Arguments for/Against Morality of Abortion

Morality of Abortion For Abortion (utilitarian): Anything having a net output of benefits with consideration of everyone is morally permissible. An abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy and the procedure is performed by a licensed health care professional. Medical or surgical abortions performed in the first trimester do not significantly affect later infertility, ectopic pregnancy, spontaneous abortion, or preterm or low-birth-weight deliveries, according to The Kaiser Family Foundation’s statistics on abortion, and shows no greater risk of breast cancer, according to research from the National Cancer Institute.

There is about 1 death per 100,000 legal abortions and the risk of complications from the abortions are rare, about less than 0. 3%  In the question of whether fetuses can feel pain during an abortion, evidence from research concludes that “fetuses from 20-23 weeks do not feel pain” – whereas abortions mostly occur before that time period. In conclusion, since the legal abortions are performed by a professional and the benefits outweigh the costs, abortion is morally permissible. Against Abortion (kantian): Killing an innocent human life form is wrong.

The fetus is an innocent human life form, therefore it is wrong to abort the fetus. According to the Women’s Center statistics, teenagers are more likely to delay having an abortion until 15 weeks of pregnancy, when the medical risks are greater. The federal law dictates that states cover abortions under Medicaid under cases of rape, incest, or life endangermen , but having wider access to contraception would be a better solution to the problem of abortion and enable private companies to take on the burden of the costs.

A fetus “possesses a property, the possession of which in adult human beings is sufficient to make killing an adult human being wrong”. The arguments for abortion are apt to “’speciesism’” because the arguments center around the notion that a “human being” should have reasoning ability, critical thought, or consciousness in order to pass as a human being. We cannot focus on consciousness or rationality as a definition of a person because it has the fallacy of being too narrow of a definition since a erson in a coma is still considered a human being. In conclusion, since fetuses possess the ability to gain rationality, and don’t need it to be defined as a human being, abortion is wrong because it is murder, and murder is not justifiable.

Works Cited

1. Gensler, Harry J. “A Kantian Argument against Abortion. ” Philosophical Studies: An International Journal for Philosophy in the Analytic Tradition 49. 1 (1986): 83-96.
2. JSTOR. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. ;http://www. jstor. org/stable/4319811;. “Abortion”.
3. MedlinePlus. National Library of Medicine (US). Web. 2013 Jan 28. ;http://www. nlm. nih. gov/medlineplus/abortion. html#cat22; “Abortion in the U. S. : Utilization, Financing, and Access. “
4. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. The Kaiser Family Foundation, June 2008. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. ;http://www. kff. org/womenshealth/upload/3269-02. pdf;.
5. “Abortion Statistics, Facts About Abortion In The US. ” Orlando Women’s Centers. The Women’s Centers, n. d. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. ;http://www. womenscenter. om/abortion_stats. html;. “Second-Trimester Abortion Overview. ” The Pro-Choice Public Education Project.
6. Reproductive Health Technologies Project, n. d. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. ;http://www. rhtp. org/abortion/documents/Second-TrimesterAbortionFactSheetExternal. pdf;. Christian, Brugger E. “The Problem of Fetal Pain and Abortion: Toward an Ethical Consensus for Appropriate Behavior.
7. ” Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal 22. 3 (2012): 263-87. U. S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.
8. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. ;http://www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pubmed/23285794? tool=MedlinePlus;. Vaughn, Lewis. Doing Ethics: Moral Reasoning and Contemporary Issues. 3rd ed. New York: W. W. Norton ;, 2013.
9. Print. “Abortion, Miscarriage, and Breast Cancer Risk. ” National Cancer Institute Factsheet. National Cancer Institute (NCI), n. d. Web. 18 Feb. 2013. ;http://www. cancer. gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/abortion-miscarriage;. Marquis, Don. “Why Abortion Is Immoral. ” Journal of