Deontology is an ethical branch dealing with good activities, duties, and right obligations. It originated from a Greek word deon meaning duty. Abortion makes people take sides thus causing polarization of individuals, especially opportunists such as politicians and the liberals. Liberals and feminists use the utilitarian argument while politicians use the deontological positions. Deontological approach uses moral actions and duties to murder those practicing abortion. However, pregnancy interruption before birth is viewed from different angles and ethical conclusion from different perceptions are allowed from various rights and theories.
Deliberate determination of pregnancy has been a discussion over the years. The ethical approach of utilitarianism is helpful because it considers the pain and pleasures of the moral activities. This theory focuses on the ability of the pleasures to overcome pain . This approach judges on the result of abortion, which should be of possible pleasures. Therefore, it stresses on the ends of pregnancy interruption before birth over any means. Encouraged by Peter Singer, abortion is ethically right if its results are favorable to everyone involved (Singer 343). The deontological perception is a pro-life position that emphasizes on our duties because the unborn is human and it is undesirable to take away human life. Therefore, abortion is wrong, and it is our responsibility to take care of the unborn before birth.
Deontologists view on abortion involves the rights to life, freedom, and liberty. These rights are to protect the helpless. The better nominees to these rights are the unborn and living organisms that would become humans (Gómez‐Lobo 459). The unborn do not have the voice, and no one should be in a position to endanger someone’s life. Immanuel Kant believed in moral laws and behavior. Kant argued categorically according to the law of morality that humans have to obey duties. On abortion, Kant argued that if the woman pregnant says yes to abortion, then abortion is moral and if she says no then it is immoral.
Consequently, Kant’s reasoning on abortion is immoral because if every woman wants to abort the unborn, then he says that it is irrational and foolish. If a woman chooses to have an abortion, then the pro-choice position would become a pro-life position (Gary Crum 149). Kant advocates for one's obligations and duties to his or her activities, which is a Monistic deontology approach. W. D. Ross uses the Pluralistic deontology approach that forms a group of prima facia obligations meaning all things are equal . Ross advocates for things that do not lie and do not kill. These things should be considered not to harm others but to benefit people. Ross suggests that when a conflict of duties occurs, then our task is not to lie to save innocent lives, but we should weigh the penalties first since these critics can be very cautious.
Natural rights depend on what the people do. These people might choose to do the wrong or right thing. These rights and ethics are our obligations to the society and being fair to other people. These rights involve standards that set the community and benefit it too. Privileges that every human should have are the natural moralities, for example, the right to birth. Kant’s theory justifies positivity also called the welfare right. These positive rights improve duties performed by the people. An unborn child has the right to life, therefore, enhancing the well-being of the helpless. Liberty rights, on the other hand, apply to both the positive and negative rights. These rights can be legal or moral behavior. A negative right should be subjected to one’s action, for instance, the right to kill the unborn is due to one’s action to have an abortion while the right to life is due to one’s act not to have an abortion.
In conclusion, people’s rights play a significant role to morality because they promote one's duties and obligations to help those who cannot help themselves especially the unborn. Deontologists such as Kant believe in morals and obligations of protecting the unborn since it is irrational to have an abortion. Abortion is killing a human life and that is an undesirable right. Ross, on the other hand, believes in weighing of options before judging on what duties an individual should take thus improving human pleasures.
Works cited
Gary Crum, Thelma McCormack. Abortion: pro-choice or pro-life? New York: American University Press, 1992.
Gómez‐Lobo, Alfonso. "Individuality and human beginnings: A reply to David DeGrazia." The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 35.3 (2007): 457-462.
Lawrence M. Hinman. A pluralistic approach to moral theory. Chicago: Cengage Learning, 2012
Singer, Peter. "Ethics and intuitions." The Journal of Ethics 9.3-4 (2005): 331-352.
Sullivan, Roger J. Immanuel Kants Moral theory. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1989.
