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Is Abortion Morally Justified

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Is there ever a case where abortion should be considered morally justifiable? This is the question that I will be examining in this essay. I will begin this essay by considering why abortion is justified using the argument by Marie-Anne Warren (1989). I will then cover why abortion is considered an immoral act as objection to my points, specifically I will be looking at the argument of Don Marquis (1989) who believes abortion falls into the same area as murdering somebody in context of morals. In this essay I will be arguing that abortion is morally justifiable under specific sets of circumstances, one circumstance would be abortion is justified if the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape on the mother. Second the abortion is justified …show more content…

It’s important to define the different stages of fetal development. After initial fertilization the fertilized egg moves into the uterus and implants itself in the uterine wall, during this time the egg is known as a zygote this stage lasts around 10 days. The next stage in pregnancy for around the next eight weeks the zygote becomes an Embryo. Then once it has developed organs becomes a fetus until birth at around 40 weeks (Borgerson, 2017). A person has the ability to think and express their own beliefs, ideals, and cognitions. A person should also be able to perform its own self-motivated behaviour and be self-aware (Warren, 1989). I will be assuming in this essay that if this abortion was actually happening, that the pregnant woman is a citizen of Canada. Abortion in Canada is currently a viable option up to about 24 weeks of the …show more content…

One circumstance would be abortion is justified if the pregnancy is the result of an act of rape on the mother. Second the abortion is justified in the case, that if the pregnancy is carried to term it may be fatal to the mother. I also considered two objections to these arguments; Rape is a terrible crime and is morally wrong, but murdering another person is by far a worse crime and even more morally wrong; and a fetus has a right to life because it is as much of a person as you or I. To which I included my own response to these objections; Abortion cannot be considered murder because abortion is legal in Canada, and the mother’s right to life and health are more important than that of a potential person’s. I do believe that at the very late stages of pregnancy that abortion is wrong and should not be performed, however under these specific circumstances I do believe abortion is morally

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