Bioethical Issue for Natural Moral Law and Views- myassignmenthelp

Question: Discuss about theBioethical Issue for Natural Moral Law and Views. Answer: The view of abortion is a widely discussed bio-ethical issue. This topic has multiple point of view under different models of Christian moral life (Stensvold 2015). The following essay will use two ethical view-points from deontological and teleological approach in order to examine the bioethical issue of abortion. The framework chosen for the two ethical approaches include natural moral law and utilitarianism and these two framework will try to find moral balance in respect of abortion and adherents faith in life. Natural Moral Law and Views on Abortion The natural moral law is linked to the deontological approach in Christianity as it gives an understanding regarding laws and obligations in Christianity which are not written but inherent by human nature (d'Entreves 2017). This implies that these laws are understood through the sense of reasoning and justice. Abortion is one biomedical issue which is opposed by many because of ethical and moral view points. The Natural Moral law view on abortion also differs based on threat to life perceptive. For instance, many Christian moral theologians support women going for abortion if avoiding abortion may threat the life of a mother. This Christian world view on abortion emerges from the general rule on self-defense which is universally accepted because on the principle of moral reasoning and justice (Sumner 2014). The natural law related to life principle mainly states all beings to remain in existence. From this perspective, this law favors self-preservation of each individual. The law as states St. Thomas Aquinas states that all humans must emphasizes on nurturing and making provisions for well-being in their offspring. Hence, this law of nature has inclination towards human emotions and inclination. Another Natural law is related to the law of respect for life, which takes offspring in a general way. From this perspective, it can be said that the two natural laws brings forward conflicting viewpoints on abortion. Hence, based on moral grounds of fetus, abortion has been opposed. However, in certain case, abortion has been accepted based on the moral ground for life principle and the needs to preserve humans. Therefore, it can be concluded that a Christian can find a moral balance in respect to their decision for abortion by stating about the risk to life of mother. Natural moral law is based on the principle of morality. Guided by human nature, a human can understand law and decision to conform with those laws. Natural law decides the morality of any action by the Doctrine of Double Effect. The Doctrine of Double Effect is based on four criteria. The ethics of any action is decided by analyzing whether the action is morally good or neutral, whether the bad effect is means for producing good effect, good effect is as important as the bad effect and the intention is to bring good effect (Habermas 2015). By the comparison of this perspective, the rationale for going against or for abortion is dependent on pro-life and pro-choice concept. The people who favor pro-life concept opposes abortion on the ground that mother does not have the right to take life of the fetus, whereas those favoring pro-choice concept accepts abortion on the ground that women have the right to choose what they want for the fetus. After analyzing the Christian people perspec tive on abortion, there are many protestant and Evangelica Christains who oppose abortion. There are also groups who support abortion (Ntontis and Hopkins 2018). Hence, although natural law does not support abortion, however Christians are balancing moral values and their faith based on the rational for harm to mother or the fetus. The discussion gave an insight into the Natural moral views on abortion and compared with Christian faith view on abortion. Although abortion is a sin from Christianity concept, however there are many sections, who are supporting abortion based on the moral judgment and the viewpoint of protecting mothers. Such moral rational based on right to life principle have now been accepted. Abortion is opposed professionally and religiously in many cultures, however the changing social norms and medical norms in society is making this practice more accessible and acceptable. The reflection from this issue is that such cases of abortion must be reviewed critically to determine the moral basis or intention of good in the action. This would curb any act of moral injustice while going for abortion. Utilitarianism and View on Abortion According to Jeremy Bentham, utilitarianism is about how man is to make his or her own choices in between two desirable objectives or two evils or in between two situations which both has one positive and negative aspect. While discussing abortion and the legal argument existing between pro-life and pro-choice, there are multiple dimensions and different conflicting moral reasons (Perry, Bratman and Fischer 2012). According to John Stewart Mill's view, utilitarianism support one of the six moral dimensions of abortion spectrum. The first point is extreme case for pro-life. This opines that abortion should never be acceptable under any kind of circumstances. This belief comes from the fact that each and every life is sacred and every individual has right to live. The second position states that abortion should be made legal only if the life of expecting mother is endangered. This comes under the section of life vs. life argument and deciding whose life more valuable, whether it is the mother or the foetus?. The third and the last argument for pro-life states that abortion can be considered to be legal in case of rape. This is because; the act of sex was not wanted therefore the child, which can be considered as an outcome of rape, can cite acceptable reasons for abortion (Perry, Bratman and Fischer 2012). There are also numerous positions on the pro-choice side. The first position coming on this side is, abortion is immoral but at times can be considered to be legal. The government should try not to interfere with the bodily integrity and wish of a woman. The next stance on this spectrum is, abortion is amoral which exists in between moral or immoral but in each way, government is not allowed to interfere. The last stance coming under the section of pro-choice is, abortion can be moral under few circumstances. All these positions on the pro-choice side are mainly based on bodily integrity and reasons behind taking such a determining step and how government must not interfere with it (Sumner 2014). According to John Stewart Mill, utilitarianism is the objective of moral truth and the institutions of a person towards that truth. There is a basic moral standard in everyone's life this moral standard works under the Greatest Happiness Principle. This theory states that greatest amount of pleasure or happiness is important for the greatest quality of life for significant number of people. This Greatest Happiness Principle is an aspect of Utilitarianism however, Utilitarianism is a sub-group of consequentialism. Consequentialism supports decisions that are morally relevant under the consequences of an action. This all ties up into achieving the greatest amount of pleasure along with negligible amount of pain while sustaining life (Perry, Bratman and Fischer 2012). According to Peter Singer, each person has individual preferences or desires and doing good is described as satisfaction. Doing a right action leads to this satisfaction. According to him, Practical Ethics of abortion is morally permissible in any situation as per his opinion; no foetus is a person and such that no foetus has same to life as a person. A termination in this case is acceptable because existence of foetus is of no significant intrinsic value and woman serious interests will normally override the rudimentary interests of the foetus. This again goes with the teachings of Catholic Church which states that it is the right and responsibility of each Catholic to follow their own conscience on moral matters even if it conflicts with the teachings of Church (Stensvold 2015). This view of utilitarianism can cast immense impact on the manner in which people think about their life and their priorities. I think this view of utilitarianism approach on abortion is immoral but is legal. This is because; this view explains how government should not interfere on bodily integrity of a woman. It is choice of the woman about what she wants in her life and what she want to do about her body. References d'Entreves, A.P., 2017. Natural law: an introduction to legal philosophy. Routledge. Habermas, J., 2015. Between facts and norms: Contributions to a discourse theory of law and democracy. John Wiley Sons. Ntontis, E. and Hopkins, N., 2018. Framing a social problem': Emotion in anti?abortion activists' depiction of the abortion debate. British Journal of Social Psychology. Perry, J., Bratman, M. and Fischer, J.M., 2012. Introduction to philosophy: Classical and contemporary readings. Stensvold, A., 2015.A history of pregnancy in Christianity: from original sin to contemporary abortion debates. Routledge. Sumner, L.W., 2014. Abortion and moral theory. Princeton University Press. Sumner, L.W., 2014.Abortion and moral theory. Princeton University Press.