Abortion Debate Essay Example
📌Category: | Abortion, Social Issues |
📌Words: | 1016 |
📌Pages: | 4 |
📌Published: | 05 April 2022 |
Conversations around abortion are fraught with ethical debates. People’s opinions on the
ethicality of abortion vary wildly, and are often backed by passionate claims. However, few cases raise as many moral questions as the case of Karen Thomson. There are several features of this case that I would consider morally relevant — Karen’s age, her cocaine addiction, mental illnesses, the physician's assessment of Karen’s competence to be a parent, developmental stage of the fetus, and fetal exposure to hazards. I think the most significant moral feature of this case, however, is the lack of informed consent from Karen. We read in the case study that Karen preferred to not abort the fetus, and while she was not adamant in her desires, she did not give informed consent. Informed consent is the bedrock of ethical medical practice. To perform an abortion without consent would require the physician to prove that Karen was not acting rationally in her own best interest — justifying weak paternalism.
Mary Anne Warren is an adamant supporter of a woman’s right to have an abortion, on the grounds that a fetus is not a person, as “personhood” and “genetic humanity” are separate classifications. (Warren 388) Warren believes that humanity is determined by genetic code, while personhood is determined based on membership in the “moral community”. (Warren 389). She considers being a member of the moral community (and thus, a person) significant enough to warrant the right to life, as members of the moral community are self-aware and capable of higher thinking. Since a fetus is incapable of engaging in the moral community, they are not persons and therefore do not have a right to life. Warren acknowledges that fetuses have the potential to become people, but distinguishes between actually being something and the potential to become that thing. She believes fetal rights develop in a “continuous fashion”, much like their personhood does, and as a result fetuses gain stronger rights to life the more they develop. (Warren 391)
I believe that Judy Thomson would also find both abortions permissible, on the grounds that Karen may not have been able to consent to the sex. Thomson believes that even though fetues are persons “at conception”, that does not “guanantee” their right to be given the use of another persons body to sustain their life. (Thomson 357) Thomson maintains that while it might be “morally indecent” to have an abortion, abortion is not necessarily morally impermissible. (Thomson 363) If a women does not consent to being pregnant (like in cases of rape or insest), abortion is permissible. The issue I have with Thomson's argument is that it seems to assume competency to consent to sex. I do not believe Karen was competent to consent to sexual intercourse because of the combination of her age, mental impairment caused by drugs, and her intellectual status. Therefore, I do not believe Karen consented to become pregnant, making abortion a permissible option according to Thomson.
Lastly, we must consider Don Marquis. Upon consideration, I do not believe he would find this abortion permissible, regardless of Karen's consent. He believes that abortion is wrong based on the fact that it robs the fetus of their “future”, and all of the “experiences, activities, projects, and enjoyments” (Marquis 367) they might’ve had. He believes that abortion is as wrong as “killing an another adult human is wrong.” (Marquis 374) While a fetus “cannot value their future” (Marquis 377), Marquis believes it is wrong to kill something that thats future might “ultimately” (Marquis 376) become valuable to them. Marquis thinks “early” abortions are “rarely” permissible, so because Karen's pregnancy was discovered around the 12-week mark, I doubt Marquis would consider abortion a permissible option. (Marquis 374)
Having reviewed Warren, Thomsons, and Marquis's perspectives, we must consider the ethicality of Karen's abortion, both if she did and did not consent. I think Warren and Thomson would agree with me that performing the abortion on Karen is ethical regardless of her consent, based on their ideas of what makes abortions permisible. It would be optimal if she consented to the procedure. However, I believe there are a combination of conditions impacting her ability to act autonomously (drug addiction, mental illness, low IQ) that justify Karen's physicians and guardians taking responsibility for her medical decisions. If Karen was a fully competent individual and did not consent to an abortion, the abortion would be impermissible. But considering Karen's barriers to autonomy, I do not believe she was capable of consenting to pregnancy in the first place, making the abortion permissible, and justifying the application of weak paternalism.
Contrary to Marquis's beliefs, I do not believe we can only consider the fetus's possible future when discussing abortion. In such cases, the mother's capability to parent must be considered, as the burden of responsibility to raise the child falls directly upon her (and a partner if she has one). If the mother is not capable of providing for a child, she should not be forced to continue a pregnancy due to the moral impermissibility of abortion.
This fetus is relatively undeveloped, has been exposed to significant toxins, and would be born to a mother who has been deemed mentally unfit to be a parent while suffering from mental illness and addiction that could affect her rational decision making, now and in the future. While Karen may prefer to carry the pregnancy to term, I do not believe she fully understands the consequence of that choice. In Karen's current situation, it seems unlikely that she could properly care for a child. This could result in the child being seized from her later on and put into foster care, potentially causing psychological damage to both Karen and the future child.
At this time, I do not believe she has the mental competence to make her own medical decisions because of the combination of her addiction, mental illness, age, and low IQ. Karen is currently failing to care for herself, so allowing her to take on the burden of raising a child is unwise and irresponsible. Any one of these factors alone would not be enough to convince me that Karen was incapable of rational decision-making, but I find the combination of these factors cumulatively conclusive.
Work Cited
Marquis, Don. “Why Abortion Is Immoral.” Bioethics: Principles, Issues, and Cases, Oxford University Press, New York ; Oxford, 2020, pp. 367–379.
Thomson, Judith Jarvis. “A Defense of Abortion.” Bioethics: Principles, Issues, and Cases, Oxford University Press, New York ; Oxford, 2020, pp. 357–367.
Warren, Mary Anne. “On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion.” Bioethics: Principles, Issues, and Cases, Oxford University Press, New York ; Oxford, 2020, pp. 383–394.