The Moral Issue 'Abortion'.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

The Moral Issue ‘Abortion’

My essay is about the argument over abortion, whether it is right or wrong for it to be carried out. Abortion is a very sensitive subject and there are many views for and against abortion, I choose to do the moral issue of abortion because I have no views for or against abortion. I wanted to know more and look into detail what abortion was and for what reasons do women have for choosing to abort their babies. In my view abortion is the termination of an unborn baby.

Abortion is carried out if the developing is not wanted for some reason. There are different kinds of abortion. There is ‘Spontaneous abortion’ and ‘Induced’. Spontaneous abortion or miscarriage is when the foetus dies naturally inside the mother. Induced abortion is when the foetus is deliberately removed in some way or another.

Abortion is allowed to be carried out if consent is given by two doctors and that continuing the pregnancy would involve risk to the physical and mental health of the mother or that continuing would involve risk to the physical and mental health of any existing children in the family.

Abortion is a controversial issue because there are so many arguments for and against whether abortion is right or wrong. The following are some of the main arguments: -

Religions: –

Some people think it is up to god and god alone to decide if someone is to die or not. God created us and it should be up to him to end our life. Others argue that god does not exist and it is up to us to decide.

Murder: –

Some people think abortion is murder and others argue that the baby is only potential life.

Who decides: –

Some people think it is up to god to decide. Others think that the women should be the only one to decide whether to have the abortion or not.

Slippery slope: –

Technology can now find out if the foetus has any defects eg) missing fingers. The argument over all this is where do we draw the line. Can someone just abort a baby that has only a couple of fingers missing? And what message are we sending out to members of society that are disabled.

The information that was given to me showed both sides of the argument and was very useful to find out facts and figures about abortion in the UK. The information given to us was in very large quantities and I had to sort through a lot of irrelevant information and pick out the information that I needed. Most of the information I gained was through the Internet, ‘Desperate choices’ video, class worksheets and also a survey that I carried out to find out people’s opinions. On the Internet it was hard to find the information that I needed. I found lots of sites with the for or against argument. I had to go on the sites and pick out the relevant information.

Abortion is controversial because some people believe in the sanctity of life and they think that life was given to us so we should not take it away. And on the other hand some people believe that it is up to the mother to decide what it is best for her.

There are different types of induced abortion. Abortion procedures change according to the gestation (stage) of the pregnancy. The gestation is measured in weeks counting from the first day of the woman's last menstrual period.

Up to 9 weeks
Early medical abortion

This method is also known as the abortion pill but this is not a very accurate description, as it does not involve simply taking a pill. During an early medical abortion, drugs are used to cause an early miscarriage. One works by blocking the action of the hormone that makes the lining of the uterus (womb) hold onto the fertilised egg. The other, given 48 hours later, causes the uterus to cramp. The lining of the uterus breaks down and the embryo is lost in the bleeding that follows, as happens with a miscarriage.

5 to 15 weeks
Vacuum aspiration abortion

Vacuum aspiration simply means suction. During a vacuum aspiration abortion a thin, round-ended plastic tube is eased into the uterus through the cervix, the passage that links the vagina to the womb. The contents of the uterus pass into the tube using a gentle pump. It is possible to have a vacuum aspiration abortion under local anaesthetic or general anaesthetic.

15 to 19 weeks
Surgical dilation and evacuation (D&E)

After the woman has been given a light general anaesthetic, the doctor gently stretches the passage through the cervix until it is wide enough for narrow forceps to be used to remove most of the contents of the uterus. Then a tube attached to a vacuum pump is used to remove any remaining tissue.

20 to 24 weeks
Surgical two stage abortion or medical induction

During a medical induction, the foetal heart is stopped and then the doctor uses drugs to induce premature labour. A surgical two-stage abortion involves one procedure to cut the umbilical cord and another surgical procedure to remove the contents of the womb. The woman is given a general anaesthetic before each stage.

The Law: -

In the UK, abortion became illegal in the 19th century. If an abortion was carried out the sentence was life imprisonment. Women trying to escape the burden of an unwanted baby were forced ...

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20 to 24 weeks
Surgical two stage abortion or medical induction

The Law: -

In the UK, abortion became illegal in the 19th century. If an abortion was carried out the sentence was life imprisonment. Women trying to escape the burden of an unwanted baby were forced to use unreliable and dangerous methods. In some cases knitting needles and poisonous drugs were used and also blows to the abdominal area to try and damage the foetus so that a miscarriage would occur. Many people were appalled at the amount of women suffering and dying as a result of illegal abortion. Pressure for reform resulted in the Abortion Act becoming law on the 27th October 1967. The Abortion Act stated that abortion could be carried out up until 28 weeks of pregnancy. During the 1960’s and 1970’s many governments relaxed their abortion laws and made it easier for women to terminate unwanted pregnancies. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act amended the 1967 abortion act in 1990. It stated that abortions could be carried out until 24 weeks of pregnancy because advances in medicine meant that it was now possible to keep some babies alive, born after about 24 weeks of pregnancy. Today, abortion is illegal in very few countries, even those with religious beliefs and traditions. In a few countries such as the Soviet Union abortion is turned to as another method of contraception. In China women are forced to have abortions because of their one-child-per-family policy. This policy is aimed at reducing the country overpopulation problems. Now in the UK a legal termination of a pregnancy can be carried out only if two doctors agree that the woman is less than 24 weeks pregnant, AND that continuing would involve a risk to the mothers mental or physical state, OR that continuing would involve a risk to mental or physical damage to any children already in the family. The 24 weeks limit does not apply if there is any risk to the mother’s life, OR any grave danger of permanent damage to the mother’s physical or mental state. OR that there is a substantial risk that the child would be born with serious disabilities.

Abortion is not available on request. Two doctors must agree and those with religious or moral objections are not legally obliged to help. Even a woman pregnant as a result of rape or incest does not automatically qualify them for an abortion.

The law in most other countries is that the only case that a child can be aborted is if there is danger of the woman’s life being in danger.

The law also states that a baby does not have any rights until it is born.

Why does the problem arise: -

Unplanned pregnancies are not necessarily unwanted but the news can come as a terrible shock. Although contraception is freely accessible in this country, no contraceptive has yet been developed which is 100% safe and effective, and contraceptive failure is currently a major reason for women requesting abortion.

There are many different reasons for why a woman seeks abortion. We have to realise that every case is different and each woman needs different things. Here are just a few reasons for why woman seek abortions.

The woman is too old or too young.
It is the wrong time in her life to have a child.
She is single and lacks financial and emotional support.
She has too many responsibilities.
The baby is going to be born with serious disability.
She is pregnant as a result of rape or incest.
She has no secure home or base.
She has a serious disease, which would be made worse by the pregnancy.
There is a hereditary disease in her or her partner’s family.
She has a large family and does not want anymore children.
She has relationship or marriage problems.

Below is a table of which women are most likely to have an abortion: -

As you can see by the statistics (Statistics from Office for National Statistics, 1998) single woman, aged between 20 – 24 years of age and with no children are most likely to have an abortion. This may be because most single women have many relationships and most of them don’t last for a great deal of time. Also woman must be most sexually active around the age of 20 – 24 years of age.

In this country the number of abortions has been rising. Below is a table of the number of abortions performed legally in England and Wales: -

As you can see from the table there is a rise in the amount of abortions each year. This number is still rising today. The probable reason for this increase in abortions each year is probably due to our change in attitude towards it and the availability of abortions through the UK. Today we treat abortion as a secondary contraceptive. Our attitudes are changing slowly due to the fact that religion is not as important today in the modern day world. Back in the 19th century nearly every one followed a certain religion. Nearly all religions are against the idea of abortion. The law back in the 19th century was that if a woman tried to escape the burden of an unwanted child the penalty was life imprisonment. A quote from the Conservative Christian Fellowship which states “The abortion culture has not only terminated unborn life, it has cheapened society’s attitude to all life in all its stages.”

Case studies: -

Helen Green who is 34 has had three abortions and doesn’t feel guilty about any of them. She said “I don’t fell guilty about my abortions. I think it is far more selfish to drag a child you don’t want into the world than to terminate a pregnancy early on.” She had her first abortion when she was 19 because she didn’t use contraception for one time and got pregnant. She was a student but her boyfriend had dropped out. She decided to have an abortion because she was too young and didn’t have enough money to support a child. Helen got pregnant 18 months later and the circumstances had not changed at all. Helen’s third abortion was four years ago. She had the abortion because she said “My husband has just set up his own business so were working really hard – a baby wouldn’t fit into our lives.”

Alison May had an abortion four years ago. She used a condom with her partner but it didn’t work. She was pregnant and her partner had left her. She decided to not tell her boyfriend that she was pregnant and bring up the child alone. But then she thought that it was going to be hard to bring up a child alone and decide to have an abortion. Now she says, “I think about my termination every time I see a child I made an awful mistake in having a child. The anniversary is painful. If I could turn back the clocks I’d definitely have the baby.

The desperate choices video that I watched at school showed 3 real life cases of people having to decide to have an abortion or not. The first example showed a woman that wanted an abortion because she didn’t have enough money to support a child. The second showed a girl who was only 16 and wanted an abortion because she was too young and had her whole life ahead of her. The third example the woman wanted an abortion because she was unsure about the stability of her relationship with her boyfriend.

Arguments for and against: -

Anti – abortionists believe a person is alive from when the moment a human egg is fertilised and any attempt to end that life is murder. Anti – abortionists are campaigning all the time to try and change the law of abortion. They think it is wrong and should not be carried out in any circumstance.

No religion actually supports abortion. Although some religions accept that it should be allowed in certain cases.

The Roman Catholic Church together with the Orthodox churches forbids abortion totally.

Christians believe that God created the world. Therefore all living things in the world came from God in one form or another. Human beings have a responsibility to care for all life, for everything on the world.

Declaration on procured abortion (1974)

‘Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception abortion and infanticide are abominable crimes.’

Another quote:

‘From the time the ovum is fertilised, a new life has begun which is neither that of the father or of the mother. It is the life of a new human being with its own growth. It would never become human if it were not human already.’

According to Christians all life is precious and we should not decide to take that life away. It is not our decision; it is Gods because he created everything.

On the other hand the Church of England has a more broad view. They accept that abortion is ok in certain cases. It may be permitted if:

Theirs a serious risk to the mothers life
If conception takes place as a result of rape.
If there is a grave risk that the baby will be born handicapped.

Paid surrogacy is rejected by Christians, though some churches have been less firm.

Jewish people believe that abortion should never be carried out. And it is explicitly forbidden in the qur’an, although it is recognised that having many children is difficult.

According to Sheikh Muhammed Mahdu Shamsuddin ‘abortion is legal in one case only, and that is when the retention of the foetus or embryo in the uterus threatens the mothers life.’

Jewish people only believe in abortion if the woman’s life is in danger. This rule is also used in the Church of England. On the other hand the Roman Catholic Church forbids any abortion to take place.

There are so many arguments for and against some of the main ones are below. The table shows what there arguments are and whom the arguments are with.

All the arguments for and against are nearly all against religious people. Most religions accept there are certain cases that abortion is allowed. If abortion is right for a few cases shouldn’t it be allowed for every case? Are some cases more important than others are?

Some people believe that is her and her decision only because it is her body and it is up to her to control it. Others say that god created the baby and it should be up to god and god only to take its life away. Religious people think that doctors are acting as god because they can keep people and babies alive when years ago they would have died. Some pregnancies are a result of rape or incest. If u were raped would you want to keep that baby? People who are against argue that god created the baby for a reason and no pregnancy is unplanned. If the woman did not want the child and had it, then surely she is not going to give the baby the full love car and attention it needs. So wouldn’t it be better for the woman to have an abortion in this case?

Over the last few years many men have gone to court to try and stop their partners from having abortions. All have failed. Genetically the foetus is as much part of the farther as it is of the mother so why don’t they have equal rights? On the other hand the women have to go through the pain of birth and the baby is part of their body so why should the decision to have an abortion be up to the partner?

Today some doctors are still totally against abortion and totally refuse to perform them. Some doctors say that their job is to save lives and not to take them away. And some other doctors agree with abortion and say that they are helping the women to get back to her normal life.

If we allow abortion because the baby is handicapped we are sending the message out to handicapped people in our community that they are not needed and that there life was a mistake. The big question is where do we draw the line? What is severely disabled? Is it when the baby cannot move or just a baby with a minor disability such as some fingers missing? People who are against abortion realise that contraception is needed. The ‘morning after pill’ and ‘intra-uterine device’ is aimed at stopping a fertilised egg from implanting in the womb. So these forms of contraception could be thought as abortion. Many people argue that a woman can have a home pregnancy test on the day her period is due. Many miscarriages occur naturally at this stage, without the woman being aware she is even pregnant. It is therefore no less wrong to abort a baby at this stage.

Other people’s opinions: -

I produced a questionnaire to find what people thought about the moral issue of abortion. My results showed that most people thought abortion was the ‘removal’ or the ‘killing’ of a foetus. 86% of people believed that an abortion was not ok if the baby only had three fingers and that the baby would have to have a more severe disability for abortion to be acceptable. 73% of people thought that it was up to the woman alone to have an abortion. And 86% of people thought that there were certain cases for abortion to be allowed. Of this 86%, 33% of them rated Rape to be the one, most people thought it was acceptable to have an abortion if the pregnancy was a result of rape.

What is abortion?

Abort only because baby has 3 fingers?

Is it up to the women to decide?

What certain cases should be accepted?

My questionnaire only shows 15 peoples opinions. Yet we already see that there are disagreements between such a small group of people. The whole picture is on a very greater scale and millions and millions of people have disagreements on whether abortion is right or wrong. This cause debates and sometimes in the worst cases even violence. In America some doctors who carry out abortions are targeted by people and killed for what they do.

Conclusion: -

My own opinion on abortion is very varied. There are so many reasons for women having abortions. Every woman will have her reasons for abortion and it will not have been just a 2-minute decision. They will have thought long and hard about what to do. It all seems so easy until you look at it from someone else’s eyes. If I was a woman at the age of 15 and got pregnant I would choose abortion because I would not be able to cope with the emotional pressures. I would have all my life ahead of me and I would have to leave school to care for that child.

It is however a very hard subject to come to a certain opinion. You can look on abortion as murder. Or you can see the baby as potential life. If a girl is under age and does not want the baby I think that she should be allowed to have an abortion because she has her whole school life and career still ahead of her. The emotional pressures of abortion must be high knowing that you have just ended your own baby’s life. I think abortion should also be allowed in cases such as if the child is severely disabled. But what do we define as severe. That is the question to be asked. Where do we draw the line? The dilemma of abortion is not one that can be overcome quickly. Each case is different; each woman has different needs, hopes and dreams. Who are we to judge one of the hardest decisions in her life? And who are we to say if it right or wrong?