A Women's Right to Choose

Term Paper # 64873

Ethics
Hot Topics > Abortion

A look at the issue of abortion from a theoretical-ethical point of view.

2,686 words () | 8 sources | APA | 2005 Pakistan

Paper Summary:

This paper deals with ethics and addresses three ethical principles: Autonomy, non-maleficence and beneficence. It also looks at three ethical theories: Ethics of care, utilitarianism and liberal individualism as applied to the question whether a woman has the right to choose to abort her fetus.

From the Paper:

"A woman has the right to govern her body, there are some ethical concerns, regardless of those concerns a women has a right to autonomy. Autonomy is personal independence or immunity from any arbitrary exercise of authority. In the case of abortion, women should be given complete autonomy to decide whether they would like to opt for abortion or not. Humans are given the right to choose by God and if a government regards abortion as illegal then they are taking away the woman's right to choose. This is obviously unethical and no government can take away the right to choose from any person. The central claim of the autonomy defense is that anti-abortion policies simply interfere in an impermissible way with the pregnant woman's autonomy. Even if the fetus has a right to life, it need not also have the right to use its mother's body to stay alive. The woman's body is her own property, to dispose of as she wishes."