Legalization of Abortion Narrative Essay
Institutional Affiliation
Date
The legalization or criminalization of abortion can be regarded as one of the most debated issues in the United States. Roe v. Wade, a landmark case in this particular issue, led to the legalization of abortion in the past. This case gave women the opportunity or the right to choose whether to keep their child or terminate their pregnancy. Abortion has now become a currently debated issue following the change of the government, which falls under President Trump’s administration. The debates focus on individuals who support abortion and those who do not. The narrative presented below focuses on this particular issue, further leading to the development of a moral dilemma.
Issue
Mary is an African American sixteen-year-old girl currently living with her parents in Georgia. Her father has been a pastor in one of the local churches located near her house for ten years. Both her parents are God-fearing people who have managed to instill Christian teachings on their children on what they should or should not do. Mary has always been rebellious, with her being the firstborn child in a family of five. There is a spoken rule in the family that dating is not allowed and will only be accepted when one has managed to pursue higher education in the university or college. Even though she is rebellious, she is still a remarkable girl who has managed to earn good grades, further leading her to have a GPA score of 4.0. She wants to pursue her studies at a prestigious university.
After she turned sixteen years, she began dating her boyfriend, Danny. She soon discovered she was pregnant after three months. The first emotion she had at finding out that she was pregnant was fear of her parents and their reaction. Danny disappeared upon learning that she was pregnant. She went to the hospital to consult her options, more so, to ask whether an abortion would be possible, but she was informed that the act might be regarded as a crime following the passage of the HB 481. Furthermore, she had a moral dilemma on whether to abort the child or keep it based on her Christian beliefs.
The narrative establishes a conflict that can be seen since the passage of the provision mentioned above has led to the development of confusion. The primary issue seen in the narrative focuses on whether an abortion has been banned in this particular state or is still considered legal. Individuals such as Mary have made calls to consult whether the act is illegal or not.
Rule
The Rule of law that is associated with this particular issue is the house Bill 481 that was passed in Georgia on the 7th of May 2019 by the current governor of the state, Brian Kemp. The bill is also known as the Living Infants Fairness Equality Act. The bill was passed to provide provisions that illegalized abortion in the state. Furthermore, the passage of the bill further meant that the physicians involved in abortion medical procedures would be imprisoned if the abortion procedures surpassed six weeks. Any abortions beyond six weeks would have to be carried out only under particular situations (Foo, & Lin, 2019).
The act further goes on to offer one particular provision, which focuses on the fetus’ heartbeat. Any abortion procedures performed under special situations where a heartbeat was present was deemed illegal. The exceptions in this particular statute concentrated on individuals who underwent the abortion procedure because of a medical emergency and women who had been sexually assaulted. Women who were pregnant by incest were also included among the exceptions provided that they were not five months pregnant. A filed police report would also be needed in situations that involve women who have been sexually assaulted, and women who are pregnant as a result of incest. The provisions established in the act were supposed to go into effect at the start of January 2020. However, a case was filed against the state by Planned Parenthood, the American Civil Liberties Union, and another organization. This case led the court to grant an injunction that prevented the enforcement of the statute. This particular act further led to the development of confusion being faced by Mary as well as other individuals living in this specific state (Foo, & Lin, 2019).
Analysis
The statute in question that is, House Bill 481 seeks to make abortion illegal in the state provided the exceptions established in the act have been fulfilled. There are pros and cons to this particular statute. The first pro focuses on abortion and murder. Abortion will lead to the death of an innocent child. Babies are considered to be human beings as established in this particular statute, which denies abortion procedures to be carried out when there is a heartbeat. Furthermore, the government in the United States has acknowledged unborn children as human beings, as established in the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. The statute was implemented to protect an unborn child from murder or an assault (Abortion ProCon.org, n.d.).
The second pro of the statute focuses on when life begins. Life, as established by many scholars, begins at conception. This further leads to the development of the right to life that ought to be enjoyed by the unborn babies. Abortion will deny the child of his or her right since the mother will decide to end the life of the child. One of the pros that will be established by individuals in support of the statute focuses on pain endured by the child during the procedure. Individuals who are pro-life supporters believe that unborn babies will feel pain during the abortion procedure. The last pro focuses on psychological damage. Abortion, as provided in a peer-reviewed journal, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, will lead to depression or increase the likelihood of suffering from this mental disorder. Furthermore, another study established in BMC Medicine determined that women who had undergone an abortion may suffer from depression and anxiety (Tietze, 1975).
Some cons of this particular statute focus on the ruling established in the case of Roe v. Wade. The landmark case, as determined in the introductory paragraph, legalized abortion in the country. The ruling of the case further guaranteed the right to privacy that will be enjoyed by women. Hence, the statute violated the Constitution. The second con of the statute focuses on the reproductive choice that has been given to women. Abortion is one of the reproductive options that ought to be given to a woman since it empowers and leads her to have more control over her body. This particular con focuses on the ruling established in the case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Women ought to be given a chance to determine their future. The enforcement of the statute would have denied women of that opportunity. The next con focuses on the perception that a fetus ought to be recognized as a human being or person. Individuals who are in support of abortion believe that an unborn child becomes a human being after birth and not conception. Furthermore, a fetus cannot feel pain since the cortex is not functional in a fetus. The pros and cons listed above are based on a legal perspective of the issue.
Abortion under utilitarianism will highly focus on the woman who wishes to have an abortion or not. The ethics under this approach does not focus on when an unborn child will be regarded as a human being. This means that any moral questions, which revolve around life, cannot be answered under utilitarianism. The theory focuses on actions that will contribute to the maximization of happiness and lead to no pain. Abortion, as based on this theory, will lead to less pain and the maximization of happiness. The individual carrying out this particular act will be happy since she has been given a right to make a choice or the power to have control over her body. Furthermore, abortion will prevent a child from growing up in uncertain situations that will be plagued with financial instability and other problems. Abortion will also prevent the woman from enduring the pain of having a child who will be born with an abnormality (Sumner, 2014).
The maximization of happiness highly revolves around individual welfare, more so, the welfare of the woman. The fetus will feel minimal pain since the cortex will not be functioning correctly. One pro seen in this particular perspective focuses on the maximization of happiness since the woman in question will make choices relating to her body. However, one of the cons of this specific perspective focuses on societal welfare. This perspective pays no mind to societal welfare but focuses on individual welfare. It fails to consider what will happen in society if women decide to abort their unborn children. Society would be affected since the population of the country would decrease. Furthermore, the act may be painless to the child but may lead to long term psychological effects that will be faced by the woman. One of the psychological effects focuses on depression and anxiety disorder. Hence, this particular theory cannot be used to identify the full consequences that will be brought about by abortion. Furthermore, the approach should be used for this specific purpose.
Under Kantian ethics, actions such as theft and murder have been prohibited. Pro-life supporters view abortion as equivalent to murder, which ought to be prohibited. The primary question asked in this approach focuses on what a rational individual will do. If a rational man can propose to act in a particular manner, the action will be regarded as right. Abortion, on the other hand, has been considered to be a rational choice by the women undergoing the procedures since they might not be able to give the child a better life. However, a good number of reasonable people will not propose to carry out such an act. The other question under Kantian ethics focuses on whether the action taken will respect the goals established by other human beings or use them. The Kantian theory fails to determine whether a fetus can be regarded as a rational individual. This serves as a con of this approach. However, upon conception, the fetus shall be considered as a person as established in this philosophy. Kantian ethics will support abortion as long as the human fetus has not been dehumanized. This serves as a pro that will be seen in this perspective (Manninen, 2014).
Conclusion
Based on the perspectives that offer arguments regarding this particular matter, I believe that abortion should not be criminalized. The criminalization of abortion will promote the maximization of sadness, which will affect the child and the mother as well. The solution to this issue focuses on the eradication of the statute that sought to criminalize this particular act. From a legal perspective, the ruling established in Roe v. Wade provided women with the right to choose whether to keep the child or not. This gives them some control over their bodies since it would be inhumane to force them to carry a child to term. However, proper care ought to be practiced during sexual relations since abortion will have long-lasting effects on the person and society.
References
Abortion ProCon.org. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://abortion.procon.org/
Foo, M. G., & Lin, T. L. (2019). HB 481-Heartbeat Bill. Georgia State University Law Review, 36(1), 155.
Manninen, B. A. (2014). A kantian defense of abortion rights with respect for intrauterine life. Diametros, 39, 70-92. https://doi.org/10.13153/diam.39.2014.565
Sumner, L. W. (2014). Abortion and moral theory. Princeton University Press.
Tietze, C. (1975). The effect of legalization of abortion on population growth and public health. Family Planning Perspectives, 123-127.