral Status of the Fetus in Abortion - Literature review Example

The Moral Status of the Fetus in Abortion The moral status of an earlier fetus has been of contagious debate over some time now. Whether to abort or to leave the fetus has been a challenge to mothers who for some reasons wish to abort. It is very hard for a day to pass without hearing some debate concerning prenatal life. The most prevalence issue that always crops up is the issue of abortion. Though argued by some scholars that human life starts at conception, and just like other human beings, the fetus has its moral rights, others view the notion as incorrect. Steinbock (1992) asserts that the moral issue of a fetus is an issue that does not have a definitive one way. While the fetus could be having its moral rights, there are some instances that might guarantee its termination. This essay will attempt to explain the significance ascribed to the moral status of the fetus. In addition, I will give reasons why I agree with the fetus having its moral rights, and finally, I will attempt to answer some of the objective questions to this tenet. An entity that is considered to have moral status is believed to contain both intrinsic and personhood values. Baertschi (2008) opines that both intrinsic and personhood values in an entity guarantee it to have moral status. Typically, the intrinsic value of something is the total value that it possesses due to its intrinsic features. On this point, there is a wide agreement amongst different scholars, and there is no objection to it. Put in the construct of human beings, the intrinsic value is a direct replica of dignity (Baertschi, 2008). Since the fetus grows naturally into a human being, the question that is most asked is when does a human being begin? Is a fetus a human being? These questions are answered by one answer: Capabilitism. Baertschi (2008) contends that an entity does not need to have rationality and actualism for it to be a human being. This view assumes that a person is a rational entity soon after he or she has possessed the capability to; if he or she cannot immediately show it, it would be because he or she requires time to mature in order to do so. The capitalism view points out that the fetus possesses rationality right from the conception period to the period of its delivery. In the respect of possessing rationality right from the time of conception, human beings in this respect are not different from other forms of biological lives produced through sexual means. It is normally argued by the capitalism point of view that at the stroke of conception, a new living thing is created into the same biological species. When arguing from a moral point of view, a mother who wants to carry out an abortion must know that, the fetus she is carrying has its moral rights (Christian Bioethicss, 2004). In actual sense, the moral question that confronts those mothers who are planning to carry out an abortion is whether it is morally right to bring to an end a life of another human being who is at the fetus stage of development. On the same note, the mother who is planning to do an abortion is also faced with answers to at what time to do an abortion, and whether that is morally acceptable. According to Christian Bioethicss (2004), a mother has no choice to take away the life of a fetus in her womb because doing so is morally wrong. This strict philosophical construct of viewing a fetus as to possessing the potentiality to become a human being, means that it possesses the disposition or capability to becoming a human being if not interrupted. In precise, a fetus a human being who is at an earlier stage of development and will finally attain the full status of a human being later in its development. The fetus or perhaps an embryo is just entities with characteristics of becoming human beings if not interfered with. So, any moral status a full human being possesses should also be given the developing fetus in a mothers’ womb without the need to interrupting its development (Baertschi, 2008). I agree with the tenet that the fetus has full moral status as a human being based on the following points: I believe that all human beings have a right to moral status because they all possess a genetic basis that gives them a moral agency. As contended by Liao (2008), having a genetic basis is enough for any entity to acquire a moral status. The question here is, how do you ascertain that all human beings possess genetic moral agency? Typically, all normal functioning human beings together with all entities at the developmental stages such as children, infants, fetuses all have a genetic agency and if not interrupted all grow to full human beings. Human developmental entities have the potential to exercise their moral agency, and after they become full human beings, their genetic codes do not vary much from what they were in their earlier forms. Liao (2008) argues that most comatose human beings show genetic basis because they are able to exercise moral agency. In principle, all human entities that show genetic basis have the capability of showing moral agency. Therefore, the genetic basis of the human fetus fully guarantees it the right to be accorded its rightful moral status no matter what. Though I fully agree with the view that a fetus has full rights to moral status, some scholars hold some objections to this notion. Here are some of the objections I would like to address accordingly. There is a clique of scholars that argues that the human fetus contain full genetic properties of human beings. They are mainly of the view that the fetus does not possess full genetic properties but will rather acquire most of them after birth. To effectively answer this question, it is good to analyze the principle of disposition. A disposition is a way of behaving in a certain way in some specific habitat. For instance, Baertschi (2008) argues that glass is brittle, and it tends to break off when it falls on the ground. Precisely, the glass often breaks because of its possession of the molecular structure. So, the molecular structure of an identity is what makes it what it is in the present form. Likewise, a full human is not any different from what a fetus is because that where life begins. Both the fetus and a full human being share something in common, genes. Another concern from critics of the notion that the fetus has moral status is the basis of rationality in the fetus and when it acquires it. Though it seems logical that the fetus does not have rationality because it does not think, it is clear however that it has the basic properties for the development of the brain. According to Baertschi (2008), a human fetus posses all properties of becoming a human being and should, therefore, be regarded as so. Essentially, abortion does not follow the legal framework outlined in the human rights protocols. It limits the rights of a person’s life. Various reasons have been put across to justify the reasons for abortion, inclusive of the poor family’s nature, weakened family relationships, weak childbearing, lack of affordability to raise the kids, and the possession of the right of a woman. However, it remains morally wrong to terminate a child innocent life. References Baertschi, B. (2008). The question of the embryo’s moral status. Retrieved April 10th, 2015, from http://www.unige.ch/medecine/ieh2/sciencesHumainesEnMedecine/collaborateurs/BernardBaertschi/Statut_embryon.pdf Christian Bioethics. (2004). The Moral Status of a Human Fetus: A Response to Lee. Retrieved April 10th, 2015, from http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&sid=da2dd855-2f50-422e-b158-9a8bc1e967f0%40sessionmgr113&hid=119 Liao, S.M. (2008). “The Basis of Human Moral Status.” Forthcoming in the Journal of Moral Philosophy. Retrieved April 10th, 2015, from http://www.smatthewliao.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/moralstatus.pdf Steinbock, A. B. (1992). The Moral and Legal Status of Embryos and Fetuses: The Moral and Legal Status of Embryos and Fetuses. Oxford. Oxford University Press. Read More