Medical Research: Ethics of Abortion
The topic of abortion will remain a controversial one because of the many sensitive questions it raises. While one of the most important issues is when life can be perceived to begin, other serious considerations include the life and health of the mother. There are debates regarding whether or not abortion should be permitted when there are chances that failing to do so may cause the mother or both the mother and infant to die. Medical doctors have the means to predict the likely outcomes of pregnancy but the decision may not be theirs to make. Physicians work to save lives and it can be considered ethical to try to save one life where two are in jeopardy.
Much of the debate, however, revolves around the justice and ethics of abortion where different ethical and philosophical viewpoints compete with each other. As mentioned above, one of the serious questions is when life starts, whether at birth or conception. It is hard for someone neutral to the argument to choose between these two sides without being partisan and following personal convictions. Personally, it becomes easier to stand by science and support the argument that life begins at inception. In such a case, the fetus is a human being who should be allowed to make their own life choices like all human beings do. At that stage, however, all decisions are made for the fetus and the law should intervene to ensure its protection.
It is important to acknowledge that most abortions are morally unjust. My argument, though not supported by much empirical evidence, is that many people seeking to abort are simply attempting to escape the responsibility of being parents or trying to avoid becoming parents of unplanned children. Teenage and early pregnancies could potentially be the leading causes of abortion based on the assumption that women in stable marriages would not have many problems getting and keeping the pregnancy. This is a topic that can be explored empirically because, as an interested researcher, it would be interesting to find out the reasons for the abortions and understand the demographics of those that support or have practiced it. Such a study might reveal that abortion is not a necessity but a matter of lifestyle choices among young people.
Besides medical issues and the argument of when life begins or whether fetuses have human rights, another course of arguments pertains to unwanted [pregnancies resulting from acts of rape. The issue becomes whether a woman can be forced to keep a child that she never consented to. In many cases, a decision to keep the pregnancy might be traumatizing for the woman and the pregnancy and the child could live to be a reminder of the ordeal that the mother went through. An abortion may not heal the wound and, therefore, one may wonder whether killing the fetus is the most ethical choice. Other pathways that can be explored include giving up the child for adoption.
Regardless of how much people argue about abortion, there will possibly never be an agreement on whether is it good or bad. Considering human rights and justice, abortion can be perceived as killing an innocent infant, a human with basic rights that include life. While some circumstances may make the practice the better intervention, many abortions are for reasons that are not based on ethics and justice.