Abortion

People's attitudes toward abortion are more complicated than simply pro or con (Lee, Kleinbach, Hu, Peng, & Chen, 1996, pp. 131-148). The reason for this attitudinal complexity is that these topics involve various issues such as cultural and religious values, politics, ethics/morality, economy, medicine, and law.

Americans ideologically emphasize human values or rights for every individual (Corey, 1996, p. 46). It is the definition of "individual" that often leads to problems. When the individual is viewed as a sentient being, a woman's right to an abortion is typically justified. When a fetus also is viewed as an individual, however, the rights of two individuals clash. When a woman is viewed as a free individual with the right to make choices that affect her body, a woman's right to an abortion is typically justified. When a woman is viewed as subservient to a man, however, the right of a woman to an abortion is abridged to allow the sperm donator the right of veto.

United States law did not recognize any legal duties to an unborn child until relatively recently (Merton, 1993, pp. 369-451). Killing a fetus in utero was not a crime. Abortion only became widely illegal by about 1900. Now, eighteen states have "feticide" statutes, and it is the rule in every state that negligent or intentional injury to a fetus may, under certain circumstances, give rise to an action in tort by or on behalf of the child, after its live birth. Some jurisdictions

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inbock & McClamrock, 1994, pp. 15-21). Second, abortion may be necessary to avoid imposing on the pregnant woman or couple serious physical, emotional, or financial burdens (Steinbock, 1996, pp. 67-74). Raising a child when one is not ready to be a parent may be a burden, and so may be raising a severely handicapped child. For this reason, many people opt for genetic screening so that they can terminate the pregnancy if the fetus is affected and try again for a healthy child. Abortion for fetal indications is usually regarded as one of the stronger reasons for abortion. In the view of some people, however, it does not necessarily follow that it is equally morally permissible to use genetic screening or engineering to create children "to specification." The notion of "designer children" is inconsistent with a commonly shared ideal of parenting, according to which parents are supposed to love and accept their children for who they are, not for their possession of certain traits or talents according to this line of reasoning (Steinbock, 1996, pp. 67-74). The practice of genetic testing hold implications for the abortion issue ("Roundtable," 1996, pp. 48-54). Some outcomes of genetic testing are of such gravity that many pregn

Category: Philosophy - A