Abortion ethics essay

1. Clare Dempsey
9X2 :-)
Abortion
- A controversial issue
“An acceptance of the practice of abortion is incompatible with
Christian belief in the sanctity of life but not with the attitudes of
ethical philosophers or popular politicians.”
Examine and comment on this claim
In this short essay, I am going to confirm different beliefs on abortion, and
eventually come to a conclusion of the quotation given above. The beliefs
studied, or rather, explored will be Catholic beliefs and doctrine, other branches
of Christianity, non-religious (or secular) attitudes, some utilitarian views, and
the views taken from the perspective of situation ethics.
It is estimated that 45 to 55 million abortions take place in just one year, 87% of
these take place in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, making the average age for
abortions taking place is 9.5 weeks- it is also shown that in teenagers, the foetus
is aborted at a younger age than that would be with an older woman, thought to
be because of pressure in decision and the fear of parents of younger women
finding out about the pregnancy.
In the UK, you can have an abortion until the foetus becomes viable (could live
independently) which is 24 weeks; you could therefore call it a pro-choice
country, where freedom reigns. Abortion became legal in the UK in 1967, under
the name of the Abortion Act. Although it may seem you could have an abortion
just in saying you want one, there are four reasons you would be allowed an
abortion, and two doctors must agree that at least one of these reasons is valid
so that the abortion can take place; the first is that the pregnancy puts the
mothers life at risk, the second being that it poses a risk to the mothers mental
or physical health, the third is an additional child imposes on the rest of the
family and thus causes a risk to the mothers health, and the fourth and final
reason being the child will be born severely handicapped. The limitation age for
abortion is not however considered if the mother’s life is in grave danger or the
foetus will be severely handicapped. If the abortion needs to take place urgently,
a second doctors consent isn’t needed, and for certain young mothers under the
age of 16, parental consent isn’t needed- although it is encouraged to inform
parents on the situation, so you can make an informed decision, but at the end
of the day it is the young woman’s choice, and she may believe that no-one can
effect the decision she’s already chosen to make. Some countries however do
not allow abortion, such as Iraq, who uphold Muslim values on the sanctity of
life, and therefore do not allow abortions ever. Some would argue that in

2. countries where abortion is thought to be immoral, and is not allowed, that it is a
good thing- but abortion still takes place. It is hard to know how many illegal
abortions take place, but in areas of the world where abortion is illegal, women
turn to backstreet abortion clinics, this is not in any way good however, because
they are often unsafe, unhygienic and extremely risky procedures and a large
proportion of the women who have these unsafe abortions die from disease
because the abortions weren’t sterile.
Debates concerning abortion are always heated and the sanctity of life is always
considered. The sanctity of life is the belief that all life is sacred, important, a gift
from God, and should be protected and also respected at all times; this belief of
the sanctity of life is triggered by content of the Bible, this is Genesis 1:27 “To
the image of God he created him, male and female he created them” which
show’s that we were all made in the image of God, therefore we shouldn’t ever
even consider abortion. Another quote from the Bible shows a reason not to
abort; this quote is “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the
Spirit of God dwells in you?” – 1 Corinthians 3:16, this quote is interpreted in the
way that in killing, or even disrespecting life, you’re destroying God’s temple. The
concept of natural law is brought up when you talk about this debate. St Thomas
Aquinas stated that a secondary precept is “Do not abort the unborn” derived
from the original, primary precept “Continuation of the species through
reproduction” because in having an abortion you’re not continuing what God
wanted, which was thriving human life, you could also back up the secondary
precept with a continuation of “To the image of God he created him, male and
female he created them” which is “And God blessed them, saying: Increase and
multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it.”- in order to agree with the idea of the
primary precepts however, you must agree that there is such a thing as
subjective morality, and as Catholics do- they believe that abortion is wrong.
I would now like to clarify is the genuine issue, or problem with abortion which
links to when we would consider a foetus as human life. Abortion is the removal
of the foetus from the mother’s womb, resulting in the termination of the
pregnancy, it is at this point we have to face the age-old question, when does
life begin? Catholics believe that life begins at the moment of conception, and
that it is at this time when you must regard the foetus as human life, sacred and
important just as any other living human. However, the differences in belief
about when life begins results in the problems people have with the issue of
abortion. Other Christians believe that life beings only when the foetus becomes
viable, meaning that it could live independently, but you do not only have to be
religious to take this view-point, as many non-religious people also take this into
perspective, and accept it as the beginning of a human life. Non-religious views
on the beginning of life can be either when the foetus becomes viable, or you
could believe that life begins once the baby is born, and in the world, as this is
when we can account that we can see it living.

3. As I briefly introduced the views of when life begins in the previous paragraph, I
would now like to explain more on the Catholic beliefs on when life begins.
Catholics believe that life begins at the moment of conception, and from this
time, the foetus should be respected as human life, and therefore not aborted-
because it would be classed as ending a human life; in other words, murder. The
only time in which a Catholic would permit (or rather accept) the death of the
foetus would be of natural causes (miscarriage) or under the doctrine of double
effect which is in the cases of an Ectopic pregnancy, a woman should have an
operation to save her life, and in it’s best efforts save the foetus, but
unfortunately the foetus may die- but in order to let the foetus live the mother
herself must live, and so, in this instance the rights of the mother outweigh the
rights of the foetus. Catholics oppose any act that would purposefully end the life
of the foetus, and Catholics also believe it is an extreme form of prejudice to
abort a foetus because of mental disability, or being handicapped- once again
provoking the argument of the sanctity of life, that all life is sacred and
important.
Evangelical Protestants vary in beliefs, some taking the pro-life, and some
adopting the pro-choice beliefs- dependant on the individual. The Church of
England believes, like Catholics, that life begins at conception- therefore abortion
is murder and should not take place. Some Angelicans believe that life does not
begin at conception, and so at certain stages of the pregnancy, abortion is in fact
acceptable. Most Christian Churches take pro-life points of views because of a
statement made by the Church in recent years; "In the light of our conviction
that the foetus has the right to live and develop as a member of the human
family, we see abortion, the termination of that life by the act of man, as a great
moral evil. We do not believe that the right to life, as a right pertaining to
persons, admits of no exceptions whatever; but the right of the innocent to life
admits surely of few exceptions indeed." This statement does however mention
“of few exceptions” meaning that some Churches did take the pro-choice beliefs,
or like the Angelicans, have people on either side.
The Eastern Orthodox Church believes that abortion is unacceptable as they also
believe that life begins at conception. They know why a woman may want an
abortion, such as poverty or the mother not being able to cope with the child-
and they believe that the Church should work to help these women. In some
cases they do believe that abortion is almost the lesser of two evils for example
when the mothers’ life is in jeopardy.
Fundamentalist Churches have no particular doctrine on abortion, they generally
believe that abortion is acceptable if the woman’s life is in danger, but if an
abortion is performed in any circumstances other than trying to save the mothers
life, is murder. They also tend to be more lenient when conception takes place

4. from rape or incest, and see abortion then as the lesser of two evils, because in
most of these cases, the woman does not want to go through with the
pregnancy due to either emotional trauma, or not physically being able to
support the child because she obviously did not plan on conception taking place.
The Methodist Church have been known to be pro-choice because they believe
that in certain circumstances, abortion is acceptable, and the woman has the
right to choose- but these are only when the woman is in grave danger. The
reason they believe this is they class a foetus or embryo as life- but not as
sacred as the life of the woman, as she is already born, and so more of a human
than the foetus could, or should be considered as. In a Church conference
however in 2008, they agreed that they would show more consideration for the
foetus, especially once viable- and are now leaning towards pro-life.
Now I will explain situation ethics, the idea developed by priest Joseph Fletcher
in the 1960’s. Situation ethics is deciding the best thing to do in a situation when
we feel there are no particular moral guidelines to follow. Some people would
describe situation ethics as a modern day dilemma, and that maybe it makes you
more confused about a situation if you already had your mind partially made up-
as it often comes to two conclusions that you have to decide which one is best; it
does however help you make an informed decision. Some would argue that
situation ethics is immoral because it gives everyone the chance to prove
everything in a positive light, which surely is not beneficial for our society.
Through practicing situation ethics, you show pragmatism, the Christian goal is
love, and you must try and achieve love no matter what. The second of the four
working principles is relativism, you don’t have to do it perfectly- but as long as
you try, and it is still to the benefit of others, you’ve succeeded, through doing
this, you may have to break some rules, or go against some morals- but as long
as you’re doing it in a loving way, it should reach a just, loving, acceptable
conclusion. Thirdly positivism; the person making the decision does it from a
positive form of Christian love, to benefit someone else, for the good of others.
Finally, the last of the four working principles is personalism, what you feel is
right should be good enough to making the decision because in following your
conscience, Christians would believe that you’re following the moral guidelines
that God gave you.
Now, what view are you likely to take on abortion if you conduct your beliefs
through the four working principles of situation ethics? I will explain now which
view you would be likely to take by actually demonstrating the four working
principles in action, with a scenario that may not be able to be followed by the
books.
The unfortunate scenario we will be trying to solve a positive conclusion to is
that the woman is only twenty, and has been raped. She is in university- working

5. towards a better future for her, and the family she intends to create in the
future, when she is ready. The first of the four working principles, being
pragmatism states that we must have a path of straightforward practical thinking
about the scenario, and the problems we have to deal with, or that are
concerned with the scenario, rather than with theories or principles. The straight
forward way to think about it is that the woman is young, and she did not at all
ask for this to happen, she can’t yet physically or financially support the child,
and she feels that adoption isn’t going to raise a happy child. Through the
straightforward thinking, at this stage, an abortion would be acceptable, or
rather, the lesser of two evils. Relativism is the second thing we have to
consider, in having the abortion, maybe it’s not going to end the whole situation
perfectly, but would an unwanted pregnancy end perfectly? It’s two evils, and
abortion in this case is the lesser one. Thirdly, we look at positivism, the person
making the decision should do so from a positive form of Christian love, and
seeing that she has considered adoption, and seen it as an evil- she is indeed
making this decision from a positive form of Christian love. Then finally,
personalism, she feels that this would be right, as making a child live in the
world not knowing if it would be in an adoption home for it’s whole childhood, is
an evil in itself. And so, from conducting ourselves through situation ethics, we
can conclude that it is acceptable to have this abortion.
Utilitarianism is the idea that nothing is right or wrong (therefore only objective
morality exists) and an action’s moral value is decided by the outcome. People
describe utilitarianism by saying “the greatest good for the greatest number.”
The names most associated with developing it are Jeremy Bentham and John
Stuart Mill. A utilitarian would ask if abortion brings about the greatest good
before making a decision (and could do this through situation ethics, such as in
the scenario shown in the previous paragraph). Aborting the foetus because of
the mother’s life being in grave danger, not being able to financially support the
child, and posing danger to the other family members may be justified.
Utilitarianism disagrees that abortion is an evil act; it instead argues that the end
always justifies the means. A utilitarian would generally be pro-choice. The
concept of absolute rights is consistent outlawed if you follow situation ethics,
because in following this- you show you don’t believe in primary precepts, or that
they have no significant importance for a modern society. If the abortion is
justified and will lead to the most happiness for the most people, in this instance,
a utilitarian will see it as acceptable.
Utilitarians and situationists don’t share the same views on abortion as Catholics,
who believe that abortion is always wrong; they instead believe that sometimes
it’s acceptable, although their views are quite similar to many Christian beliefs.
This may be because situation ethics came from the perspective of a Christian
and is acting as a new Christian ethic, or way of solving tricky problems.

6. Now I will explore the attitudes of popular politicians, these will be from the
previous USA elections. I will explain the views of Barak Obama, and John
McCain. Both senators where questioned on their beliefs and how they would
make America, either pro-life or pro-choice. They were questioned by Pastor Rick
Warren “At what point does a baby get human rights, in your view” Obama
answered, “Well, I think that whether you’re looking at it from a theological
perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity is
above my pay grade” so it seemed that Obama didn’t feel it necessary to answer
that question, or he simply didn’t have an answer. When John McCain was asked
the same question, he answered immediately “At the moment of conception”.
Obama’s America is a pro-choice country, and this is claimed to be because a
country that needs freedom, and liberty, needs choice. McCain said that if he
was elected president he would continue to make it a pro-life country, where he
intended to do anything he could to help women to anything but abortion, whilst
still allowing the ends to justify the means.
Finally, to come to a conclusion, I’ll explain my own views. I have been pro-life
since I was educated on the issue of abortion, before I thought “Why does it
matter?” but now I know why it matters, and I know why it is a terrible thing. I
believe that abortion should be illegal, but am aware that it then flags issues like,
why should a woman have to turn to an illegal, unsafe abortion? Well, she
shouldn’t, but at the same time I believe that she shouldn’t have an abortion at
all, but instead the Church community should help her, and all other mothers in
the same situation, because as one we believe that we are all the body of Christ,
so why should we protect our own and not others? I believe abortion should
never be allowed and never should have been allowed, I believe there is no such
thing as the end justifying the means when it comes to abortion, and I believe
that you can say this whilst still understanding why a woman would want an
abortion, but still not agree with it. I take Catholic beliefs seriously on this
matter, and if life begins at conception, why should we end it, still believing that
the statement is true? It’s like being given the truth, and going against it
regardless. What would Jesus do? Would Jesus purposely end the life of a young
child (as the word foetus derives from the Latin word meaning small one, or
young child) no, he wouldn’t, he’d to anything to protect them, and as St Teresa
of Avila said “Christ has no body now but yours No hands, no feet on earth but
yours are the eyes through which He looks compassion on this world and yours
are the hands with which he is to bless men now”. Abortion isn’t benefiting God’s
world, it’s merely destroying it. Think, what if you were aborted, what wouldn’t
exist now? If you think about aborting your child, just think like this “They could
be a doctor, they could be a scientist, or they could be aborted… and not have
the choice”
Sorry to whoever gets this, but I didn’t know where else to put it on the VLE, I saw
the assignment and thought I’d have a go at it, it’s not meant to be a good standard
though, I’m only in y9 