Abortions: Morally Acceptable or Not?
The issue of abortion is one of the most sensitive and controversial issues faced by modern societies. This issue leads to topics of whether abortion is right or wrong, if it is the actual killing of a person, and what actually defines the moral status of a fetus. In this paper, I will be arguing against Bonnie Steinbock, who believes that abortions are morally acceptable. So I will be supporting the view that abortions are not morally acceptable.
In Bonnie Steinbock’s essay, “Why Abortions Are Not Wrong,” she argues that abortions are morally acceptable because fetuses are non-sentient beings and therefore lack interests as well as moral status. Her first premise suggests that it is wrong to kill
I believe that a fetus has moral status beginning at conception. At the moment of conception the adventure of human life begins. A separate and unique human individual, with its own genetic code, comes into existence. I believe that a fetus is a potential human being that has moral rights. For example Patrick Lee and Robert George say, “a human embryo possesses from the beginning the internal resources and active disposition to develop himself or herself to full maturity.” In my opinion this is correct because by simply being an embryo, the fetus has all it needs to develop and grow. And this is why the embryo is a self-integrating organism from the meeting of the sperm and egg at conception. I will also argue against her second premise that being sentient and having interests is essential for having moral status. Steinbock uses the interest view but I believe that a more promising principle is the Kantianism view. The Kantianism view states that it is never right to deceive or coerce. So therefore by believing in this view abortions are not morally acceptable because it hurts an innocent person. Our human entities, the things we are rather than our interests or experiences, are very valuable. So therefore, I believe that fetuses are human just as every person outside the womb and they should have the same opportunities that anyone else receives. These potential human beings may offer the world new