The Moral Implications of Abortion – Ethics Essay
One out of every four woman made the choice of abortion and the total number of abortions since 1973 is 38,010,378, according to the Alan Gutlmachen Institute
in the United States. Abortion rates are increasing every year and have been the world’s controversial topic since the 1980’s. Although many still think that abortion is morally wrong, it is a justifiable issue no matter how one looks at it. Because abortion is women’s freedom of choice and not a sin nor a murder, it should be morally accepted on any level.
In civil liberties, abortion is an individual’s choice. As it is in the Constitution, every individual has freedom of choice and the government has no right to take away his or her rights and doing so would be violation of “privacy”. Hence women can control their own body and make their own decision for themselves. No one is justifiably has the right to tell someone else what to do with one’s body. Another justified reason of abortion is that sometimes women may accidentally get pregnant without their intention. Career women or teenagers may make a choice to abort because of job to do than just to raise a baby otherwise the outcome will be unfortunate for both mother and the baby. Although one may be unfortunate or feel guilt for rest of their lives for abortion, people are given responsibility to bear them. All person must be given full rights unless its existence interferes with the “right of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.”
Not only is abortion “private choice,” but also does not violate any sin or religious beliefs. Most pro-life supporters refer to the Bible and the Christian belief to justify their view. In fact, abortion itself is not mentioned in the Bible at all. Anti-abortionists show two arguments to support their ideas; however, they are all flawed. First, in both Psalm 139:13-16 and Jeremiah 1:4-10 King David writes that God formed him in the womb. Most Fundamentalists use the argument that God “knew” his pre-ordained leaders in the womb, and therefore, it must mean that God considers us fully human at conception. This refers that human beings are fully human before the egg and sperm; however it is all flawed. Second common excerpt of pro-life supporters comes from the Ten Commandments. “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” This does not specifically tell what we cannot kill. The Fundamentalist believes a pre-born fetus is the same as a full term human being. God however, does not. In exodus 21:22-25 God says that if a man accidentally kills a pregnant woman, that man should be condemned for committing murder. However, if he only kills the fetus-if she miscarries-he is not condemned for murder. Therefore, because God does not consider fetus as a human being, abortion is not a sin.
Abortion is neither can be suppressed under government nor unjustified because it is not mentioned in the Bible. Abortion is also a moral choice because it is neither murdering nor harming a human being. Anti-activists argue that zygote, which is a fertilized cell, contains the entire DNA necessary to grow into an independent, conscious human being, which is a potential person. But being alive does not give the zygote full human rights-including the right not to be aborted during its gestation. Also, left to grow, it will always be ameba and never a human being. Moreover, consciousness normally does not occur until months, an even year after a baby is born and such individual personhood does not occur until after birth. A gestating fetus has no rights before birth or even after birth. Thus, it is not murder because it is not killing or destroying an independent person.
Abortion is an absolutely moral choice for any women wishing to control her body. It is a religiously accepted, morally correct, and a justified right and freedom for women. No one feels good about abortion and killing the embryo. It surely is a hard decision for women. Some may even live the rest of their life with guilt. However, it is important that we understand their situation and why they had to choose abortion, and we should help them, rather than condemning them as “murderer.”