- Question
Is abortion ethical?
There are debates all over the world about whether or not abortion should be legal, and many people pick which side based on their feelings on the morality of abortion. Frequently, the debate centers around disagreements of the moral status of the fetus, and at what point it has all the rights of an adult. Other ethical debates focus on the rights of the mother or the circumstances of conception.
Abortion is ethical
Abortion is a matter of preventing cells from continuing to grow. Some arguments for the ethicality of abortion are arguments for the potential parent's right to control their body and arguments for fetuses not being human beings.
- Abortion is ethical because a fetus is not a person
- Abortion is ethical because we have a right to bodily autonomy
- Abortion is ethical because we have a population crisis and our environment is at stake
- Abortion is ethical because we put too much emphasis on the importance of human life
- Abortion is ethical because pregnancy and childbirth have many long-term health implications
Abortion is ethical under certain circumstances
If a fetus has not developed enough to be considered a child or if it threatens the life of the mother, then she has the right to choose an abortion. Additionally, if the mother is raped, then it would be ethical for her not to bear the consequences of something over which she had no control.
Abortion is unethical
From the moment of conception, a fetus is a child with all of the rights of any person. A fetus will grow up to be just like any other person and could have a meaningful future, and abortion is also religiously unacceptable. As such, abortion is unethical.