Abortion Debate, Pro-life vs Pro-Choice - Report Example

Abortion Debate: Pro-life vs. Pro-Choice By Part Question answer Section My topic is a critical review of the arguments advancedby the proponents of pro-life in support of their view that intentional abortion is morally wrong, and the arguments advanced by the proponents of pro-choice in support of their view that women have an inalienable right to decide on whether or not to abort. 2. I selected this topic because I have a lot of interest in it and I feel that it is quite relevant in our modern societies. 3. My interest in this topic was prompted by the claim that I heard from many people that opposition to abortion can make sense only on religious grounds, but not on rational grounds. 4. In terms of the time that I have invested researching this topic, I have formally researched on this topic for two weeks. 5. In the paper, I intend to prove that the arguments of the pro-choice are flawed and incorrect. 6. The arguments and the counter-arguments that I will contrast in the paper are the arguments of the pro-life proponents, and the counter-arguments offered by the pro-choice proponents. 7. The best way to prove my argument is to point out and to demonstrate the flaws in the counter-arguments advanced against my argument. 8. The anti-abortion attitude of my culture has influenced my point of view on this issue. 9. The predisposition that I have towards this topic already is the opinion that abortion is morally wrong. 10. Although I have an existing point of view, I have reached the conclusion that I have in this paper through an objective critique of the arguments advanced in opposition to my point of view. 11. The main people who have influenced my opinion in this topic are my parents, my parents viewed abortion as being morally reprehensible. 12. The main experience that I have on this topic is that I have personally talked with a young lady who had aborted twice in her life. 13. I have studied the best arguments on all sides of this issue 14. The strongest argument of the pro-life side is the argument that life begins at conception, and abortion, therefore, is murder of an innocent person. 15. The strongest argument of the pro-choice side is the argument that foetuses and embryos are not independent human persons because they depend on their mothers for survival, and this means that mothers have a right to decide on whether or not to abort. 16. I am making an objective claim on my topic. 17. I am making a deductive argument in this paper Critical Analysis Documentation 1. In order to find the most reliable and accurate sources of information for my analysis, I will rely only on authorities on this topic, and I will also rely on scientific findings that sheds light on this debate. 2. It is critical to locate and cite the most reliable information available on my topic because citing the most reliable information will make my argument credible and based on facts. 3. Some of the characteristics of the most reliable sources of information are that the sources of information should be expert view on the issue, and the expert view should be based on scientific facts. 4. One of the fallacies in the debate on abortion is the idea that foetuses are not human persons, simply because foetuses are not fully developed as human persons and they are dependent on their mothers. This reasoning is fallacious because it is not based on scientific findings. I found this fallacy in the pro-choice arguments on abortion. The second fallacy is the argument that foetuses and embryos do not experience pain during abortion. This reasoning is fallacious because it is not based on conclusive scientific findings. I found this fallacy in the arguments of pro-choice in support of their view that women have the right to abort. 5. Five Sources for my research paper Annalee, N. (2012). "What Happens to Women Denied Abortions? This Is the First Scientific Study to Find Out”. Nov. 13, 2012. Print. The date for this research is 13th Nov., 2012. This information was written by Dr. Annallee, N. Dr. Annallee, N is a PhD holder in Psychology. This source is an academic article. David, C., Reardon, PhD, et al. (2002)."Deaths Associated with Pregnancy Outcome: A Record Linkage Study of Low Income Women". Southern Medical Journal. The date for this research is June 2002. This information was written by David, C, Reardon, P, and many other four authors. David, and Reardon are both Professionals in medicine. This source is an academic article: medical article Jodi, J. (2009). "Late Abortions: Facts, Stories, and Ways to Help”. The date of this research is 2009. This information was written by Professor Jordin, J. Professor Jodi, J, is a medical doctor and a professor of medicine. This source is an academic article. Justin, D, PhD. (2012). "Fictional Abortion History”. Dec. 24, 2012. Academic article. The date of this research is 24 Dec., 2012. This information was written by Justin, D. Justin D is both a medical doctor and a lawyer. This source is an academic journal. Suzanne, M & Alford, T. (2003). "Is Self-Abortion a Fundamental Right? " Duke Law Journal. The date of this research is 2003. This information was written by Suzzane, M, and Alford, T. Suzzane, M is a human rights lawyer with a Master’s degree in human rights, Alford, on the other hand, has a PhD in Ethics. This article is an academic source: law journal Willy, P, PhD. (2008). "Abortion and Depression: A Population-based Longitudinal Study of Young Women".  Scandinavian Journal of Public Health. The date of this research is 2008. This information was written by Dr. Willy, P. Dr. Willy is a Psychiatrist. This information is an academic source: medical journal. Part 11: Essay on Abortion Debate: Pro-life vs. Pro-Choice Abortion is a controversial issue in law, ethics, and in religion. The controversy in abortion arises due to the fact that foetuses and embryos are not fully developed human beings, but are in the process of developing, and are dependent on the their mothers for their survival. Owing to this fact, the proponents of pro-life and the proponents of pro-choice have sharply differed on whether or not abortion is morally justifiable: the advocates of pro-life contend that intentional abortion is not morally justifiable, while the proponents of pro-choice argue that women have an inalienable right to decide whether to abort not, i.e. women have a right of choice in matters of abortion. This paper gives three main arguments that the proponents of pro-life advance in support of their anti-abortion stance, and three rebuttal arguments that the advocates of pro-choice offer in refuting the three arguments advanced by the proponents of pro-life. In conclusion, I have given my opinion on this debate, based on the arguments analysed in this paper and the research that I have done on this issue. One of the main arguments advanced by the pro-life proponents is that abortion is murder of an innocent person. The advocates of this view argue that life begins at conception and, for that reason, foetuses and embryos are human beings. The proponents of pro-life go on to argue that regarding unborn babies as not being human persons is arbitrary and discriminative (Suzzane, 2003). This is because, for them, the definition of human person should not be based on the stage of human development that one is at. For this reason, therefore, the proponents of pro-life argue that unborn babies are indeed human beings, and to abort them, therefore, is to kill innocent human beings. The second argument given by the proponents of pro-life is the argument that foetuses experience pain during abortion. The proponents of this view, therefore, argue that abortion inflicts pain on the foetuses being aborted. To support their argument, the proponents of this view contend that, experience has shown that unborn children flinch during abortion. The flinching is understood by the proponents of this view to be a proof that the foetus and the embryos do experience pain during abortion. The third argument advanced by the proponents of pro-life in opposition to abortion is the argument that abortion causes psychological damages to the mothers who abort. To support this argument, the advocates of pro-life cite the scientific studies that have shown that abortion causes long term psychological damage to the women who abort (Willy, 2008). In opposition to these three arguments, the proponents of pro-choice advance the following three arguments to refute the above three arguments advanced by the proponents of pro-life. On the first argument, the argument that human life begins at conception, the proponents of pro-choice contend that human life does not begin at conception, but after birth. The advocates of this view argue that foetuses are not viable since they are not able to survive independent of their mothers (Justin, 2012). For this reason, therefore, the proponents of pro-choice argue that women have an inalienable right to decide whether to abort on not; in this regard, abortion is not murder of an innocent person since foetuses are not persons. In opposition to the second argument, the proponents of pro-choice argue that the claim that abortion procedure makes the foetus being aborted to experience pain is a false and baseless claim. This is because, according to some scientific studies, foetuses do not have functional cortex; cortex become fully developed and functional in foetuses at the 26th week of pregnancy (Jodi, 2009). Without a fully developed and functional cortex, it is not possible for one to experience pain. For this reason, therefore, the proponents of pro-choice argue that foetuses do not experience pain during abortion procedure, unless the foetus has reached the 26th week. The proponents of this view, therefore, discourage abortion during the late stages of pregnancy. In refutation to the third argument, the proponents of pro-choice argue that, women who abort are less likely to have mental health problems, than the women who have been denied abortion (Annalee, 2012). To support this view, the proponents of this view argue that studies have shown that women who have aborted are less likely to have mental health problem, as compared to women who have been denied abortion. In conclusion, a critical analysis of the arguments that we have given in this paper shows that the arguments given in opposition to abortion are stronger than the arguments given in support of abortion. For instance, the proponents of pro-choice have not given a strong argument to show that human life does not start at conception; the argument that foetuses are not human persons simply because they depend on their mothers for their survival is not at all a strong argument. This is because, the same can be said of young babies- even after birth, babies depend on their mothers, on at least on other people for their survival, this fact, however, does not mean that young babies are not human persons. For this reason, I am persuaded to hold the pro-life view that abortion is morally unjustifiable. My research in this debate, also, has made me to be an advocate of pro-life. In my research, I have learnt that abortion poses a big challenge to the survival of human race (David, 2002). This is because abortion encourages the view that human life is disposable. For this reason, therefore, I am of the view that intentional abortion is morally unjustifiable. References Annalee, N. (2012). "What Happens to Women Denied Abortions? This Is the First Scientific Study to Find Out”. Nov. 13, 2012. David. C., Reardon, PhD, et al. (2002)."Deaths Associated with Pregnancy Outcome: A Record Linkage Study of Low Income Women". Southern Medical Journal. Jodi, J. (2009). "Late Abortions: Facts, Stories, and Ways to Help”. Justin, D. (2012). "Fictional Abortion History”. Dec. 24, 2012. Suzanne M & Alford. (2003). "Is Self-Abortion a Fundamental Right? " Duke Law Journal. Willy, P, PhD. (2008). "Abortion and Depression: A Population-based Longitudinal Study of Young Women".  Scandinavian Journal of Public Health. Read More