Abortion and Its Related Problems Looked at from the Points of View of Pro-Choice and Pro-Life Movements; Critique their Position and Identify and Substantiate your Position?
Introduction
The terms "pro-life" and "pro-choice" generally boil down to the question of whether the individual wants to see abortion banned, but there's more to the debate than that. Let's explore, briefly, what the central arguments are about
Support for the legalization of abortion, called the pro-choice movement by its proponents, is a political movement encompassing the ethical view that a woman should have the legal right to stop the pregnancy. Abortion-rights advocates argue that whether or not to continue with a pregnancy is an inviolable personal choice, as it involves a woman's body, personal health, and future. They believe that both parents' and children's lives are better when abortions are legal, thus preventing women from going to desperate lengths to obtain illegal abortions. More broadly, abortion-rights advocates frame their beliefs in terms of individual liberty, reproductive freedom, and reproductive rights. There are three different positions, they are the most permissive, the least permissive and inter mediate position respectively.
The Most Permissive –Abortion is always Permissible
This is the stand adopted by the pro-choice camp. They propose two standard arguments. They are the following sentences.
A. Fetus does not have the rights guaranteed to ordinary citizens.eg. Right to life, right to bodily integrity among the rights, there is the right of the woman to control what happens in her body. She has the right to decide when and whether to become a mother. Given these rights, the unborn baby does not have any rights.consiquently, it is always permissible to have an abortion, and the decision is left to the woman.
B. In certain cases, the most permissive position agrees that the fetus has some rights. However those rights are overruled by the rights of the woman. Accordingly, abortion is always morally permissible.
The Least Permissive –Abortion is never permissive
The position is adopted by the pro-life the fundamental assumption is the fetus either from the moment of conception or in any case, from an early stage of development which has the same right not to be killed that is possessed by any other human being. To say that someone is "pro-life" is to say that the person believes that the government has an obligation to preserve all human life, regardless of intent, viability, or quality-of-life concerns. In cases where the pro-life ethnic conflicts with personal autonomy, as in the case of abortion and assisted suicide, it is conservative. In cases where the pro-life ethnic conflicts with government policy, as in the case of the death penalty and war, it is liberal.
Intermediate Position
This middle position uses parts of the arguments of previous positions. They argue that fetus does have the right not to be killed, but that right is weaker than the same right enjoyed by other human beings.therefore,incase of substantial need, the fetus right can be outweighed by others and thus abortion become morally permissible. Mostly they argue based on the consequences of abortions.
Point of Conflict
The pro-life and pro-choice movements primarily come into conflict on the issue of abortion. The pro-life movement argues that even non-viable, undeveloped human life is sacred and must be protected by the government. Abortion, according to this model, must not be legal, nor should it be widely practiced on an illegal basis.
The pro-choice movement argues that in cases where human personhood cannot be proven, e.g. in pregnancies prior to the point of viability, the government does not have the right to impede a woman's right to decide whether or not to continue a pregnancy.
Religion and the Sanctity of Life
If one believes in an immortal soul that is implanted at the moment of conception, and if personhood is determined by the presence of that immortal soul, then there is little difference, in effect, between terminating a week-old pregnancy or killing a living, breathing person. Rational members of the pro-life movement do acknowledge that there is a difference in intent--abortion would be, at worst, involuntary manslaughter rather than murder--but the consequences, i.e. the death of a human person, are regarded by pro-lifers in much the same way.
Opposition to the Legalization of Abortion
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered on the pro-life or anti-abortion movement, a political movement opposing it on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction. Around the world, those involved in the pro-life movement generally maintain that the human fetus and in most cases the human embryo which is a person and therefore has a right to life. On the issue of abortion, "pro-life" advocates are opposed by "pro-choice" advocates who generally advocate legal abortion as an important facet of women's own decision. The "pro-life" concept is sometimes broadened to include positions on other issues, such as opposition to euthanasia and embryonic stem-cell research. A major stated goal within the pro-life movement is to "restore legal protection to innocent human life.
Critique of these Positions
Abortion is a 'front line' for the defense of women's reproductive rights because anti-abortion politics is a leading edge for a broader right-wing agenda. Meanwhile, worldwide, many women wish to limit or space births. Each year an estimated 22 per cent of all pregnancies are terminated by abortion. Anti-abortion advocates have used many strategies to restrict women's access to abortion, but their claim that abortion damages women's mental health has particular implications for feminist psychologists. If this claim is accurate, then we want to understand how such damage happens and work to ensure that women have access to prevention and treatment by qualified mental health providers. If this claim is inaccurate, then we have a responsibility to counter it, as 'silence is consent'. Because claims that choosing to have a legal abortion can damage women's mental health have not been substantiated in the scientific literature, pro-life advocates use cyberspace, which has no peer review, to get out their message. Abortion is constructed as a wrong and shameful act that leads to a psychological disorder labeled as 'post-abortion syndrome'. Women are told to expect 'anniversary reactions' and to 'admit their personal responsibility', to pray for others and recognize that 'they too acted out of ignorance, fear, or petty human selfishness'. The two main groups involved in the abortion analysis .they are the pro-choice movement, and the pro-life movement. Each movement has, with varying results, sought to influence public opinion and to attain legal support for its position.
Arguments in Favor of the Right to Abortion
Bodily Rights
Abortion is morally permissible because a woman has a right to control her own body .it would be permissible to "unplug" and thereby cause the death of the person who is using one's kidneys. So it is permissible to abort the fetus the one who has no right to use one's body against one's will. There are morally relevant disanalogies between abortion and the kidney failure scenario. For example, the fetus is the woman's child as opposed to a mere stranger; that abortion kills the fetus rather than merely letting it die and that in the case of pregnancy arising from voluntary intercourse. The woman has either tacitly consented to the fetus using her body or has a duty to allow it to use her body .since she herself is responsible for its need to use her body. Some writers defend the analogy against these objections. Arguing that the disanalogies are morally irrelevant or do not apply to abortion in the way critics have claimed. Not all women think abortion is cool for them, but all women have the right to make this choice.
Abortion is a simple medical procedure which ends a pregnancy. Throughout history, around the world, and in many religions, women have used abortion as a part of our healthcare. Other options for an unplanned pregnancy include adoption or keeping the child.
Conclusion
I would like to conclude with a few descriptions. Any reason we have for choosing abortion is a good reason. These are our bodies and our lives. No one has the right to force us to have a baby, or to punish us for liking sex. Support for the legalization of abortion, called the pro-choice movement by its proponents, is a political movement encompassing the view that a woman should have the legal right to terminate a pregnancy. Abortion-rights campaigners are opposed by anti-abortion campaigners who are also called pro-life campaigners who generally argue for the rights of fetuses. Many abortion-rights campaigners also say that anti-abortion activists oppose sex education and contraception, thus increasing the demand for abortion, and that abortion-rights activists, in contrast, support policies that decrease this demand.
I personally support that abortion rights which see abortion as a last resort and focus on a number of situations where they feel abortion is a necessary option. Among these situations are those where the woman was raped, her health or life is at risk, contraception was used but failed, the fetus has acute congenital disorder and defects, incest, one-child policy, or she feels unable to raise a child. So she has the every right to opt for the abortion whether she want or not. Moreover according to me abortion is permissible for such cases.
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