Questioning Abortion. Marquis's argument gives us the view that we lack when looking at abortion. He states that it is prima facie wrong killing an innocent adult human. This is wrong because it deprives us of our future. However, on the other hand, Sum

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Questioning Abortion

Due Date: May 21, 2009

Word Count: 2,222

        Recently, abortion has become a major concern around the world. According to The Alan Guttmacher Institute, worldwide there are approximately 115,000 abortions daily. Totalling 42 million per year. These statistics claim nothing other than the acceptability of abortion. Today abortion is acceptable merely because it is legal. However, legality does not necessarily imply morality. In our history, slavery was once legal, even though it was immoral. It was through the right moral eye, slavery completely eliminated. Similarly Marquis has presented us with the same moral eye in light of abortion. Marquis's argument gives us the view that we lack when looking at abortion. He states that it is prima facie wrong killing an innocent adult human. This is wrong because it deprives us of our future. Since this future would be no different than of a fetus. Thus he concludes it is immoral to kill a fetus because it shares a future like ours. (Marquis at p. 189) According to Damer's five criteria of a good argument, it would be safe to claim that Marquis has made a good argument. (Damer at p. 30) However, on the other hand, Sumner in his "A Third Way" strongly suggests that the abortion debate should be concluded in terms of the moral standing of the fetus. In other words, when it develops sentient. (Sumner at p. 7)

        After a close examination of the two presented arguments, I will prove that viewing abortion with Marquis's argument gives us a better understanding of the fetus and it should be promoted. I will also develop two arguments to show that Sumner's argument is weak. Firstly, I will argue that giving the child up for adoption is better than abortion. Secondly, I will highlight that contraception is completely different than abortion.

        Rather than approaching the abortion debate in terms of the moral standing of the fetus presented by W. Sumner, we should approach the abortion debate in light of Marquis's argument. His theory clearly explains why abortion is immoral and should be impermissible. Of course he makes the exception of rare cases in which it is allowed. Such as rape or endanger to the mother's life. (Marquis at p. 192) His argument begins by highlighting that killing an innocent human adult is wrong because it deprives them of their valuable future. Similarly a fetus also shares the exact same future as an adult, which it will be deprived of if abortion is to take place. Thus, it makes abortion wrong. (Marquis at p. 192)

         Here I would like to highlight that the argument I am supporting in this essay is not against the mothers that are wanting carrying out abortion due to serious threat, such as medical. It is against the usual reasons for abortion. "93% of all abortions occur for social reasons." For example, many abortions are taken simply because it was unplanned, they were hoping for a girl instead of a boy and vice versa, or maybe the mother sees that it would be a financial stress upon the family. Such reasons for abortion would be considered immoral and is being argued here.  

        According to Sumner, on the contrary, it would be morally permissible to deprive the fetus  of a future like ours, as long as it is done before the fetus has sentient, which is approximately in the mid of the Second trimester. (Sumner at p. 7) To diminish this argument, I will elaborate on Marquis's example. Suppose an adult goes into a coma. It would be safe to safe to claim that there is a lack of sentient while the adult is in coma. Also suppose that, in this coma, there are very high chances of coming out with a full recovery. Would it then be morally permissible to deprive the adult of a future like ours by killing him/her in coma because of financial stress or maybe because it was unplanned for? Obviously, the answer is to follow with a big no. Similarly, the moral standing for killing a fetus should also be answered with a big no. Here it shows the argument presented by Sumner on the basis of sentient is weak in terms of abortion. On the other hand, theory presented Marquis is stronger and it provides us a better understanding of the fetus.

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        In addition to Marquis's argument, it could also be added that the pain and suffering that is experienced by humans is usually placed as a higher value than of different species, or of the fetus, in this case. We might be immune to their pain and suffering simply because they are different than us or might experience different types of pain and suffer differently. I claim this because I see it in the immoral treatment towards animals. This is clearly visible in animals that are used for experiments. For example:

Reports from Scientific journals reveal how the Chemical defence Establishment ...

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