To correctly understand the moral aspects of this type of medical intervention, it is necessary to realize that pregnancy is, on the one hand, a normal physiological process that occurs with a woman (her body), and on the other hand, it is a process of biological form of a new person. Therefore, even allowing the practice of feticide on the principle of “lesser evil”, it should be borne in mind that it represents a serious trauma (moral and physical) for a woman, and is also evil that interrupts the already begun life of a new person. In this regard, it is incorrect, as is sometimes done, to consider it the usual means of “family planning” on a par with contraceptives.
1. History of Abortion
From immemorial times, abortion was illegal. All religious denominations forbade believers to participate in this procedure. The 20th century legalized abortion and built their cohort of family planning techniques. The appearance in the second half of the 20th century of alternative means, birth control, and a change in the cultural traditions of the world community raised the issue of a moral assessment of the procedure for artificial termination of pregnancy.
Abortion is one of the oldest problems of medical ethics, as well as philosophy, jurisprudence, and theology. The Hippocratic Oath forbids the doctor to terminate the pregnancy (“I… will not give any woman an abortive pessary”). At the same time, Aristotle considered abortion acceptable. You can find out more interesting facts and read more about this topic in this free essay on abortion. In Aristotle’s position, two points are noteworthy: the need for abortion is justified by his demographic goals (birth control); at the same time, he considered feticide permitted, until “sensitivity” and “motor activity” formed in the embryo.
2.Abortion
On the one hand, banning feticides will not reduce their numbers in any way, but on the contrary, such extreme measures will lead to an increase in the number of abortions and a violation of democratic foundations for inalienable human rights (this aspect can be also found in abortion essays examples). On the other hand, modern society cannot be imagined without women feticide, an integral part of birth control. But this trend leads to an increase in abortion, which has a negative impact on the demographic situation of many countries.
Therefore, before considering this problem, we must identify the main reasons why women in modern society resort to artificial termination of pregnancy, whether it is related to social, economic, psychological aspects, or whether changes in value orientations affect it.
It is also important to note that the problem of feticide is defined only as a female problem, that is, a man is excluded from the context of the problem. First of all, it speaks of the one-sidelines of this problem. An important indicator in the study of the attitude to the problem of abortion is the attitude of men and women to this issue. Although modern young people often believe that the body of a woman can only be governed by her and only a woman can decide whether to have feticide or not.
3. Moral and ethical aspects of the problem of induced abortion
In recent decades, feticide has become one of the most intensively and many-sided issues of the theory of morality.
The argumentation from free essay on abortion that justifies a woman’s right to make free, responsible choices about whether to have an abortion is most fully described in the documents and publications of the IPPF, the International Planned Parenthood Federation. The issue of feticide is part of the issue of reproductive health, reproductive choice, and reproductive human rights.
Opponents of abortion make the main emphasis on the fact that the embryo, the fetus has the same right to life as any person in general. Artificial feticide is always an arbitrary deprivation of the life of a human being, that is, murder, and therefore – how can one talk about the “right to kill”?
In the traditional medical approach to the problem of feticide, the question of the viability of the fetus, that is, the border in its intrauterine development, when it is already able to survive outside the mother’s body, taking into account the opportunities provided by the technologies for nursing premature babies, has always been almost always considered the main one.
A special topic is whether the fetus feels pain. In 1997, a working group organized by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Great Britain published a report, Consciousness of the Fetus, which also addressed the issue of when the fetus begins to feel pain. When carrying out procedures at the embryo or terminating the pregnancy at the 24th week or later, the report recommends the use of painkillers and sedatives for the embryo.
Embryological data on the development of the fetus, cited by opponents of abortion, have great emotional power. A fetal heartbeat occurs on the 18th day after conception, on the 21st day it has a closed circulatory system, on the 40th day you can detect electrical impulses of the brain, at 6-7 weeks the fetus begins to move independently, etc.
Conclusions:
Reproductive behavior in modern society is largely governed by the personal choices of people, backed up by expert knowledge. Abortion research paper examples write about the right of women to medical feticide in modern societies is not ubiquitous, but widespread. But this is not the only reproductive right. Among the latter are the right to know in the field of sexual practices, the right to reproductive health, and more.
