Abortion as the Philosophy of the Biological Knowledge of Pregnancy: Ethic and Religion - Research Paper Example

Abstract: Abortion is a social dilemma. Women that undergo this act usually are not happy about it, yet they don’t see any option but to get it done. This can be due to many reasons that include but are not limited to pre-marital pregnancy, unplanned pregnancy, and marital conflicts. Apart from the mother’s visualization of abortion, many people associate abortion with murder, while others hold an opposite perspective and base their philosophy on the biological knowledge of pregnancy. Ethically and religiously, fetus is a separate human being that gets killed upon abortion, whereas biologically, the fetus is not independent of mother. The conflicting perspectives have exposed lawmakers to many challenges. Thus, the act is legalized in some parts of the world and illegal in the others while the debate regarding the act’s ethical standing is on the move. Introduction: Abortion is the term used for termination of pregnancy at any stage after it has taken place. Abortion is normally conducted to escape embarrassment because a vast majority of the girls undergoing abortion are unmarried. According to (Maisie), as much as 50 per cent of the women that undergo an abortion are below 25 years of age and 60 per cent of the total abortions are undergone by unmarried women. In other cases, abortion is conducted to prevent a fetus from getting born when the mother is too old to be expected to catch a pregnancy. There are several other reasons for people to undergo pregnancy, though most of them pertain to social perceptions and cultural standings. This paper evaluates the abortion with respect to its moral, biological, social and legal standing. Literature Review: The fact that 50 per cent of women who undergo abortion are below 25 years of age suggests that a vast majority of women who opt for abortion are potentially too immature to take rational decisions in life. They are not aged enough to evaluate the potential pros and cons of their act and decide accordingly. Taking this into consideration, it becomes the girl’s husband or parents’ responsibility to suggest her oppositely. Many parents later regret having terminated the pregnancy through abortion because circumstances change altogether. They may never have a child again because of the complications resulting from the prior abortion. Abortion is a psychologically disturbing phenomenon that can ruin the mental peace of the pregnant woman, and put her into a life long trauma. Abortions can cause serious psychological problems in the woman. The biggest con of abortion is that it is essentially a murder. Killing one person is like killing the humanity as a whole. An embryo in the mother’s womb is just as much a living being as the mother is. There is a common consensus among biologists that an embryo starts to have heartbeats in just 21 days of the commencement his/her development. If the unborn baby is considered a living being, the implications upon the parents for aborting him/her should be no different from what they are upon people who are convicted of murder. The embryo gains existence with the will of God Almighty. When God decides to create a human being, we as His creations have no right to terminate His decision. Abortion is an overt display of abhorrence towards the unborn, but living being. Abortions should be avoided because they often lead to extremely dangerous complications. Abortion may cause sepsis, infection, and death of mother along with the embryo. Abortion exposes a woman to the risk of ectopic pregnancies doubles, inflammation of pelvis and miscarriages in the future (Lowen). Many supporters of abortion refer to unwanted pregnancies caused by rape. However, in such cases pregnancy should be prevented instead of terminated. Pregnancy can be prevented from occurring with proper medical care and follow up. By aborting the child, the mother essentially offers punishment to the child, who never committed sin. Instead, the mother should take measures to get the real culprit punished for his act. It is not wise to use abortion as another type of contraception. Many women don’t want children because they visualize pregnancy as a threat to the beauty of their natural figure. By getting pregnant, they don’t want their looks spoiled because looks are more important for them than becoming mother. Such women should take necessary precautionary measures right from the start, so that the pregnancy never occurs. This can be achieved with the prudent use of contraception. If it seems difficult, the figure conscious women should maintain complete celibacy. This is better than committing a murder at a later stage. There has been debate on considering the fetus a human being separate from the mother, because if the fetus is considered that way, abortion necessarily becomes a murder. Many arguments have conventionally been put forth for negating the individualistic existence of a fetus. Critics have made use of biological knowledge to provide evidence for the dependent existence. The argument put forth is conventionally based upon the concept that during the first trimester, the fetus is not capable of having an independent existence. The fetus is attached with the mother with the placenta and by the umbilical cord. Because of this, the fetus’s health depends largely upon the health of the mother. When the fetus depends upon the mother for existence, he can be considered as a part of her, and therefore, abortion is like removing an organ from the mother’s body. Supporters of abortion say that fetus can not exist outside the womb of mother, unlike born children that do. The discussion of whether abortion should or should not be considered as a murder is not limited to the stage of pregnancy, but extends to the stage when mating has not even occurred. It is argued that the fertilized eggs which are used for the in vitro fertilization are just as alive as a fetus is. Likewise, sperms are also alive, yet the implanted lot is carelessly thrown away. The sperms can not exist independently and thus die, though they remain alive as long as they are retained in the body. Realization of this science makes one think, what is the ethical standing of the act of discarding sperms that are not implanted? In light of this discussion, law makers have conventionally been subjected to many challenges upon deciding about the legal implications of the practice of abortion. Till the first half of the 19th century, women in US and Western Europe frequently performed abortions and also offered training in the same (“History of Abortion”). There were no legal prohibitions until then. Britain, in 1803, was the first to develop laws against the act of abortion. Similar trend was followed by US and by 1880, abortion had mostly become illegal throughout the US. However, little to no action was taken against the abortion practitioners in US in those years. By the middle of the 19th century, abortion was conducted in a very dangerous manner. The methods used were largely crude. There was little to no emphasis on the use of antiseptics and the resulting mortality rates were high. “Antiabortion legislation was part of an antifeminist backlash to the growing movements for suffrage, voluntary motherhood, and other women's rights in the 19th century” (“History of Abortion”). Conclusion: People that hold the view that the fetus can not be considered as a human being separate from the mother do not consider abortion a murder, and thus, perform the activity. Irrespective of the pros and cons of abortion, there are many justifications to condemn the idea. According to an estimate, as many as 1.5 million couples in America wish to adopt a child (Lowen). With this statistical information as the ultimate truth, there is no point supporting the concept that people go for adoption when they are left with no alternative to that. Works Cited: “History of Abortion.” n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2011. . Lowen, Linda. “10 Arguments For Abortion and 10 Arguments Against Abortion.” 2011. Web. 19 Mar. 2011. Maisie, M. “Pros and Cons of Abortion.” 2011. Web. 19 Mar. 2011. . Read More