What ethical principles surround the abortion issue? Discuss these principles?
Abortion is referred to the deliberate or forceful action of expulsion/removal of a human fetus from the womb of a woman. The subject of abortion has always been covered in a raging argument about whether abortion should be labeled ethical and voluntary. In order to determine this, one has to understand the underlying principle that surrounds the issues of human abortion. There are many ethical principles that arise from abortion; however, one that is needed to be discussed is that whether fetus removal can be viewed as taking a human life, and whose choice is it to figure out if or not they ought to be allowed to carry out an abortion. Therefore, the most significant principles surrounding the issues of abortion are related to the ‘Value of a Human Life’ and ‘Principle of Individual Freedom’ (Callahan, 2012).
The principle of the ‘Value of a Human Life’ refers to the notion that our lives are our fundamental ownership. Each individual encounters their own lives in a distinctive manner, and nobody can really live or carry on with another’s life. Therefore, every individual must be dealt individually and distinctively; but aborting a human life cannot be legitimized and it allegedly proclaimed that it must not be ended without having extremely rational reasoning. As a result, it is considered ethically wrong to end a human’s life against their consent. On the other hand, the ‘Principle of Individual Freedom’ essentially articulates that as individual beings, we should have the sovereignty to pick our own specific means and ways for being ethical within the defined framework and moral principles. Since no situation and individual is precisely similar to another, there must be some flexibility for those individuals to manage these distinctive circumstances in a way that suits them the best (Zane et. al, 2015).
Do you agree that individual states should be able to impose reasonable restrictions or waiting period on women seeking abortions? Who should determine what is reasonable? Should married women be allowed to abort without her husband's consent?
Abortion made for the sake of mothers health are considered to be moral these days. However, the decisions have been mainly left to the responsibility of individual states; especially after the Roe v. Wade decision, which was made by Supreme Court in 1970 under Section 410 U.S. 113 (1973). According to the decision, the abortion regulation was left to individual states in order to improvise the attempts to protect human life and women rights. I agree that individual states should be empowered to impose restrictions; however, they must be vigilantly monitored regarding maintaining legitimate interest in protecting human life potentiality.
In the case of women, seeking an abortion or waiting period now also falls within the constitutional framework after 1992 as a 24 hours period does not constitute an unjustified burden over a women’s decision to abort the fetus (Callahan, 2012). Hence the decision is practical as abortion has always been one of the most unsettled legal areas that requires concentrated planning and action in order to make reliable attempts towards balancing women right to make a rational decision towards abortion while also protecting unethical and immoral expulsion of the fetus.
In the case of Abortion, the federal and state laws permits that physicians performing the abortion should determine the rationality of the abortion. Under the Supreme Court Ruling, physicians performing the abortion must check with the abortion legislation individual for each treatment they made. In the case of married women, a state may not require the approval of a husband for wife undertaking an abortion if in case carrying a fetus may affect the life or health of the women. Therefore, a married woman does not necessarily require a spousal consent for undergoing an abortion. Specifically, if the purpose is to preserve personal health and the fetus is not viable within the situation (Zane et.al, 2015).
References
Callahan, D. (2012). Abortion: Law, choice, and morality. Retrieved on June 22, 2016
Zane, S., Creanga, A. A., Berg, C. J., Pazol, K., Suchdev, D. B., Jamieson, D. J., & Callaghan, W. M. (2015). Abortion-related mortality in the United States: 1998–2010. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 126(2), 258-265. Retrieved on June 22, 2016
