Abortion Debate & Issue of Morality

B. Puritanism and religious superiority.

A. Determining religious and moral considerations.

C. Dworkin's Definition of the "Sacred."

D. Cannold and Denfeld and Women's Rights.

E. Religious Influence on Political and Legal Realm.

B. Women's Rights and the Ninth Amendment

Abortion continues to represent one of the most controversial and divisive issues in American society. Those who are opposed to abortion often regard the issue as one of morality. Those who are in favor of abortion often defend their stance from a political and legal perspective. However, if we look back in history at American society, we see that quite often what is viewed as "morality" equates to the socially reinforced notions of what is or is not moral handed down and perpetuated through institutions like government, religion and the law. For example, in Puritan Massachusetts, religious leaders like Cotton Mather often couched their political and legal decision in religious or moral terms. Men like Mather who were responsible for the persecution of those suspected as witches, held the belief that religious authority overrides civil authority (i.e. morality is superior to legality). Men like Mather were men of faith who refused to tolerate any beliefs or practices in civil society that conflicted with religious authori

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politics," (1). ironically, such thinking has led to the bombing of abortion clinics and the murder of physicians and nurses who perform them, a seeming contradiction to pro-lifer's claim that murder must be steadfastly opposed. In Life's Dominion: An Argument About Abortion, Euthanasia, and Individual Freedom, author Ronald Dworkin (1994) claims that abortion should not be seen as a matter of legality and personal rights. Instead, he argues such a choice belongs to the realm of what is "sacred", (Dworkin 1994). In doing so, he might as well be positing himself as knowing what is sacred as much as Mather posited himself as knowing God's word. Dworkin does not argue, as many pro-lifer's do, that abortion decisions must considered the rights of the fetus. Instead, he argues that the "detached" concept of the sanctity and inviolability of life should be the guiding principle, one that "has a secular as well as religious basis" (Dworkin 1994, 25). However, such arguments complete remove a woman's choice in a matter concerning the autonomy of her person. Further, to inject religious beliefs into legal matters concerning abortion is to violate the Constitutional mandate separating church and state. In The Abortion Myth: Feminism

Category: Psychology - A