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Medical Ethics: Abortion (The Right's of the foetus (Arguments against…
Medical Ethics: Abortion
Christianity and Abortion
Examine the moral issues raised for religious believers by abortion [30 marks]
Arguments FOR Abortion
Why some Christians accept it...
Jesus taught to do the most loving thing (agape love). Sticking to rigid rules may be unloving to the unborn child and mother.
Fletcher’s Situation Ethics allows a person to follow the spirit of love whilst not being bound by the absolute (fixed) rules. E.G. It would be the most loving thing to allow a mentally handicapped woman (who was raped) an abortion. Fletcher strongly agreed with’ planned parenthood’.The Church of England accept abortions because...
Abortion is an evil to be avoided, but can be justified in 3 circumstances.
- Risk to the mother’s life or her mental/physical health.
- Baby likely to be deformed and the mother feels she cannot cope.
- Rape
- Abortion can be the lesser evil
The Methodist Church accepts abortions because...
They agree with the Church of England - lesser of two evils
Abortion might be necessary so that the embryo does not experience immense suffering (if handicapped), recovery for the victim (of rape), or to ensure the mental/physical well being of the mother.
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Christianity and Abortion
Having an abortion would be contrary to the belief of a religious person. Assess this view [20 Marks]
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Main points to discuss:
3 main teachings against abortion. - Give examples
To disagree - three main reasons - Jesus’ teaching on love, situation ethics and forgiveness.
The teachings of the church of England
The methodist teachings
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The Mother's Rights
Arguments FOR
Supporter of the women’s rights to choose whether to abort claim that the decision affects five important areas of her life which only she should be able to control:
- Her future
- Her relationships
- Whether to have a child
- What happens to her body
- What happens to her life.
In some cases there may also be an argument for compassion, if having the child would cause great hardship. Abortion gives women the chance to have choices about her fertility, taking into account all the factors that will affect her, her child, and, possibly her partner or existing children. In all cases, the pro choice supporter will argue that the rights of the mother are greater than those of the foetus since the foetus is not able to survive outside the mother’s womb. The mother has an independent, existing life whilst the life of the foetus is only partial.One of the most influential arguments is by the philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson in A defence of Abortion. Her argument focuses primarily on rape cases or faulty contraception where the women finds herself pregnant against her will. She argues that:
- A women owns her own body in the same what that we might say that she owns her house or her own life. Therefore, as a women she has a prior claim to her body before pregnancy so she may remove the foetus at any time she wants.
- An unwanted pregnancy poses an enormous strain on a woman's body. She is entitled to some form of self-defence even if this means the ‘direct killing’ of an innocent party.
- Foetal rights and mother’s rights and not equal. The foetus does have rights but they cannot be equivalent to the mother, even through the foetus is innocent. The mother and foetus are not two tenants in the same house rented by both. The foetus is using the mother’s body and therefore has tenant’s rights not ownership rights. She may choose to acknowledge the rights of the foetus but she is not compelled to do so. Having a right to life does not give you the right to use someone else’s body.
- There is no law or prima facie duty which compels the women to be a Good Samaritan at her own expense.
Arguments AGAINST
- A foetus is part of a woman’s body with its own right to life.
- A abortion causes long-term physical and emotional health problems for women.
Do circumstances matter?
There are some circumstances where even some pro-life supporters make exceptions to the rule.
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Threats to the mother’s life
Until the mid-twentieth century, the only grounds for abortion were when a pregnancy threatened a mother’s life.
Arguments FOR abortion on the grounds of threats to a mother’s life.
- Consider the doctrine effect. It is possible to imagine a situation where, in giving attention to the mother’s health, the side effects of medical treatment have indirectly (not intentionally) resulted in the death of the baby. Even pro-life and sanctity of life supporters such as the Society of the protection of Unborn Children allow for a termination of pregnancy, although as it is not a deliberate act it is not technically an abortion.
- Other people argue on welfare grounds that threats to a mother life must take precedence over the foetus’ life. This is not to say that the foetus’ life is any less valuable that the mother’s life, but where difficult decisions have to be made then one evil has to be weighed up against the other. The Church of England takes this viewpoint based on the lesser of two evils argument.
- Utilitarian arguments have the more complex task of weighing up the value of the mother's life against the baby. In most cases is could be argued that the death of the mother would cause more pain than the death of the foetus due to the significant relationships she has created with family and friends.
Arguments AGAINST abortion on the groups of threats to a mother’s life
- Some people would argue that the life of the baby has the same intrinsic value as the life of the mother. If both lives are deemed equally valuable then it might be equally reasonable to treat the baby and forfeit the mother’s life.
Ethical Theories
Virtue Ethics
In the Cider House Rules we see compassionate, courageous people performing abortions to help others. Equally, there are kind courageous people campaigning against abortion.
Situation Ethics
In some cases, for example, case of rape, abortion may be the more loving thing.
Natural Law
One of the primary precepts is to 'protect the lives of the innocent' leading to the secondary precept '(absolute rule). 'Do not abort', another primary precept is 'reproduce', again leading to the secondary precept 'do not abort'.
Utilitarian
In some cases , for example, case of rape, abortion may cause happiness than pain for the people involved. However, we cannot accurately predict the cons of abortion, for example, psychological damage to mother.