Abortion is a controversial issue among different groups in the society. Some people are strongly against it whereas others advocate its use to specific situations or even entirely. A few people remain neutral on the issue. Those against abortion argue that it is against the child's right to life but if utilitarian approach is applied, then the pros of abortion outweigh its cons.
Take for instance the case of a woman who gets raped by a gang member. Asking her to keep the pregnancy ignores her right to decide since she did not agree to conceive the child (Stewart 100). Another thing that comes to play is the genes. If the father is an outlaw, it is likely that the child carries some of his genes and he will become a social misfit in future. Abortion saves society of problems in the future. Suppose the prospective mother suffers difficulties during childbirth. If she dies, social services will put the child up for adoption. Moving from one foster home to another is inconvenient for the child. The humane thing to do in such a situation is to perform abortion rather than have the child grow up suffering.
The existentialism theory defines a person as an entity capable of acting, feeling and become self-aware. A fetus can neither perform any acts nor feel, and is obviously not self-cognizant. Attaching human qualities to a fetus is, therefore, socially incorrect. If doctors perform an abortion on a person, they do not hurt a human being, except if something goes horribly wrong during the operation. On the contrary, they rid a perfectly functioning human being of a creature which is not yet self-aware. Abortion is, therefore, not entirely unacceptable from a philosophical point of view.
Work Cited
Stewart, Noel. Ethics: An Introduction to Moral Philosophy. Cambridge, UK: Polity, 2009. Print.
