Ethical dilema on Abortion - Term Paper Example

«Ethical dilema on Abortion» Introduction Birth of a child is one of the most wonderful blessings of God for any family. It not only makes a family happy but also proves to be great source of pleasure and contentment for a woman. Being pregnant is a dream for almost every married woman in the world. Godbole (2010) asserts, “Being a mother completes a woman”. However, sometimes the pregnancy turns out to be source of fear and discontent for a woman. There are many factors, which makes woman unhappy with the pregnancy such as low financial status, pregnancy because of rape, forced sexual intercourse, and pregnancy after divorce. In such cases, most of the women go for abortion in order to terminate the unwanted pregnancy. There are some ethical dilemmas associated with abortion, which create difficulties for the women in taking decision whether to go for abortion or not. These problems often prevent the women from making the decision in favor of abortions. In this report, we will discuss the ethical dilemmas associated with the act of abortion. Abortion Before going into the details of ethical dilemmas associated with abortion, let us get a better understanding of what abortion actually is. Abortion means to abort something. In medical science, this term is used for a medical process of ending a pregnancy. Therefore, abortion in medical science is a process in which doctors kill the underdeveloped fetus or embryo of a woman in order to end her pregnancy. Nordqvist (2009) states, “An abortion can happen spontaneously as a result of complications during a pregnancy, or it can be induced”. The most controversial issue in abortion is determination of whether the fetus is a person or not. Supporters of abortion believe that fetus is not a person and a woman has full right on her body whereas opponents of abortion believe that fetus or embryo has life in it and killing a fetus is same like killing a human. We cannot say that fetus has no rights or a woman can kill it whenever she needs to do so. Fetus also possesses the right to live but it must reach that point of time at which the living right of fetus becomes active. The time at which the fetus gains the right to live is usually 22nd to 24th week of pregnancy because at this point of time, the fetus becomes able to survive outside of the womb of the woman. Head (2010) asserts, “Fetuses also have rights, but only after the pregnancy has progressed to the point where the fetus can be viewed as an independent person”. Abortions are allowed in the United States of America. The government of the United States of America has allowed women to make any kind of medical decision regarding their bodies. Unintended pregnancy is one of the most critical issues for a woman because it brings many adverse impacts on her life. A large number of women undergo abortion at least once in their reproductive lives. Stacy states, “More than half of the 6 million pregnancies occurring each year in the United States are unplanned”. Unplanned pregnancies occur mostly due to unprotected sex. Sex is the basic right of any human and when a person undergoes a sexual activity without caring for its consequences, the result is unwanted pregnancy, which creates many problems for a woman. Sometimes a woman is not financially able to bear the expenses of bringing up a child whereas sometimes the family of a woman does not allow her to give birth to a child. Abortion is not considered good in most parts of the world because of different religious and social pressures. Kelley (2010) asserts, “Within the Roman Catholic Church, teachings and leaders commonly oppose abortion”. There are various ethical issues associated with the act of abortion, which prevent a woman from ending her pregnancy. Therefore, women must make use of contraception during sex in order to keep away from unwanted pregnancies. Which Factors Increase Abortion Cases? While talking about abortion and its ethical considerations, let us discuss those factors, which cause an increase in the rate of abortion in any specific society. Financial Factor One of the most significant reasons for the women to go for abortion is financial instability. Most of the women abort their pregnancies because they have a fear of financial insecurity in their minds. Such women conceive due to sexual intercourse with their husbands but their husbands do not allow them to carry the pregnancies. Therefore, wives of such men are sometimes forced to abort their pregnancies. Single mother Another major factor behind increase in the rate of abortion is increased cases of divorce. Sometimes divorce occurs at such point of time at which the women are pregnant with a child. At that time, it becomes difficult for a woman to carry on with her pregnancy because of no social, moral, or financial support. Bringing up a child with low income is very difficult for the single mothers so such women opt for abortion in order to get rid of upcoming problems. Change in Life Some women think that having a baby would change the entire routine of their lives. Such women are so much involved in their jobs that they hardly find any time for their children. They do not want their routine lives to be changed because they think that children add to the responsibilities of a woman. That is why such women go for abortions in order to remain on the safe side. Educational Factor Some women get married at an early stage of their lives. Such women do not want to disturb their education by having children to take care of. Therefore, they try to avoid pregnancies by using contraception during sex. However, sometimes pregnancies occur due to carelessness, which makes them go for abortion. This factor for increased rate of abortion is mostly found in high-class societies where personal life is given more importance as compared to life with children. Not Ready for a Child Some women also say that they are not ready for taking responsibility of a child. Such women are either immature or they have other responsibilities such as jobs or studies to take care of. Some women are not mentally ready to give birth to a child whereas some women do not want to change their routine lives. In all such cases, abortion is the only choice for women. All of the above described reasons of abortion although make some sense, yet they do not provide any ethical base because abortion is the killing of fetus which can never be considered good in any society. It is sex, which results in pregnancies, so care should be taken before pregnancies in form of contraception rather than going for abortions after pregnancies. What Circumstances Justify Abortion? Although there are many ethical dilemmas associated with abortion, yet there exist such reasons, which justify the decision of ending the pregnancy. Let us now discuss those circumstances, which ethically justify a woman’s decision to go for abortion. Rape or Forced Sex Rape occurs when a person or a group of people force a woman to have sexual intercourse with them. That sexual intercourse is without the will of the affected woman. Majority of the rape cases result in unwanted pregnancies, which become a big problem for the affected women. The women go for abortion in order to terminate pregnancies, which occur due to rape. Intention for doing sex plays an important role in determining whether a woman should go for abortion or not. If a woman performs sex intentionally and gets pregnant, abortion is unethical, whereas if a woman is forced to have sexual intercourse and she becomes pregnant, in this case abortions sounds to be ethical for the affected woman. Therefore, we can say that termination of a pregnancy, which occurs due to rape, is ethical and it should be accepted by the society. Danger to the Health of Mother Another case in which abortion appears to be ethical for women is when the life of a mother is in danger due to pregnancy. We have seen such cases in which doctors recommend the pregnant women to drop their pregnancy due to the dangers associated with the birth of the child. In such cases, abortion becomes ethical because life of the mother is more important for a family as compared to the baby inside the womb of the mother. Abortion is ethical for the women in these cases. However, abortion is unethical and can never be accepted by the society in many other cases. Let us now discuss those cases in which termination of pregnancies become unethical for the women. Ethical Dilemmas Associated with Abortion There are many ethical dilemmas associated with pregnancy termination. Let us discuss some of them in detail. Status of the Fetus Status of the fetus plays an important role in determining whether the decision to go for abortion is ethical or unethical. Fetus is an unborn form of a human present inside the womb of a woman. The development of fetus into a living human takes some time. The decision to terminate the pregnancy is unethical if the woman feels the movements of the fetus inside her womb. Sometimes the fetus is dead and the women do not feel any kind of movement inside the womb. In such cases, the decision of a woman to abort the pregnancy becomes ethical. Therefore, we can say that the decision of a woman to terminate or carry the pregnancy depends on the status of the fetus that is present inside the womb of a woman. Some Societies Disregard Abortion Not all societies accept a woman’s decision to terminate the pregnancy. There exist such societies where the viewpoint of the majority of the people is totally against abortion. Those people do not accept abortion and believe it to be against the teachings of their respective religions. In the United States of America, the case is very different as the people living in the USA take into account the reasons, which force a woman to go for abortion. They do not take it as ethical or unethical before knowing the actual scenario. However, in most parts of the world, the decision of women regarding abortion is rejected by the societies whatever the reasons may be. So we can say that acceptance of a woman’s decision to abort the pregnancy as ethical also depends on the culture of the society in which the woman lives. Killing Humanity In some societies, abortion is considered as a step taken by a woman to kill the human inside her womb. This concept of a society creates difficulties for the women who want to terminate their pregnancies. People belonging to such societies are unaware of what fetus actually is and which stage of the fetus makes abortion unethical. Such people just believe abortion to be unethical without knowing the reason for aborting the pregnancy. Killing the humanity is a completely different concept. This concept has no relation with abortion if the pregnancy occurs without intention of a woman to go for sex. However, if a woman performs sexual intercourse intentionally and becomes pregnant, then the concept of killing the humanity applies to abortion, which can make it an ethical issue. Issue of Rape or Forced Sex Rape or forced sex, as described earlier, makes abortion an ethical decision taken by a woman or family of the affected woman. But in some societies, people think that a woman should not kill the baby developing inside her womb even if the pregnancy results due to rape. In the countries like United State of America, rape and forced sex are considered two of the most authentic reasons of abortion. But in the Southeast Asian countries such as Pakistan and India, people look towards the issue more than the cause. Majority of the people belonging to these countries consider abortion an ethical dilemma because they hardly have any awareness of the actuality of the abortion cases. Right of an Inborn Child Another factor, which makes the issue of abortion unethical, is the right of an inborn child. Every inborn child, in the form of a fetus, has the right to live. However, when a woman decides to terminate the pregnancy, it goes against the right of the inborn child, which makes the decision of the woman to abort the pregnancy unethical. An inborn child possesses the right to take birth. The right provided by the governments to the women regarding complete medical control over their bodies does not allow them to kill the fetus developing inside the womb of the women. Killing the fetus is an ethical issue, which makes abortion controversial. We hardly find any country, which allows the women kill the developing fetus without any significant reason behind this act. Therefore, we can say that the right of the inborn babies to take birth makes abortion unethical for the women. Unprotected Sex Another reason, which makes abortion unethical, is unprotected sex. As we said earlier, having sex is one of the basic rights of any individual. Two people make sex in order to get sexual pleasure. Married couples generally make less use of contraception as compared to unmarried couples. However, in some cases, it happens that a couple forgets to use contraception and performs unprotected sex, which results in pregnancy. Now when the women in such cases feel the symptoms of pregnancy, they become worried and make up their minds to go for abortion, which is completely unethical. Pregnancies due to carelessness should not violate the rights of an inborn child. It is very unethical to snatch a person’s right to live just because of one’s own carelessness. This is what makes abortion unethical because fetus is a living person present inside the womb of a woman and if a woman kills the fetus, it raises the issue of ethics. That is why, abortion is considered unethical in most of the countries. Forcing a Woman to carry Pregnancy Forcing a woman to carry pregnancy until birth of a child is another ethical issue related to abortion. Abortion is unethical in case of intentional sex but in case, a man forces his wife to do sexual intercourse without the approval of his wife, the case becomes in favor of the wife because there might be some reason behind the unwillingness of that woman to perform sex with her husband. She might be doing job or wanting to carry on with her education. However, in any case, approval of a woman plays an important role in deciding whether to carry on with the pregnancy or not. The decision of abortion becomes unethical if a woman wants to drop her pregnancy, which occurs as the result of a woman’s own wish. Ethical Obligations to Fathers Fathers are also equally responsible to take care of the newborn babies. It is very unethical if a man asks his wife to terminate her pregnancy due to any kind of financial stress. We have seen such cases in which fathers have tried to convince the mothers to drop the pregnancies just because of financial instability. The question is that why the couples in such cases made unprotected sex when they knew they did not have much money or resources to bring up the child after birth. They should have used contraception in order to keep away from pregnancies. The ethical point in such cases is that the developing fetus should not have been killed just due to the fear of financial instability because the couple made sex intentionally and with complete agreement. Abortion as a Solution to Carelessness Abortion is not a solution to carelessness showed by a couple. If a couple performs sex without contraception, pregnancy definitely occurs in most cases. Therefore, it is the irresponsible behavior of a couple, which creates problem for them in the form of unwanted pregnancy. That problem should not be solved by terminating the pregnancy because it gives rise to the issue of abortion-related ethics. A better option for such couples is to let the child take birth and hand it over to such couples who do not have children due to any disability. However, ending the pregnancy due to a couple’s own carelessness is just illogical. Hiding Something from Loved Ones Another ethical dilemma related to abortion is that it hides reality from the loved ones. Trust is one of the pillars of the structure of relationship, which keeps the relationship intact. If a woman hides her past relationships from her husband, the level of trust goes down which sometimes ends up in breaking the relationship. A woman should never hide reality from her husband whatever the consequences will be. In abortion cases, the signs of surgery remain on the womb of a woman and those signs tell the whole story to the husbands. Therefore, it is good to tell reality to the husbands instead of hiding it through abortions. Not Ready for a Responsibility Any newborn child adds up to the responsibilities of the parents. If a woman says that she is going for abortion because she is not ready for a new responsibility, it does not make any sense because the woman must have thought about it before going to plan for a new baby or she should have used contraception in order to prevent sexual intercourse from causing pregnancy. Two people should marry each other only if they know that they can bear the expenses of their own lives and their babies. However, after getting into a stage where the fetus has developed into a person, it is not considered good to abort the pregnancy just due to the fear of added responsibility because it gives rise to an ethical dilemma related to abortion. Age Factor Does not Count Another ethical dilemma is related to the age of the women. Sometimes pregnant women say that they are too young to hold the responsibility of a child. That does not mean that they should go for abortions. It is really hard to say what women should do in such cases because killing a developing fetus is a very serious issue. Opponents of abortions believe that killing a fetus is same as killing the whole humanity. They are true up to some extent if the fetus or embryo really takes shape of a person inside the womb. Abortion is a very complex issue, which needs proper laws and regulations in order to categorize abortions as legal or illegal. Unmarried Women and Pregnancies Another ethical dilemma arises when an unmarried woman goes for abortion. Pregnancy rate in the unmarried women has risen over the last couple of decades, which has also made abortion a serious issue for almost every country. Unmarried women try to avoid pregnancies using contraception but sometimes they get pregnant due to a little carelessness. In such cases, they go for abortions but it is totally unethical. Abortion Due to Fear of Disability Another ethical dilemma regarding abortion arises when someone kills the fetus due to the fear of disability in the inborn child. Sometimes disable children are born in a family, which makes the family worried about newborn children. In such cases, they try to terminate the pregnancy in order to stop another disable baby from taking birth. It is also unethical because disability of a child is known either at the last stages of pregnancy or after birth. Therefore, decision to kill the fetus in early stages of pregnancy just due to the fear of disability is an unethical decision taken by a woman. Mother is mentally Ill but not Father Sometimes such situations occur in which a man tries to abort the pregnancy of a woman because of mental illness of that woman. That is also an unethical behavior regarding pregnancy because first, that man does not know whether the inborn child is also mentally ill or not. Secondly, even if he gets to know about it, although there are no chances, he does not possess the authority to make his wife go for abortion because it is unethical for a husband to make his wife terminate the pregnancy without any significant reason. These were some of the ethical dilemmas related to abortion, which make it difficult for a woman to decide whether she should go for abortion or not. Conclusion Summing it up, abortion is a process in which doctors kill the fetus or embryo of a woman in order to end her pregnancy. Abortion is one of the most controversial issues being faced by all countries. There are only a few reasons, which justify the decision of a woman to go for abortion. Abortion is not allowed in most of the countries because of different religious and social pressures. Along with religious and social factors, there exist various ethical dilemmas, which make abortion a difficult decision for a woman. Therefore, we can say that where abortion provides solutions to many of the women, it is also accompanied by many ethical concerns for women. References Godbole, M. (2010, Oct. 26). Abortion Arguments. Retrieved Nov. 11, 2010, from http://www.buzzle.com/articles/abortion-arguments.html Head, T. (n.d.). What is Abortion? Retrieved Nov. 11, 2010, from http://civilliberty.about.com/od/abortion/f/what_abortion.htm Kelley, T. (2010, Sep. 10). Should Abortion be Prohibited?. Retrieved Nov. 11, 2010, from http://www.suite101.com/content/should-abortion-be-prohibited-a284606 Nordqvist, C. (2009, April 14). What is an Abortion?. Retrieved Nov. 11, 2010, from http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/145870.php Stacey, D. (2010, Jan. 30). About Abortion. Retrieved Nov. 11, 2010, from http://contraception.about.com/od/contraceptionfailure/a/aboutabortion.htm Read More