Ethical Argument Paper - Essay Example

These nations may and may not have set strict reasoning rule for abortion but al of these nations have accepted that a women is the only one who can decide in favor or against abortion of her child. Body Those against abortion have taken a stance that a fetus or an unborn is a human life and he should have all the privileges and rights that a human being has (Farrell 12). Undoubtedly, fetus is human according to the definition of a human in scientific terms and is expected to grow up as a human being after a certain period.

Although, fetus is expected to transform into an individual, there fore there is a probability that he/she will transform into a human being and cannot enjoy the rights bestowed on humans. Since a fetus does not have the ability to exercise and enjoy the rights of a human, his rights should not conflict with the rights of a woman as she is already a fully grown human being. The debate whether abortion is ethically and morally right or wrong is dependant on the debate of personhood and rights of fetus and others involved (Garfield 81).

It is essential for the debate as it helps in deciding the correct time when a fetus obtains the status of personhood. The issue of abortion has no end as there are conflicting views about the definition of person. According to United States, a fetus is only recognized as a person in accordance to the definition of a person provided by the constitution. The common law exercised in the areas of UK and US realizes that a fetus transforms into a human being or person as soon as he enters the world but not before that (Cave 2).

This view point was exercised in the case of R v Tait during the period of 1989, within United Kingdom’s jurisdiction (Chadwick 115). Those who support the concept of pro-choice, state that no rights are bestowed on a fetus until and unless it seems feasible. In the case of United Kingdom it is 24 weeks, the concept of feasibility is very important to this argument because an individual is not recognized as a person until and unless the society accepts him as a person (Simons 142). During the Roman era, a child used to gain the rights as soon as he was born and laid at his father’s feed, he used to gain rights only if his/her father picked him/her in his arms (Youssef 123).

As soon as the father holds the child, the child gains acceptance into the community and gained all the privileges and rights of a person. If the father did not pick of the child, the child was considered as illegal and unwanted and was killed or if he was allowed to live, he used to have little or no rights at all and he was not acceptable to the society. It is very hard to decide when a fetus or a person is actually recognized as a person and allotted the rights that come with this acceptance.

Those who are not in the favor of abortion use pro-life debate to support their arguments against abortion. According to them, the probability that an individual will end up being a person is equal to an individual who has already been recognized as a person and should have similar rights. David Boonin states that the actual possession of personhood rights and the expected possession of the rights is one and the same thing (Oehlschlaeger 145). He further states that a fetus is going to transform into a person in future, thus he should and already has similar rights.

An act is only considered as unethical of an