Catholic and Anglican View of Abortion in the UK - Essay Example

Approximately one third of pregnancies across the world are unplanned. These pregnancies affect women differently, and some may result to ending them. Fertility control is a practice addressed by humans since ancient times. The Greeks and Egyptians manipulated plants that were used as contraceptives and abortifacients. These practices were conducted around 500 A.D and the Jews and Romans believed that a child had all rights of a person after birth and no rights while inside the mother (Harper, Proctor & Proctor, 138). Abortion is the deliberate ending of a pregnancy. Although religion opposes abortion under all circumstances, many religions recognize different factors that influence the decision to terminate a pregnancy. These circumstances determine the procedure of abortion and instances when abortion is acceptable. Abortion is allowed if it is the last resort. Catholics and Anglicans have different views on abortion and some support it when the mother’s life is in danger. The paper will discuss sociological and religious views on abortion by Catholics, Anglicans. In ancient times, the Aristotle belief on abortion was accepted in Pagan Greece and Rome. Aristotle taught that a fetus had a vegetable soul, which evolved into an animal soul later in gestation. The fetus’ soul would become human towards the final stages of abortion (O'brien, 70). This belief supported abortion during the early stages of life when the fetus had a vegetable or animal soul. During the 4th century, Jewish Christianity and Pauline Christianity allowed women to have abortions (O'brien, 75). Parents were also allowed to kill their new-born babies by strangulation or exposure as a method of population control. However, several Christian groups during this time condemned abortion since the unborn children were God’s creation. They considered the unborn children as living human beings that had a right to life (O'brien, 75). Abortion in England, Scotland, and Wales is supported by the Abortion Act of 1967 (Bays, 98). The act states that a medical practitioner may lawfully terminate a pregnancy in an NHS hospital or premises approved for abortion (Bays, 98). Two medical practitioners may reach the decision in good faith if the pregnancy does not exceed its twenty fourth week. Abortion can also be conducted if the pregnancy may involve risk to the mother or the child and termination is necessary to prevent permanent mental or physical injury to the woman. The 1990 amendments removed the links to the Infant Life Preservation Act that had made it illegitimate to end the life of a child that can be born alive (Bays, 101). Abortion in North Ireland is governed by Offences Against The person Act that prohibits unlawful miscarriage. Doctors may perform an abortion on a patient such as a rape victim who has the likelihood of developing mental problems. This legalizes abortions in some instances which can be regarded as lawful. In the 17th century, both Christians and the law supported abortion in England if performed before the fetus was fully formed. Abortion was allowed by the church before the child had developed a human soul and was punished by death if performed later babies (Dombrowski and Deltete, 200). This belief formed the Anglican perception of the value of life, including unborn babies (Dombrowski and Deltete, 201). However, the church advocated for abortion if it was performed to save the life of the mother. An unborn child posing a danger to the mother would be removed since the church valued the life of the mother more than that of the unborn child. Abortion was also allowed if the child was plausible to undergo physical or mental incapacities. Genetic disorder detected in the fetus that could lead to disability served as ground to perform an abortion. The Catholic Church also valued human life and was against abortion. Catholics accept as true that life is sanctified from the beginning of conception and should not be terminated (Cavanaugh, 38). The Catholic Church is governed by the fifth commandment “thou shalt not kill” in instances where the life of a fetus is terminated (Cavanaugh, 45). The church believes that a person comes into existence at conception. This makes deliberate abortion a moral wrong and against biblical teachings. From conception, the child begins life independent of the life of the mother and father (Cavanaugh, 45). The child starts forming features that distinguish him or her from the parents. Since the 16th century, having an abortion led to automatic excommunication from the church. Excommunicated individuals can only be rescinded through the sacrament of reconciliation. Catholic leaders such as the pope have the responsibility of campaigning against the practice in among the congregation. The church considers abortion to affect the mother spiritually and emotionally. Catholics count on the idea that the church has the role of supporting expectant mothers by giving them moral and spiritual support in order to bring a new life on earth (Cavanaugh, 47). The Anglican Church supports contraception as agreed upon by sexual partners. The church bears the same position of the Catholic Church regarding abortion. According to the Anglican Church, life begins after fertilization and the unborn child is entitled to the right to life (Bays, 62). The child should live and develop to become a member of the human life. Therefore, abortion is a moral evil and goes against the biblical teachings. The earliest embryo contains the entire DNA code of a person, and it has the potential to develop into a human being. However, the church considers abortion as a necessary evil and can be performed to save a life. Medical doctors can conduct an abortion to save the life of the mother. Early abortions are better than late abortions since the fetus will have developed all features of a human being. According to the Roman Catholic, abortion is not acceptable even when saving the life of the mother (Cavanaugh, 50). However, life-saving treatment can be performed even if it will lead to the death of the fetus. The Catholic Church values both lives, and none should be taken at the expense of the other (Cavanaugh, 50). Catholics believe that life begins at fertilization and removing the fetus can be classified as murder. This discourages voluntary abortion for any reason except severe medical complications. This contradicts the Anglican view that supports abortion to preserve the life of the woman. Anglicans choose to save the life of the woman at the cost of the fetus. Anglicans do not classify abortion as murder and the woman can have voluntary abortion provided there is a solid reason. This is similar to the belief that not all killings are murder such as killing during war or in self defense (Cleave, 29). Carrying out an abortion has an overall risk to society. Social imagination refers to an awareness of the relationship between an individual and society (Cleave, 40). This awareness allows individuals to understand the links between personal activities and the impersonal social world around us. A permissive attitude to abortion devalues the social appreciation of fellow human beings. Widespread abortion affects the demographic makeup of the community. Abortion has deprived several regions young population that could care for the elderly individuals. Christians believe that the society should change its attitude towards the fetus as well as unwanted pregnancies (Cleave, 29). This begins at the individual level and spreads to society due to the link between personal and impersonal worlds. Changing the idea of abortion encourages individuals to make wise decisions and redevelop the idea of pregnancy as a sacred God-given responsibility. Viewing pregnancy as giving one’s body for the life of another can have a positive impact to the society (Cleave, 29). Modernists support abortion if the fetus has danger of developing physical or mental disability. This was held by early Catholics, which was later abolished when the church declared abortion a moral sin (Cleave, 50). Aborting fetuses due to possible disability sends a message of rejection to people with disabilities. The decision to abort arises from belief that these people will not lead a meaningful life and might be a burden to the parents and society. People in the society have a real fear that people with disabilities will face difficulties after their parents become too old to provide care. Currently, people are afraid to make space, financially and physically, for people with disabilities (Cleave, 59). This is evident in the individualized living pattern witnessed in the UK. The fear of lack of assistance for people with disabilities in the absence of parents has led to abortion on the basis of possible disabilities. According to Durkheim, religion reinforces group solidarity by defining what a group considers being religious (Hughes, Martin and Sharrock, 59). The Catholic and Anglican Churches are against abortion, a stand taken by several followers. This has led to the moral and religious pro-life perspectives on abortion. The moral perspective treats the unborn child as a moral subject entitled to full rights and moral status (Lopez, 513). The fetus is a living subject that has the right to live. This stand is also strengthened by the religious stand that prohibits abortion under all circumstances. Religion is against abortion focused on ethics, morality, and values. The church holds that all life is sacred and abortion terminates life and the fetus has the right to life. This religious perspective has led to the societal belief that abortion is immoral.This has led to heated debates on the issue of abortion with several activist groups against the practice. Pro-Choice perspectives raise serious ethical, moral, and philosophical questions. From the beginning, women have had the title of caregivers and nurturers, and are entrusted with taking care of offspring and the entire home (Lopez, 514). The modernist trend has eroded this responsibility since several women in the UK have to work and children receive little or no attention. The lack of attachment leads to low self-esteem, lack of self-confidence, and attention behavioral problems among the children. Pro-choice gives great attention to parents who do not want to have a child due to future implication of unwanted children. This has given modern women the choice of procuring an abortion if they do not want the child. This modernistic view contradicts the traditional catholic view of abortion as a crime and the mother should be excommunicated from the church. This has led to the high abortion rates in England and Wales where 196,082 abortions were performed in 2011. One thousand of these abortions occurred in London and included women from other UK states (Department of Health, 3). Pro-life and pro-choice activists agree that women in certain situations should not conceive children. Women addicted to drugs are discouraged from conceiving children due to misfortunes in the lives of children and suffering by mothers. Rape and incest victims may also conceive unwanted children. Children born by drug addicts have disabilities, respiratory problems, or HIV. Rape victims suffer from depression and giving birth would further affect their mental health (Schoen, 78). Conceiving through someone’s evil act causes trauma on the mother. This gives drug addicts and rape victims the option to undergo an abortion procedure to get rid of the unwanted child. There are BPAS clinics in the UK where women can undergo safe abortion contrary to the catholic and social beliefs. Drug addicts and rape victims can visit these clinics for safe abortions. The issue of abortion requires strict consideration due to difficult situations that may be introduced by banning the practice. Catholics and Anglicans are against the practice, which may force the government to enact stricter laws or ban the practice. This would reintroduce the days of back-street abortions and abortion tourism. In 2011, over 10,000 women travelled from UAE, Ireland and North Ireland to undergo abortion in England or Wales (Department of Health, 4). This follows the illegalization of abortion in these countries. Unregulated abortions would lead to more abortion related deaths than the current rates. Back street abortions are performed by unregistered practitioners, which would increase the dangers faced by women undergoing abortion (Schoen, 90). Therefore, the church requires stricter rules that would re-establish the value of human life instead of banning abortion. Appealing to societal values and ethics would help minimize abortion cases in the society. This is important for preserving the abortion opportunity during ectopic pregnancies and other medical cases that endanger the life of the mother. Euthanasia is the practice of ending life intentionally in order to relief pain or suffering. Doctors, after consulting the patient and family, may decide to end the life of a patient to alleviate suffering (Tulloch, 98). Euthanasia is illegal in all UK countries, but the British Voluntary Euthanasia Society has provided guidelines on how people should commit suicide. The practice is legal in countries such as Netherlands and Switzerland, and several Britons have committed Euthanasia in these countries. Anglicans and Catholics are against Euthanasia based on the belief that life is god given. Euthanasia is interfering with the natural process of death. Birth and death are viewed as life processes created by God; humans need not interfere. Therefore, human beings lack the authority to take the life of an innocent person even if the individual is willing to die (Tulloch, 98). Some patients may undergo euthanasia without consent, for instant patients with brain damage. The practice is performed with the consent of the family. Abortion is performed with the consent of the mother to end the life of an innocent child. The child does not have the ability to consent and the mother can make the decision solely. According to Marx, group identification and associations influence an individual’s place in society (Hughes, Martin and Sharrock, 80). The society, culture, or organization contains individuals who benefit, suffer, or dominate at the expense of others. Institutions in the society including the family, government, religion, and education may help preserve the privileges of some groups (Hughes, Martin and Sharrock, 80). Pro-life advocates conflict with pro-choice on the issue of abortion and euthanasia based on the suffering group. Unlike euthanasia, abortion affects both the mother and the unborn child. Euthanasia affects the patient only, who dies under consent (Tulloch, 101). Abortion leads to death and illness of the mother. Complications may occur during abortion that could endanger the life of the mother. These include infection to the uterus and fallopian tubes that could lead to infertility. The mother may also die in the process due to excessive bleeding or wrong procedures. The institution of Pro-lifers agrees with the religious view of abortion as immoral. They argue that abortion and euthanasia should not be practiced since it terminates innocent life that should be preserved. In conclusion, the roman catholic and Anglicans have both similar and different views on the issue of abortion. Both religions view human life as sacred and abortion is taking human life voluntarily. The churches also support certain circumstances when abortion is necessary for saving the mother. The Catholic Church initially was against all forms of abortion regardless of whether it was done to protect the existence of the woman. This is contrary to the Anglican belief that the life of the woman has a higher value and can be saved by removing the fetus. The ancient Catholic Church advocated for abortion before the fetus had developed human soul, but they currently believe that life begins at birth. Pro-lifers activists support the catholic view of abortion as immoral and children have the right to existence and must not be killed. This contradicts the pro-choice view that abortion can be carried out to get rid of unwanted children that could suffer due to lack of attention by their mothers. Drug addicts and rape victims can also have abortions to get rid of the unwanted child. The varying stands have led to different views on abortion. References Bays, P. 2012. This Anglican Church of ours. Kelowna, BC, WoodLake. 98-101 Cavanaugh, S. E. 2011. Anglicans and the Roman Catholic Church: Reflections on recent developments. San Francisco, Ignatius Press. 38-50. Cleave, J. 2001. Christianity: Behaviour, Attitudes & Lifestyles. Oxford, Heinemann. 29-59 Department of Health. 2012. Abortion Statistics, England and Wales: 2011. From http://transparency.dh.gov.uk/category/statistics/abortion. [Accessed on 27 November 2012]. 3-4 Dombrowski, D. A., & Deltete, R. J. 2000. A brief, liberal, Catholic defense of abortion. Urbana, University of Illinois Press.200-201 Harper, A., Proctor, C., & Proctor, C., 2008. Medieval Sexuality: A Casebook. London: Routledge.138 Hughes, J. A., Martin, P. J., & Sharrock, W. W. 2003. Understanding classical sociology: Marx, Weber, Durkheim. London: Sage. 59-80 Lopez, R. 2012. Perspectives on Abortion: Pro-Choice, Pro-Life, and What Lies in between. European Journal of Social Sciences , 27(4), 511-517. O'brien, D. 2010. The Church And Abortion: A Catholic Dissent. Lanham, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.70-75. Schoen, J. 2005. Choice and coercion: Birth control, sterilization, and abortion in public health and welfare. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press.78-90. Tulloch, G. 2007. Euthanasia: Choice and death. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. 98- 101. Read More