RUNNING HEAD: ABORTION DEBATE 1

Abortion Debate-Human Right’s Violation

Course- Healthcare IT System (HM2003)

Evaluation Type- Assignment 1

Date of Submission- 4th June

Submitted to- Fred Eghobur

Done by--Namira Memon -201905006, Hanslod Aminabanu Hanifbhai- 201905689,

Raj winder Kaur-202000263, Raahat Sidhu-201907648, Gurpreet Kaur-201907715, Manpreet Kaur-

202000429
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Introduction

Abortion is a human right issue and it is also one of the most contentious subjects debated in

medical ethics. Pro-life campaigners support an abortion ban, while pro-choice campaigners oppose it.

The intractable nature of the abortion debate may be explained by symmetries that emerge from analyzing

the primary arguments on both sides. The main objective of this paper is to make the case that abortion is

a basic healthcare treatment and to show how technology has influenced the abortion debate.

Literature Review

Women have played an important role in developing the human rights culture. “Everyone has

the right to bodily and psychological integrity which includes the rights: to make decisions

concerning the reproduction and to security in and control over their bodies (Troskie & Raliphada-

Mulaudzi 1999).

In country like Netherland, where abortion is legalized and no cost for termination of

pregnancies leads to the lowest illegal abortion rates in the world (Senanayake & Potts 1995; WHO

1985). The Netherlands always dealt with social health aspects including reproductive health and

termination of pregnancies (Tak & Prinsloo 1999).

In Romania, the death related to abortion increased in higher rates when the law becomes very

restrictive in 1966. However, after implementing law in favor of abortion in 1990, the mortality rate due

to abortion decreased (Senanayake & Potts 1995; WHO 1998). “Unsafe abortion is one of the most easily

preventable and treatable causes of maternal mortality and morbidity” (WHO 1998).
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How Technology is Reframing the Abortion Debate?

Abortion is often misunderstood as a religious issue, but it is far from it. When it comes down to

it, biology and science are the sole decisive variables. Science is the sole way to determine whether or not

an unborn kid is alive; no religion can do that. (Robertson, December 2011)

Various criteria have been used in medical studies to verify the existence of life. To prove life,

scientists have used brain waves, heartbeats, implantation, birth, and social interaction. The only issue is

that some of those indications may be invisible, but life can still exist. People who are comatose, senile,

or retarded would be excluded from the category of being human using this logic. For at least the first five

months of their lives, all individuals are considered nonviable. It is biologically viable, but there has never

been a newborn infant who is autonomously viable due to the infant's severe reliance on the mother for

fundamental needs. (Robertson, December 2011)

Advances in neonatology have long been cited as an example of how technological advancements

may impact abortion rights. Neonatal intensive care technology has consistently extended viability to

earlier stages of pregnancy, to the point that viability has been pushed back from 24 to 28 weeks first

recognized to 22 weeks or earlier, allowing 500-600 gram fetuses to survive, albeit with a high risk of

disability and impairment, giving anti-abortion forces more room to ban abortion. (Richard A. Schwartz)

The medications that currently enable chemical abortions to be performed safely and effectively

up to nine weeks of pregnancy are also a technology that has the potential to transform abortion access

and the public's understanding of the moral and legal concerns at hand. (Robertson, December 2011)

IVF and assisted reproductive technology (ART) are key technological advancements that

intersect morally with the abortion debate, though they have no direct impact on abortion. Because there

is no pregnancy when the fertilized eggs and embryos are still in a petri dish or laboratory freezer,

external fertilization has not been a hot topic in abortion debates. Until the ability to produce human

embryonic stem cells, generated from discarded IVF embryos from infertile couples, anti-abortion
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activists ignored IVF and ART. While these innovations have a greater impact on assisted reproduction

than on abortion, the general acceptability of IVF and embryo disposal runs against the anti-abortion

movement's normative foundations regarding respect for human life from fertilization. (Robertson,

December 2011)

Ethics and Abortion

The ethical issues of abortion, euthanasia, and physician-assisted suicide have been the most

controversial of all the ethical difficulties that might arise in the field of medicine. Despite the heated

discussions about the precise moral features of each of these ethical concerns, a reasoned investigation of

each of these ethical concerns may be expected to bring fresh chances for a greater understanding of the

complexities of each. (James Fisher)

There have been preaching’s against the practice of aborting a human foetus, as well as

arguments on both sides of this subject, at least since the time of Hippocrates' Oath, which expressly

prohibits abortion. In most civilizations, abortion is a permanent moral dilemma that fluctuates in its

relevance as a topic that influences societal debate and action. (James Fisher)

Mary Anne Warren establishes an essential distinction between what it means to be a human

being and what it means to be a person in an influential essay in which she responds to many of the major

points in the literature at the time. The basic argument against abortion, according to Warren, is based on

a logical argument that relies on the mistake of equivocation in order to succeed. The argument goes like

this: since killing innocent human beings is morally wrong, and since foetuses are innocent human beings,

killing foetuses is also morally wrong. Warren points out that the argument's proponent is ambiguous

about the phrase "human being." For example, in the first premise, the term "human being" is intended to

mean "a full-fledged member of the moral community," which is the moral sense of the term "human

being," whereas in the second premise, the term "human being" is intended to mean "a member of the

species, Homo sapiens," which is the genetic sense of the term "human being." Because the term "human
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being" shifts its meaning from its occurrence in the first premise to its occurrence in the second, the

conclusion does not follow from the premises; in other words, because the proponent of this argument

commits the fallacy of equivocation, this argument (which, in order to succeed, would require a different

term in place of "human being") fails to follow from its premises. (James Fisher)

Because the membership of these two classes is not the same, Warren claims that the terms

"moral humanity" and "genetic humanity" are not interchangeable. In other words, in a way that human

beings are not, persons are feasible candidates to be "full-fledged members of the moral community." As

a result, the moral community is made up of all, but only, people. She then considers what traits an entity

must possess in order to be classified as a person, and begins a search for what would comprise the

required requirements for personhood. (James Fisher)

In the end, Warren lists five characteristics that she considers to be “most important to the

concept of personhood,” as follows: “1) awareness (of objects and events external and/or internal to the

being), particularly the ability to feel pain; 2) reasoning (the developed capacity to solve new and

relatively complex problems); 3) self-motivated activity (activity that is relatively independent of either

genetic or direct external control); 4) the ability to convey messages of a limitless variety of forms, not

merely with an infinite number of possible contents, but on an infinite number of potential themes, using

any means available; and 5) the presence of self-concept. (James Fisher)

Warren recognizes that an entity should not be required to meet all five characteristics in order to

be considered a person, nor should any one of these criteria be judged necessary for personhood. She

does, however, rank the first two criteria as the most significant, followed by the third. Finally, she claims

that any entity that does not meet any of these five conditions is not a person, and that a human foetus is

one of these entities. (James Fisher)

Risk of harm and potential benefits to society

There are many risk and harm associated with abortion; bleeding, cramping, dizziness,

drowsiness, nausea and vomiting. However, immediate complications include damage to the womb or

cervix, infection of the fallopian tube, scarring of uterus, sepsis or septic shock, uterine perforation or

even death. (JOHANNA GRIMAUDO), (Richard A. Schwartz)

Health Future Risk

Future preterm deliveries, can affect the women's physical and mental health and well-being

throughout her life-course. (JOHANNA GRIMAUDO)

Potential Benefits to the Society

Legalized abortion has great impact on the birth rate and helped to bring down population rate. It

is also observed by environmentalists that it is impossible to preserve the quality of the environment

unless population growth has halted.

One of the most important causes of poverty in the United States is the high incidence of

unwanted children in poor families. Enabling the poor to avoid unwanted birth would alleviate the overall

problem of poverty in the United States. Having a large number of dependent children is one of the major

burdens of being poor in society. The burden of trying to support them is a frequent cause of alcoholism

and desertion among low income parents.

However, with fewer children, mothers will have more time available for work outside the home

and this additional earning would raise the total family income above the poverty level and make it easy

for them to provide better education and upbringing for their children. (Richard A. Schwartz)
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Conclusion

It should not be an argument; putting your own morals above another person is immoral. If

fetuses are granted equal rights it would mean that it has independent an inalienable rights not that it has

more rights than someone else and most of all it would not mean that the fetuses rights are dependent on

someone else because even if we granted the fetus equal and independent rights the fetus lacks the

capability to sustain these rights. Moreover, technology has significantly provided various advances that

help both sides to prove their respective points. But this assignment agrees with the fact that abortion is a

basic health care and most importantly a human right.

References

James Fisher, B. D. (n.d.). Health Care Ethics. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,

https://iep.utm.edu/h-c-ethi/

Johanna Grimaudo, M.R. Abortion Risks and Side Effects. ComPlanned Parenthood, compasscare.info.

https://www.compasscare.info/health-information/abortion/abortion-risks-and-side-effects/

Richard A. Schwartz, M. (n.d.). The Social Effects of Legal Abortion. In M. Richard A. Schwartz, The

Social Effects of Legal Abortion (p. 1331 to 1335).

https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.62.10.1331.

Robertson, J. A. (December 2011). Abortion & Techology. Journal of Constitutional La, 64 .

https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&a

rticle=1040&context=jcl
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