Abortion and Animal Ethics

Abortion

Stripped of moral, religious, and legal considerations, abortion is simply the termination of a pregnancy. But there is nothing simple about abortion or at least, debates over abortion, and the contest over whether and when abortion should be legally permissible has been at the center of the so-called culture war. The abortion debate has shaped party politics, electoral campaigns, legislative agendas, and judicial appointments. It has led to political rallies, protests, blockades, bombings, and the killing of abortion providers. The lasting conflict and the reach of the controversy into debates over stem cell research, sex education, fertility treatments, population control, and more ensure that abortion will remain newsworthy.

From some moral, religious, and cultural vantage points, abortion is murder. Others view abortion as a fundamental right that, whether grounded in privacy, liberty, equality, or autonomy, must remain unfettered to ensure full emancipation. For many, the morality of abortion depends on when during pregnancy it is performed or what an individual's reasons are for undergoing the procedure. Perspectives about abortion are not merely contrasting; they are frequently impassioned and irreconcilable. Seeking compromise among those who stand on opposite sides of the abortion spectrum can appear futile, and encouraging tolerance of diverse viewpoints may, in the context of this debate, seem unprincipled.

Still, a vast number of women do terminate their pregnancies, abortion is legally permissible in many countries, and the worldwide trend is toward liberalizing restrictions on the procedure. This trend notwithstanding, regulation of abortion has become more restrictive in the United States over the past 20 years.

While the contest over abortion continues to be waged on many fronts and in numerous venues, the U.S. Supreme Court has been pivotal in defining the terms and contours of the debate. After providing a general overview of the incidence of abortion, this entry will outline how the Supreme Court has interpreted the U.S. Constitution as both granting a right to choose abortion and permitting considerable government latitude in regulating this right (Hursthouse, 96-109).

Incidence of Abortion

It has been estimated that over 40 million abortions are performed worldwide each year. While the number appears to be on the decline, about one pregnancy out of every five is terminated by abortion. In 2003, according to the Guttmacher Institute, the global abortion rate—that is, the number of women of childbearing age who have an abortion—stood at 29 out of every 1,000.

Government regulation of abortion varies considerably. However, more restrictive rules do not necessarily correspond with a lower rate of abortion, and abortion rates are sometimes lower where the procedure is legal and readily available. Western Europe, for example, where abortion is legally permitted except in rare circumstances, boasts the lowest rate of abortion at 12 for every 1,000 women. In Africa, by contrast, legal restrictions are far more common, but the abortion rate is estimated at 29 per 1,000 women. While restrictions do not always coincide with a lower incidence of abortion, they often overlap with increased health risks. For example, the Guttmacher Institute reports that abortion ...