Abstract
Abortion is a sensitive and contentious issue with legal and ethical dimensions. It is also a public
health concern around the world, raises questions about basic beliefs regarding life and death, the
sanctity of life, the beginning of life, and women’s rights. Legally, abortion is illegal in some countries
such as Jordan, Oman, Qatar, Senegal, and the Philippines, and legal in other countries such as
Great Britain, Greece, Poland, Israel, and Turkey. Ethically, opponents considered abortion as
equivalent to murder and that such killing of fetuses deprived them of future value, and no matter
how much the women may suffer, women can’t be allowed to kill their fetuses. Whereas proponents
considered abortion as morally justified and that pregnant women have the fundamental right to
terminate their pregnancies. The current authors are against abortion to preserve the dignity and
respect for the fetus, and that killing or terminating human life is morally wrong. The purpose of this
paper was to present arguments on abortion from the legal and ethical views of opponents and
proponents. Abortion has been debated for many years, bringing up a lot of controversy and opinions for both with and against its practice. The purpose of this paper was to present arguments of both opponents and proponents about abortion, from both the legal and ethical perspectives. In result, abortion is legal only in special cases such as preserving women’s physical and mental health, saving the mother’s life, and in cases of rape and incest. “Women have the right to control their bodies” is a popular ethical argument; therefore, they have the right to undergo abortions for any reason they want.
health concern around the world, raises questions about basic beliefs regarding life and death, the
sanctity of life, the beginning of life, and women’s rights. Legally, abortion is illegal in some countries
such as Jordan, Oman, Qatar, Senegal, and the Philippines, and legal in other countries such as
Great Britain, Greece, Poland, Israel, and Turkey. Ethically, opponents considered abortion as
equivalent to murder and that such killing of fetuses deprived them of future value, and no matter
how much the women may suffer, women can’t be allowed to kill their fetuses. Whereas proponents
considered abortion as morally justified and that pregnant women have the fundamental right to
terminate their pregnancies. The current authors are against abortion to preserve the dignity and
respect for the fetus, and that killing or terminating human life is morally wrong. The purpose of this
paper was to present arguments on abortion from the legal and ethical views of opponents and
proponents. Abortion has been debated for many years, bringing up a lot of controversy and opinions for both with and against its practice. The purpose of this paper was to present arguments of both opponents and proponents about abortion, from both the legal and ethical perspectives. In result, abortion is legal only in special cases such as preserving women’s physical and mental health, saving the mother’s life, and in cases of rape and incest. “Women have the right to control their bodies” is a popular ethical argument; therefore, they have the right to undergo abortions for any reason they want.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | EurAsian Journal of BioSciences |
| Publication status | Published - 2020 |
Keywords
- abortion, ethical, opponents, proponents, argumentations
