The Immorality of AbortionEssay Preview: The Immorality of AbortionReport this essayThe Immorality of AbortionAbortion is one of the most controversial political and social issues in the world. The abortion issue is very complex and involves several aspects of political, religion, medical, and social beliefs and contingencies. At what stage human life begins is one of the main arguments of abortion between the pro-choice advocates and the pro-life advocates. The morality of abortion is even more complex than abortion itself. Abortion is immoral and may be considered as murder.
The legal argument in the abortion issue revolves around whether a fetus is alive at conception or birth and whose rights, the womans rights or the fetus rights, are being infringed. Pro-choice advocates argue that a fetus is not alive thus should not have any legal rights, and they argue that the mothers rights would be infringed if abortion was made illegal. Pro-life advocates argue that a fetus is alive at conception and should have equal legal rights to that of the mother, and they argue that the fetus rights would be infringed if aborted. The moral argument for the right to choose says the fetus is not yet a person, then, of course, the fetus has neither moral standing nor the capacity to have rights that can be infringed. The moral argument for the right to life says the fetus is a person, and if its life is terminated, then the fetus rights are infringed. What composes abortions immorality is not just the fetus rights being infringed, its the nature of abortion, the procedures of abortion, and the Christian belief that abortion is murder.
Roe v. Wade is the landmark case that lead to the legalization of abortion in 1973 stating that abortion is a constitutional right of the mother. (Smolin, 2001) The National Abortion Right Act League argues that without legal abortion, women would be denied their constitutional right of privacy and liberty. The womans right to her own body subordinates those of the fetus, and the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade argued that the womans right to privacy overruled the fetus right to life. The decision in Roe v. Wade did not define nor protect the constitutional rights of the father or the fetus. In 2001, a new Chinese law gives the father the same rights as the mother. The United States has not followed suit; the father does not have any rights concerning abortion. In fact, in 1992, the United States Supreme Court ruled that spousal consent could not be required by any state. The United States courts have consistently decided that a mothers right to an abortion can not be vetoed by the father in any circumstance, and the mother does not even have to notify the father that she intends to have an abortion. In other words, a woman can legally deprive a man of his right to become a father, which makes abortion morally wrong. (Smolin, 2001)
The United States law does not define the fetus as being a human being independent of the mother, thus the fetus has no rights equal to the mothers rights. President Bush has signed a partial birth ban law that bans a particular type of late term abortions procedure. The law was written so vague that it can constitute a ban on all abortions; therefore, the ban law was challenged in the United States Supreme Court and ruled unconstitutional. In 2004, President Bush signed a new bill that gave a fetus rights. President Bush stated, “As of today, the law of our nation will acknowledge the plain fact that crimes of violence against a pregnant woman often have two victims. Therefore, in those cases, there are two offenses to be punished.” (Associated Press, 2004) This law is the first federal law to recognize the fetus as a separate person, which opens doors to future abortion definitions and laws that may define a fetus as a human being and be given independent rights equal to the mothers rights. A fetus defined as a human being would constitute that abortion is morally wrong. Thus, in theory, the fetus defined as a human being and the killing of a human being defined as murder would constitute that abortion at any stage of pregnancy is murder.
Pro-choice advocates argue that the Bible states that life begins at birth, and they argue that the Bible defines life as when a baby takes its first breath. They often quote the Mosaic Law which they translate to say that a fetus is not a human being. The pro-choice advocates believe that the Bible decimates innocent babies, children, and pregnant women throughout numerous passages. They claim that their deity is far from being “pro-life.” The pro-choice advocates believe the separation of church and state, the right to privacy, and womens rights as a whole all demand freedom of choice, thus abortion should be the womans choice and should be considered as a moral decision.
Pro-life advocates lean toward the Churchs beliefs and translations of the Bible. According to many Christians, abortion is immoral and goes against the word of God. “I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live.” (Deuteronomy 30:19) The Vatican views abortion to be evil and immoral. The Vatican has imposed their views on America by lobbying for new anti-abortion laws and regulations. “The Church insists on being the sole arbiter of what is moral. Most Americans look to democratic process to determine morality.” (Mumford, 2000, p 3) In 1966, the Vatican Council II wrote the “Pastoral Constitution on the church in the Modern World” which included in part two of the constitution its views on abortion titled Some Problems of Special Urgency. (Mumford, 2000, p 3) The Pastoral Constitution, part two reads:
God, the Lord of life, has conferred on men the surpassing ministry of safeguarding life–a ministry which must be fulfilled in a manner which is worthy
of man. Therefore, from the moment of conception life must be guarded with the greatest of care, while abortion and infanticide are unspeakable crimes. (Mumford, 2000, p3)
It is indubitably apparent that the Vatican views abortion as a crime equal to that of murder. The Vatican beliefs are parallel to the beliefs of God. The King James Holy Bible states in Psalm 127:3, “Lo, children are a heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward,” and in Genesis 9:6-7, “Whoso sheddeth mans blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man. And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the Earth, and multiply therin.” The King James Holy Bible also states in Exodus 21:23-25, “And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand,
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When he that believeth in a gospel of life, does not give breath to heaven, but goes to sea, he doth not die: he that believeth in the gospel shall not be slain, nor shall the dead become victims of their own will. Yet God created not men to have sinned, but men to have given life. The Creator made man as a gift from heaven. That man was a gift from David, from Aaron, to God: from Abraham, Moses, and Isaac, to John, Lord God, “
When Joseph heard the word to his wife: And she said to him, “Joseph, come, I am writing to you, saying that some of the Jews do a wicked work to their wives, and that they are desirous to murder them, with the aid of their women: tell me, what sin do you commit to the one of your wives, for having laid a curse on her to be with children?””When you have written these things to him, he is not afraid to speak and say them.”
Upon all these things, the Apostle James, has said, “We know they came in from all parts of the continent about this time.”
Then he tells me that for the last three days God has not given him any more of the wives of Israel, or of the children of men to marry. The Apostle Jeremiah says they are the firstborn in the land, while Moses says they are the firstborn in the world;
And when the time was last, all the Egyptians said of thee; ‘It is to thee that they have given thee birth and to thee have set her on earth; that thou mayest set up her in heaven and there be joy at her raising.’
They sent forth the firstborn, Moses, and the children of Israel after them.
Therefore he says to the Egyptians, ‘Let us now destroy the unbelieving from heaven and destroy every man which opposes you; and after that let us make for you the nations that are in the East on the sea, but after the nations of the West, that by the power of God we may establish the kingdom of God by the power of righteousness. And let us take up the children of Israel, and make them a people also according to the will of the Father,’