VIRTUE ETHICS AND ABORTION
The theory of virtue ethics focuses on an individual’s character and personality as a contributing factor to moral or ethical thinking. This theory does not look at the rules that have been put in place which require an individual to act in a particular way in accordance with those rules so that a positive consequence is produced. Instead, it looks at character, i.e. whether one portrays the required virtues of moral philosophy. Aristotle was the major contributor to this theory. He stated that for an individual to be virtuous, he/she must have individual traits within themselves that portray different virtues. Aristotle, felt that the individual traits were to some extent innate but they still required nurturance for one to exploit fully.
The theory is divided into Eudaimonism, which emphasizes that a life worth living is that which is characterized by reasoning since reasoning nourishes our soul. The second one is the agent theory that focuses on intuition and common sense; the last one is the ethics of care that takes up a feminist approach and looks at the importance of justice and autonomy, this approach focuses on the nurturance and caring nature of women.
Aristotle went further to talk about the doctrine of mean where he said that virtue was a mean state that involved two extremes those of excesses and deficiency. He emphasized that the mean being ‘relative to us’ means that one has to use reasoning in order to do what is considered the correct action. A virtuous person therefore will do things that lie in between the two extremes. This paper will look at the connection between the theory of virtue ethics and the issue of abortion.
Most women who opt for an abortion lack preparation for the responsibilities that come with babies. While some do it willingly, others are a little reluctant, attributing their need to abort to the pressures they experience from the society around them, such as rejecting them for getting pregnant. Since Aristotle emphasized that moral character needs to nurturance, some parents may play a role in the moral decisions that their children make. Therefore, if a woman gets pregnant and her parents look at her as a disappointment, she may end up feeling that aborting the child is the right and moral thing to do.
Hursthouse on the other hand believed that when certain circumstances present themselves and abortion is the “right” decision to make in these circumstances then it’s permissible (Hursthouse 240). She believed that one has the right to have feelings of guilt and shame after choosing to abort, and moral ethics should emphasize more about the woman’s rights instead of that of the fetus. However, the theory of virtue ethics also consists of ethical care, which looks at justice and autonomy, as well as the caring and nurturing ability that women have. This makes abortion morally wrong because it violates the values of feminism. It’s therefore wrong to take away life because the fetus has an equal right to life and morality dictates that having autonomy doesn’t mean that one can deny the unborn child an opportunity to live because that will not be exercising ethical care. In this case, a virtuous agent would assess the situation and take up a course of action that lies in the middle of the two extremes. Therefore, if a virtuous person believes that abortion is morally wrong in this situation, they will choose not to go through with it and gather up enough courage to deal with all the consequences that will come with the unplanned pregnancy.
Works Cited
Hursthouse, Rosalind. “Virtue Theory and Abortion.” Philosophy & public affairs 20.3 (1991): 223–246. Web.
