ABORTION AND EUTHANASIA - Essay Example

Philosophy, Essay Topic: Summary and Opinion on Each Article On the Moral and legal Status of Abortion - Marry Anne Warren Abortion can be defined as a deliberate action of a woman to terminate her pregnancy or to allow another person deliberately for terminating her pregnancy. Terminating a pregnancy means death of a fetus before its birth. There are different theories established by many philosophers about termination of pregnancy and there are different laws about terminating a pregnancy. In some countries terminating a pregnancy is illegal while in other countries it is legal (Warren, 828). There are mainly two types of beliefs about abortion and some people believe that abortion should be prohibited on moral grounds as it is like killing a person while others believe that abortion should not be prohibited as it has nothing to do with morality and it is necessary for society, sometimes, to avoid unwanted situation (Warren, 832). Those who advocate for prohibiting abortion believe that abortion is killing a fetus before birth which is an act of murder on both human and moral grounds. They are of the opinion that the abortion can only be allowed in exceptional cases like when the life of mother is at stake or the pregnancy is a result of rape or forced sex or any similar situation. Those who believe that abortion should not be prohibited in case argue that besides danger to mother’s life and pregnancy as a result of rape or forced sex there are many more reasons which influence the decision of abortion. Sometimes women conceive due to failure of contraceptive measures and they are either not ready or not capable of bringing up a child and birth of a child can be a burden on them. On other occasions the woman who has conceived can be poor, disabled, under-age or unmarried and is not able to bring up a child. In those circumstances, if she is prohibited for abortion it becomes a burden for her whole life. They also reason it as it should be the discretion of the woman to decide about her life and the baby. The fetus cannot be considered as a person as it does not have any characteristics of personhood such as sentience, emotion, reasoning, communication capability, self awareness and morality. Similarly, they cannot be considered as a human being as they don’t have any characteristics of a human (Warren, 833). Moreover, the galloping population of the world can also be controlled to some extent by legalizing abortion because in the countries where abortion is not legalized people have to bear the burden of unwanted children which become a burden on humanity in many cases. Therefore, abortion must be legalized all across the world to reduce not only the burden on women but also on humanity. Abortions can be controlled and late abortions should be avoided unless it is not very essential and danger to life of the mother. An Argument that Abortion is Wrong - Don Marquis Abortion is term which people neither wish to think nor discuss about it, but it does not undermine the importance of the fact. By not thinking or discussing the horrible reality of abortion cannot be avoided. There is a mixed response about this overwhelming reality and some people think that abortion is a ground reality and essential for human society while others think that abortion is a violent act of killing an unborn baby and this act is neither human nor moral. Those who oppose abortion describe it and act of dismembering or tearing apart or vacuuming out a baby from its mother without any anesthesia. They further describe it as a crueler act when it is a partial birth or near-term abortion, when the baby is pulled out by plunging with a sharp object or vacuuming it completely. Though this is a horrible subject to think about it is necessary to discuss about it (Marquis, 839). Those who support abortion reason out that it is necessary for women who conceived without making a choice for it due to rape or failure of contraceptives and are not able to take care of the baby for some reasons like poverty, disability, under age, or marital status. Abortion is not the only choice and the baby can be given away to others who are not blessed with it. Abortion can be avoided till it endangers the life of the mother or the baby and there is a need to change the attitude towards abortion which can be done by changing abortion clinics into adoption clinics. There is a need to develop an organized system to encourage adoption of unwanted babies which will not only save the humanity from this cruelty but also help them who are not blessed with a baby (Marquis, 841). Abortion is the most tragic act for both mother and the unborn baby who is not given chance of experiencing life. It is immoral to give a choice to mother because it may lead to exploitation, rather she should be given control over her own body. There are many instances which prove that many women, who opted to abort the unborn baby, were not happy and did not have peace for their entire life. In fact, abortion provides opportunity to men to escape from their responsibilities and embarrassments (Marquis, 840). People are not much concerned about abortion because they are already born and have no threat of abortion. There is a need to value and respect human life without which innocent unborn babies cannot be protected. Abortion is legalized in many countries which provided them choice of eliminating others. This is not an ideal situation and it must be controlled. Should abortion be legalized to control population or it should be considered as an inhumane activity? Everyone has right to future like ours (FLO). Active and Passive Euthanasia - James Rachels Euthanasia refers to the activity which is aimed to take life of another person on the request of the later when life becomes a burden for the later generally for medical reasons. In other words, euthanasia is the activity which has the purpose of desired death. The definition given above is applied to only voluntary euthanasia and involuntary or the non-voluntary euthanasia is not included. Involuntary or non-voluntary euthanasia refers to kill a person without his/ her consent or knowledge. Euthanasia is also called ‘mercy killing’ or ‘life-terminating treatment.’ There are mainly two types of euthanasia – active euthanasia and passive euthanasia (Rachels, 863). Active euthanasia refers to kill a patient by taking direct action which is not permissible in medical science as adopted by the House of Delegates of the American Medical Association (AMA). However, critical condition a patient has he cannot be killed by his doctor by giving a lethal injection (Rachels, 864). Passive euthanasia refers to a situation when a patient is incurable and there is nothing which can be done for the patient and the doctor agrees to stop the treatment as the conventional doctrine allows him to do so. In this situation the patient is left to die his own death without any medical treatment. There is a debate over active and passive euthanasia. Considering the case of a cancer patient it can be understood better. A patient suffering from severe throat cancer and he / she has to die in a few days even if the treatment continues. The patient is bearing an intolerable pain and the patient and his/her family members request the doctor to put an end to this suffering. The doctor stops the treatment and lets the patient die his/ her own death without any solution of the terrible agony the patient is suffering with. Is it an ideal condition or is it humane? Second situation is that out of every 600 newly born babies in the US one suffers from Down’s Syndrome which means the baby will not lead a healthy and normal life. Should the life of the baby be ended or the baby be allowed to live a short life with a lot of sufferings (Rachels, 863)? In both the cases discussed above, it is more humane to end the life full of suffering than to let the patients die their own deaths. The main reason for this doctrine is the normal believe of the people that they think that killing someone is not a moral act but letting someone die is somehow a moral act. When the suffering is unbearable it is better to opt for active euthanasia than let the patient die his/her own death opting passive euthanasia. Killing and Letting Die - Philippa Foot Euthanasia is defined as killing a patient painlessly who is suffering from an ailment which cannot be cured or killing a patient who is in coma with no possibility to be cured. In other words euthanasia is ‘mercy killing’ of a patient suffering from painful, irreversible and incurable disease. The word ‘mercy killing’ is used describe it as a humane, logical and moral act of treating a patient suffering painfully and terribly from an incurable and irreversible ailment with no prospects and hopes for recovering from the present pathetic condition. It provides options to such patients to choose between dying slowly and painfully and dying painlessly and instantly in presence of beloved ones. There is a debate about active and passive euthanasia. Active euthanasia refers to killing the incurable patient instantly by providing a lethal injection while passive euthanasia refers to let the patient die slowly his/ her own death (Foot, 869). American Medical Association does not approve active euthanasia but passive euthanasia. There are many philosophers who suggest that active euthanasia is better in many aspects that passive euthanasia as there is no point in letting a person wait for a painful death. On moral grounds letting a person die is considered as a better option than to kill a person. But there are other theorists who believe that basically there is not much difference between active and passive euthanasia. They see no difference between ‘act’ and ‘omission’ and question can the act of sending poisoned food to them who are dying of hunger be considered a wise act or morally right act (Foot, 871)? There are other thinkers who believe that whether active or passive, euthanasia is immoral and against the law of God. They are of the opinion that humans don’t have authority to decide about death of a person and they are supposed to provide whatever is possible within their means for sustaining life. If we start opting for euthanasia, whether active or passive, for incurable patients, are we not paving the way to provide the option to elderly who are suffering for other reasons, or mentally retarded people or handicapped who are also suffering for some or other reasons. Do the people with suicidal tendency be given ‘right to die’(Foot, 870)? Though there are different opinions about euthanasia and about active or passive euthanasia. There is not much difference between killing a patient or letting a patient die. A person for whom life is painful should be given option to die peacefully and painlessly if the person wants. There is no point in stretching a painful life and making it painful for others as well. Works Cited Warren, Marry Anne, On the Moral and legal Status of Abortion, n.d. Marquis, Don, An Argument that Abortion is Wrong, n.d. Rachels, James, Active and Passive Euthanasia, n.d. Foot, Philippa, Killing and Letting Die, n.d. Read More