ABORTION: 

Arguments For and Against
LECTURE- 9
• Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy resulting in the death of
the embryo or fetus.
• Abortion may be of two types: (1) Induced (or, Voluntary) Abortion,
and (2) Spontaneous (or, Involuntary) Abortion (or, Miscarriage)
• Induced Abortion is the intentional termination of a pregnancy which
involves the methods of medication and surgery and results in the
death of the embryo or fetus.
• Spontaneous Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy that
happens without any intervention and results in the death of the
embryo or fetus.
• There are three Moral Approaches to Abortion:
• (1) Pro-Choice, (2) Moderate, and (3) Pro-Life

• The central thesis of the Pro-Choice advocates, such as Mary Anne

Warren, is that the mother is free to dispose of the fetus as she
wishes. This view implies that a fetus is not a person. It emphasizes
on the mother’s right to her own body and freedom to control her
reproductive life. This approach entails the consequentialist focus on
benefits of abortion and harms of continued pregnancy.
• The central thesis of the Moderate approach, advocated, for
example, by Judith Jarvis Thomson, is that early abortion is
permissible, but late-term abortions are morally problematic. This
view implies that the moral status of the fetus may change during
the course of a pregnancy. It emphasizes on the conflict of rights
between the mother’s right to choose and the fetus’s developing
right to life. This approach entails that judgments about
consequences may depend on the stage of pregnancy.
• The central thesis of the Pro-life position, advocated, for example, by
Don Marquis, is that abortion is generally morally prohibited, except
in cases (i) where the mother’s life is at risk, or (ii)when it is essential
to prevent the birth of an unborn baby diagnosed to be born with
serious birth defect such as deformity or genetic abnormality, or (iii)
when the pregnancy is caused by incest or (iv) rape. This view implies
that the fetus is a person and “life begins at conception”. It
emphasizes on the fetus’s right to life. This approach may focus on
the benefits of family life or appeal to the natural law ideas about
reproduction and pregnancy.
• The abortion debate deals with some sensitive political, legal, and
moral issues in developed countries regarding the rightness and
wrongness of deliberately ending a pregnancy before normal
childbirth and thereby killing the foetus in the process.
• The primary questions
• The moral debate about abortion deals with two separate primary
questions:
• Is abortion morally wrong?
• Should abortion be legal or illegal?
• The secondary questions
• But those two questions don't end the debate.
• If we conclude that abortion is not morally wrong, that doesn't mean
that it's right to have an abortion; we need to ask whether having an
abortion is the best thing (or least bad thing) to do in each particular
case.
• If we conclude that abortion is morally wrong, that doesn't mean that
it's always impermissible to have an abortion; we need to ask
whether having an abortion is less wrong than the alternatives.
• The Two Sides
• On one side are those who call themselves 'pro-life'. They say that
intentionally caused abortion is always wrong (although it may on
very rare occasions be the best thing to do).
• On the other side are those who call themselves 'pro-choice' or
'supporters of abortion rights', and who regard intentional abortion as
acceptable in some circumstances.
• Both the labels 'pro-life' and 'pro-choice‘ are emotionally loaded, and
makes the complicated abortion issue falsely appear as simple, and so
makes it difficult to carry on the debate.
• The silent 'victim'
• People feel particularly strongly about abortion because there is no
way of getting any opinion from the foetus - the potential 'victim' -
about the issue (as there is when considering euthanasia), and
because the foetus can easily be seen as an entirely innocent and
defenceless being.
• The issues
• The non-religious argument about abortion covers several issues,
such as:
• what gives a being the right to life?
• Is a foetus a human being?
• is a foetus the sort of being that has a right to life?
• is a foetus a separate being from its mother?
• if the foetus has a right to life, does that right take priority over the
mother's right to control her own body?
• The problems can be restated in terms of the sort of decisions that
pregnant women and their doctors have to face:
• Does the foetus have a right to be carried in the woman's womb until
it's ready to be born?
• Under what circumstances, if ever, can we take an 'innocent' human
life?
• Is any other right more important than the right to life - for example, a 
woman's right to decide what to do with her own body?
• If the woman's life is in danger because of the pregnancy, how do we
decide whose rights should prevail?
• The case against abortion
• The most common form of the case for banning abortion goes like
this:
• Deliberately killing innocent human beings is wrong
• Abortion is the deliberate killing of a foetus.
• A foetus is an innocent human being.
• Therefore abortion is the deliberate killing of an innocent human
being
• Therefore, abortion is wrong
• If we follow this argument and accept that a foetus has a right to live,
then we face part two of the problem:
• Abortion is wrong unless it serves some right of the mother that is as
morally important as the foetus' right to life
• The right to life outweighs another person's right to control her own body
• Therefore abortion is wrong unless it serves some greater right of the
mother than the right to control her own body
• The only such right is the mother's right to live
• Therefore abortion is wrong unless it is to save the life of the mother
• The problems can be restated in terms of the sort of decisions that
pregnant women and their doctors have to face:
• Does the foetus have a right to be carried in the woman's womb until
it's ready to be born?
• Under what circumstances, if ever, can we take an 'innocent' human
life?
• Is any other right more important than the right to life - for example, a 
woman's right to decide what to do with her own body?
• If the woman's life is in danger because of the pregnancy, how do we
decide whose rights should prevail?
• The hidden issues
• Wrapped up in the ideas above are some issues that need to be dealt
with separately...
• It's only wrong to kill if death is a bad thing... but is death a bad thing?
• what do we mean by a 'human being'?
• when, if ever, does a human foetus become a 'human being'?
• Arguments for Abortion
• A woman has the right to choose whether or not she wants to have
the baby. It is her body.
• In the case of rape, it would be lacking in compassion to deny a
woman the right to an abortion.
• The woman might be too young, or have work or family commitments
which make bringing up a child difficult or impossible for her.
• The pregnant woman's health and welfare are more important than
that of the embryo or fetus.
• The embryo or fetus does not have the same rights as the mother.
• The quality of life of the unborn child or the woman's existing children
could be adversely affected by the birth.
• Stopping legal abortions would mean a return to 'back street'
abortions, causing a great deal of suffering to the health and
wellbeing of the woman. Abortion could therefore be the lesser of
two evils.
• Arguments against Abortion
• Roman Catholics believe that life begins at conception.
Some Protestants believe that life begins after the first 14 days.  For
Muslims, all human life is a precious and sacred gift from Allah. The
embryo is a living human being from this point, and so an abortion
would be murder.
• Although Islam gives high priority to the sanctity of life, most Muslim
scholars agree that abortion may be permitted, before ensoulment if
there are valid reasons.
• One valid reason is when it is quite likely that the mother's life is
endangered by continuing the pregnancy.
• This permission is based on the principle of the 'lesser of two evils'
and the mother's life takes precedence because she has established
duties and responsibilities for the family.
• Another valid reason is when the fetus is detected to have severe
disabilities and/or a genetic disease that would cause it relentless
pain.
• Every human being, including an embryo or fetus, has the right to live
and to reach their potential.
• There are alternatives to abortion, eg adoption.
• The unborn child is denied choice.
• Abortion destroys human life and makes life appear cheap and
disposable. This affects the quality and value of life.
• People born with disabilities can live full and happy lives.