Professional Documents
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IT Healthcare Assignment
IT Healthcare Assignment
202000429
ABORTION DEBATE - HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION 2
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
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).
ABORTION DEBATE - HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION 3
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
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
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
ABORTION DEBATE - HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION 4
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)
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
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
ABORTION DEBATE - HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION 5
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
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
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
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
Future preterm deliveries, can affect the women's physical and mental health and well-being
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
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
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)
ABORTION DEBATE - HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION 7
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
References
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
https://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/pdf/10.2105/AJPH.62.10.1331.
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&a
rticle=1040&context=jcl
ABORTION DEBATE - HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION 9