Abortion can simply be defined as the removal of an unborn child from its mother before its birth. Abortion is done with the primary intention of getting rid of the unborn child. Whether this is wrong or right has continued to be a top debate around the world. Coming to a general conclusion has proved impossible as the controversy revolves around conflicting viewpoints such as religion, ethics, constitutional law, induced abortion among others. All these factors are brought together to form only two sides of the debate: the pro-life and pro-choice movements. From the definition, the previous emphasizes on the embryo's right to life while the latter puts across the women's right to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy. Nonetheless, as a pro-life advocate, abortion should not be allowed as it is ethically and morally wrong.
From an ethical standpoint, abortion is wrong as it is such a selfish act of a mother who only minds about her immediate welfare without caring about the life of another life. According to the utilitarianism theory, an act is correct, good, or moral when it gives the best amount of good for the greatest number of people (Outka 146). Analyzing abortion while putting the utilitarianism in mind, abortion is incorrect, wrong and immoral as it is an act that it does not result in the greatest amount of good to the people involved. The innocent unborn child suffers death and not given an opportunity to be born and experience life. On the other hand, the mother is likely to suffer serious consequences both psychologically and physically. Unfortunately, most of the pregnant mothers considering abortion only consider the imaginary moment of getting off a ‘burden,' while in fact, abortion worsens the problem. Some mothers end up having a fatal complication such as heavy bleeding, infections, and fever. Abortion also leads to a pile of problems for the future pregnancy such as premature births, miscarriages, handicaps among other gestational complications.
No matter how one does the math, there is no single way that abortion brings a greater good to most of the people involved. It is needless to mention of the probable psychological torture that a mother goes through after carrying out an abortion of her baby (Kaczor 16). While abortion may appear to be the answer at first, the better option is to carry on, and in the end, things turn around, and the child becomes a precious possession; rather than living in regret, guilt, and despair wishing for something that cannot be reversed. If at all abortion can be considered as ethical and good, then according to the greatest happiness principle, sustaining a pregnancy is more ethical and better. This is because, while abortion may cater for the worries of the mother and probably bring bliss to her, the welfare of the unborn child (who is indeed a person too), is disregarded (Gerdts 56). If anyone today were told that their mother had to choose between an abortion and childbirth at a certain point, they would thank their mothers for caring about their wellbeing.
A part of our society today wants to justify abortion as the solution to carelessness. Even in instances of rape, this part of society has encouraged rape victims to use the unborn children as scapegoats for their anger. If vengeance is to be executed, the casualties should be the rapist; but why turn against an innocent child? In cases of unplanned and accidental pregnancies, abortion should not even be on the list of options. While being pregnant at such an instance may seem scary, especially for teenagers, it is important to note that this is just an illusion and some things are just bound to scare us at first, but with time, the mind accepts (Kaczor 18). A good society is whereby victims are encouraged that childbirth can be a victory and that preferring childbirth to abortion is a successful act. According to the natural law theory of ethics, choosing to take care of the pregnancy and disregarding abortion can be described as inherent and virtue of the human nature. Killing anyone, regardless of whether it is a small unborn child, it is not human nature, and our instincts as human beings are naturally against it.
According to the natural law, one is supposed to use their natural reason to analyze human nature to realize the binding rules of moral behavior according to the reality and humanity as far as nature is concerned. When it comes to the abortion debate, this should not be overlooked, and it brings out only one result: that abortion is against the rules of moral behavior since it denies another human being (the unborn baby) his/her natural rights (Vaughn 25). This is further affirmed by the divine command theory whereby humankind is expected to be grounded in a theistic framework. Unfortunately, a part of our society has partly or disregarded God. Otherwise, our morality is highly dependent upon God and judging abortion from this perspective. It is indeed unethical and unacceptable. Prohibition of abortions by law should not be the factor stopping abortions, but rather the divine rule of protecting lives.
According to the divine command theory, being obedient to God is a moral obligation. Therefore, putting the God's commandment, "thou shall not kill," abortion is immoral. Abortion is killing, which means disobedience to God's divine command which ultimately makes the act unacceptable (Watt 6). Furthermore, the God's command is unconditional and therefore it does not matter whether it was an unplanned pregnancy, rape case or whichever the case – abortion is not justifiable. Of course, a divine command is entirely determined by a person's spirituality or religiosity. This means that specific contents of morality may vary according to people's various religions as well as divine command views (Vaughn 27). Nevertheless, there is no any single version of religion that allows the killing of an innocent human being, especially when it comes to children who are considered as the purest forms of humanity. Therefore, abortion is unethical and hence should not be acceptable in any part of the world.
Some abortionists argue that unborn babies are not human beings and therefore aborting them is not a problem. Suggesting that a fetus is neither legally nor scientifically a human being or a person and therefore, abortion cannot be equated to taking a life or murder. The argument goes on to claims that an unborn child has neither self-awareness nor consciousness and it is therefore actually dead. But this is not even biologically correct where life begins at conception. Personhood may begin at birth and not at conception but what matter is life. It is due to this fact that it is conventionally accepted that unborn children have a life of their own (Gerdts 55). Therefore, abortionists claiming that unborn children are not human beings mean that being a human being is determined by size which does not make sense. The termination of conceived human life, regardless of whether it is embryonic, fetal, or viable, ought not to be ethical. When it comes to abortion or childbirth debate, the unborn babies seem to be in a fight that is only bound to lose. Simply because they are not in the position to speak up for themselves (Filip 83) It is a divine command where God prioritizes the protection of the weakest as well as most helpless among us. Therefore, it is unethical to feel abortion is just on any basis since a weak and helpless being fallen the victim.
Conclusion
All in all, abortion is an unethical act which should not be allowed. This is proved by multiple ethical theories such as utilitarianism, divine command, and natural law theories. While the abortion issue will remain a controversy and a debate between pro-life and pro-choice, abortion will remain to be incorrect, wrong and immoral. Abortion is deliberate termination of human life which makes it equivalent to murder. Abortion should not be used as a way of righting the wrongs resulting from carelessness. Neither should unborn babies be used as scapegoats for unfortunate events such as rape. People should not turn to these weak and helpless beings, and they should simply be allowed to live as we are human beings that ought to protect life by nature. Allowing abortion and having everyone doing it will only make us lesser human beings without dignity.
Works Cited
Filip, Irina, et al. "Morality and ethical theories in the context of human behavior." Ethics " Medicine 32.2 (2016): 83.
Gerdts, Caitlin, et al. "Side effects, physical health consequences, and mortality associated with abortion and birth after an unwanted pregnancy." Women's Health Issues26.1 (2016): 55-59.
Kaczor, Christopher. The ethics of abortion: Women’s rights, human life, and the question of justice. Routledge, 2014: 11-19.
Outka, Gene. "The Ethics of Love and the Problem of Abortion." Church, Society, and the Christian Common Good: Essays in Conversation with Philip Turner (2017): 146.
Vaughn, Lewis. Doing ethics: Moral reasoning and contemporary issues. WW Norton " Company, 2015: 21-30.
Watt, Helen. The ethics of pregnancy, abortion and childbirth: Exploring moral choices in childbearing. Routledge, 2016: 4-7.
