Ethical Issues of Abortion - Essay Example

Ethical Issues of Abortion Ethical issues of abortion In the work complied by Landis (2006), the concept of abortion is avery contentious issue in the contemporary world today. Many women have resulted to conducting prenatal diagnosis of their unborn babies. According to Mackinnon (2011), June decides on prenatal diagnosis for the reason that her husband and his family expect a boy, failure to which abortion will be done. June, on the other hand, accepts prenatal diagnosis since she is a genetic carrier of a particular kind of muscular dystrophy, and is wary that if her baby is a boy, he might succumb to the infection.

In Junes case, it is warranted to argue that she is selfish and minds herself than her baby. She does not consider the fact that the baby boy may be an exceptional case, and not succumb to the disease. Her egoist behaviors take the better part of her choices to abort the fetus and not letting nature take its course. Ann’s case is simply wrong, since all babies are equal despite the gender. In each case, the consequences of the abortion determine the fate of the women (Mackinnon, 2011). In both cases, the baby may be hurt or the mother may die.

However, in the case June, she may end up bringing a child in very tough conditions of sickness, whilst Ann may bring up the child failure to abortion. This is a negative impact on the mother. Despite the conflict in opinions, the act is simply wrong according to utilitarianism (Mackinnon, 2011). The Kantian reasoning might differ in evaluating each woman’s decision since the fetus is considered one with the inability to make decisions. In this case, June’s baby may be at risk; thus, abortion may be justified on the health of the baby, whilst in Ann’s case, abortion may be justified on the grounds of the mother’s security and ability to bring up the child single handedly.

References Landis, J. (2006). Abortion. New York: Green haven Press.Mackinnon, B. (2011). Ethics: Theory And Contemporary Issues: Concise Edition. Boston, Mass: Wadsworth. Cengage Learning.