Philosophical, Medical and the Legal Aspects of Abortion - Research Paper Example

The ethics of abortion has been of global debate. This essay aims at the critical analysis of the philosophical, medical, and the legal aspects of abortion. The moral philosophy questioning man’s right over another individual’s life is the background that challenges the process of abortion. The general claim against abortion is that it is not very different from brutal murder. This essay relates the medical definitions of killing to that of abortion to prove that abortion is not very different from murder. The medical consequences and principles of abortion are also reviewed. The paper points out the medical proofs for a developing embryo having a district and unique genetic setup in comparison with the mother. The process of abortion will put the fetus to immense pain. Life is considered by all religions as the gift of God. No one in the world is supposed to have the right to take a life. In conclusion, it can be found that in any of the reviewed aspects, abortion cannot be justified. While taking into account the medically relevant facts and definitions in relation with abortion, it has been confirmed that abortion is an act of inducing death. Abortion is the denial of one’s right to be born. No one actually has that right and the forceful takeover of that right philosophically is the breach of the rules of nature. None of the religions and their principles supports abortion. In totality, abortion is a cruel act and in no means it must be supported. The paper demands that legal restrictions must be strengthened with regard to abortion and the social setups should undertake the responsibility to educate people on abortion. The definition of abortion as provided by US National Library Medicine is that “An abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy. It uses medicine or surgery to remove the embryo or fetus and placenta from the uterus” (Anderson, 2003). Another definition of abortion is “Abortion is referred to as the process of terminating pregnancy at a stage before the fetus has attained the stage of viability” (Kapilasharmi, 2007). It is important to consider the philosophical interpretations of abortion along with the medical definitions. In a philosophical angle, it is the denial of the right to be born. The social acceptability of abortion has been argued upon with reference to its sociological and moral implications. These arguments are based on the moral philosophy questioning man’s right over another individual’s life. The general claim against abortion is that it is not very different from brutal murder. Interestingly, while in a murder, the victim receives the sentiments of the people whereas in abortion, the entire social mechanisms conspire for the process resultantly the murdered and the sentiments associated with it portrayed as a mere medical process. As per medical definitions, the fetus is a just a chunk of tissues, but for the ethically thinking society, the fetus is an important part of tomorrows world. The religious argument also supports this view as it believes that it’s only God who has right take a life (Anderson, 2003). The medical consequences and principles of abortion are also worth careful review. The essay aims at the critical analysis of the philosophical, medical, and the legal aspects of abortion. The medical definition of death interestingly suggests abortion to be a murder. In medical terms, death is a stage where the heartbeats seize. Any process which artificially results in this phase can be called murder or killing. Relative analysis of these two medical definitions confirms that even in medical terms abortion is killing. Thinking on the other side, it further confirms the fetus as a medically live. It has been medically proven that heart formation happens in a fetus right after the 18th day in the womb and subsequently heart starts beating. The medical standards for induced abortion have been set as 20 to 28 weeks depending on the expertise of medical care available (Medline, 2009). This means that all the babies which are being aborted have live beating hearts. This confirms abortion as an act of killing. There could be counter arguments that heartbeats based explanation of death is outdated and has been replaced with more advanced technology of electroencephalograph (EEG) which analyzes the brain wave movement to define death. This however does not weaken the thesis as brain wave movements are noted in a fetus from the 40th day itself. Thus according to the heartbeat based argument abortion on any day between 18th days to the medically standard 28 weeks can be considered as killing. Even by the EEG based definition, abortion from the 40th day to 28 weeks can be called killing as per both the definitions. In totality, abortion in all means is a killing and none of the medically relevant excuses can help it to be explained as a non brutal act. Another relevant argument in this context is that the promoters of abortion argue an embryo as one with no genetic identity as the genetic setup would be as similar that of the mother. However, medically it has been proved that a developing embryo has a district and unique genetic setup in comparison with the mother. Same would be result if compared with the DNAs of the father as well. It has been found that there are no distinguishable features between the DNA of a developing embryo and that of an adult. In simpler language, if a geneticist is given the DNAs of both an embryo and adult, even with the aid of the most modern technologies, he or she will not be able to distinguish which belongs to the embryo. Thus it can be found that a fetus even genetically contains life and is the future of human race. Pain is a factor which would explain the brutality of any deed. The promoters of abortion would use this point to justify abortion as it is generally believed that the fetus has no feel of pain. It would be ideal here to the findings made by the British Medical Journal that there are evidences at several stages of fetus which proves it feels pain. (Medline, 2009) This clearly suggests in the simplest language that the fetus can very well feel pain. Thus the process of abortion will put the fetus to immense pain. It would be as equal as piercing a knife into the chest of some one. Studies by Medline have shown that there would be changes in the heart rate and fetal movement in cases of intrauterine manipulations suggesting that fetus can feel pain (Medline, 2009). In the whole debate both in favor and against abortion, the most relevant philosophical question is that at what stage is humanity induced in the fetus or when does a fetus start being a human? Evidences support the answer that the very moment a woman is conceived another human is created. All that has to follow in the period of pregnancy and even the process of birth are naturally inevitable consequences. It is prewritten by the rules of the nature. No power on the earth has the right to interrupt this natural process. What so ever would be the interruption is against the natural laws (Anderson, 2003). After all it is that rule of the nature which let us live and keeps life going. It is not wise to mix-up humanity with personhood. Though the fetus is not fully developed as person as a human it deserves the right to do so. As having bestowed with the destiny to be born, the fetus goes through the process of achieving personhood through a series of process. Thus it is just matter of time to get converted into a state of personhood. Having not given the chance to go through these processes, it is not at all justified to make it a point in support of abortion. Added to this, if the religious contexts are taken into account, none of the religions principles would deny ones right to live. Mother Theresa has opined that “The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign”(Gargaro, 2005).All preaching, no matter which ever religion would belong to, would never encourage any one to take a life. Life is considered by all religions as the gift of God. No one in the world is supposed to have the right to take a life. Denying the right to be born is cruel in any philosophical and religious context (Anderson, 2003). People may find justifications for abortion by relating it with the materialistic things in life. Some may find a baby being born as a restriction in their freedom. Some may point out the easy reason of not being ready to have a child. Few others will have some health related issues as an excuse. What ever be the excuse, none of them are strong enough to justify the act of abortion, which in other terms is killing. When thousands of people are deprived of the blessing to have a child, its by all means unjustified to get a baby killed in the womb. In conclusion, it can be found that in any of the reviewed aspects, abortion cannot be justified. While taking into account the medically relevant facts and definitions in relation with abortion, it has been confirmed that abortion is an act of inducing death. Inducing death is in other terms killing or murder. Thus what ever the medical science and its principle argues, abortion is never different from murder. Philosophically speaking, abortion is the denial of ones right to be born. No one actually has that right and the forceful takeover of that right philosophically is the breach of the rules of nature. None of the religions and their principles supports abortion. In totality, abortion is a cruel act and in no means it must be supported. Legal restrictions must be strengthened with regard to abortion and the social setups should undertake the responsibility to educate people on abortion. They must be well aware that while doing abortion, what actually happens is that a link to a newer generation is being cutoff. They should be aware that they are literally sanctioning the authority to kill a human being while giving consent for abortion. Works Cited Anderson, Kerby. “Arguments Against Abortion”, 2003, LeadrshipU, 26 November 2013, Kapilasharmi, M C. “Socio-demographic problems of unsafe abortion”, Consortium on National Consensus for Medical Abortion in India, 2007, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, 26 November 2013, http://www.aiims.ac.in/aiims/events/Gynaewebsite/ma_finalsite/report/1_1_2.ht m MedlinePlus “Abortion”, Medline Plus, 2009, US National Library of Medicine, 26 November 2013, http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/abortion.html Gargaro Carolyn, “Quotes about abortion”, 2005, In Memory of Mother Theresa, 26 November 2013, http://www.gargaro.com/mother_teresa/quotes.html Read More