Why Should Abortion Be Legal
The termination of a human pregnancy that is closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus is called abortion. The right to life is the most important right that we have. I am pro-choice in which I believe that individuals have unlimited autonomy with respect to their own reproductive systems. I don’t believe that abortion is murder however there are people who think otherwise. In why should abortion be legal essay I will argue that abortion could be allowed and not allowed only in certain situations. It is allowed because of consequential issues, when the mother’s life is at risk, and religion. It is also not allowed due to viability, the point at which an abortion becomes late term; ability to survive outside the uterus of the fetus.
Abortion has been legal in the United States since 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court Roe vs.Wade decision prohibited states from banning the procedure before the last three months of pregnancy. A pregnant single woman, whose name was Jane Roe, challenged the Texas criminal abortion law, “the decision whether or not to terminate the pregnancy, in which was left entirely up to the State.” Justice Blackmun, along with six other justices, argued that “the decision to abort should be available to the woman but only up to a certain point during the pregnancy.” In order to decide when the decision should fall from the woman's hands to the States, the court resolved to divide the pregnancy into three trimesters.
During the first trimester, the State is not liable to regulate. The decision to abort is left to the woman and her physician. This is because until the end of the first trimester, morality in abortions is less than in normal childbirth. For the second trimester, the State may only regulate the abortion procedure and where the procedure is administered. Finally, the third trimester, in which the State can deny the right to abort entirely, but only if the health or life of the mother is in danger. These trimesters allow the state at liberty to place multiplying restrictions on abortion. The decision not only affected the minds of the people, but the decision had also set a legal precedent that affected more than thirty Supreme Court cases that later dealt with abortion.
To continue abortions should be legal essay, I agree to saying that it is ok for a woman to abort the baby when their life is at risk. If continuing with the pregnancy would cause the mother's death, even those most strongly against abortion accept that this is a case where abortion is ethically acceptable. Then with regards to religion for instance Christians, abortion is wrong and forbidden, and where sex before marriage is forbidden too however many accept that abortion may be permitted in certain cases, in which would be permissible due to things in religion being affected such as a woman's reputation. There are some women whose intention was to not get pregnant, and when it happens there’s cases where the father of the child leaves the woman/relationship, or where the couple or mother simply doesn’t have the money to support the child. In this case I believe that if a woman doesn’t have a support system and can’t financially support the child the woman in her own right can do what she needs to do for herself.
There is a theory that I want to discuss in should abortions be legal essay, it is called Utilitarianism which states that actions should be judged as right or wrong depending on whether they cause more happiness or unhappiness. It weighs out the rightness and wrongness of an action based on consequences of that action. To “Maximise the good for everyone”. John Stuart Mill states that Utilitarianism follows the Greatest Happiness Principle where “Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness, wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.” So pleasure over pain, “Quality and quantity of pleasure.” In other words, nothing matters but happiness so when it comes to abortion the decision is based off of what the mother wants,if she chooses to keep the child she is willing to accept anything that comes her way, both the bad and good.
Utilitarianism is concerned only with pleasure and with pain. Therefore we should be concerned with the amounts of pleasure and pain in situations where abortion is permitted in correlation with the amount of pleasure and pain where abortion is forbidden. The main considerate thing would be the interests of the fetus. Not only can its future life be expectedly happy it might also be the case that the abortion itself is painful, especially if it occurs later in the pregnancy. Any suffering involved in the abortion itself can be avoided by simply aborting the pregnancy sooner or with painless techniques. The direct suffering of the fetus has no argument against abortion generally, only the bad practice of it. No one knows what exactly is good from the bad. Every person thinks differently, not to mention each carry with them different beliefs on certain things.
Unlike Utilitarianism where it focuses on the consequences of the actions, there is something that is the opposite of utilitarianism and that is deontological ethics focuses on duties and obligations: things we ought to do regardless of consequences. Deontology focuses on the rightness or wrongness of actions themselves, as opposed to the rightness or wrongness of the consequences of those actions. While utilitarian ethics focuses on producing the greatest happiness for the greatest number, deontological ethics focuses on what makes us worthy of happiness. Deontologists assure that the rightness of an action is not simply dependent on maximizing the good, if that action goes against what is considered moral. To make the correct moral choices, we have to understand what our moral duties are. In deontology when we follow our duty, we are behaving morally, and when we fail to follow our duty, we are behaving immorally.
In the case of abortion the theory that it would fall into deontology. All of which goes with the privacy of a woman, happiness, rights with their bodies, ownership, and most importantly their health. In consideration to deontology, Immanuel Kant, a philosopher who believes that all humans have certain dignity and commands to respect. What he is trying to say is that no matter what the situation is that the pregnant women encounters, it is always not morally correct to have an abortion. However, I do not agree with what he is saying, deontology is in favour of the right to autonomy of the pregnant woman in respect of her own body and privacy, which permits her freedom of choice allowing her to control her own body and to take decisions, which outweighs any right claimed for the fetus. Therefore, even the deontological pro-choice side sees abortion as a private medical decision that must not be made by the government.
In conclusion to should abortion be legal argumentative essay, I have determined that abortion isn't morally wrong and it isn't considered murder. There will be many people who think otherwise and would try to discriminate against women who have aboritions but at the end of the day it is their body, and it is their choice. Any person who thinks of bringing an unwanted child into the world without careful consideration should be aware of the consequences of the hard life. Every parent or teenager should have a responsible plan for life. It is good to care for what we can see instead of spending valuable resources campaigning for fetuses that are yet to claim an entity in the world.
