What are the moral implications of abortion?

Looking at my title, you are wondering can this philosophy guy talk about this topic? You are also wondering if this is not purely something that someone in the medical line should be talking about? But this is another beauty of philosophy.

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Rather than focusing on those medical terms and explaining what happens before fetus is formed, how fetus is formed, what is fetus and so on. I am here to simply look at the moral implications of abortion. Abortion is a sub-topic or one of the many topics under Applied Ethics. Ethics is a branch of philosophy that looks at the 'oughtness' of human actions.

Applied ethics focuses on moral issues in both private and public life. It deals with ethical questions about particular profession, practical or disciplinary field. Under it, we have bioethics, medical ethics, business ethics, legal ethics, etc. Under these sub-topics, we look at questions like human rights, human cloning, abortion, pollution, poverty, euthanasia, etc.

So the above give you an idea why i can talk about this topic and what i would be talking about. 

There is always a question of whether abortion is good or bad, whether it should be legalized or not. While some countries frown at abortion, some legalized it. In Nigeria, it is illegal to carry out an abortion and it carries jail sentence of about 14 years. While it is illegal, the same law understands that it can be carried out in a severe situation to save the mother. This 'save' is where the applied ethics comes in.

We can start raising questions like: at what point is the woman life at risk? Who determines that? Can such pronouncement be verified? If verified, can we be sure of its certainty? Is terminating the fetus not killing? At what point is a fetus killed and at what point is a fetus not killed? Whose life is of greater value between the mother and the fetus? What makes us so sure that the mother life is more valuable and important to us than the fetus? How are we sure that we are not terminating the life of a genuine president?

These and many other questions and the concern of scholars who theorize on the topic at hand. 

It is proper to at least know what abortion means and types of abortion.

Most of the definitions of abortion have have seen seem to have this 'deliberate' meaning in them. That is, most defined it as deliberate termination of fetus or life. In reality, abortion can be both deliberate and accidental. It can also be circumstantial which in turn becomes deliberate on the part of the carrier so as to prevent something else. But not all abortions are deliberate - my point.

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Types of Abortion

* Therapeutic abortion:  This is performed in cases where there is significant or life threatening risk to the woman’s health. Other reasons include reducing the number of fetuses in the womb due to a multiple pregnancy; to prevent the birth of a baby with a severe genetic disorder or at risk of a potentially fatal disease.

* Elective abortion: This means the abortion is carried out as a matter of personal choice and usually for reasons other than those mentioned above. In other words, the woman chooses to have an abortion.

* Miscarriage:  This the type of abortion is in which the fetus is expelled from the woman’s body as a result of an accident, injury or natural causes. This is known as a ‘spontaneous abortion’ or by its more common name – a miscarriage. source 

Abortion can be either through medication or surgery:

Medical abortion: involves taking medication to end your pregnancy.

Surgical abortion: surgery is used to remove the fetus from the womb to end a pregnancy.

It is clear from the above that abortion can be deliberate, accidental and circumstantial. Not all women decide one day that they will have abortion. I think it is hard for many of them to abort their babies except the situation at hand is beyond them.

Deliberately, a woman can decide to terminate her pregnancy due to so many factors and the one we mostly see in this state i live (Lagos) is due to rejection. A young lady falls in love with a guy and thinks the next thing is to enjoy herself. 

Before you know it, she is pregnant. Now for the guy to take responsibility it becomes a problem. So the lady needs to live with the 'shame' of carrying a 'fatherless' baby or abort it. In most cases, this lead to their death because rather than seeking the professionals, they go for quacks. 

Money sometimes can be responsible too. Two people might engage in the 'act' freely and willingly but the reality of raising a child and other things involved would play themselves to them like a cinema. So they give in to abort the child because they felt they do not want the child to suffer. Whether they are protecting themselves or the child is a big question.

Also,when a woman's life is in danger, the people think the mother should be saved first. They do not think that the fetus is a 'potency' that is capable of becoming full human. They feel, they are seeing the woman, knows her, love her and she should be protected ahead of the fetus. So they end up saving the woman at the expense of the fetus.

Many of these things raise philosophical questions on whose life is worth more between the woman and the fetus. It might be somehow easier for you to say the mother but what makes you think that of the baby/fetus does not worth more? 

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Abortion is neither good nor bad. It is only a matter of circumstance. Now, i am not saying because a lady has financial problem then she should terminate her pregnant or because couple are financially down so the fetus should pay the price. My point is the act has nothing do with 'bad' or 'good' in the same sense we say: thou shall not kill. This also raise question of whether the aborted fetus is killed or not. 

Abortion should be viewed beyond the pronouncement 'thou shall not kill'. Like the utilitarian would say 'greater good for the greater number of people'. So they will ask: between the mother and the fetus, which 'life' would produce the greater good for the greater number of people? I believe your answer is the mother. 

The mother because of the pain and agony her parent, family and community would experience for loosing her. But has anyone truly asked whether the pregnant woman would not feel pain loosing the fetus? Would she be herself after the experience, can she carry on with life? These are also questions that should be asked because both lives worth something. Who weighs their worth is what i don't know.

What do you think? Is abortion right or wrong? Do you think the circumstance should be considered? Do you think the mother's life is more valuable than the fetus? If yes, can you define 'valuable'? 

I will love to hear from you. Please drop comments below.

Thanks for reading my blog. Its your boy @smyle the philosopher.

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