...Abortion Ethics and Abortion Since 1973 when the U.S. Supreme Court made the decision that abortion was legal, abortion has been one of the most controversial ethical issues in our society. For many years there have been a lot of debates about whether it is morally and ethically right to have abortions. No one takes the issue of abortion lightly due to the fact that there are so many people with different perspectives on abortion and how it should be handled. Just because individuals see abortion one way others see it another. Religion, definition of abortion, pro-choice, pro-life, moral personhood, rape, and rights are things that will be discussed. Abortion is defined as the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo, resulting in or caused by its death (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion). An abortion that is terminated on the sole fact that it becomes a threat to the pregnant female is referred to as a therapeutic abortion. An elective abortion is a term used for any other kind of abortion not related to health reasons. Most people relate a miscarriage as a form of abortion, but for myself I don’t really see how a miscarriage is related. The pregnant female doesn’t have a choice in a miscarriage, but only has a choice in an induced abortion or any type. Abortion can be traced back as to ancient times. Evidence suggests that abortions were taking place in a number of different ways, from herbs to abdominal pressure....
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...There have been many debates on the topic of abortion from small talks to classrooms and even leading to court rooms or political talks. Abortion has become a highly controversial issue in many parts of the world such as the U.S., India, China, Europe, Africa and etc. Although the literate covers a wide variety of issues leading to abortions, the review will focus on two major themes which emerge repeatedly throughout the literature reviewed. These themes include: abortion is against right to life and the rights a woman has on her own body. Although the literature presents these themes in a variety of context, this paper will focus mainly on whether it is morally right to terminate a pregnancy before normal childbirth. “Pro life” is people who strongly go against abortion, suggesting anyone who supports abortion are “anti life”. Gale (2010) argues that people living together in a society have rights, and if a fetus is a person just like you and me, then it too has rights, ultimately the right to life. He states that many believe that life begins at conception, when an ovum is fertilized by a sperm cell. However, Judith Jarvis Thomson (1971) contends that the development of acorns into oak trees can be used to describe why a fetus is not a person yet, because it does not follow that acorns are oak trees, similar goes to the fact that it does not follow that fetus are persons. Some countries even go to the extent of legalizing abortion given that it is done within 12 weeks from...
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...Culture Attitude towards Abortion Shekemia Figueroa November 6, 2009 Developmental Psychology PSYC 331 Fall Semester 2009 Attitudes toward Abortion in different cultures Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in today society. Abortion is the termination of unwanted pregnancy by destruction of the fetus. It is one of the oldest methods of fertility control and one of the most widely used. It has been and is practiced in all regions of the world. In preliterate societies a woman whose pregnancy is unacceptable to the community, a woman who has broken its rule about appropriate sexual partners or the number of children, a pregnant widow, an unmarried girl or a girl too young, a woman who has had sexual intercourse with outsider or whose pregnancy is the result of an adulterous relationship is expected to have an abortion (Simon, 1). Abortion rights advocates argue that since the fetus develops inside of the woman’s body and since the outcome of the pregnancy will profoundly affect the woman’s life; abortion must remain a woman’s choice in some cultures (Cozic p. 52). In other cultures they believe that abortion should not be a woman’s personnel choice. People have different opinions on whether or not a fetus is consider a human being. Some culture attitudes toward abortion are different than others and they expect the decision to be made by their views on abortion. In 1992 the overall (national) abortion rate was 26 per 1,000 women ( Francome, p. 22). African...
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...International NGO Journal Vol. 3 (12), pp. 224-231, December, 2008 Available online at http:// www.academicjournals.org/INGOJ ISSN 1993–8225 © 2008 Academic Journals Article Euthanasia – A dignified end of life! Vaibhav Goel Faculty of Law Addis Ababa University Addis Ababa Ethiopia. E-mail: vaibhav_hnlu@yahoo.co.in. Accepted 27, October 2008 Survival is undoubtedly valuable but some time and in certain condition life becomes painful and impossible or unbearable, in that stage survilance seems, like a curse or abuse. Euthanasia – a new word for masses become common about four years back in the month of December 2004 because of Venkatesh plea for granting him right to die. Euthanasia is nothing else but a permit or license to the medical professional for ending the life of a person in question. No doubt if it will be permitted in laws, may be the biggest threat to the creature. In fact the concept is debatable; here the key question is “What should be the ingredients of law which would legalize Euthanasia?” Hence the purpose of writing this paper is to examine the questions pertaining to Euthanasia, especially in the light of traditional perspective besides legal dimensions of MTP and to suggest legal aspects of the same to make life with dignity even at the time of end. In addition the second key question may be that if it permitted weather it will be on the recommendation of the doctors or in the consent of the relative of the Patient? Keywords: Euthanasia, PAS, Suicide...
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...Barbara Miller's article (2001) on female-selective abortion (FSA) may be more than 11 years old (not that long ago, but imagine all the other social and medical changes that have occurred since 2001), but FSA is still a hot-button topic. Page 1090 in Miller (2002) (in your assigned readings) begins addressing the divergent views on FSA. Reflect on your ability to discuss a view point opposing to your own. Then, consider Miller (2001) and select a view expressed in the article with which you disagree. Respectfully, write a reflection on that view in her article with which you disagree. This reflection is not asking you to accept someone else’s viewpoint as your own, but to appropriately discuss it*. FSA Represents Free Choice. I disagree with western feminists, ethicists each having their own interpretation of “choice” about abortion and FSA in particular. Any kind of abortion should be morally wrong and not just abortion on gender grounds. In both Asian and African countries, sons have been preferred over daughters. Because of this I think that most women especially uneducated and those pushed around by their husbands or in-laws might be pushed into having an abortion if they are having a girl. It is hard to day or do something unless you walk in the other’s own shoes. How do you push a woman to have an abortion? Yes iam sure one can be persuaded but some do keep their girl fetus and do not abort them. “Pure reproductive freedom is the complete absence of constraints...
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...Samuel Cabrera ANTH 321 Professor Gill Response Paper Four Gender and sexuality have been the core of many debates in many cultural norms, in particular when it comes to religion, class and political reforms. Authors such as Dan Savage, Serena Nanda, and Alok Gupta have taken the role to write about these issues in North America and India. These authors argue that the intersection of sex and religion, gender in religion, and class in sexuality have been at the core of the gender and sexuality movement. The idea of “class” being an issue to “class” when it comes to sexuality in India has been contributed to a lot of debate (Gupta). Also, when it comes to sexuality in religion in a North American content the idea of anything other than heterosexuality is blind in the catholic religious practice. However, when it comes to gender practices in India, the Hindu religion is more open and understanding to the idea of the third gender. The rise of concern of homosexuality when it comes to religion in American culture is one that is gaining attention in the homosexual community. Especially when it comes to the Catholic practice and its unwillingness to welcome the gay community into there religion. Dan Savage argues that the Catholic religion ignores the gay community because the sin of homosexuality can be seen by the open eye, and ignores the fact that most of the heterosexual followers of the religion engage in the practice of nonprocreative sex. For example, Dan Savage brings...
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...Selective Abortion While females in America are making great strides in gaining equality, females throughout various countries of Asia continue to be disregarded, abused, and in some occasion, aborted before birth. In fact, studies have shown that within the last two decades of the twentieth century, several million female fetuses have been aborted (Miller, 2001). Throughout these countries with high rates of Female-Selective Abortion, or FSA, one cultural similarity exists: they are all characterized as patriarchal. Among these Asian societies which are patriarchal in nature, males dominate practically all aspects of life, both public and private. Males there are seen to control the economy by having productive property, inheritance rights, and preferred employment. From a religious standpoint, these countries view males as a symbol of purity and power, while females are linked to negative notions such as impurity, danger, and a need to be controlled by males. Even culturally, males are more accepted because some of these countries, for instance China, have a preference of having a son as the first born. With so much value place upon males, many soon-to-be parents living in these countries are hopeful that their birth child will be a male. Many pregnant couples are doing whatever they can, and with the help of new technology, to ensure that they will not give birth to a female baby. In fact, evidence has shown a substantial increase in female-selective abortions since the 1980's...
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...Introduction to Ethics Abortion May 1, 2014 Rights of the fragile Wendy McElroy is an individualist anarchist and individualist feminist. In her article “The Abortion Debate That Wasn’t” she states that “a woman’s body is a woman’s right” and she proceeds with her argument that “the law must protect a woman's right to control her own body, it must acknowledge a woman's right to abort” (McElroy). To support her argument, she offers the following premises: first, the purpose of law in society is to protect person, property, and individual rights; second, individuals have the right to do anything with their own bodies and property whether or not those actions are "moral" by some standard. Morality is a matter of individual conscience, not of law. I have to say that she is using the ethical egoism moral theory here, but I disagree with her because an abortion is a violation of the main idea of human morals, the idea about inviolability of human life. Certainly, by having an abortion a woman deprives the unborn child of its life. So, my argument is that premeditated killing of a human being, even if the human being is still in the womb, is a form of murder. Therefore, abortion is a form of murder. To support my claim I will use the following premises with evidence. My first premise is that a unborn child is a human being. From the point of view of modern biology (genetics and embryology) human life as a biological individual begins at the moment the male’s sperm and the female’s...
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...Argumentative essay Course title Course instructor Name Date Should the abortion be legalized? Abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy before the fetus becomes viable. It can be either therapeutic or accidental. In the former an RU 486 medication is administered or medical equipment used to perform procedure. The figure 1 below illustrates the abortion procedure using medical equipment Figure 1 the body parts are reached to with a looped clamp and pulled out part by part. The head is then reached for with a clamp and crushed so that it can come out of the virginal’s passage. Background The United States did not prohibit abortion in the past up until the 19th century. Antiabortion laws started being implemented with Britain being the first to do so. Abortion was only allowed if it was going to save the mother’s life. Though this, there were cases of abortion going on unpunished and being supported by the general public. A group of humanitarian reformists later arose and confronted abortion on the basis of being a “dangerous procedure”. The government also with the declining birth rate in the 1800’s, collaborated with eugenics movement and urged women to reproduce. As of now abortion is illegal in the United States with only American women being given the right to abort. Statistics show that between 80% and 90% of Americans approve of abortion in the case of poor health, a seriously defective fetus, or rape, and between 40% and 50% indicate...
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...human cloning. Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) is the testing of the chromosomes of the embryo to determine genetic abnormalities and gender prior to in-vitro fertilization (IVF). In the United States, gender selection by PGD is considered a violation of ethical practices for non-medical purposes (Akchurin, n.d.) CNN.com reported recently that a new blood test has been discovered which can determine the sex of a fetus as early as seven weeks gestation. This achievement was reported in the Journal of American Medical Association in August. This technology is already starting ethical debates fearing parents will use this technology for sex determination and abort healthy fetuses (Ravitsky, 2011). This new technology could also be beneficial in determining gender if their child is at risk for a sex-linked disease such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy or hemophilia. In China and India, there is a cultural preference for males, and for years, parents have been having ultrasounds to determine sex and having abortion’s following to avoid having a female. These practices have altered the sex ratios in these countries drastically making there be thirty two million men and under twenty million women. Allowing a simple blood test to determine gender for non-medical purposes will harm...
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...Lisa O’Neil Ethics and Genetic Engineering Essay Ethics are part of our everyday decisions, in order to be ethical we need to firstly understand the basis of ethics. The word ‘Ethics’ comes from the greek word ‘ethikos’ which relates to the customary way to behave in society. Ethics is a branch of philosophy dates back to before 367 b.c. Famously in the history of ethics and philosophy were ‘’The Three Wise Greek Men’’ Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. Socrates was a teacher of philosophy and Plato was Socrates student for approximately ten years, and when Socrates died, Aristophanes became Plato's student. Aristotle views were that ‘’ethics is a virtue of happiness, and that the pursuit of virtue is the highest and noblest aim for a human being’’ . Aristotle can be seen as saying ‘’ Nobody would choose to live without friends even if they had everything else they desired ‘’ (quoted from The Puzzle of Ethics- Peter Vardy pg 31). Socrates took a practical view on ethics, he was concerned with ‘’how an individual would live in order to achieve happiness’’. Socrates can be seem as saying; ‘’Think hard enough and you will always find that doing the right thing is best for you ‘’ ( quoted in Peter singers A companion to Ethics, Blackwell p. 125 ). Plato's view was much more in depth and most famously contradicts Socrates work. Plato believes ethics is ‘’ knowledge is the virtue of happiness ‘’ . Plato can be seen as saying ‘’ If you believe something is right than its right...
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...example of this is that if I was raised in a culture that says killing is wrong. I am a Naga from Northeast India. Just over 100 years ago, we Nagas were headhunters. Killing was more than tolerated – it was expected. Men would raid other villages nearby and kill other men, bringing back heads. Even children’s heads were special trophies. This sounds very bad, even to me, but if I was born over 100 years ago, I would be okay with it. So is killing others right or wrong? Even in enlightened cultures, wars happen and people kill each other. These questions always come up when people talk about morality. In any debate, the arguments tend to take two extreme sides, which means there is not much middle ground left for the discussions. The slippery slope fallacy is often used to talk about morality. According to Richard Nordquist at about.com, the slippery slope fallacy is “A fallacy in which a course of action is objected to on the grounds that once taken it will lead to additional actions until some undesirable consequence results” (para. 1). In other words, we say something is right wrong because it can lead some something bad, not that the one behavior by itself is bad. The abortion debate in America is one of the most controversial, and it is full of people using slippery slope arguments. People who believe abortion should be illegal often say that people who believe abortion should not be illegal are anti-religious and evil, and they believe in killing...
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...betterment of general health of the public. This paper heavily distributed between personal views, religious implications and beliefs; moreover, writers view point on health policy. Personal Values and Spiritual Beliefs The writer, is born and raised in India. Raised in an upper middle class orthodox family. Writer belong to a strict Eastern Orthodox family, with lot of traditions, values, beliefs and inclination more towards New Testaments. Eastern Orthodox Church has its roots from Greek and Russian Orthodox methodology. United States has a great representation of Orthodox Christians. Orthodox methodology beliefs that body is the temple of the holly Sprit and the healing of body and soul are directly linked with each other. The Orthodox Church confesses the Nicene Creed, and believes in the Holy Trinity; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — three divine persons in one God, distinct yet not separate. Orthodox Christians believe that humans were created in the image and likeness of God, and were united to God. For Orthodox Christians the presence of priest is very vital. Priest’s prayers and blessing are required before and after the child’s birth. Priest’s presence and prayers are valued during sad and tough times in the family. Abortion and euthanasia are considered as immoral and unethical in the orthodox belief. Writer lived in the United States for 10 years, and periodically shifted or moved her belief to...
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...Abortion 1 Running Head: ABORTION Abortion Abortion 2 Abstract Abortion has placed a varying degree of cultural and religious views thus creating tensions between women’s rights, and political views that have resulted in a social problem that is not allowing our society to progress and create a solution. Abortion 3 Pregnant women used different ways to practice abortion during the ancient times. They used herbs, sharpened instruments and also applied pressure to abdominal areas. It’s stated that the Egyptian people were the first to perform the very first abortion that was actually seen by individuals. The abortion didn’t involve a doctor or surgical instruments; it involved climbing, hot water on abdomen, weightlifting, climbing, and paddling. All these activities are things that most doctors tell pregnant women not to do. But the Egyptians used it as a form of abortion. The Romans started laws concerning the acceptance of abortion, but it didn’t start until the 13th century. Their reasons for abortion was to help with the sizes of families, protect how women looked, and also hide the fact if they were pregnant and not married. Doctors and scientist did many researches on abortion and said the only way a women could have an abortion was if the baby was still a fetus. This research was done during the 18th and 19th century. It was known as “quickening” the pregnancy. After the baby came out of the fetus stage, it would be impossible to perform an abortion...
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...Date: 04/12/2013 INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT ROHTAK Socio Economic Transformation of India Skewed Sex ratio- Improving the socio-economic fabric of India Submitted By: Section A Group No. 3 INDEX Abstract 3 Introduction 3 Global Trend 3 Indian Trend 4 State-wise analysis 4 Sex-ratio indicators 6 Child sex ratio 6 Sex ratio at birth 7 Son preference 7 Mortality differentials 8 Social Implications 8 Brought women 9 Polyandry/abduction 9 Social fabric 10 Crime rates 10 Economic Implications 10 Labor force 11 Unorganized sector 12 Consumer Power 13 Economic status 13 Policy Constraints 14 Recommendations 15 Immediate strategy 16 Short term strategy 19 Long term strategy 20 Role of NGO’s 22 What needs to be done 24 The future 25 References 25 Abstract The rise of boy child population in India for the past twenty years parallels the experience of other Asian Countries such as China and South Korea. There were 945 girls per 1000 boys in 1991, 927 in 2001 and only 914 in 2011. India’s increasing number of rich class seems to have increased the practice of sex selection in the new technology promoted by private health sector. The new technology has aggravated the social problem of bias against girl child and continues to have caused the drastic reduction in the proportion of female...
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