Abortion Essay
Sean Woods
Professor Hunt
Ethics 304
1/21/2013
Abortion Essay
To draw a line in the sand and say this is when a person becomes a person is arbitrary. The argument in itself is supercilious to me but it still has its moral context, yet there is a bigger picture to abortions. If we all agree that a fetus is a person or an egg is a person, there is still an ethical decision to be made, and there is still the consequence of your actions to be considered. Abortion affects the future life of someone soon to be, so there is still a consequence to be taken into consideration, but there are certain circumstances that make abortion justified. In this essay, I am using a utilitarian approach to argue that abortions are permissible, under certain circumstances pertaining to the future well-being of the child or mother. The question of whether it is a person should shift to whether or not the child will have a healthy upbringing. The greater benefit of all is that children should be born in a healthy environment with physical and mental health taken into account. Making abortions illegal does not change the circumstances that contribute to it.
Crime is a Significant Circumstance
In the mid-1990s, there was a major decrease in crime in America, and there were a lot of speculations as to why this happened. A few suspicions were a stronger police force, harsher jail sentences, and a strong economy. There were many debates as to why crime had fallen when it should have risen. As stated by Steven D. Levitt “leading experts were predicting an explosion in crime in the early and mid-1990s, precisely the point when crime rates began to plunge.
Although experts failed to anticipate the decline, there has been no shortage of hypotheses to explain the drop in crime after the fact” (163). Most of the speculations surrounding the drop in crime do not accurately portray the truth
Professor Hunt
Ethics 304
1/21/2013
Abortion Essay
To draw a line in the sand and say this is when a person becomes a person is arbitrary. The argument in itself is supercilious to me but it still has its moral context, yet there is a bigger picture to abortions. If we all agree that a fetus is a person or an egg is a person, there is still an ethical decision to be made, and there is still the consequence of your actions to be considered. Abortion affects the future life of someone soon to be, so there is still a consequence to be taken into consideration, but there are certain circumstances that make abortion justified. In this essay, I am using a utilitarian approach to argue that abortions are permissible, under certain circumstances pertaining to the future well-being of the child or mother. The question of whether it is a person should shift to whether or not the child will have a healthy upbringing. The greater benefit of all is that children should be born in a healthy environment with physical and mental health taken into account. Making abortions illegal does not change the circumstances that contribute to it.
Crime is a Significant Circumstance
In the mid-1990s, there was a major decrease in crime in America, and there were a lot of speculations as to why this happened. A few suspicions were a stronger police force, harsher jail sentences, and a strong economy. There were many debates as to why crime had fallen when it should have risen. As stated by Steven D. Levitt “leading experts were predicting an explosion in crime in the early and mid-1990s, precisely the point when crime rates began to plunge.
Although experts failed to anticipate the decline, there has been no shortage of hypotheses to explain the drop in crime after the fact” (163). Most of the speculations surrounding the drop in crime do not accurately portray the truth
Cited: Levitt, Steven D. "Understanding Why Crime Fell in the 1990s: Four Factors That Explain the Decline and Six That Do Not." Journal of Economic Perspectives 18.1 (2004): 163-90. EBSCO. Web. 23 Jan. 2013. Loeber, Rolf, and Magda Stouthamer-Loeber. "Family Factors as Correlates and Predictors of Juvenile Conduct Problems and Delinquency." Crime and Justice 7 (1986): 29. JSTOR. Web. 23 Jan. 2013. Murray, Joseph, and David P. Farrington. "Risk Factors for Conduct Disorder and Delinquency: Key Findings From Longitudinal Studies." The Canadian Journal Of Psychiatry / La Revue Canadienne De Psychiatrie 55.633-642 (2010): 639. EBSCO. Web. 22 Jan. 2013. "National Abortion Federation: History of Abortion." National Abortion Federation: History of Abortion. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2013. <http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/history_abortion.html>. "Purity Is Power." Purity Is Power. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Jan. 2013. <http://poplarartproductions.wix.com/purityispower>.