Should embryos be treated as human lives - Assignment Example

However contemporary views on the subject are changing to favor of pro-choice, today more people advocate and are tolerant of abortion than ever before and in majority of states, it is allowed as long as it is carried out safely in a hospital. Several factors have contributed to this change, among them is the empowering of women which made the idea of giving them choice over their reproduction become something of a right. In addition the increased secularism of society has contributed a great deal since the church and other religious organizations were key opponents of the practice.

From a sociological perspective, abortion is viewed in numerous ways but the most overt as through the conflict theory. It embodies the underlying and overlying conflict between different opinions guided by either religion or morality. From a psychological point of view there is a contradiction of opinions since on one hand abortion is seen as a potential cause of psychological trauma on the mother while on the other not procuring one could also result in psychological problems especially if the mother is in distress or was raped (Sedgh et al, 2007).

Anthropologist are even more divided because from a cultural perspective, abortion evokes a range of mixed reactions with some people advocating for it but majority decrying it as inhuman and immoral, many traditional cultures are against it and they have had to contend with contemporary acceptance of the practice. The functionalist theory is based on the interdependence of the various factions of society and it does not promote the changing of social environments simply for the sake of benefiting individuals.

Functionalist hold that societal change always results in compensating change in other parts of society, in regard to abortion, the functionalist view is that when social change occurs as a result of its practice other aspects of society will make appropriate shifts