For Brainy Brian

Running head: ABORTION RIGHTS

Abortion Rights

First name Last name

PHI 208 Ethics and Moral Reasoning

Prof. Phil Osipher

December 31, 1999

ABORTION RIGHTS

Example 1 (see below for another example that takes up a different question and different point

of view):

Abortion Rights

Should abortions be allowed in certain specific cases, such as when the mother’s life is at risk,

but not in other cases?

Introduction:

Since Roe vs. Wade struck down state laws banning abortion in 1971, the topic of abortion has

been perhaps the most consistently divisive issue in the United States. According to the Center

for Disease Control (2012), an “abortion” is “an intervention performed by a licensed clinician

(e.g., a physician, nurse-midwife, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant) that is intended to

terminate an ongoing pregnancy” (para. 2). Moreover, this is an issue that affects, on average,

well over a million women a year, according to the Center for Disease Control’s (*) statistics on

women who either have an abortion or an unwanted pregnancy (*). Abortions may be performed

to save a mother’s life, because the mother did not intend to become pregnant and does not want

the child, because having the child would bring severe hardship, and for countless other reasons

as well. This makes the issue quite complicated and complex, which partly accounts for its

divisiveness as well as the need to consider the ethical dimensions carefully and thoughtfully. In

this essay, I will focus on cases in which continuing with a pregnancy would put a pregnant

woman’s life in danger, and whether abortions in those cases should be regarded as morally

different than ones in which her life is not at abnormal risk.

Position Statement:

Comment [BT1]: The introduction should strive to be as neutral and objective as possible at this point.

Comment [BT2]: This sentence helps show that this is a moral problem that is debatable and important, motivating the ethical significance of the topic.

Comment [BT3]: This is a non-partisan, reputable institution. Using it as the source of the definition helps to avoid bringing in biased perspectives.

Comment [BT4]: It’s important to define key terms used in the assignment in the introduction.

Comment [BT5]: This is an example of how the introduction might define the scope in the discussion in light of the first example question.

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A human fetus has equal dignity to other humans, and thus it should only be permissible to

intentionally kill it when the mother’s life is at risk.

Supporting Reason:

Human societies throughout history have often failed to recognize the full dignity of other human

beings as equal “persons” or to care for the weakest and most vulnerable, and thus we should

avoid making that same mistake with fetuses by applying the same laws against intentional

killing to them that we would to any other human being. However, when protecting the life of

the fetus means the mother’s life will be in severe danger, and they cannot both be saved, it

wouldn't necessarily violate the dignity of the fetus to abort it.

Opposing Reason:

Even though abortion involves taking the life of a biologically human creature, it lacks the kind

of self-understanding or self-awareness that we sometimes associate with personhood, and its

total dependency on another person’s body for life means it lacks the independence we also

associate with personhood.

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References

Center for Disease Control. (2012). CDCs abortion surveillance system FAQs. Retrieved from

http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/data_stats/Abortion.htm

Center for Disease Control. (2014). Data and statistics. Retrieved from

http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/Data_Stats/index.htm#Abortion

Reagan, L. (1997). When abortion was a crime: Women, medicine, and law in the United States,

1867-1973. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

World Health Organization. (2007). Unsafe abortion: global and regional estimates of the

incidence of unsafe abortion and associated mortality in 2003 (5th ed). Geneva,

Switzerland: WHO Publications.

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Example 2:

Abortion Rights

Is restricting abortion rights an unjust restriction on a woman’s right to make her own

reproductive choices?

Introduction:

Since Roe vs. Wade struck down state laws banning abortion in 1971, the topic of abortion has

been perhaps the most consistently divisive issue in the United States. According to the Center

for Disease Control (2012), an “abortion” is “an intervention performed by a licensed clinician

(e.g., a physician, nurse-midwife, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant) that is intended to

terminate an ongoing pregnancy” (para. 2). Moreover, this is an issue that affects on average well

over a million women a year, according to the Center for Disease Control’s (*) statistics on

women who either have an abortion or an unwanted pregnancy (*). Abortions may be performed

to save a mother’s life, because the mother did not intend to become pregnant and does not want

the child, because having the child would bring severe hardship, and for countless other reasons

as well. This makes the issue quite complicated and complex, which partly accounts for its

divisiveness as well as the need to consider the ethical dimensions carefully and thoughtfully. In

this essay, I will consider the rights women have to self-determination, especially concerning

reproduction, and how those rights pertain to the legal procurement of abortion.

Position Statement:

A pregnant woman has the right to determine for herself whether or not continuing a pregnancy

would present severe enough burdens to make having an abortion a moral decision.

Comment [BT6]: The introduction should strive to be as neutral and objective as possible at this point.

Comment [BT7]: This sentence helps show that this is a moral problem that is debatable and important, motivating the ethical significance of the topic.

Comment [BT8]: This is a non-partisan, reputable institution. Using it as the source of the definition helps to avoid bringing in biased perspectives.

Comment [BT9]: It’s important to define key terms used in the assignment in the introduction.

Comment [BT10]: This is an example of how the introduction might define the scope in the discussion in light of the first example question.

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Supporting Reason:

Most people, even those who think abortion is wrong or that a fetus has a right to life, recognize

that there might be circumstances in which aborting a fetus can be justified. However, every

woman’s circumstances are different, and thus only the pregnant woman herself can judge how

carrying a child to term would affect her life. Moreover, we almost always recognize that a

woman should have the right to determine for herself whether to get pregnant in the first place,

which might suggest that the same consideration would seem to apply to the choice as to whether

to continue a pregnancy.

Opposing Reason:

Rights of self-determination normally must not be exercised in a way that violates the basic

rights of other people, even when a certain decision might relive burdens. For example, we don’t

allow women to determine whether a child that has been born should continue living, which

might raise worries about why she should be able to make that determination simply because the

fetus has not yet been born.

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References

Center for Disease Control. (2012). CDCs Abortion Surveillance System FAQs. Retrieved from

http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/data_stats/Abortion.htm

Center for Disease Control. (2014). Data and Statistics. Retrieved from

http://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/Data_Stats/index.htm#Abortion

Reagan, L. (1997). When abortion was a crime: women, medicine, and law in the United States,

1867-1973. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

World Health Organization. (2007). Unsafe abortion: global and regional estimates of the

incidence of unsafe abortion and associated mortality in 2003. -- 5th ed. Geneva,

Switzerland: WHO Publications.