ABORTION -Termination of pregnancy

- (1973, Roe v. Wade) US Supreme Court ruled

that women will have the right to abortions until
the fetus becomes “viable”---- until it can live
outside the uterus. (only until 3 months)

3 Moral Issues with 3 different views

1. Is fetus a person with a right to live?
a. Conservatives: “Fetuses are potential
person with the right to live.”
b. Liberals: “Fetuses are not capable of
self- awareness therefore they’re not
persons.” –Tooley
:Characteristics of a person by Mary
Ann Waren; (1) Sentience-
consciousness, (2) Emotionality- to
feel, (3) Reason- solve problems, (4)
Capacity to communicate, (5) Self-
Awareness and (6) Moral Agency
c. Moderates: “Some abortions are
morally permissible and other
abortions are unjustifiable.”

2. Balance Moral reasons (weighing a fetus’

right to live to women’s rights)
a. Conservatives: FETUSES RIGHT TO
LIFE and women must be responsible
and aware of the risks of their
actions.
b. Liberals: WOMEN’S RIGHTS
c. Moderates: Moral significance of
fetuses that’s why we MUST HAVE
GOOD REASONS BEFORE ABORTING.

3. Laws and Government policies

a. Conservatives: Article 255.
Infanticide, Article 256. Intentional
Abortion, Article 257. Unintentional
Abortion, Article 258. Abortion
Practiced By The Woman Herself Of
By Her Parents And Article 259.
Abortion Practiced By A Physician Or
Midwife And Dispensing Of Abortives
b. Liberals- Roe v. Wade, Government
Funded abortions, etc.
c. Moderates- it depends on the reason
and the situation.
 Abortion in Western Countries-
The past fifty years have been characterized by
an unmistakable trend toward the liberalization
of abortion laws, particularly in the industrialized
world. Amid ongoing debate over the procedure,
the trend has coincided with a drop in abortion
rates worldwide. As nations across the globe
have expanded the grounds on which women can
access reproductive health services, the quality
and safety of abortion care has improved, as has
maternal survival. (Volgelstein,2019).

Abortion in the Philippines

• For over a century, abortion has been
criminalized in the Philippines.
• Physicians and midwives who perform
abortions in the Philippines with the consent of a
pregnant woman may face up to six years in
prison under the Revised Penal Code.
• Filipino women with life- threatening
pregnancies have no choice but to risk their lives,
either through unsafe abortion or through
continuation of high-risk pregnancies.
• Women face tremendous barriers and
significant abuse when they seek treatment for
abortion complications.

INFANTICIDE -Killing of the newborn/ infant

-The primitive method of birth control and a

means of ridding a group of its weak and
deformed children; but most likely societies
actively desires children to neither put them into
death nor allow them to die in only under
exceptional circumstances.