No Religious person can agree with abortion. Discuss

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

No Religious person can agree with abortion. Discuss:

Natalie Onions

Mrs. Kauffman’s class

Abortion is the termination of the life of a foetus. It was legalised in 1967, and then amended in 1990. The main reason that it was legalised was to stop backstreet abortion which often led to death of the mother.

All religions believe that life is a gift from God, and so it belongs to God. This is known as the sanctity of life. People have different ideas on when life actually begins. Some believe it is at birth, some say it is at conception, while others believe it to be at some point during the pregnancy.

However, some people still believe that abortion is wrong in any form. For example, Roman Catholics and Evangelical Protestants. They believe that life begins at the moment of conception and so the sanctity of life forbids a termination. They also believe that an unborn child has Jesus’ image and that only God has the right to end a pregnancy. As well as their religious reasons against abortion, they may also support the non-religious reasons against it. People believe that it is dangerous and wrong to end a life.

Other Christians have different opinions towards abortion. They wont necessarily make up their minds towards abortion unless faced with the decision as they only allow it in certain circumstances. If the pregnancy was a result of rape, then abortion is allowed. The child may be unwanted by the mother in this case and so it is seen as the best thing for both mother and child. If the child would be severely handicapped at birth, an abortion is permitted as it may be the lesser of two evils id the child’s quality of life would be worse than death.

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Both Christian’s and non-religious people believe that the mothers life should come first and so if the mother will be at risk in child birth, the pregnancy is aborted if this is the mothers wish.

The Christian beliefs mentioned are based on the teachings of Jesus. He taught to love your neighbour and abortion may be the most loving thing to do. Also, they believe that banning abortion would be wrong as it would affect the poor a lot more than the rich. A lot of Christian’s have different opinions on when life begins so some think that abortion before 24 weeks of pregnancy is allowed in the correct circumstances. Referring back to the sanctity of life, some Christians believe that if life can be broken in tragedies such as war, abortion should be allowed.

The Muslim opinion towards abortion is fairly straight forward: Abortion is allowed unless the foetus is fully formed with a soul. There are a few different opinions as not all Muslims have the same views, but this is the main belief that is taught. They are taught that only God can choose when someone dies but if two lives are at risk, measures must be taken to save at least one. The Qu’uran teaches them “never kill your children”

As you can see from the above, some religious people can agree with abortion. They all believe in the sanctity of life, but some can make allowances in the right circumstances.

In my opinion, abortion should be allowed in the right circumstances. It can improve the quality of life if the mother is a victim of rape or is too young. I am not particularly religious and so I don’t necessarily believe in the sanctity of life. I agree with the law of abortion which states that an abortion is not allowed after 24 weeks unless the mother’s life is at risk.

I believe that abortion should be allowed but not used as an alternative form of contraception.