In the case of rape, people do not seem to be as quick to judge if an abortion is performed. How then is this any different from a getting pregnant by your partner unintentionally, as in both cases the child would be unwanted. This could argue as being a very strong point to back up why women should have the inalienable right to have an abortion. As the preservation of the existing life greatly outweighs the incomplete life being formed, every child deserves to be wanted and children that aren’t, don’t get to enjoy the quality of life they deserve.
No religion is pro-choice abortion and most would disagree with the statement ‘Every pregnant woman has an inalienable right to have an abortion’. Ultimately God has the only right to give or take life ‘so God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female created he them’ (Genesis 1:27) whether the quote is taken literally or not, it sill suggests we do not have the right to end life.
However there are two key areas that need to be examined I order to understand what Christians believe about abortion; the teachings in the bible and Christian traditions i.e. the teachings that have been made by churches and individuals. There are no direct references to abortion itself in the bible, yet views on killing/ murdering are quite clear ‘Do not kill’ (Exodus 20:18).
So it could arguably be wrong to have an abortion because it is killing a sacred life, created by God, but is the foetus a person? The foetus cannot speak, eat, even feel pain up to 24 weeks can, it still be considered a person? ‘You knit me together in my mother’s womb’ (psalm 139:13) this suggests the foetus is becoming a human, but whilst in the womb the foetus is still dependant on the mother. Therefore with regards to the mother, in this case does have the only right, the inalienable right over her child.
The Church of England supports these teachings, but it understands that the bible doesn’t actually address abortion directly. The church values the mother’s life more than the foetus if there is a risk during pregnancy, as in exodus 22:23 it describes what should happen to someone if he hurts a woman causing miscarriage he will be fined, yet if the woman is killed he too should be killed. There is a clear implication that the status of the foetus life is lower than that of the mothers. This indicates that neither act are virtuous but killing of the mothers life is far worse as you are ending an existing life, however as the foetus is not whole yet the lose is not as great, making it the lesser of two evils.
The Church of England again isn’t quite as dated in its view on abortion as its church and ministers understand that in some circumstances it is absolutely necessary; however this does not mean that they condone it. For example if the life of the mother was in grave danger because of her pregnancy then the mothers life is valued more and shouldn’t be viewed as murdering the foetus but preservation of the mothers life.
The Roman Catholic Church completely disagrees with abortion, believing unquestionably that only God has the right to end life, and the general belief is that from the moment of conception the fertilized egg is a person ‘before you were formed in the body of your mother I had knowledge of you and before your birth I made you holy’ (Jeremiah 1:5). Therefore it seems Roman Catholic believe that God knows of you as a person before you are born and the foetus life is scared whilst in the womb, proving that Roman Catholics reject the idea that women have an inalienable right to an abortion, infact no-one has that right because the life belongs to God.
The bible provides all Christians with their basic guidelines on ethical decisions, the same applies to abortion, however one must remember that the approach towards abortion is only defined by interpretations of bible passages. A more modern way of finding religious advice on how to deal with abortion is through priests, and in the Roman Catholic Church the Pope. A Protestant minister would be more inclined to understand the reasons why an abortion may be necessary, however the Pope would strongly disagree that any circumstances could justify an abortion ‘human life is scared. All men must recognize this fact. Recognise’ (Pope Paul vi Humanae Vitae 1968) In this position the Roman Catholic church disregards and right the mother has over aborting her child and certainly disagree that she would have an inalienable right to have an abortion.
Christianity isn’t the only religion which disagrees with abortion. ‘…abortion is taboo as it is interference in the creative work of God. If the conception has taken place it would be a sin to destroy life’ (Mansukhani 1986) Sikhism scriptures don’t have any direct teachings on abortion, however they do teach a respect for life and they use that rule for guidance. Yet in Sikh societies males are considered more useful within families as they are allowed to become more independent in society and able to provide for themselves and their families, whereas woman either have to stay with their families or wait until they are married, as laws prohibit woman from working. It then does not appear that a woman would have many rights in Sikh societies, let alone the inalienable right to have an abortion.
Jews can either deicide if a foetus becomes a person at conception or birth, obviously those who believe a foetus becomes a full person at birth do not have an issue with abortion, and still they do not support it. For those that take the views that from the moment of conception a scared life is created, the issue of abortion becomes much more controversial. Judaism does not believe abortion should be used for the mother’s convenience, however they do place a much higher regard upon the mothers life over the foetus, and recognize the fact that the foetus does not become a separate person until birth. But in the case of the woman it appears they would object to a mother having an inalienable right concerning abortion.
In Islam the Qur’an states ‘And do not kill your children out of fear of poverty we shall provide for them and for you. Truly, the killing of them is a great sin’ they believe that the preservation of life is the most important, but abortion can be allowed under extreme circumstances, otherwise it is completely prohibited and the mother doesn’t have a right to choose. For example an extreme circumstance would be if the pregnancy was eptopic and both mother and child would die, then saving the mothers life by whatever means, in this case abortion, would be the priority.
Utilitarianism can be considered from the perspective of the two founding fathers; Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill. The ethical theory of utilitarianism can be summed up by ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’ indeed this is the rule that utilitarian believe should be applied to every situation in order to determine whether it is right or wrong.
Jeremy Bentham in particular believed one should choose to act in such a way that brings about the maximum possible happiness for the most possible people. In first analysis it may seem that abortion, using Bentham’s principle, is a fairly straight forward issue for Utilitarian's. If the mother’s happiness would be greater if she had an abortion then an abortion would be the right course of action. For example if a young girl was raped and as a result she became pregnant, obviously the course of action to bring about the greatest happiness would be for the girl to have the foetus terminated.
However this argument can be completely turned upside down because it does not concern the majority therefore ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’, instead it focuses on the individual. The same approach can be considered when the status of the foetus is taken into account. If the foetus is considered to be human and therefore has a soul, then its happiness should also be taken into account. So having an abortion would end their life, its happiness and maximizing its pain instead of pleasure, in this case Utilitarian’s would decide that the mother has not got the right to abort her child.
John Stuart mill, valued quality over quantity, its not the amount of good actions you do but how good the actions are that make them count. It appears Mill agreed with abortion as abortions are very personal independently made choices and that he values the mother’s life over the babies, especially if it would impair the mother mentally or physically. The reasons women tend to have abortions is because they are too young or it comes at the wrong time in their lives due to their career etc, both causing the mind accounts of suffering which is considered the worst thing for Mill.
Again this can be argued the other way around. As an abortion could be maximizing physical pleasure, what Mill considered to be unimportant, for instance if the woman was having an abortion so she didn’t get stretch marks or put on weight, she’s merely having it to preserve her physical appearance.
Immanuel Kant’s (1724-1804) Categorical Imperative may help one decide whether an action is moral and there are three guidelines in the categorical imperative which help a person decide or in this case the mother decide if an action is moral; ‘the universal law’ this teaches that if an action is wrong for one person it is wrong for everyone. ‘treat humans as ends in themselves’ Kant said that we should never use humans as means to an end, so never exploit, enslave a person and one should not promote one’s happiness if that happiness prevents another’s. In this case then the mother would have no r right to abort her child as it would be preventing the Child’s future happiness to carry on her own and for some people abortion is wrong therefore it must be wrong for everyone.
Thirdly ‘act as if you live in a kingdom of ends’ this basically means that the absolute moral laws should always be followed as they treat everyone as ends. Again the statement suggests abortion is wrong, because all absolut laws say murder is wrong and abortion could be sent o break this. Overall it is argued that Kant would disagree with the mother having any rights because the Categorical Imperative condemns abortion itself, thus disagreeing with that statement a woman has an inalienable right to an abortion.
The statement ‘every pregnant woman has an inalienable right to have an abortion’ raises many questions, but one that is significant more obviously than the rest is, what about the father’s rights? And does this need to be considered? Ultimately one has to decide which parents life would be affected more and if the mother’s life is in danger due to her pregnancy the decision should be the mothers only.
By out lining each argument, the notion against abortion seems to out weigh pro-choice abortion arguments, which suggest that most people disagree with a pregnant woman having the inalienable right to have an abortion, but do those that decide if the laws concerning abortion have the right to apply one rule to every woman? Without abortion many already living women would be dead and instead of losing one life you would lose two, surely not God could want that. At the end I believe a woman’s body is hers and hers alone, and she should have the inalienable right to have an abortion. The law allows abortion so in affect it agrees that the woman should have an inalienable right to an abortion, because the majority of people recognize the fact that abortions will take place whether they are legal or not, and the safest way is too make them legal. Abortion is no different to the morning after pill which stops an unfertilized egg from growing; however it can be prescribed and collected within 24 hours. Ultimately it is the woman’s body, her capabilities to create life that will bring a child into the world, so evidently it should be her inalienable right to not bring a child into the world as well.
Bibliography
- The Oxford Popular Dictionary (Second Edition)
- Ethical Issues in Six Different Religions by
- Ethical Studies by Robert A Bowie
Word count
Total number of words = 2738
‘premature expulsion of a foetus from the womb; operation to cause this’ (oxford popular dictionary)
‘so God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female created he them’ (Genesis 1:27
‘Do not kill’ (Exodus 20:18)
‘You knit me together in my mother’s womb’ (psalm 139:13)
‘before you were formed in the body of your mother I had knowledge of you and before your birth I made you holy’ (Jeremiah 1:5)
‘…abortion is taboo as it is interference in the creative work of God. If the conception has taken place it would be a sin to destroy life’ (Mansukhani 1986)
‘And do not kill your children out of fear of poverty we shall provide for them and for you. Truly, the killing of them is a great sin’