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Abortion in the United States: To what Extent is Abortion Justified?

Jake Cioffi

James Madison University

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Abstract

In this inquiry, I examined the debate over abortion in the United States amongst those who

defend it, and those who combat it, along with the legal and moral justifications which surround

this procedure. I have chosen to explore this issue now due to its heightened significance in the

United States within considerably recent history, especially in the last twenty years amongst a

major shift in human rights, politics, and government in the United States. After receiving a full

grounded Catholic education in high school, my view on many things such as individual rights,

laws, and politics changed significantly. One of the many subjects which I then began to focus

on and become aware of was abortion, and how profound it was in the world, especially the

United States. It appealed to me in a number of ways, however, I was quickly absorbed by the

pro-choice point of view and how willing people were to just terminate a life so easily. With this

being such a minuscule task for some to perform, I decided to study the motives behind this

choice that many have taken and defended, as well as the reasons behind why they have done

this and will continue to do so in the future for generations to come.

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Abortion in the United States: To what Extent is Abortion Justified?

Abortion isnt a lesser evil, its a crime. Taking one life to save another, thats what

the mafia does. Its a crime. Its an absolute evil. Stated by Pope Francis, this quote has given

rise to the question of abortion and what it really is. As many pro-choice supporters contend that

abortion is merely getting rid of cells or just minuscule organisms, they fail to realize that the

beginning of a human life begins at the moment of conception. With this idea absent from their

rationale, they back the claim that the fetus is only considered viable after a certain amount of

time in the womb (23 weeks), and that it is not yet considered a person upon its immediate

creation at the moment of conception. Supporters who justify abortion as permissible as well as

legally and morally acceptable are those who take into account the mothers body and health

entirely over the childs. This is implausible due to the fact that in many contexts, the child is to

be considered a human with rights granted to itself that all other humans share and possess with

one another. The most significant right which these people share and fail to realize is the right to

life which everyone possesses. As it is morally unjust for one person to simply kill another, it is

morally unjust for a mother to deliberately kill her child who shares a right to life like all other

persons do.

The importance of this issue today arises due to the ever-fluctuating divide from women

in society and the rights they are able to possess for themselves. After the election of President

Trump in 2016, laws and policies have been said to be ultimately changed as he promised his

supporters hed take a stand once and for all to revisit and change the establishments of Roe v.

Wade.
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Abortion in the United States: To what Extent is Abortion Justified?

In the three articles used to study this issue, each of them discuss the two sides of

abortion and how they play out in the United States. The flaring debate between pro-life and pro-

choice has proliferated a rise in the number of feticide laws that have been passed ever since

1973, when the supreme court decided in its ruling of Roe v. Wade that a woman could legally

receive an abortion under her protected right of the fourteenth amendment. One of the articles in

this study, The Future of Abortion Law in the United States, by Gerard V. Bradley tackles this

issue from the pro-life point of view. In this scholarly article, the author revisits Judith Jarvis

Thomsons famous defense of abortion from 1971. From her approach, abortion is dictated as a

necessary option for women to have access to; a scientific approach is taken to justify the means

by which a woman can and should have an abortion, with reasoning backed by factual data about

the fetus and its maturation through the early stages. With her claim that the fetus is in fact not a

person from the moment of conception, she essentially proposes that abortion is not murder, and

she builds this claim to expand upon the main question she holds through her work as to what

extent abortion can be morally justified. Bradley takes this into account by focusing specifically

on the fetus and shifting towards a more philosophical point of view in defense of the childs

rights. Progress in scientific research and medical practice has made both birth and viability

unrealistic criteria for demarcating between human life, which demands moral respect, and

merely potential life, which does not have moral or legal equivalency with maternal interest

(Bradley 8). The authors intention here is look introspectively on the child that a mother carries

and how it is to be treated as it comes into being.

In the second article examined, Abortion in the American Context by John T. Noonan,

Jr., abortion is examined through a lens that captures the pro-choice standpoint. The author
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delves into the fundamental aspects of abortion along with the reasons for justifying the means

by which a woman can have one. In this discussion, Noonan makes points about the rights of

women and how abortion is solely and rightfully their choice, turning against the idea that the

government or any federal/state power has control over a womans choice towards her own

body. He makes it known that it is no one other than the mothers choice herself to dictate

whether abortion is obtainable or not. Expanding on this view, Noonan contends that a womans

choice over her own body overpowers any other factor in this situation, with her ultimatum

coming before all others. In light of this, he provides factual evidence to justify this claim with

respect to the power of a womans choice; Under our constitution as determined by this

Supreme Court, a woman alone is the arbiter of life and death for the unborn child she and her

mate have conceived (Noonan 14).

In the third article used for this inquiry, Abortion in the United States: The Continuing

Controversy by Linda J. Beckman, the status of abortion within the U.S. is observed through

another pro-choice lens and is given a number of various morally-based perspectives to

encompass the issue. Similarly to Noonans reasoning, the rights of women are the foundation of

the argument that Beckman uses to uphold her justification for abortion. These rights which they

are to possess not only stand ground for women to have the option to receive an abortion, but

they also serve on a broader scale as a link for the gap between men and women in society. With

access to abortion, women will be closer to bridging this gap between men and women which

has been severed by inequality between the two. A social justice perspective requires that we

work to promote broader social and structural reforms that reduce poverty and the opposition of

women, further their education and provide a context in which womens aspirations for

themselves and their families can be fulfilled (Beckman 35).

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In Beckmans discussion about the rights of abortion and how women are granted them,

she focuses on the effectual outcomes of the mother rather than the fetus. She claims that in the

defense of those who support it, they view it as a right required for all women for social

equality (Beckman 3). Contrarily, on the other side of this reasoning are the anti-abortion

adherents, who see it as a threat to motherhood, morality, and social cohesion (Harvey,

Beckman, & Bird 1998). Stemming off of the religiously based view that a majority of these

people hold, she claims that the reason for much of the uproar between both sides regarding this

issue is the coercion of these religiously-based views and opinions on all women; The attempt

of those who oppose abortion on moral and religious grounds to impose their behavioral

standards on all American women and their sexual partners has resulted in this intense political

conflict (Beckman 3).

Similar to this view, Noonan magnifies the view on the mother over the child in

observing abortion. Emphasis is placed on the mother and the rights she bears as an individual

and citizen of society in a traditional constitutional democracy. Focus is also placed on the

viability of the child, with debate drawing from the concern as to when the fetus is considered an

actual human person. With attention placed on the mother, the child is subordinate to her: After

viability has been reached, after that imaginary point has been attained where the child might

exist independently of the mother, the child remains legally vulnerable to the destructive urges of

his or her parent (Noonan 4). In noting this, more concern in placed on the mother in this

situation, picking out the child as inferior and less deserving of a right to life. Disregarding the

physical proponents of an abortion, Noonan also references the psychological and mental

outcomes which are to be placed on women from this. The health of a woman is viewed in

both lights, as this includes not only the literal physical health of the mother but also the
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psychological and emotional well-being of the mother (Noonan 4). The right of a woman is

more than the right to physically terminate her pregnancy. It is the right not to be a mother, not to

give birth to offspring, not be to forced to raise an unwanted child (Noonan 5).

In the third article, Bradley affirms his position of pro-life and breaks down his

contentions for holding this view. Unlike Beckman and Noonan, he primarily adheres to the

child in his discussion of abortion and the profound impact it has on both individuals. Earlier

and earlier prenatal medical interventions on behalf of the unborn patient confirm this

impression, and DNA indubitably substantiates that a fertilized embryo is biologically identical

to the individual who is born nine months later and who has an undeniable right not to be killed

(Bradley 8). Light is placed on the fetus here as it is viewed as an individual, possessive of rights

which all humans share. Aside from these rights, legislation has passed laws to be enacted in

order to limit abortion across the entire country at an accelerating rate. In defense of the unborn,

two types of abortion restrictions have been made. One type involved prohibitions which

recognize, as did Thomson, that the fetus is a person well before birth, and even before viability.

Examples include bans after the points where a fetus feels pain (About twenty weeks gestation)

and where the fetal heartbeat begins (about eight weeks gestation) (Bradley 10). At these

stages, the only exceptions for an abortion would be towards preserving the life of the mother or

protecting her from serious injury. It is said that these attempts to limit abortion more or less

align abortion regulation with the scope of morally justified killing of one person by another

(Bradley 10). With respect to all human persons and their right to life, this is where the

foundation of the pro-life view solidifies its way in arguing for the halt of abortion.
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Conclusion

After inquiring about this topic, I have learned a lot about both sides of this issue and

how they are specifically treated by certain groups and people. Some of the things which I have

recorded for the first time in my study of this issue are many of the parameters that abortion has

regarding the context/scenario one [mother] is placed in while facing this situation; such as the

legal justifications and means by which a woman may be permitted to receive an abortion in

some parts of the United States, along with the restrictions that certain other women in other

parts of the country face due to the laws they are bound under in their states. Not only is it

extremely physically impairing and daunting for them, but also psychologically and mentally.

What may seem acceptable to some in ones eyes, however, is not the same to others. As many

people believe abortion to be a barbaric, heartless act of murder, others believe it to be a mere

right for women to have access to and possess. As the debate continues to unfold in the United

States with this issue, there is yet to be established a set law for all to abide by. In the meantime,

tensions will continue to rise until an order is settled once and for all.
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Works Cited

Noonan Jr., J. T. (2017). Abortion in the American Context. Human Life Review, 43(3), 11-19

Bradley, G. V. (2016). The Future of Abortion Law in the United States. National Catholic

Bioethics Quarterly, 16(4), 633-653.

Beckman, L. J. (2017). Abortion in the United States: The continuing controversy. Feminism &

Psychology, 27(1), 101-113. doi:10.1177/0959353516685345