Biomedical Ethics

Phil 235 - EC
Summer 2010

Second Term Paper

Topic:
~An abortion is the deliberate killing of a human being. As such, it is murder. When you
kill an unborn child, you rob it of its whole future life. Therefore it is never morally
permissible, and it should be illegal. Critically assess this claim.

Presented to: Dr. Ornstein
By: Chaim Kuhnreich
Id: 9159606
July 26
th
, 2010







1
There is a big question that many people ask in this colossal debate on abortion. A
mother`s right to selI-determination, or an unborn Ietus`s right to live? Every human being has a
right to selI-determination; it is one oI the most basic rights a person has that gives Ireedom.
According to the Canadian Charter oI Rights and Freedoms, everyone has the right to liIe, liberty
and security
1
. Yet on the other hand every human being has a right to liIe. Biologically speaking,
a Ietus is a human being
2
, so it should also have the right to liIe just like any other human being.
This paper will argue that the unborn Ietus`s right to liIe, is not necessarily more important than
the mother`s right to selI-determination. ThereIore we cannot say that abortions should be
deemed illegal in all cases.
In 1969 the criminal code was amended to allow doctors to do abortions as long as the
procedure was given approval by the therapeutic abortion committee. They would judge iI a
woman`s health would be aIIected by the continuation oI the pregnancy or not.
3
Dr. Henry
Morgentaler then opens an abortion clinic in Montreal Ior women that were not approved by this
committee, yet still wanted to get an abortion. He was arrested and charged then acquitted and
stood trial again. This happened three times beIore the Quebec government decided to stop
arresting him.
4
Finally in 1988 this section 251 oI the criminal code, only allowing women with
approval Irom the therapeutic abortion committee the right to legal abortions, was struck down.
This ruling was given due to the grounds that Section 251 oI the Criminal Code violates a
woman's right to security oI person under section 7 oI the Canadian Charter oI Rights and
Freedoms and cannot be saved under section 1 oI the Charter.
5
This made it legal Ior a women to
have an abortion without needing approval Irom a doctor beIore having the abortion done.
There are many arguments given why an abortion should not be allowed. One oI the
biggest arguments is that a Ietus is already a genetic human being in biological terms, thus when
2
taking out the Ietus Irom the mother`s womb to stop the pregnancy, you are in theory killing a
genetic human being.
6
Every human being has a right to liIe and we have no right to decide to
kill a Ietus Ior it is no diIIerent than murder. II someone wants to say that a Ietus is not actually a
human being, it still has the potential to be a human being. A potential human being`s rights
should still outweigh the rights oI a human being since the human being has already lived part oI
its liIe while this potential human being has so much more to live Ior.
7
Who is to say, whether it
is a baby, a child or an adult, a Ietus is any diIIerent than a living grown human? Where is it that
we draw the line and say now it is ok to kill a Ietus but now it is not? A Ietus is a living
individual that has the same rights as anyone else. Each individual has an equal right to liIe.

This
is the most basic argument against allowing abortions. II murder oI a human being, who has the
potential to live out a long liIe, is illegal abortion should also be.


Abortions can also have many complications Ior the women. It is a risky medical
procedure that can cause long-term medical problems Ior the mother oI the child. Reported
complications included hemorrhage, inIection, pelvic damage, retained Ietal tissue and other
complications listed as 'other. The most common complication, retained Ietal tissue, was
reported aIter 313 abortions, in most cases as an initial complication. InIection occurred in 176
cases as an initial complication. Thirty-Iour women suIIered pelvic damage, reported as both an
initial complication and a secondary complication. Thirty women hemorrhaged as an initial
complication, with an additional 26 cases oI hemorrhage recorded as a second reported
complication. Another 90 women experienced complications listed as 'other.
8
With this amount
oI complications, many people Ieel that it is a procedure that should not be done.

Many women Ieel that they have the right to decide what happens to their body. But there
is an issue with this statement both logically and morally. Logically this makes no sense because
3
you cannot have selI-determination without liIe. ThereIore iI you value selI-determination you
must Iirst value liIe. The right oI Ireedom and selI-determination depends on the right to live
Iirst. Morally this statement makes no sense, because rights in a moral sense do not need to be all
or nothing. The younger a child is the longer it still has to live and should have more oI a right to
live then that oI an older person. So a Ietus, which still has its whole liIe to live, should have the
most right to liIe. We don`t mourn the death oI an older person as much as that oI a younger
person Ior this reason.
9
II a couple has intercourse they have to be ready to live with the consequences. The child
in this case did nothing wrong. We can`t use abortion as a cop out because we don`t want to care
Ior the child. There are many people that can`t have children and would be really happy to care
Ior this child. It would not be Iair Ior the Ietus to pay with its liIe because a couple knowingly
had intercourse, and then decided they did not want to live with the consequences.
Many people may take advantage oI the Iact that abortions are legal. With today`s
advances in medical technology it is becoming easier and easier to check Ior genetic and health
problems in a baby. Many people will choose to abort their Ietus rather than giving birth to a
child that will be mentally retarded or have some other genetic disease. It is not up to us to
decide to abort a Ietus just because we are not happy with the way it will be born.
II you look at the reasons why women in Canada choose abortion you have to realize that
there are many people that have many reasons as to why abortion should be allowed. There are
21 oI abortions done due to inadequate Iinances, 21 done because the women is not ready Ior
the responsibility, 16 do it because their liIe would be changed too much, 12 have
relationship problems or are unmarried, 11 are too young or not mature enough, 8 have
grown children and women has all she wants, 3 do it because Ietus has health problems, 3 do
4
it because women has health problems, 1 do it because pregnancy was caused by either rape or
incest, and 4 have other reasons.
10

The Iirst issue to look at though is a women`s right to selI-determination. We just looked
at all the reasons why a child`s right to liIe is more important, now we will bring some reasons
why the right to selI-determination may actually be a more important right. Every competent
person has a right to selI-determination. To the extent that a person is not Iree then others are
actually controlling this person
11
. By not allowing a women the right to choose what to do with
her body, and allowing her to choose abortion, you are taking away Irom this women the right to
her Ireedom and liberty, which is unconstitutional. Others will argue that the right to selI-
determination is in Iact more important than the right to liIe. II one is truly selI-determined then
they have the right to choose liIe or death. ThereIore the women`s right to her selI-determination
is actually more important than the Ietus`s right to liIe.
Another important aspect to take into account is the Iact that a Ietus may be a potential
liIe, but the mother is actually living. Anything that is lacking consciousness isn`t an actual
human being. ThereIore this Ietus does not have the unprecedented right to take up the womb oI
these living women iI she Ieels that she does not want this Ietus in her. The ability oI a woman to
have control oI her body is critical to civil rights. Take away her reproductive choice and you
step onto a slippery slope. II the government can Iorce a woman to continue a pregnancy then
why can`t they Iorce a woman to use contraception or undergo sterilization?
12
ThereIore how
can we make abortions illegal, we are taking away the women`s rights, which cannot be morally
correct.
An argument Iirst presented by Judith Jarvis Thomson states that 0;03 1 the Ietus has a
right to liIe, abortion is morally permissible because a woman has a right to control her own
5
body. Thomson's variant oI this argument draws an analogy between Iorcing a woman to
continue an unwanted pregnancy and Iorcing a person's body to be used as a dialysis machine Ior
another person suIIering Irom kidney Iailure. It is argued that just as it would be permissible to
"unplug" and thereby cause the death oI the person who is using one's kidneys, so it is
permissible to abort the Ietus (who similarly, it is said, has no right to use one's body against
one's will).
13
II we look at the case oI R. v. Morgentaler, we see a case where abortions were illegal
and the Supreme Court Iound that to be unconstitutional. They ruled that it violated women`s
rights under section 7 oI the Canadian Charter oI Rights and Freedoms to security oI person.
14
We can see Irom this case that even the Supreme Court Iinds it unconstitutional to make
abortions illegal. ThereIore how can we say that abortion should be made illegal iI the Supreme
Court Iinds it unconstitutional to make it illegal?
Many times a child becomes pregnant due to rape or incest. Can we make the mother
carry such a baby to term? First oI all, imagine the psychological impact a child like this will
have on the pregnant women, having to carry such a baby and giving birth to it. Also many times
the mother isn`t old enough and wouldn`t be able to physically carry a baby to term and would
end up dying beIore she would give birth. In such cases can we really say that it is wrong to
allow abortions? A baby is a huge and deep responsibility. It is not Iair to the child iI the parents
aren`t truly committed to raising this child. Sometimes it may actually be better Ior the child iI
the Ietus is aborted rather than having irresponsible parents bring this child into the world. II the
parents are not going to take care oI the baby properly, or even the Ietus then maybe the best
thing to do is have an abortion.
6
Looking at both sides oI this debate we see there are many reasons to allow abortions and
many reasons why abortions maybe should be made illegal. Although many pro-liIe supporters
may Ieel that a Ietus is a human being and abortion is no diIIerent than murder. In the end when
looking at the pro-choice arguments I Ieel there is no way that we can say that in all cases
abortion should be made illegal. First oI all a Ietus cannot be considered a human being, it bears
no judicial capacity or personality, is backed by law and is not conscious, or selI-aware. Also
there are many cases where we have to allow abortions or at least give the mother the choice to
choose between holding the Ietus in the womb and having it aborted. An example oI a case is
rape or incest where psychologically speaking, and many times even physically when the mother
is just a child, a woman would not be able to keep this baby.
Although we may have many reasons why abortion is wrong, the Iact oI the matter is we
can`t say that it should be made illegal, iI there are still so many reasons why we should allow
abortions. We cannot Iorget the Iact that selI-determination plays such an important role in
morality and ethics and making abortion illegal takes away that right as well. As much as 96,815
abortions were done in the year 2005, the latest year on record.
15
One-way to counter the many
abortions women are having these days, is to have better sex education in the classrooms and Ior
young children. This will help prevent unwanted pregnancies, and perhaps that will be able to cut
down on the amount oI abortions a year.
In conclusion, although abortions may Ieel wrong to many people, morally speaking we
cannot go and make it illegal. We would be taking away the right to selI-determination, one oI
the most Iundamental rights oI all human beings. Which without this right we are no diIIerent
then slaves. There are other ways to go about minimizing the amount oI abortions there are every
year, but making them illegal would not be morally and ethically correct.
7

ndnotes
1
Kluge, E.H.W., Readings in Biomedical Ethics, p.313
2
Kluge, E.H.W., Readings in Biomedical Ethics, p.310
3
http://www.abortionincanada.ca/history/AbortionCanadaTimeline.html
4
http://www.abortionincanada.ca/history/AbortionCanadaTimeline.html
5
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.v.Morgentaler
6
Dr. Ornstein`s Lesson 7 Notes
7
Dr. Ornstein`s Lesson 7 Notes
8
http://www.abortionincanada.ca/stats/abortioncomplicationrates.html
9
Dr. Ornstein`s Lesson 7 Notes
10
http://www.abortionincanada.ca/Iacts/WhyWomenchooseabortion.html
11
Dr. Ornstein`s online lecture on abortion
12
http://womensissues.about.com/od/reproductiverights/a/AbortionArgumen.htm
13
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortiondebate#Bodilyrights
14
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.v.Morgentaler
15
http://www.abortionincanada.ca/stats/annualabortionrates.html











8

ibliography

1. Kluge, E.H.W., Readings in Biomedical Ethics: A Canadian Focus, Person Prentice Hall, Toronto, 2005,
527 pages
nline Sources
2. www.abortionincanada.ca
3. www.en.wikipedia.org
4. www.econcordia.com
5. Dr. Ornstein`s Lesson Notes: Abortion
6. Dr. Ornstein`s Online Lecture: Abortion
7. www.womenissues.about.com