You are on page 1of 4

SANAE ALOUAZEN

2B
ABORTION

Abortion has always been a moral and ethical dilemma. It is one of the very controversial
contemporary issues. I personally stand in favor of abortion, for many arguments that I will
be exposing on my paper.
One of the main arguments that drive people to refuse abortion, is that killing an innocent
person is a crime. I disagree with this statement, that always drives me to ask the following
questions: what makes us human? What exact scientific data defines a person, is the
psychological, cognitive and biological development of a fetus being considered when
speaking of a human? When does a fetus magically become what we consider to be
independent living person? Abortion statistics state that 88% or more of abortions take
place in the first trimester, when the fetus is still dependant on the womans body, which
means it is not a separate independent person.
The second anti abortion argument is the responsibility that a mother holds for her own
pregnancy, the classical if you got pregnant then you are responsible of it! This argument
in my own opinion is wrong on so many levels. This argument has been discussed and
exposed intelligently by the philosopher Judith Tarvis Thompson with a thought experiment
titled The violinist , heres the hypothetical situation:
You wake up in the morning and find yourself back to back in bed with an unconscious
violinist. A famous unconscious violinist. He has been found to have a fatal kidney ailment,
and the Society of Music Lovers has canvassed all the available medical records and found
that you alone have the right blood type to help. They have therefore kidnapped you, and last

night the violinists circulatory system was plugged into yours, so that your kidneys can be
used to extract poisons from his blood as well as your own. The director of the hospital now
tells you, Look, were sorry the Society of Music Lovers did this to youwe would never have
permitted it if we had known. But still, they did it, and the violinist is now plugged into you.
To unplug you would be to kill him. But never mind, its only for nine months. By then he will
have recovered from his ailment, and can safely be unplugged from you.
When facing this experiment ,the most common and rational answer will regard the fact to
choose to stay plugged to the violinist completely absurd. Which can be reflected on the
moral choice of abortion, if an unintended pregnancy occurs, the woman has no
responsibility in carrying that fetus. When stating that there is a responsibility on the
pregnant woman s shoulders, implies that if the abortion doesnt occur, the new born baby
will be more of a burden than a healthy loving choice to have a child. Does it really make
sense to make raising a child a burden instead of a choice?
Other reasons to make abortion legal is what the data suggest on unintended pregnancy
because of lake of contraception methods. For instance 82% of unintended pregnancies in
developing countries occur among women who have a need for modern contraception. How
is a woman is this case hold responsible for the inaccessibility to modern and safe
contraception methods?
Many are the reasons that drive women to choose abortion I quote from a recent poll in the
united states 1) they could not afford a child at the time and were unmarried (42%), 2) it
would interfere with their education (38%), 3) it would interfere with their employment
(38%), and 4) they were students or planning to enroll in studies (34%). Other reasons are
having relationship problems, not ready for another child, or dont want people to know they

had sex or got pregnant, the health of the fetus, victim of rape, or became pregnant as result
of incest.
The conclusion we can make from these numbers, the choice of abortion is not always a
choice, it is forced by the cultural, economical and social situation of the concerned woman.
On other hand, when discussing from a legal perspective, to make abortion illegal does not
stop it from occurring. Numbers suggest that in the countries where abortion is illegal and
forbidden, in Latin America for example, it occurs more often, and is usually preformed in an
unsafe context which put the pregnant womans life in danger as well. As opposed to
Western Europe where abortion is more accessible and performed legally under healthy
medical circumstances. As a lawmaker I will stand in favor of legalizing abortion, because
whether it is legal or not it will still occur.
As for the two situations presented on the assignment paper. In the case of a fetus identified
as suffering from sever mental and physical damages, I approve the abortion because the
parents are the only ones concerned with the issue and only they know if theyre capable of
taking care of such a child or not. On the second situation where abortion is used as a
gender selection, I morally and ethically completely oppose to the sexist culture it stands for,
but I also believe that it might has less damage than if the female is actually born and suffer
from the sexist inequality as a individual of that society. I stress that I am not saying it is
morally right, I believe that it might have less damage.
This debate is still open on this hot topic nowadays, but I will always stress the need to
legalize abortion and actually give the choice to women, whether one personally opposes
abortion It does not give a rational reason to stop other people from making this choice.

Resources:
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_IAW.html Facts on Induced Abortion WorldwideGUTTMACHER INSTITUE
http://www.womenscenter.com/abortion_reasons.html Reasons for abortion
Papers:
A defense of abortion-Judith Jarvis Thomson

You might also like