3 Moral Issues About Abortion - Michael W. Austin PhD

3 Moral Issues About Abortion
Michael W. Austin PhD

Let's not touch on the question that most preoccupies discussion of the subject -- whether abortion should be legal or illegal.
But let's talk in an unemotional way. The only question here is the moral one: Is ending the life of a human fetus -- moral?

Let's begin with this question: Does the human fetus have any value and any rights? Now, it's a scientific fact that a human fetus is human life. Those who argue that the human fetus has no rights say that a fetus is not a person. But even if you believe that, it doesn't mean the fetus has no intrinsic value or no rights. There are many living beings that are not persons that have both value and rights: Dogs and other animals, for example. And that's Moral Argument Number One: A living being doesn't have to be a person in order to have intrinsic moral value and rights.

When challenged with this argument, people usually change the subject to the rights of the mother -- meaning the right of a mother to end her fetus's life under any circumstance, for any reason, and at any time in her pregnancy. Is that moral? It is only if we believe that the human fetus has no intrinsic worth. But in most cases, nearl everyone believes that the human fetus has essentially infinite worth and an almost absolute right to live. When? When a pregnant woman wants to give birth. Then, society -- and its laws -- regard the fetus as so valuable that if someone were to kill that fetus, that person could be prosecuted for homicide. Only if a pregnant woman doesn't want to give birth, do many people regard the fetus as worthless. Now, does that make sense?

It doesn't seem to. Either a human fetus has worth or it doesn't. And this is Moral Argument Number Two: On what moral grounds does the mother alone decide a fetus's worth? We certainly don't do that with regard to a newborn child. It is society, not the mother -- or the father -- that determines whether a newborn child has worth and a right to live.

So, the question is: Why should that be different before the human being is born? Why does one person, a mother, get to determine whether that being has any right to live? People respond by saying that a woman has the right to "control her body. " Now, that is entirely correct. The problem here, however, is that the fetus is not "her body;" it is in her body. It is a separate body. And that's Moral Argument Number Three. No one ever asks a pregnant woman, "How's your body? " when asking about the fetus. People ask, "How is the baby? "

The Abortion Debate
There is much confusion in the abortion debate. The existence of a heartbeat is not enough, on its own, to confer a right to life. On this, I believe many pro-lifers are mistaken. But on the pro-choice side, is it ethical to abort fetuses as a way to select the gender of one's child,or instance?

We should not focus solely on the fetus, of course, but also on the interests of the mother, father, and society as a whole. Many believe that in order to achieve this goal, we need to provide much greater support to women who may want to ive birth and raise their children, but choose not to for financial, psychoogical, health, or relationship reasons; that adoption should be much less expensive, so that it is a live option for more qualified parents; and that quality health care should be accessible to all.

I fear, however, that one thing that gets lost in all of the dialogue, debate, and rhetoric surrounding the abortion issue is the nature of the human fetus. This is certainly not the only issue. But it is crucial to determining the morality of abortion, one way or the other. People on both sides of the debate would do well to build their views with this in mind.