Rebuttal of an Evaluation - Essay Example

Abortion Kraig Josiah Rice in his article, ‘ABORTION – AN INTERNATIONAL EVIL’ argues against the immoral act of abortion. The issue is no doubt muchdebated and people over the years have opined in favour and against of abortion in equal numbers. Rice delivered the first blow hoisting questions regarding abortion as a human right. According to him a child is a gift of god and a human being, as one of God’s creation has no right to terminate the life in a child. In other words, if a human cannot create life by himself then he has no right to terminate it at his own wish.

Rice has moved forward to claim that a foetus experiences equal pain in termination like any other living being. He has said that this pain is expressed through “The Silent Scream” (Rice) that cannot be heard but can be seen. God is the creator of life and Satan is the destroyer, hence he has opined that abortion in way worship of Satan himself. Rice strongly announces his vote for right to life for the foetus and also told not to impose a decision of someone else’s on a coming child through deciding on his life and death.

Rice’s argument against abortion lacks rationality and an emotional appeal rather than a reasoned one. The Silent Scream claim of Rice classifies the foetus as living and thus has a right to life. Biologically it is alive, but being alive neither provides it full human rights nor a right to live through the gestation period. Question might be asked why so? There are a bunch of reasons first of all a foetus carries human chromosome and left to grow it will be a human one day. It is a potential person, but our hair follicle also contains the same number of DNA that it has.

A zygote and a hair follicle contain the same attributes in terms of chromosomes and thus a zygote is as much a human as a hair follicle. If a hair can be plucked and thrown away what is different for a zygote? (Elroy) This kind of reasoning might sound little harsh to many ears; a little in depth analysis might sooth it; a zygote is humane in nature but not a person yet. It is a potential person but not independent one. Unless independent and conscious how can it judge its fate? Carrying a baby involves significant risks and it is solely on the mother if she decides to expose herself to those risks and get a baby.

If she decides against it; it’s her own will. Before birth the baby and the mother are two people occupying the same body and in such situation will of the dominant entity will always prevail. If that entity decides in favour of abortion, that will be his choice. Again if not independent from the mother’s body; termination of the zygote can never be termed as murder or sacrifice for Satan like in middle ages. Rice’s argument considering God as the creator of life and hence the sole terminator is still questionable in this era of cloning. (Elroy) In the above analysis I have used a practical approach based on scientific ground and encompassing human rights doctrines against Rice’s religious criticism of abortion.

I have used reasoning to prove that being alive not necessarily leads to rights that confer to a human being. Apart from alive, independence and consciousness are other two important factors that a zygote lacks and in that sense it is no different from any other human cell that contain exactly the same numbers of chromosomes. Furthermore on pure scientific basis I have raised question on the sole creator and terminator concept of god; hence with cloning on the horizon a human being is equally capable of creating life nowadays.

Works Cited McKinley, Brian Elroy, “Why Abortion is Moral”, 2008. April 15 2011 from: http://www.elroy.net/ehr/abortionanswers.html Rice, Kraig Josiah. ‘ABORTION – AN INTERNATIONAL EVIL’, 2005, April 15, 2011 from: http://www.breadonthewaters.com/abortion-_an_international_evil.htm