The issue worries citizens of most civilized countries of the world. Recall that it has acquired a nationwide character; when discussing it, the opinions of influential people collide. This problem is important in itself and is part of the struggle for understanding women’s freedom and moral norms. The religiously conservative part of society usually rejects the interruption of pregnancy, insisting on the impossibility of depriving the fetus of life, which God grants. In turn, their opponents insist on a woman’s freedom and her right to decide what to do with her body. Supporters of the abortion ban often do not support gender discrimination at all, but they believe that the right of the embryo to life outweighs the right of a woman to dispose of her body. It is not difficult to notice that the two camps disagree regarding the moral autonomy of embryos and fetuses and their right to live in this context. Supporters of abortion believe that embryos and fetuses cannot have full human rights since the fetus is not yet a human being.
Consequently, a woman’s rights override the rights of an embryo or fetus. Abortion advocates insist that embryos and fetuses already have the right to life. At the moment, scientists do not have a consensus on the fetus’s feelings during a procedure: whether it experiences similar pain sensations and at what week of the woman’s pregnancy (Demir et al., 2021). The development of embryology can seriously affect the abortion decision. If a time limit is set, after which the fetus acquires the ability to experience pain, then abortions “on request” after this border will probably be banned (Elias, 2021). Thus, the ability to experience pain in the context of our culture can serve as a starting point for recognizing an embryo or fetus as a human being with human rights.
Summing up, in countries where the processes of democratization of society are actively taking place, this same bioethical discourse will gradually lose its influence on solving the problem of abortion. At the same time, one should not underestimate the national specifics and socio-economic and cultural prerequisites for solving the problem of abortion in each particular country. These prerequisites can become fundamental in shaping public opinion about the problem of legalizing pregnancy termination.
References
Demir, M., Keleş, Ş., & ÖRNEK, N. B. (2021). Perceptions of a Group of Medical Students Regarding the Issue of Abortion: A Qualitative Analysis. Tıp Eğitimi Dünyası, 20(60), 5-19. Web.
Elias, M. (2021). The Issue of Abortion in Contemporary Brazil: An Analysis of Feminist Litigation in the Supreme Court. Feminist Legal Studies, 29(2), 159-179. Web.