The Intentional Removal Of A Fetus From A Woman’s Womb

Abortion is wrong
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Abortion is wrong
Abortion refers to the intentional removal of a fetus from a woman’s womb before its full term development. Abortion is one of the major contemporary issues that have been debated worldwide. There exist various standard arguments that have been made in support of abortion as well as those that oppose the act. The abortion debate is seemingly intractable given the symmetries that arise from the various arguments. The anti-abortion group, however, accept that there are cases where abortion should be permitted. Cases such as, when the pregnancy endangers the mother's life should allow for abortion. Those who believe that abortion should be allowed believe that every woman has the right to do whatever she wants with her body. Those who are in support of abortion mostly look at it from the mother's perspective and wellbeing whereas those against it look at it regarding the fetus wellbeing. One group sees the other as morally derailed whereas other considers the counterpart to be mentally disabled. Basing my arguments on Don Marquis’ thoughts, the paper is set to bring out the arguments of the two contrasting schools of thought with the aim of showing that abortion is wrong.
One of the most popular arguments in the abortion debate is whether the fetus has a right to life. Based on the claim that every human regardless of the age, gender, race, and religion has the right to life, the opponents of abortion appeal to the argument that fetus being human has a right to life. This group of people argues that the fetus in the debate is a human species and nothing else and therefore should be allowed to have the rights to life just as the other human beings. According to Marquis, this syllogism is, however, subject to fatal difficulty as a result of the scope problem. The claim that anything that is biologically human has a right to live gives room for the inclusion of other biological things such as the human cancer cells which should not be given the right to live. Their inclusion criterion does not have a limit for what is to be considered human and what is not. Human beings have a range of biological connections, ranging from the microscopic cells to the larger tissues, either useful or lethal.
The other standard argument with regards to the debate is the thought that the human fetus does not have a right to life. Those who believe in the moral rights to permit an abortion have come about with a criterion which excludes the human fetus from those which have the right to live. The criterion of being a person and the claim that only persons have the right to life has been used. The fetus, therefore, does not fall into the category of persons since they are not rational and neither do they have the complex communication ways. This school of thought, therefore, has a sound conclusion that the human foetuses have no right to life since they are not categorised as person. According to Marquis, this major premise can, however, be attacked based on the procedure used in the definition of a person. The factors for excluding the fetus would also exclude the infants as well as the mentally disabled individuals from being considered as persons. T...