Legalization of Abortion Is Moral - Essay Example

Legalization of abortion is moral

Abortion defines termination of a pregnancy as forcing the fetus out of the uterus before its normal time. Miscarriage and induced abortion are all forms of abortion but the induced type is popular and is widely known as formal abortion because of its controversial scope in society. Laws in the United States allow for abortion subject to limitations and this has elicited opposition from social groups among other stakeholders. It currently remains a controversial debate on whether the current legal position is moral and should be retained or whether it is immoral. This paper argues for the morality of current laws that allow for abortion.

Deontology ethics offers one of the bases for evaluating the morality of abortion. According to ethics, an act is moral if it is consistent with existing rules in society and this means that reviewing such rules as the constitution is fundamental to understanding the morality of abortion. Important to the abortion debate are the constitutional provisions for human rights and the protection thereof from contravening legislation. The Ninth Amendment of the constitution provides that citizens’ rights are supreme and no law can be made to create some rights that can infringe on the former category of rights. Examples of protected rights are rights to privacy and autonomy in decision-making. Pregnancy issues meet the privacy definition and should remain at a woman’s description, subject to the existing laws. Further, the same laws provide that such a right is supreme, no law should be made to contravene it, and this means that calls for illegalization contravene deontology ethics. While some people may argue that the defined rights in the Ninth Amendment also protect the fetus, such arguments can only be valid if the same constitution offered a definition of a fetus and provided for its rights. The Fourteenth Amendment however offers a solution to this problem through its definition of people who are entitled to rights under the constitution. One of its provisions is the phrase ‘people who are born or are naturalized in the United States’ and this does not include a fetus because it is not yet born. Consequently, the constitution, as an element of existing laws, protects a woman’s decision to have or not to have an abortion, and arguments against such a position are Deontologically unethical (the University of Minnesota 1).

A person also has the right to private property and this rationale grants a woman the right over her body and her body parts. The fetus is considered part of a woman’s body as long as it is in her womb and this means that the woman has the right over decisions affecting the fetus because of privacy and autonomy principles (the University of California 1).  

The utilitarian approach to morality on abortion also guides the debate on whether abortion is moral and should be legalized or not. According to utilitarian ethics, an actor is moral if it offers net benefits to a majority of members of the society and immoral if its net effects are harmful to most of the involved stakeholders. Considering the case of unwanted pregnancy, the child, the mother, and people in the environment are the involved stakeholders. An abortion terminates the child’s life but meets the interest of the expectant woman and the immediate society that already considers the child unwanted. Forcing the woman to have the pregnancy however exposes her to rejection and rejection of the child that the woman may also reject and this leads to psychological harm to all the stakeholders. In such a case, therefore, allowing for abortion benefits the expectant woman and society while not allowing abortion identifies harm for all the stakeholders. Abortion would therefore be moral. The fetus is also not yet a human being and this means that it lacks feelings. Consequently, no harm can be attributed to abortion with respect to the fetus as a victim. This further means that a woman’s interest is important in an abortion case and the abortion should be legal to allow the woman to meet her need following a pregnancy (the University of California 1).

Social issues also justify the need for abortion and therefore support existing laws that allow for it. In cases of rape in which women suffer trauma and psychological pain, forcing them to carry the resultant pregnancy and take care of the child will hinder the woman’s healing from the suffered pain. It will consequently cause harm to the woman. The fact that foster homes in which unwanted children can receive care, are full and the need for love and care for children’s well-being also means that only wanted children should be born (the University of California 1).

There are however contrary arguments to the morality of abortion such as that the fetus is a human being, pregnancies by a woman’s mistake should be protected, and people can use abortion as a form of birth control (the University of California 1).

Even though arguments against abortion exist, neither they are subjective and supported by law nor do they lead to maximum benefits in society. Arguments for abortion however identify morality and legality and this means that legalizing abortion is moral.