Abortion - a utilitarian view

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Abortion

“Hey Louise! I just got invited to this crazy party by this good looking hunk! Did you get invited to the party tonight?”

“No Jennifer! For a matter of fact I didn’t get invited to the party. No body would invite me because I am not as pretty as you are! replied Louise.

“Don’t say that,” answered Louise. Just tag along with me and you will be fine. I heard that there is going to be a lot of good looking guys! Maybe you can hook up with one of those cute looking guys from the party? I hope that I can get lucky with the guy that asked me out earlier.

“WOW! Already?” replied Jennifer. Don’t you think you’re kind of young? Hey you better have one of those things before you do it because you don’t want to face the consequences if you don’t have one.

Now, before I turn to my main argument, I want to define a key term before I continue on. The Northern Arizona University defines Utilitarianism to be (4th Definition):

Utilitarianism is the belief that an act is either right or wrong based on t

he consequences of the act. This is also the doctrine of the greatest good for

the greatest number of people. With this theory, a person's value in society would

be based on his or her utility within that society.

My main argument that I am trying to prove is that if you solely believe that if you choose the better of the two, pleasure or pain you will have to suffer the consequences laid in front of you later in the near future. Let’s continue right on with the story.

“You mean a condom?” replied Jennifer.

“Yes a condom, what else a monkey?” answered Louise.

“Don’t worry I will get one before the party starts tonight and it’s proved to be effective so I won’t have a baby or any sexual transmitted diseases!” replied Jennifer.

This is a preview of the whole essay

“Yes a condom, what else a monkey?” answered Louise.

“Don’t worry I will get one before the party starts tonight and it’s proved to be effective so I won’t have a baby or any sexual transmitted diseases!” replied Jennifer.

Let’s imagine the scenario that had happened at the party. Jennifer went to the party and slept with the guy that had asked her out prior to the party. The couple had used a condom for safe sex and to prevent conception. It’s been a week now and Jennifer started to feel nausea at meals and started to have desire for certain food quite often then she did before. One day Jennifer was being very apprehensive so she decided to go to her family doctor to have a check up. After the check up was done she had found out from the doctor that she is now pregnant and due in nine months. Facts do show that condom do have a failure rate because the condom itself can break during intercourse. Now Jennifer is contemplating to have the baby or have an abortion.

Here in this scenario, Jennifer chose to have the pleasure rather than to suffer the consequences because the pleasure out weighed the consequences from the start. At the moment of the situation Jennifer having sex with the guy lead to the greatest happiness possibly and heavily relied on the condom to do its job during intercourse. As a result she now faces the controversial problem in society abortion.

For me I would have to go with the Catholic Church on the controversial issue abortion. This is what Burns and Oates states (489):

Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.

From the first moment of his existence a human being must be recognized as having

the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.

A human being is formed at the moment where the sperm is in contact with the zygote, thus the result is that the homunculus has a soul. For me but I don’t know about you I think that every human being including a homunculus has a chance at life. It has the right like everyone else in the world. Having a soul present gives the homunculus a human body figure as the pregnancy progresses and it has an opportunity to read, write, sing, play, and hear the sound of Mother Nature. I am certainly glad that my mother didn’t have an abortion because I wouldn’t be here today in the world. Pope John Paul II wrote this when he was still alive (Last Paragraph):

"Some try to justify abortion by claiming that the product of conception, at least

until a certain number of days, cannot yet be considered a personal human life.

In reality from the moment in which the ovum is fertilized, a new life begins which

is not that of the father or of the mother but of a new human being which develops of

its own accord. It would never be made human if it were not human already. This

has always been clear, and modern genetic science offers clear confirmation."

In the Holy Scriptures it states that God created man and women in his likeness and his own image. Man is made for women and the two are to love one another as God has loved us. Man and women are to be open to fertility, Burns and Oates says that (370):

Children or the supreme gift of marriage and contribute greatly to the

good of parents themselves. God made man and women and blessed then

with these words: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.”

I am not sure how a utilitarian would apply to this exactly solely base on this issue but this is what I think one might say. A utilitarian would say that abortion is always a good thing to do because there is no homunculus present at the moment of conception. It brings no harm in sucking and scooping the embryo away. As long as we follow our conscience for what is best for us. In the scenario of Jennifer having sex with the cute looking had the most pleasure and the greatest happiness which out weighed the pain of abortion. A utilitarian also might say that who said anything about abortion! There’s an alternative of having the child at birth then giving the baby away to some family who really wants a child but can’t have one. A utilitarian also might say if in the future your not able to conceive a child anymore there’s always an option of adoption it just as same as your own child.

To me the objections of the utilitarian are not so effective. At the moment yes indeed the pleasure is overwhelming the pain which is abortion, but wait take a minute and think what it is going to happen to you in long term if you have an abortion. Studies show that “breast cancer, infertility, tubal pregnancies, emotional distress, suicide and child abuse” (Waldbillig first paragraph) have an effect on women who have aborted a child in their womb in the long term. Fosterage the child might not be such a good idea because what if you later on in the future decided to want the baby back form the family you gave it too. You might not be able to find the baby and it also can be illegal to take it back because you have signed the papers to give up your child. Adoption is a good alternative but not always because an adopted child will have a normal life in the early years but when growing up in its teen years finding out that he/she is an adopted child it might have an effect on them. The adopted child might feel unstable for the fact that his real mother and father didn’t want him anymore because something might be wrong with him. This might cause the adopted child to run away from home, do drugs, commit crimes and even committing suicide which causes more problems in our society.

Overall, I think that utilitarianism is unreliable. If everybody is to choose the greatest happiness and pleasure over the pain consequences our society is going to be all over the place. No one to govern us and no rules and laws to live by the world be a mess. Utilitarianism violates important things about morality. For utilitarianism, in certain cases it would prohibit us humans in society to give anyone special preferential treatment because everybody should be treated equally.