Humans become Human? A Utilitarian Approach to Abortion The topic of abortion is possibly one of the more controversial topics in the bioethical world today. The major disputes regarding abortion occur over when‚ if at all‚ a foetus is considered a human being. Conversely‚ there is equal dispute over when exactly one could consider a foetus non-human‚ and whether or not that affects the morality of abortion as a whole. If we approach the topic of abortion through a utilitarian lens‚ the solution may
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The abortion and the utilitarian view Abortion is a sensitive topic that requires a considerable amount of understanding when addressing the ethics behind it. Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy thus ending the life of the embryo/fetus prematurely (Matthews MP‚ Dutt T‚ 1998). My ethical justification for abortion stems from a utilitarianism standpoint. When using the utilitarian consequential principle of ethics‚ we establish a set of general morals and rules in which we can apply
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Utilitarian View on Abortion Utilitarianism is the thought that actions are right if they benefit or bring happiness to a majority of the population. A utilitarian’s view on abortion could be that it is a good thing or a bad thing. They could argue that there is overpopulation in today’s society and around the world people are starving and going thirsty because of overpopulation. A utilitarian would say it would benefit the world’s population if a baby was aborted rather than taking another persons
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There have been various arguments for and against abortion. But it is imperative to define the term abortion as this would throw more light on the debates on abortion by moral philosophers and others on the issue. Abortion is the deliberate removal of a woman’s foetus in a medical procedure (Grimes and Stuart‚ 2010). Abortion can be debated from various angles‚ especially from the pro-choice and pro-life advocates. The pro-life advocates are of the view that no foetus should be terminated‚ irrespective
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THINKING PAPER #5 Abstract This paper expresses the viewpoint of a Utilitarian and how they would look at abortion. This paper illustrates there should be a right to choose what you should be able to do in regards to abortion and uses the term “reproductive freedom”. Contained within are statistics on social and economic benefits of abortion and the Utilitarian viewpoint for abortion is explained. Abortion is an essential part of living in the modern world. Today‚ we expect people
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The issue of abortion is one that has been at the recent forefront of many political discussions in the United States and around the world. There are people spread across both sides of the argument whose opinions vary in intensity and depend on different sources of information to back up their points of view. For the purpose of this paper‚ abortion will be defined as the deliberate termination of human pregnancy. It is my opinion that abortion‚ completed early enough in a pregnancy‚ is not an unethical
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Abortion There are many different views on abortion therefore making it a very controversial subject to discuss. The two main views on abortion are the “pro-choice” view and the “pro-life” view as publicised in the article “Abortion: A Moderate View” written by L W. Sumner. These established views are either for or against abortion although they do not take into consideration the many different factors regarding abortion. The article helps define the similarity and differences in the established
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Abortion of Down syndrome Fetus Amanda Hetherington 03/23/2015 Introduction Support for the rights of the disabled people has increased in the recent times‚ and this has stimulated opposition to the abortion of abnormal fetus. In essence‚ legalizing the abortion of fetus with abnormalities has been construed as reinforcing discriminations against people with disabilities. The controversy over the question of aborting fetus with abnormalities gained greater attention when the ethics
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Examine how utilitarian arguments might be applied to one issue of your choice? ACT UTILITARIANISM Act Utilitarian theories start with specific cases from which general principles can be deduced. Bentham’s Hedonic Calculus weighs up the following measures of the consequential pleasure/pain: CertaintyDurationExtentIntensityRemotenessRichnessPurity Situation 1 – Abortion would be morally right if the mother’s life is in danger. The period of the pain of the loss of the mother will be ongoing‚ the
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Abortion is one of the most controversial topics of all times. The definition most people associate with abortion is the termination of unwanted pregnancy. In their essay‚ “The Wrong of Abortion”‚ Patrick Lee and Robert P. George argue that intentional abortion is unjust and therefore objectively immoral no matter the circumstances. Also‚ they argue that “the burden of carrying the baby is significantly less than the harm the baby would suffer by being killed; the mother and father have a special
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