Immorality of Abortion Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Immorality of Abortion - Research Paper Example Contrary to popular belief that abortion is a modern operation, there is retrospective evidence that it was practiced as long ago as the 5th century BC by ancient civilizations. Even in biblical times, a form of abortion was practiced, as is evidence in the book of numbers where a woman accused of infidelity would be made to drink â€Å"the bitter water† which would bring out the â€Å"curse† (Fox). Other recorded cases of abortion were in ancient Egypt (1550 B.C.E.) and China in the 5th century where among other things used to induce it was mercury (Fox). Notably, many the methods used in the past were dangerous and could have killed the mother just as easily as induced the abortion. In the recent past, abortions were illegal for moral, religious and health issues. However, after the 20th century, women rights groups and doctors have been often able to repeal this ban and as a result, many countries, especially in America and Europe, have legalized it to the chagrin of the pro-life groups. The issues that have made abortion such a controversial and pertinent issue include the fact that apart from the guaranteeing the unborn child’s death, it also jeopardizes the life of the mother; in addition, several of those who undergo abortions are underage girls who are pregnant and have no one to support them or the baby. Bearing in mind that it is the moral duty of the strong to protect the weak and comparably pro lifers consider it their duty to protect the life and rights of the unborn child. While the modern methods of carrying out the operation are mostly safe and performed by qualified doctors, from an objective perspective the action is immoral. Nonetheless, in view of the fact that a woman has agreed consciously and actively to end the unborn life in her is immoral in itself (Lee and Robert 13). Proponents of abortion have been trying to justify abortion and paint it with a moral brush for as long as the pro-lifers have been condemning it. O ne of the principal arguments put forward to humanize abortion and portray it in a moral light is that the fetus is not yet human being. They claim that if the pro-life side agrees a sperm and ovary are not considered human, yet they have potential to become human then the same should be said of the fetus. Therefore, should the pro choice concede it is human, they will go ahead and claim for one to be recognized as a person; thus, they would need to be self-aware. As such, anything in the womb is not self aware, ergo, cannot be human and the same argument has been proposed by advocates defending suspects of infanticide (Lee and Robert 15). However, these arguments are untenable and illogical at best; therefore, comparing the sperm to the fertilized egg flies in the face of logic since the sperm will only have potential for life if it is merged with the egg. On its own, it does not have a chance to generate life, the fertilized egg, on the other hand, in an autonomous genetic unit on ly requires the parent to host it and supply it with nourishment for the duration of the pregnancy. This is no different from when a child stays with its mother fully dependent on her for the first few months. However, at this point, even the diehard pro-choice people will not agree that the mother is free to terminate