The Moral Issue of Abortion Essay Example

an innocent human being. Accordingly pro-choice argument rests on the individual’s freedom of choice, giving centrality to the sovereignty of the individual’s conscience.

Pro-choice movement believes that abortion is morally licit. A woman must bear the consequences of her own decision and not even the Church authorities will carry the burden when a woman commits abortion. In certain instances even pro-life advocates considers abortion as morally permissible in special cases such as: therapeutic abortion in cases of ectopic pregnancy or cancerous uterus to safeguard the mother’s life when endangered by the pregnancy. Nevertheless, this essay will concentrate on abortion as a deliberate decision which bears moral significance. Is abortion morally licit?

The difficult question encountered by moralists is to determine the beginning of human life. Is the fetus a person? Or better yet: When does the soul fuse or unite with the body? In the article “Arguments against Abortion” by Anderson, he discussed the United State Supreme Court's verdict on Roe vs. Wade which rested upon two sentences. "We need not resolve the difficult question of when life begins. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology is unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of man's knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to an answer.

The central issue of the matter is the phenomenon of ensoulment which could occur during the moment of conception or from a certain stage of fetal development. On the former to expel or abort is a heinous crime but on the latter it can still be morally licit at some point. Let us examine the matter first from

the point of view of the Theologians and Philosophers. The Bible does not expressly speak about abortion what could we gather are interpretations of theologians about ensoulment. Anderson points out that according to the Old Testament human beings are created in the image and likeness of God.

Bearing the image of God is the essence of humanness. And though God's image in man was marred at the Fall, it was not erased. Thus, in God’s sight an unborn child if fully human having been made in God’s image and likeness. The Biblical view is what we call the Traducian View wherein the soul is transferred during conception. Human beings were potential Adam and considered to participate in the original sin. Therefore, an unborn baby is morally accountable and thus fully human. The Traducian View is also known as The Theory of Immediate Hominization.

This theory contends that a new human person exist immediately upon conception. This theory is also upheld by the Ancient Greek Philosophers Plato and St. Gregory of Nyssa a Neoplatonist. This Platonic and Gregorian view greatly influenced the Catholic Church that is why the church forbids abortion (Tuibeo 73). However, the Catholic Church does not dwell on the problem of ensoulment because they believed that even if the soul is infused later than at the time of fertilization human life is present at the time of conception (70).

Another view to the contrary is what we called the theory of Delayed Animation. According to this theory the soul is infused later but not during conception. The proponent of this theory is Aristotle. But interestingly two famous theologians agree with Aristotle: St. Augustine and St. Anselm.

They provided the classical precedent classifying the fetus as non-informed (embryo informatus) and informed fetus (embryo formatus). Only the termination of the informed fetus is morally illicit both saints claimed (73). They believed that until quickening no life exist.

Quickening is that moment wherein the mother can feel the spontaneous movement of the fetus during the 10th or 12th week of the pregnancy. St. Thomas Acquinas agrees with this theory as evidenced in his writing Summa Theologica but he explains his theory further. The rational soul according to St. Thomas is not engendered by coition or sexual intercourse. He argued that the intellectual principle is immaterial it transcends matter in which the human body does not take any part. St. Thomas believes that the intellectual soul is directly created by God not from conception but subsequently thereafter.

But he also said that there are nutritive and sentimental soul being material are infused during conception. The intellectual principle is received by the body at the moment it is capable of receiving it. Ensoulment therefore for St. Thomas occurs when the body is sufficiently organized to sustain the intellectual principle or the substantial form of man. The medical arguments against abortion are compelling as pointed out by Anderson, for example, at conception the embryo is genetically distinct from the mother and the definition of life and death.

In the former, a developing embryo is genetically different from the mother. A developing embryo is also genetically different from the sperm and egg that created it. A human being has 46 chromosomes (sometimes 47 chromosomes). Sperm and egg have 23 chromosomes. A trained geneticist can distinguish between the DNA of an embryo

and that of a sperm and egg. But that same geneticist could not distinguish between the DNA of a developing embryo and a full-grown human being. While on the latter, if one set of criteria have been used to define death, could they also be used to define life?

Death used to be defined by the cessation of heartbeat. A stopped heart was a clear sign of death. If the cessation of heartbeat could define death, could the onset of a heartbeat define life? The heart is formed by the 18th day in the womb. If heartbeat was used to define life, then nearly all abortions would be outlawed. There are also physical complications for a woman who aborted her pregnancy. The result could be the premature opening of the cervix and miscarriage or a pre-mature birth.

The woman who experience abortion increases her chances of miscarriage in the first and second three months after pregnancy by two to ten times respectively. A woman who has undergone abortion psychologically, may manifest guilt, suicidal tendency, loss of sense of fulfilment, loss of confidence, hostility, thwarted maternal instinct, self-destructive behaviour, anger, rage, helplessness, loss of interest in sex, inability to forgive herself, and intense interest in babies.

The case of Roe vs. Wade as decided by the Supreme Court separated personhood from humanity. The judges argued that a developing fetus is a human but not a person. In the 14th Amendment only “persons” are given protection in the Constitution, abortion therefore is legal at certain times. There is thus discretion on deciding the period wherein a human being entered personhood and thus must be protected. The decision of the US Supreme

Court overturned state laws that protected the unborn and ignored the religious and international community on the subject of the unborn child.

The decision also seems unpretentious as described by Anderson because by acknowledging that it did not know when life begins. But if the Court did not know, then it should have acted "as if" life was in the womb. A crucial role of government is to protect life. Government cannot remove a segment of the human population from its protection without adequate justification. The burden of proof should lie with the life-taker, and the benefit of the doubt should be with the life-saver.

The decision of the court on the matter was based on acknowledging that it did not know when life begins thus violated the very spirit of this legal principle by acting as if it just proved that no life existed in the womb. The pro-life movement disapproves abortion. Abortion is never permissible for them, or at most, permissible if and only if it is necessary to save a pregnant woman’s life. From the moment of conception life must be regarded with utmost care. Life of every human being must absolutely be respected and even an unborn human has rights to be safeguarded.

Basically, the inviolable right to life of every human being must not only be recognized but must be respected. If a child is a very troublesome child and is not anymore wanted, should the child be killed? Should a child’s life depend on whether someone else wants him? To say that every child should be a wanted child is good in an ideal world this is the case. But in the

real world what could it imply – that an unwanted child can be killed? An unwanted pregnancy is not synonymous to an unwanted child.

There are times when parents are initially shocked and upset when they find out that an unexpected child is on the way. But as the pregnancy proceeds and after birth the vast majority of these unwanted pregnancies become children wanted and loved by their parents. In fact, there are several studies that show that battered children come from super-wanted pregnancies. Child abuse sometimes results when super-wanted children failed to live up with their parent’s expectations. For legislation to be ethically acceptable, it is not enough that it goes through legally correct process of drafting and approval.

Observation of procedures only provides judicial legitimacy; only can invest it with moral value. The task of laws is to protect the rights of human beings, especially the most basic rights, and even more particularly, the rights of the most defenseless individuals (Rubin, pp. 43-52). The society must respect an individual’s right to life even if such right is uncertain or in doubt. It is an imperative to protect the weak, powerless, helpless and the innocent from the harm that can be perpetuated by the more powerful, and at most, to provide them with an opportunity to develop their full potential.

Moral values and ideals toward a developing life should not be compromised or bargained and must be upheld at the cost of individual difficulties and adversities. To allow a person to abort an unborn child is to let evilness triumph in our modern society. Virtue is knowledge and virtue is teachable. No person do an evil thing

knowingly and willingly (Copleston 219). This issue poses a challenge to the society and to every individual to raise our moral virtues and respect the fundamental right of every human being for goodness is inherent to every person.