Any termination of pregnancy is called an abortion which has become an increasingly controversial topic as it raises fundamental religious, moral, and other issues. To properly understand the ethical aspects of abortion, it is necessary to realize that pregnancy is both a regular physiological process occurring in a woman and the biological formation of a new person (Rahman). While the proponents claim it is a matter of choice that defines human freedom, abortions still damage one’s health and may cause severe implications.
Two opposing points of view have developed around such a complex and delicate topic in the bioethical literature. Abortion is considered a purely personal and highly intimate affair that no one cares about except the woman, that no one could intervene (Reston). This is just one of the medical operations, and, as with any surgical operation, all problems are solved by the doctor and the patient.
The other argument of abortion supporters is the autonomy of a female as a moral subject, her right to make a reproductive choice. If the intervention is prohibited, a woman is deprived of the fullness of her rights as a person and citizen and does not have the freedom to choose whether to be a mother (Reston). Thus, by prohibiting abortions and regarding them as morally unacceptable, society is introducing gender discrimination against women into modern society, depriving them of some of the rights and liberties men have. Restricting a female’s fundamental right to dispose of her body violates her constitutional rights in accordance with the legislation of many world countries.
The second point of view is opposite: abortion offends the moral sense; therefore, there is a very complex ethical problem. Before coming to the doctor, a woman solves an ethical dilemma: the life or death of a future person (Christie). Even after she visits the doctor, the moral meaning of the issue does not disappear but becomes even more concerning. It involves a third person – a doctor, and if they do this job, they become an accomplice in murder.
Opponents of abortion consider the concept of fetal viability as a justification for the artificial termination of pregnancy to be completely untenable. Primarily, from their point of view, the embryo has the right to life right from conception. Moreover, the conventionality of the concept of “life force” is constantly emphasized (Rahman). Lastly, in the publications of opponents of abortion, cases of survival of children born with minimum body weight are recorded.
Oppositionists also analyze many other aspects of the artificial pregnancy termination problem. For example, the issue of the risk associated with abortion leads to complications in the mother and children, psycho-emotional and physical issues, and others (Rahman). They associate the problem of trouble with the problem of adequately informing women. It is claimed that doctors generally do not notify or even misinform pregnant females who have decided on an artificial termination of pregnancy about the degree of maturity of the fetus (Christie). Sometimes, they do not even talk about the essence of this medical intervention itself. Based on such arguments, opponents of abortion as a morally permissible intervention insist that it is a brutal murder of an innocent person.
What is more, almost all women who have undergone an abortion operation develop post-abortion depression, which has no statute of limitations. A woman torments herself, imagining what her child could become, who they would look like, how they would walk, smile, and pronounce the word “mom.” The feeling of guilt can destroy lives and even cause psychological infertility: doctors do not find physical reasons that prevent conception, but pregnancy does not occur.
Finally, from a theological point of view, all religions are similar in relation to abortion. They consider the intentional termination of pregnancy as a grave sin and equate it with murder. After all, the birth of a child is a gift from God. Christians believe that at the moment of conception, the human soul arises. Hence, to have an abortion is the murder of a child in the womb, which makes both the mother and the father responsible for the killing of the unborn baby. On the other hand, most religions agree that abortions are more acceptable in the early stages of pregnancy than in the latter and that economic and maternal health interests usually take precedence.
In summation, in recent decades, abortion has become one of the most actively and widely discussed problems in the theory of morality. However, the philosophical and scientific sophistication of this discussion, of course, does not mean at all that the problem of artificial termination of pregnancy is being clarified. From a moral point of view, the issue of artificial termination of pregnancy is a dilemma: there are strong arguments for and against in their way. At the heart of the dispute between supporters and opponents of abortion is the philosophical problem of the nature and status of the human embryo. Nonetheless, the procedure bears significant health implications which are difficult to treats.
Works Cited
Christie, Bob. “Arizona Clinic Has Workaround for Abortion Pill Ban.” Ap News, Web.
Rahman, Khaleda. “How Abortion Bans Could Make IVF Even More Expensive.” Newsweek, Web.
Reston, Maeve. “Arizona Judge to Rule on Law That Would Ban Nearly All Abortions in the State.” CNN, Web.