Premise one states that a fetus is not a human being physically. The most fundamental difference is that a fetus is totally dependent on a woman's body to survive. In order to be classified as a human, by definition, they have to be separate individuals. Being inside a woman does not make it a separate individual. A fetus does not gain the status of human being simply by living inside the body of a human being. Also, being a normal human being implies a physical body of a certain size/shape with common attributes with the exception of disabilities. A fetus, however, especially in the early stages does not even look recognizably human. In fact at early stages a fetus could look indistinguishable to a dog or pig fetus. The fetus cannot do
Marquis approaches his argument by considering those already put forth by anti-abortionist and pro-choice alike. He points out that both points of view focus on the status of the fetus; in particular they seek to establish whether or not a fetus is a person. He reasons that when paralleled, these arguments produce a sort of “standoff” that ultimately become more complicated and trivial (556). Looking for biological and/or physiological features to determine when a being is is a true “person” is morally irrelevant, and thus cannot
Therefore, it explains why it is wrong to kill a person while they were and infant as it is to kill them now. The conclusion of this argument is that because abortion involves killing fetuses and fetuses have FLOs for exactly the same reason infants have FLOs, and then abortion is immoral.
P1: If a fetus has the potential to a future-like-ours, then abortion is seriously wrong except under certain circumstances
While parts of both may be true, both cannot stand side by side as completely true when discussing abortion. As they stand today, fetus rights and female rights are incompatible in arena of abortion. Even the “other side” agrees that the two cannot stand shoulder to shoulder. In a chapter entitled “Abortion Does Not Violate Human Rights”, Christian Beenfeldt quotes Brian McKinely when claiming that female rights have a higher precedence than fetus rights: “It’s actually quite simple. You cannot have two entities with equal rights occupying one body. One will automatically have veto power over the other.” So one question remains, which more important, fetus rights or female rights? The winner of this question can be decided by one simple factor: is the fetus to be considered a true, living human being at the point of conception, or does true human life not begin until after birth? A clarification should be made here, however. In this paper it will be assumed that everyone involved in this debate considers a newborn child to be a human being. That is, at the moment of birth, a child either becomes a human being or continues to be a human being; regardless of the fetus’s life state before birth, it will be assumed that all agree that birth “confirms”, so to speak, the life and human existence of the newborn.
The debate about the legality of abortion involves debating the legal status of the fetus. If the fetus is a person, anti-choice activists argue, then abortion is murder and should be illegal. Even if the fetus is a person, though, abortion may have justified as necessary to women’s body self-govern but that wouldn’t mean that abortion is automatically ethical. Perhaps the state can’t force women to carry pregnancies to term, but it could argue that it is the most ethical choice.
Most arguments concerning the abortion issue hinge on the moral status or standing of the fetus with respect to the rights it possesses and the obligations that are directly owed to it. These arguments typically fall into two commonly termed categories: pro-life and pro-choice. Pro-life advocates tend to place the status of the fetus first. They argue human beings including a fetus, have an intrinsic value that confers them the right not to be unjustly killed. Conversely, some pro-choice advocates argue the fetus lacks a virtuous characteristic that affords it any rights or significant morals, this is usually termed the 'personhood' argument.
Science tells us that from the moment of fertilization, a fetus is a human. Despite this, however, there is a swarm of controversy surrounding question, when does a fetus become a human? Many people believe that once a baby is conceived, it is considered a living human being. Many of these people believe that whether or not a fetus is a human is chiefly a scientific question. “The question as to when a human being begins is strictly a scientific question, and should be answered by human embryologists - not by philosophers, bioethicists, theologians, politicians, x-ray technicians, movie stars or obstetricians and gynecologists” (Irving). While Irving has a valid point in saying that whether or not a fetus is a human is a question mainly for
One is that the fetus is a part of of a woman’s body, and a woman has a right to her own body. As a woman does have a right to her body, the child inside her body is not part of her body; it is just the current location of the fetus. The woman and her child have different DNA, altogether disproving the idea that the fetus is just a body part. Many women also have abortion due to the life her child would have, whether it is because she is in school and is unable to take care of the child or because the child would be born into a poor economic status. The answer to this is quite simple: adoption. Put the child up for adoption, and he or she will have a good life. A good example is Olympic gymnast Simone Biles. She was born to a very poor mother who was unable to raise her- a clear candidate for abortion. However, she was instead put up for adoption, and now she is one of the greatest gymnasts in history. Many people also believe that women should have the ability to choose abortion in the cases of rape, incest, or health to the mother. This is a very meaningless exception. Only 0.3% of abortions are in the case of rape, and only 0.03% are in the case of incest. All doctors sign a pledge saying they have to save both the child and the mother, so that last case is also meaningless, especially since they only make up 0.2% of
The advancement of medical technology has made it possible to detect medical abnormalities while a child is still a fetus and can create difficult choices for parents to make if severe anomalies are discovered. There are many theories regarding the moral status of the fetus that can be applied when deciding how to proceed if these abnormalities are detected. In the fetal abnormality case study, Jessica, Marco, Maria, and Dr. Wilson each have varying opinions on what course of action to take based on these different theories of moral status.
Dangerous Pregnancies: Mothers, Disabilities, and Abortion in Modern America by Leslie J. Reagan reveals the danger and worry expecting mothers encountered when faced with German measles. While no one was immune from the disease, pregnant women were at high risk, as the disease was particularly harmful to their unborn children. Reagan demonstrates that women of all classes were at the heart of the discussion, and these same women shaped the nature of the movement due to their gender.
opposite claim; that the unborn child, because it is a developing human being, possesses a moral status
With reference to abortion, examine and comment upon the issues that emerge from keeping up with developments in medical ethics, whilst maintaining religious principles and/or ethical values. (Total for Question 1 = 50 marks)
Abortion is always argued with different cases and play a main role in medical ethics (blackwell.,p291).It is evidently reasonable for some to argue that in moral situation, abortion is a murder and it should be illegal, while others may claim that abortion is woman’s right when concerning on autonomy ( The abortion debate in Australia). Opponents of making abortion legal claim that abortion is a kind of murder on extend of moral situation. It is always regarded as a sin to kill a person who is no aggressor in most moral communities (new ethics 1). Fetus is a biologically human as it is not just a part of the mothers, such as a lung or a kidney. On the contrary, it is obvious that fetus is human due to he or she has genetic code of human and human parents as well (abortion myth p5). Moreover, it has potentiality to be a person with primary moral worth (text book p210-211). As Gillion (new ethics) pointed out, every person has his right to life, especially he is not an aggressor. This point is also been pointed by (Rebecca and john,Blackwell p204), “embryos has a right to life” .The fetus is innocent and
According to London et al. (2014), stillbirth is defined as the “death of a fetus or infant from the time of conception through the end of the newborn period 28 days after birth” (p. 481). In 2011, in the country of Taiwan, there were a total of 2,321 stillborn births and it was reported that 60% of the women who experienced this loss suffered from severe postpartum depression within 4 years (Tseng, Chen, & Wang, 2014, p. 219). Although it is known that the mothers of these infants suffer with traumatic stress, follow-ups after stillbirths are rare and there is no community support groups available. There is not much information available on the experience of Taiwanese women who experience a stillbirth nor is there information about the steps taken by these women to recover from their loss. Thus, this study seeks to understand the experiences of these Taiwanese women who have experienced the loss of an infant and how they cope within their society (Tseng et al., 2014, p. 219).
Through The Fetal Position by Chris Meyers, he brings up arguments he has encountered. Then responds to each of the arguments. Two widely used arguments are the Punishment and Accepting Responsibility arguments. The Punishment argument states that unwanted pregnancy is the deserved punishment for ending up pregnant. While the Accepting Responsibility argument states that the woman should own up, and be responsible for getting pregnant. To Meyers both of these arguments are largely flawed, and he counters each with multiple responses.