The Termination of a Pregnancy Before Birth - Essay Example

Introduction Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy before birth, resulting in the death of the fetus. Abortions can occur naturally due to improper development of the fetus or due to injury to the mother. Intentional abortions can be carried out if a pregnancy is unwanted. This may be for different reasons such as potential risk to the mother or the fetus. This idea of intentional abortions has been debated for a long time as to the legal and moral rights of anyone to terminate a life. Because on the one hand, there are health risks involved in pregnancies sometimes and so an abortion may seem to be the only option to save at least one of the lives. But on the other hand, reasons for abortions have not always included health risks. The key questions continually in debate are about the constitutional rights to an abortion, whether the fetus is a person and the morality of an abortion. The legal and moral decisions are based somewhat on the whether one believes that the fetus is a person. Dr Schwarz contends that the fetus is a person, as he describes, “a fully real person, the same person he will later be. He is only smaller, less developed, in a different environment, and more dependent, in comparison to a born baby”. He believes that the term fetus means “young one” and so it indicates a young human person. We have to consider what is the difference between the fetus in the womb and the child that is born few minutes after. He argues that once the fetus exhibits the traits which determine personhood, i.e. consciousness, (especially the capacity to feel pain), reasoning, self-motivated activity and the capacity to communicate, then in fact it must be considered a person. This is in keeping with the views of the pro-life supporters who believe that the fetus is a human being from the moment of conception- once the egg and sperm unite. According to this view the fetus has legal rights from this moment of conception. On the other hand there are pro-choice defenders (who believe that the mother has the right to decide on an abortion) who believe the fetus is only a potential human being when it becomes viable, that is, able to survive outside its mother’s womb. Until then the mother carrying the fetus has legal rights over the fetus and can decide whether or not to have an abortion. However according to Encarta, there is no definite consensus on whether the fetus is a person on not. . As they explain, “ Embryology, the study of fetal development, offers little insight about the fetus’s status at the time of conception. In addition, the point during pregnancy when a fetus becomes viable has changed over the years as medical advances have made it possible to keep a premature baby alive at an earlier stage”. Viability is generally accepted at 24 weeks gestation. However babies born at 22 weeks have been kept alive with medical care. The history of legalizing abortions go back a long way. Abortions were not considered illegal in most countries until the 19th century. Before that abortions were only banned after the time that fetal movement was felt. England started the bans in 1803 and countries like Asia, Africa, and Latin America followed. The United States started banning abortions from the 1800s in some states. These laws banning abortions started being relaxed in the 20th century. Legalization of abortions therefore followed, starting with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1920, then Japan in 1948, and several Eastern European countries in the 1950s. By the 1960s and 1970s much of Europe and Asia and the United States legalized abortions. Although the United States legalized abortion in 1973 it is still not a straightforward situation. There are conditions on these laws and developments occurring frequently over the years since then. The laws may also vary from state to state. The legalization began in Mississippi in 1966 with permission for abortion in cases of rape. These extenuating circumstances were expanded by other states to include cases in which a pregnancy threatens a woman’s health, the fetus has serious abnormalities, or the pregnancy is the result of incest. By 1973 there were two cases, Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton that effectively legalized abortion for any reason before the 24th week of pregnancy. Another important issue that came by for legislation involved teenage pregnancies and the rights of minors to abortion. Parental consent was made a necessary part of the law. Additionally the term of the pregnancy is a factor in deciding on the legal rights of the mother. In the first trimester the decision is protected by the right of privacy, so that the decision to have an abortion is between the mother and her physician. However, later in the pregnancy the state has the right to regulate the abortion procedure, taking into consideration the woman’s health and preserving her life. Since the legalization of abortion in 1973 opponents of abortion have tired in every way to have the law reversed. There have been many protests outside of abortion clinics and lobbying state and federal officials to restrict access to abortions. There is no final conclusion about whether abortion is morally right or wrong. Even though one may have a constitutional right to an abortion, every person still has to weigh the health aspects, the emotional aspects, and the ability of one’s own life to support a child. Then there are the attitudes of the community, especially the religious one that one has grown up in and live in. All of this is not easy to balance. Mostly one’s decision about the morality of the act depends on whether one believes that the fetus is a person or if it is merely a bunch of cells. And as we see that there is no definite definition, it is up to each individual to make a conclusion. Therefore some believe that it is morally wrong and some can justify abortion as a necessary act. It is not easy to find out people’s moral stance on abortion since unless there is complete anonymity; most people may be reluctant to express openly their views. However a survey was undertaken for LIFE magazine, (Henshaw and Martire, 1982), concerning the morality of abortion. Their results showed that two-thirds of the women believe that anyone who wants an n abortion should be permitted to obtain one legally. More than one-third said it is not a moral issue. Most who view it as morally wrong only did not do so in absolute terms. They were presented with conditions under which the abortion should be given, for example, rape, incest, single mothers, etc. Only one in twenty women surveyed believed that abortion is morally wrong under all the ten conditions. The authors concluded that “there is not even a bare majority that believe abortion is morally wrong under even those circumstances considered justified by the fewest women. Even less is there a majority who think that abortion should be prohibited by law under any of these circumstances”. On one side of the morality coin are pro-choice supporters—individuals agree that a woman’s reproductive rights include the right to choose to have an abortion. On the other side are the pro-life advocates, who may oppose abortion for any reason or who may only accept abortion in extreme circumstances threatening the woman’s health. The pro-choice’s stand is partly held on the grounds that the fetus only becomes a person when it becomes viable, that is, able to survive outside its mother’s womb. At the other side are the pro-life supporters who believe the fetus is a human being from the time of conception. Between these positions lies a continuum of ethical, religious, and political positions. So the question of is abortion wrong is not a straightforward one. It seems that abortion can be considered a ‘necessary evil’ in some circumstances. It cannot be deemed wrong when a mother’s life is at stake if she carries the baby to full term. It is a difficult decision to make between saving baby and saving mother, but not necessarily right nor wrong. There are other justifications for abortion, (rape, incest, etc.) when the emotional demands on the mother to have the baby and live with it for the rest of her life are weighed up against one’s ethics about taking a life. Again there is neither right nor wrong, only a hard decision. The conclusion may be that in any circumstance where an abortion is a considered option, neither decision will be right or wrong, just necessary at the time. References "Abortion," Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007 http://encarta.msn.com © 1997-2007 Microsoft Corporation. Henshaw, A.K., & Martire, G. (1982). Morality and Legality. Family Planning Perspectives. 14, 53-55. Schwarz, S. The Moral Question of Abortion.. Retrieved March 4, 2008, from Ohio Life Web site: http://www.ohiolife.org/mqa/7-0.asp . Read More