Her Choice Her Problem, Article Review Example

Richard Stith maintains that male responsibility does not end at conception.  Men can only choose the sex not fatherhood.  Women alone make the decision whether to have birth.  Stith stated that the concept of legalizing abortion was to give women an enormous freedom.  But in actuality, it really freed men and  trapped women.  In a way men are portrayed as being selfish in that they will not negate the rights of sexual pleasure; despite the fact this imposes a risk of surgery on the partner.  He further pointed out that the presence of women in the marketplace.  Willing to undergo abortion reduces an individual woman’s bargaining power by a so as not to lose a partner.  She may be forced into decision she does not want to do.

Prior to the legalizing of abortion in the USA.  It was common practice for a man to marry woman he made pregnant.  With the legality of abortion the man felt  no longer obliged to marry the woman as she had other options i.e. the right to terminate the pregnancy.  In  legalizing abortion it liberated the mail from any responsibility and as such  placed the woman into a moral dilemma of whether or not to kill  the unborn child.

Apart from the legal position the argument is really based upon the ethical behaviour of men and the empowerment of women.  Responsible parenting is really concerned with the future welfare of the child and both partners have a responsibility to look after the welfare of the child. If they are not prepared to do this then an abortion is the only viable option.  It is cruel to bring unwanted children into the world without offering them real hope of a future.  There are also religious grounds and the view of the Catholic Church is that terminating a pregnancy is in fact taking the life of a child and the will of god. Such women of this faith are then placed in an even greater moral dilemma, they incur the wrath of their religion  whilst the man can walk away.  This has been a problem for many single mothers in that faith who are left with the difficulty of raising a fatherless child.

This situation can be compared to the loss of personal freedom by the people in Iran where a dictatorial government wishes to impose policy on the people ‘ The Islamic Republic rests on an ideology that believes in “collective morality” in an Islamic context. In light of this, the morality police have been operating to enforce “Islamic modesty” and prevent individuals from engaging in supposedly “un-Islamic conduct,” such as wearing Western-style clothing’.   Yet again we see the convergence of religious beliefs being wedged into the argument of Islamic Modesty in order to impose policies on the people and removing the freedom of choice and basic human rights.

The young women of Iran are now well educated and many attend good schools and University.  They are fully aware of the opportunities provided to women in the Western world and they seek a world of equal freedoms and liberties as opposed to that of a world dominated by the suppression of men and the removal  of both their freedoms and human rights.  The younger generation are also much more liberal in their views and lean more towards the equality of women.