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The Moral Issue of Abortion

The document discusses the issue of abortion from a moral perspective. It defines abortion as the termination of a pregnancy before viability. It then describes 5 types of abortion - natural/spontaneous abortion, therapeutic abortion to save the mother's life, direct/intentional abortion before viability, eugenic abortion for fetal defects, and indirect abortion from other legitimate medical procedures. The moral issue comes down to whether a fetus is considered a person from the moment of conception, in which case abortion would be considered murder, or if ensoulment occurs later in development, which could make some abortions morally permissible.

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102 views1 page

The Moral Issue of Abortion

The document discusses the issue of abortion from a moral perspective. It defines abortion as the termination of a pregnancy before viability. It then describes 5 types of abortion - natural/spontaneous abortion, therapeutic abortion to save the mother's life, direct/intentional abortion before viability, eugenic abortion for fetal defects, and indirect abortion from other legitimate medical procedures. The moral issue comes down to whether a fetus is considered a person from the moment of conception, in which case abortion would be considered murder, or if ensoulment occurs later in development, which could make some abortions morally permissible.

Uploaded by

Pham PhamIo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Moral Issue of Abortion

Abortion – the expulsion of a living fetus from the


mother’s womb before it is viable
- termination of pregnancy, spontaneously
or by induction prior to viability

5 TYPES OF ABORTION

1. Natural Abortion – expulsion of the fetus


through natural or accidental causes. Also
called spontaneous or accidental abortion.
- miscarriage
2. Therapeutic Abortion – deliberately
induced expulsion of a living fetus in order
to save the mother from danger of death
brought on by pregnancy.
3. Direct or Intentional Abortion –
deliberately induced expulsion of a living
fetus before it has become viable.
4. Eugenic Abortion – recommended in cases
where certain defects are discovered in the
developing fetus
5. Indirect Abortion – the removal of fetus
occurs as a secondary effect of a legitimate
or licit action which is the direct and
primary object of the intention.

THE MORAL ISSUE

If the phenomenon of ensoulment occurs


from the moment of conception, then the newly
fertilized ovum or conception is already a person;
hence to expel or abort it is to commit murder but if
the ensoulment phenomenon occurs not from
conception but at a certain stage of fetal
development, then eugenic abortion as well as
abortion before implantation may be morally licit.

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