Abortion Ethics and a Woman’s Right to Choose, Research Paper Example

In January of 1973, the United States Supreme Court handed down one of the most important legal decisions of the 20th century concerning the case of Roe v. Wade which in effect opened the floodgates related to the moral and ethical dimensions of abortion. This landmark case was based on a class action lawsuit brought by Ms. Roe who at the time was single and pregnant and wished to have a legal abortion which in Texas, her home state, was a crime. Therefore, due to the decision of the Supreme Court which legalized abortion in the U.S., it is the legal right of a woman to have an abortion, a right that must be maintained despite all of the objections by pro-lifers. Thus, the basic argument here is based on three specific points–that a woman has the right to 1), choose whether to maintain her pregnancy or seek an abortion; 2), to use her own ethical beliefs to judge whether having an abortion is right or wrong; and 3), the right to do as she pleases with her own physical body.

The Right to Choose an Abortion

In the United States, a woman who is pregnant has the legal right to choose whether to have an abortion or to maintain her pregnancy, even when her husband or “significant other” insists that she maintain her pregnancy in order to bring a new human life into the world. According to Michael L. Gross, despite that fact that the interests of the fetus is “constantly juxtaposed in most American cases,” abortion is “available virtually on demand during the first and to a somewhat lesser extend, during the second trimester” of a woman’s pregnancy when the fetus “gains a measure of legal personhood” (208), at least in some U.S. states and jurisdictions. In basic terms, the right of a woman in the United States to choose to have an abortion represents one of the most fundamental of all human rights and reproductive freedoms that is fully protected by the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 and the U.S. Constitution (“Freedom to Choose”).

For many women, choosing to have an abortion is related to a very simple premise, being that they are not prepared to provide a “suitable, nurturing environment in which to raise a child,” due to a lack of financial stability, personal emotional problems, or the inability to convince their so-called “better halves” to marry them. In addition, a woman’s right to choose “should not be made by the government or any other outside force” but only by herself (“Freedom to Choose”), a choice that is clearly outlined in the lengthy U.S. Supreme Court decision documents concerning Roe v. Wade and other cases that came before the court during the 1970’s.

A Woman’s Ethical Beliefs

Shortly after the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, the state of Missouri which has long tended to be highly conservative, required that a woman who was seeking an abortion during the first twelve weeks of her pregnancy had to “certify in writing her consent to the procedure” and that such consent was “informed and freely given” and was  not the result of coercion (Ramsey 8), such as being forced by her husband or boyfriend to undergo an abortion. This requirement clearly sidetracked the right of a woman to use her own judgment and ethical beliefs when deciding to have an abortion, due to the fact that the state of Missouri was playing, although a somewhat minor role, in her decision.

Obviously, a mature woman and one with an adequate amount of intelligence, knows the difference between right and wrong. Of course, in many instances, a woman might possess strong religious beliefs that go against her own ethical beliefs in relation having an abortion. When this occurs, a woman may find herself caught in a sort of ethical and moral quagmire, meaning that she will be confused on which way to go in relation to either maintaining her pregnancy or ending it. As contrasted with most men, women tend to have strong and emotional feelings and beliefs on a wide range of topics and usually go with their gut reactions when making an important decision that holds the potential to affect the rest of their lives.

As Christopher Kaczor reminds us, both pro-lifers and pro-choice individuals would defend the fact that women are “undoubtedly persons and at least in the West deserve merit and respect” like their male counterparts. Therefore, no one with any common sense would deny that “women have rights and dignity and always merit consideration” for their personal viewpoints (8). This also holds true for a woman’s personal ethical and moral beliefs when it comes to deciding to have an abortion. In essence then, a woman has the right to use and consider her own ethics in relation to having an abortion, even when her spouse or “significant other” believes that her ethical choices are wrong or misguided.

Women, Their Physical Bodies, and Abortion

On the other side of the abortion debate which dates back long before the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade in 1973, pro-lifers continue to argue that when a woman is pregnant, she gives up the right to control her own body, simply because growing inside of her womb is a potential human being. Pro-lifers also continue to argue that since a woman chose to become pregnant (unless of course she was raped), she must allow the fetus that is growing inside of her body to continue to live and at the end of the usual nine month-long gestation period to become a person like herself.

As Patrick Lee, a staunch pro-lifer and devoted Catholic relates, the age-old argument that the legal and legitimate existence of abortion is solely based on the right of a woman to decide what to do with her own physical body is and never has been accurate nor true. Lee also points out that since a woman made the choice to become pregnant in the first place, she is ethically and morally bound, if not religiously bound by God, to carry to full term the human life that exists inside of her physical body which in effect is there simply because God willed it to be so (234).

However, those who support the right of a woman to have an abortion maintain that since the woman is a physical and intelligent entity, she has the right to control her own body as it relates to what she does with it and how she uses it. From a biological standpoint, many pro-choice supporters argue that an “embryo or a fetus has no consciousness or being and is definitely not a person” while it resides inside of a woman’s physical body, but if and when the fetus is “carried to full-term or near full-term and delivered,” only then does it become a person (“Freedom to Choose”).

However, there is another side of the debate that has not been sufficiently covered by many pro-lifers. It is this–if it were men who were responsible for bringing new life into the world, the question as to whether they had the right to do as they please with their own physical bodies would be moot, or in other words, totally redundant. Therefore, since women are equal to men in all respects, a woman must be able to control her own body under all circumstances, even when she is pregnant.

Conclusion

Thus, because of 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion in the United States, it is the legal right of every woman to have an abortion regardless of what those on the pro-life side of the debate say or think. This brings us back to the three main points explored in this paper, being that a woman has the right to choose whether to maintain her pregnancy or seek an abortion; to use her own ethical and moral beliefs to judge whether having an abortion is right or wrong; and the right to control what she does with her own physical body.

Works Cited

“Freedom to Choose.” 2013. Web. 4 December 2013.

Gross, Michael L. “Abortion and Neonaticide: Ethics, Practice, and Policy in Four Nations.” Bioethics (16) 3 (2002): 202-230.

Kaczor, Christopher. The Ethics of Abortion: Women’s Rights, Human Life, and the Question of Justice. New York: Routledge, 2010.

Lee, Patrick. Abortion and Unborn Human Life. 2nd. ed. New York: The Catholic University of America Press, 2010.

Ramsey, Paul. Ethics at the Edges of Life: Medical and Legal Intersections. New Haven, CT: YaleUniversity Press, 1980.