Introduction
In the contemporary world, virtue theory is concerned with the emphasis on an individual’s amoral character as the main features for ethical thinking instead of concentrating on the rules and regulations that are established by the act themselves outlining the consequence of going against them.
Body
Our case study is revolving around a couple, Linda, and Bob, who are having a disagreement concerning the case of the unborn baby. In this circumstance, the couple already had had two children are living happily married. According to them, the two kids were enough for them, but they had left their option wide open as Linda had not gone sterilization fully. Afterward, Linda conceives by what can be described as a “something that is unplanned.” As far as the virtue theory is concerned, the classic
...al formulation is that the proper goals and objectives should be followed when making a logical decision, these include consideration such as the well-being of somebody, an essence of good life, and lastly, how to achieve and maintain happiness. In our daily life, our subject is to achieve the exercise of practical wisdom in coming up with a solution for any conflict or misunderstanding between two or more peoples.
In our case study, a dilemma is created as the couple has two opposing views; the husband is supporting the view of his wife carrying on with the pregnancy while his wife, Linda is of the view that she ought to undergo the abortion. The initial agreement was that since their two children had grown, Linda was to start searching a job as per her qualification as a nutritionist. She had been serving as a house wife for
the last couple of years. The basic question here is that does the unborn child has is fundamental right as a pre-born human being, or does the mother possess the right over her body and what happens concerning her body.
A virtuous life as per the theory is that the well-being of her person is concerned with objective, as opposed to being subjective state, to mean that it is not characterized by the well-lived life of the two protagonists, as in the sense that it is irrespective of the emotional state in tackling the dilemma issues at hand to influence the decision of the two conflicting people. Let examine Linda and Bob stand on the issue at hand of whether undergoing abortion or not:
As per Bob, his view is that supporting the rights of the unborn child. He goes further to advance a claim that the unborn child is supposed to enjoy the same right as their born counterpart since the time that they are conceived. Life is perceived to be of utmost importance that we are perceived for the human beings to take care and protect without compromise. He purports to be the sole protector of his unborn child who is defenseless.
Examining Linda stance, she purports that the child was conceived without any undue plan, and so abortion was the only option. She is even angered that her husband as gone ahead to break this news of the pregnancy to their two children. To her, abortion is not a family issue, something that is not subject to debate by the family members. The moral stand of his husband has not swayed her ideas as far
as the issue of abortion is concerned. She perceives her body as her responsibilities, which has the potential of possessing the right of a fully-fledged person once she is delivered. She has the right for the control of her body.
On the light of the principles advanced by the virtue theory, the ensuring dispute concerning this case of abortion is on two fronts, the first one is whether the unborn child enjoys the right to life, and secondly, does the woman possess the right to personal and body integrity. Most of the societal members hold the view that once the once a woman conceive, he is a fully fledged bearer of the right possessing a moral claim to our care and protection. This is perceived to be outweighing the claim advanced by some section of the woman having a total control of her body. The moral question arising in this scenario is that, do fathers have responsibilities and claim over their unborn child or it is the solely business of the lady? According to this theory observe of the utmost care and responsibility, both the father and the unborn child possess the right to be considered if the question of undergoing abortion arise.
One of the elements of this theory is the issue of ethical care which is primarily advanced by a feminist. It talks about how men think in a masculine way of justice and autonomy, contrary to the feminine nature exhibited by the women’s such as self-service, the ability to nurture, and patience. In this situation, the solidarity between the two couples, Linda and Bob is in turbulent moment, the right thing is not killing
the unborn child, but other factors are also at stake, the personal cost is required by sacrificing the interest of the family members so as to be able to show care to our loved ones. In solving issues, a middle ground is the best solution for the two conflicting parties. Linda and Bob are exhibiting two divergent ways as the issue of abortion has been contentious from the time immemorial. The issue of the woman undergoing the abortion should be analyzed in two scenarios as argued by the expert. What are the bases advanced by the woman to this cause, and how was the pregnancy conceived.
Assuming that the pregnancy was conceived either through rape or in incest, should the woman go on and carry the pregnancy? How would this affect her psychologically? These are the instance when the theory of virtuous comes into an application. The logical question in the above scenario is for the woman to carry on with abortion to avoid suffering psychologically in the future. Carrying such a pregnancy will be tantamount to her future, think about her marriage, how will seeing the child on daily basis evoke the severe ordeal she suffered. The ethical issue comes when the life of the child is taken into consideration, and also the responsibilities of the father. We can only conclude that in matters such as this, all factors of ethics, morality, and opinion should be taken into consideration to arrive at a sound decision for all the parties involved.
Second case study
This is case involving Ellen and her husband. At the age of 42, Ellen presented herself for the routine check-up to determine whether the
child she was carrying whether she was suffering from Down syndrome. After the scan the result tested negative but the un-born child was diagnosed with Klinefelter’s Syndrome, a chromosal abnormality. Ellen feared that her child will suffer from sex-identity crisis contrary to her husband who initially thought that the situation was manageable. Ellen favored to undergo abortion instead of carrying the child that would be problematic in the future raising the question of ethics and morality.
The two ethical question that faced Ellen included: was it such a way comparative scale possible? Secondly, even if it is, should it influence her decision to abort a mild affected fetus? But there were so many disadvantage associated with carrying out such a pregnancy, the moral question would be should we allow Ellen to carry such a burden or be relieved now by undergoing an abortion, posing an ethical dilemma. As doctors were able to point out, the case of Klinefelter’s syndrome is not as severe as the one e for Down syndrome, the couple were making their judgement from misinformed sources. It also transpired out that a child suffering from this disease had some degree of having a successful life and therefor abortion was not an option as ethical law would adhere to.
Has evoked in the second illustration where an unborn child is suffering from severe diseases, “milder disability” on whether he/she should be aborted as the child posed so many problems when she is delivered to the family. The principles of virtuous theory should be evoked in such a situation. It concerns two couples, Helen, and her husband; Mr. Brown are lacking information concerning this scenario as
to make a correct decision. First, they suspected that the child was suffering from Down syndrome, but it turned out to be wrong. Klinefelter's syndrome as outlined will result to the child possessing an extra chromosome thus having repeated features and thus pose a serious threat to his health and chances of survival. As ethics demand, personal interest should be put aside to address the logic ideal decision to be made if the couple were to contemplate carrying out abortion.
Conclusion
The two scenarios illustrate the ethical dilemma that we are faced in our daily life. In our contemporary world, abortion has been a critical issue has it has both the morality and logical issues. The critical issues are to consider the importance of the life of the unborn child, the moral integrity of the women body, and the responsibility of the father towards the un-born child. It’s upon the parties involved to mitigate and come into amicable solution.
