The Issue of Abortion - Essay Example

According to the pro-life opinion and even according to the pro-choice opinion, a fetus has similar rights that are entitled to a human being (Gérard 138). But pro-choice perspective states that a fetus does not have the ability to make decisions and have no self-awareness. Pro-life perspective counters this argument by stating that individuals who are regarded as adults, and are retarded, do not have the ability to make reasonable decisions and experience a lack of self-awareness. Pro-life advocates state that if a fetus is a human being, he has rights and by aborting a fetus, the society takes away the fetus’s right to make decisions and choose what is best for himself.

Pro-choice advocates state that a fetus is not a fully developed individual and does not have any human rights and by not allowing a female to abort a pregnancy, the law and the society are infringing upon the rights of the women to decide what is good for her (Panza 235). For this purpose, pro-choice take a utilitarian stance and state that those decisions should be considered as a right that has the highest number of positive benefits as compared to the costs that are incurred due to that particular action (Soble 6).

Several advantages have been figured out that is achieved by the society if abortion takes place. These advantages include population control and well being of society. The cost is the death of a fetus which does not even have complete human rights. Abortion leads to cognitive dissonance among health care professionals, health care professionals have taken the oath of helping and caring for people at all times (Ehrlich 198). If health care professionals believe that abortion will lead to the death of a human being as they regard as a human being and if the parents of a child want the fetus to be aborted, the health care professionals experience great stress in deciding whether they should conduct the act or not.