Abortion

Introduction

Probably the only uncontroversial thing one can say about abortion is that it is a moral debate likely to prove intractable. People disagree about virtually every aspect of abortion (Dana, 65-77), but particularly over whether the foetus has rights and whether or not a woman has a right to procreative autonomy which would include the right to abortion (Jackson, 1-15). Given that controversy about the morality of abortion is likely to persist, any legal position taken by the state will also be deeply contested and subject to considerable criticism by some members of the community. In fact for some countries this is putting it too mildly: in the United States, for example, people murder others in the name of their views on abortion and Supreme Court judges are appointed on the basis of whether they are likely to defend or pare back the current Constitutional right to abortion.

History

More specifically, Jackson's argument is that it is a mistake to think that moral opposition to abortion has anything to do with foetal rights, the foetus does not have rights, and nobody can consistently argue that it does. It is personal value that a government aims to protect, as fundamentally important, when it recognizes and enforces people's right to life (Jackson, 1-15), and a foetus does not personally value its life. Instead, our moral views on abortion, both liberal and conservative, are in fact expressions of a belief in the intrinsic value of human life, an issue which has nothing to do with the rights of the foetus. In late 1970s, different cases of abortion in UK started debates on foetal rights. Therefore, we need to be careful before finding any evidence against abortion. (Bourne, 44-55)

Individual human life is intrinsically valuable, according to Emily Jackson, because it is a product of two creative processes, the natural and the cultural. Each human being is a product of natural creation, either in a religious sense (that we are the product of God's creation) or a secular sense (that we are a product of the natural evolutionary process). A human being is also the result of a 'deliberative human creative force', partly that of our parents, of our culture and, significantly, of our own choices. We are moved by the 'miracle' both of the natural and of the deliberately human creative processes.

Counter Arguments

Many arguments can be used in order to put an end to abortion or at least in order to establish dialogue. One of the oldest arguments against abortion is the religious standpoint. Western society (Canada & U.S.A.) is historically a Judeo-Christian culture with Judeo-Christian values. Although in recent times we have become an increasingly pluristic society the Old World thinking is still at the heart of our social relations and laws. The Bible says "Thou shalt not kill" thus prohibiting people from harming others or themselves. Abortion and its advocates violate this law. It is because conservatives and liberals typically disagree about the relative weight to be assigned to the natural as opposed ...