How to Simplify Abortion Debate, Essay Example

Pro-life advocates argue that elective abortion is unjust act which takes away the life of innocent vulnerable human being. This contention simplifies abortion debate and leaves us to focus our attention on one question. Is the unborn baby a human being? Or do the unborn belong to human family. If yes then, killing him/her in the name of abortion for the benefit of the other is morally wrong. Abortion degrades the dignity of human life into just a disposable thing just like garbage. However, if the unborn babies are considered as not human, then abortion is not less than pulling out the aching tooth. Those who support elective abortion and make it legal base their argument on “choices and privacy”. They say that women have the rights do choose what they want to do with their bodies, choose the man they want, choose the life style they want to live etc. also they argue that the unborn is not living and one can abort but maintain privacy. But in reality, this argument is baseless and lacks both philosophical and scientific support. If abortion is ones choice then even killing toddlers who are helpless and innocent could also be legal.

For pro-life advocates, as earlier seen abortion is illegal and immoral act. it is the killing of the helpless innocent being. Scientifically, it is provable that, right from the earlier stages of development, the unborn are distinct full living human beings. From the study of embryology, we confirm that a zygote which results from the fusion of a male gamete or sperm and female gamete oocyte is the beginning of a new human life. This highly specialized cell forms the origin of all human. In his book “life in the making”, president Dr. Alan Guttmacher was perplexed than anyone less than a doctor would question the living nature of the unborn.

The illegality of abortion can also be argued against from the philosophical point of view. the newly born babies are only slightly different from the embryo by the fact that the embryo is less developed than the newborns. The difference between the newborn and the embryo is not pronounced as the abortionists put it. Ideally there is no moral difference between the embryos than each one of us was and the adult we are today. Size difference, development level, the degree of dependence, and the environment do not qualify the claim that the embryo to have less rights than rights that we enjoy as adults.

The acronym SLED is used to remind us of the non-essential difference between the embryo and the newly born babies and the adults we are today.

S- Size. it is true that the embryo is smaller that the newborns and adults. But the relevance of that lies the fact which states that size does not equal value. men are generally larger than women that does not qualify men to more rights than women or does than one qualify woman to be treated unfairly because they are small than men.

L- Level of development: the embryo and fetuses are less developed than the adults we are today although they will one day develop and become as we are. The relevance of this point lies on the fact that a 10 years old child is less developed than a 20 year old boy. The level of development does not entitle the 20 years old boy to more rights than the 10 years old child.

E-environment: the place where one is does not change who one is. The value of human being does not change when he/she crosses the road to the other side, or roll over the bed or cross over the street. This also applies to the unborn baby and the newly born baby. The change of location of the unborn baby from the mother’s womb to the birth can a finally to birth does not change the volubility.

D-degree: the degree of dependence does not qualify one to be human if that is so, then all humans who depend on insulin or kidney medication are invaluable and ought to be killed. And conjoined twin who share the bodily system and blood type must be killed. Despite the differences which are Inherent in human beings, they share the equality because they are human beings.