ALFAISAL UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF MEDICINE

Should Abortion be Permitted if the Mothers Life is at Risk?

Presenting the arguments for and against abortion, by analyzing it through the utilitarian and the Kantian perspective
Duha Basharat Salim and Fatima Abrar Ahmed

INTRODUCING THE CASE A 9 year old girl in Brazil was raped by her stepfather who had been sexually abusing her for the past 3 years. The girl was impregnated with twins which was discovered when she was taken to the hospital by her mother upon complains of abdominal pain. On examination, she was declared 4 months pregnant. Due to her poor physical condition, small age as well as the fact that she was carrying twins, abortion was recommended by the doctors. There was a risk to her life if the pregnancy was continued to delivery. THE MORAL DILEMMA PRESENTED The argument the case presented to the community was whether the procedure of aborting the fetuses was ethically justified or not. The most important question that arises is that Can the fetus be considered as a person with a life that has moral worth? So, would aborting be equated to murder, considering the fact that they were still reliant on the girl? What about the risk to the girls life? The various arguments that were presented for and against can be supported by the moral philosophies of Kantian deontology and utilitarianism. THE FOR ARGUMENT: THE UTILITARIAN PERSPECTIVE Utilitarianism is defines as an ethical theory holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes the overall "happiness". It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined only by its resulting outcome, and that one can only weigh the morality of an action after knowing all its consequences. Therefore, a utilitarian perspective is one that depends on the consequences of each of the choices at hand. An action would be ethically justified if it leads to happiness and flourishing of maximum number of people linked to the case, who will be affected in any manner by the final outcome i.e. the stakeholders. Relating to this case a utilitarian would judge aborting the twins or not based on the end result. On one hand, the girls body is not developed enough for labor and if pregnancy is to be continued the little girl will die due to the load of pregnancy on her health and the pain of child birth. In addition, not only would the children be born in a life full of misery but also

their birth would lead to more burden on the family. This would lead to a general misery for the family. Therefore, utilitarians argue to pursue abortion. They argue that the twins are just fetuses; the fact that they have a life cannot be argued upon but it does not mean it has a moral value. The argument is elaborated by saying that they lack the qualities of an independent individual. This means that they are not self-aware which is defined as does not have the capacity to view itself as a distinct entity existing over time. In addition, they are incapable of intellectuality, and making morally worthy decisions in planning their future. Furthermore, the fetuses lack any ability to feel pain. Based on these facts, the fetal life cannot be given the moral worth of a human being. Consequently, abortion would save the life of the little girl relieving her family of unhappiness and depression. Also, the fetuses would be prevented from taking birth in a life full of gloom. It will not be considered a murder as they lack qualities of personhood. The family would not have to suffer through the extra load of supporting the two children. Consequently, carrying out abortion would lead to an overall increase in happiness for maximum number of stakeholders. Therefore, the utilitarian perspective supports abortion. THE AGAINST ARGUMENT: THE KANTIAN PERSPECTIVE A Kantian theory would call for a mother to protect her child at all costs, because Kantian ethics stresses on upholding the sanctity of human life. The fetus is already a child, because it has been created. Even in biological terms, human life begins at conception, no matter how small. So abortion is unethical because this being is alive, sexed and growing. And this is an unquestionable and universally accepted scientific fact. In cases of rape and incest victims, contrary to the general belief, abortion is not the solution to the problem. These are sensitive topics and people tend to draw away from them due to a common feeling of revulsion. And theres never a guarantee of the victims choice or meeting their needs in case of pregnancy. Studies and research shows that these victims are often high risk cases of abortion. One victim, Jackie Baker says that she had been told by the doctors that she would be able to continue with her life normally after the abortion but the aftermath of the abortion
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continued even after the terror and the memory of the incident had faded. And this is not just her story. Contrary to the normal conception, abortion does nothing to help the victims condition after the rape. Victims are known to plunge into a state of severe medical depression. They feel emptiness and a pain, followed by nightmares. This is one of the worst side effects of abortion after rape or incest because the family members and the doctors fail to notice it in the victim because they are too occupied with solving the immediate problems which are more apparent. In fact, many Kantian pro-life activists think that going ahead with the pregnancy and giving birth would be nothing less than a accomplishment for the victim and it would show that she didnt allow the incident disrupt her life. Since all of us were fetuses at one point of time, and each of us would oppose the idea of being aborted as fetuses, abortion fails the universalizability test, thus making it morally problematic; yet morally permissible and even required in cases in which pregnancy threatens a womans duty to herself as a rational agent. Kants fundamental moral requirement is that we respect ourselves and others as rational agents. Kantian ethics shows fetuses to be morally significant due to their relationship to the pregnant woman, whether she wants it or not and recognizes the value of a womans natural impulses to protect her fetus. It considers a womans rationality and sentiments because emotional predisposition constitutes a major part of a persons moral health. Abortion has high moral costs which can be invalidated only if the reasons for abortion have to do with physical risks of the pregnancy or a conflict between the pregnancy demands and the morally grounded commitments of the rational being. Thus Kantian duty ethics respects the mothers duty as a rational being and allows her to make a decision about carrying the pregnancy to term or not. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION Abortion, without doubt, is a sensitive issue concerned with a lot of conflicting moral notions. The utilitarians argue that abortion is justified in the incident as it would lead to general increase in the flourishment of the girl, her family and the fetuses. On the other hand, the Kantians claim that the fetus had moral worth of a human, right from conception
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and since the universalizability test cant be applied, abortion can be equated to murder. In such an issue, a conclusion is very hard to derive since the basis of the argument lies on the confusion that whether the fetus can be considered as a person or not. The final decision lies with mother and her ethical believes and values. Ultimately she is the one who bears the brunt of the ultimate decision to the largest extent. REFERENCES http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism http://www.politicalforum.com/abortion/61611-utilitarian-justification-abortion.html http://brainmeta.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=21432 http://printfu.org/read/abortion-and-kant-s-formula-of-universal-law22e5.html?f=1qeYpurpn6WihSUpOGumqmnh63R5dfo0dTeksrc2IbAztPglumFutfX3efVz5TV24262tjsyubbxtyStc_riLDgn56p mNnoiqDjrJqfrojf4tjg3Oa1xM3R1ZSk4a6Xr4_Ljqrpn6udn5La3eLkoKSc3OPmpMjV1sbU28rc3t Xq39PN2-XL5NDO3OHc3eTO7pvI29yltbiu2J_V096nnaKhkpmkqpyhnZ2gn5ay2dTe4JPc09yHrU http://able2know.org/topic/138377-1 http://hopeafterabortion.com/ http://marymajor.blogspot.com/2009/03/abortion-case-study-brazil-raped-child.html http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29531755/#.TvhpA9QzD4Y http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20071128152005AAoOniC http://www.jstor.org/pss/4319811 http://philpapers.org/rec/GENAKA-2 http://research.monm.edu/mjur/files/2011/04/Kantian_Moral_Philosophy_2011.pdf http://www.abortionfacts.com/online_books/love_them_both/why_cant_we_love_them_b oth_10.asp#But http://www.echeat.com/free-essay/The-Ethics-of-Abortion-25486.aspx