Pro-choice or Pro-life

Introduction

Abortion has continuously stood separated from other themes of political

debate in the Philippines. It has remained ethically and morally challenged in a

way that other social issues have not, after all we live in a religious country.

When it comes to abortion there are many views but the two most fine

choices are pro-life and pro-choice. Being pro-choice means that someone can

be personally opposed to abortion, or feel uncomfortable with it, but would

not impose her or his moral, personal or religious views onto women, pro-life

opposes to this idea because they believe that women shouldn't have

abortion as an option for an unwanted pregnancy. both movements have

made the same play: Pro-life and pro-choice activists have come to see

scientific evidence as the ultimate tool in the battle over abortion rights.

Statement of the problem

The point of this is to try to make the research paper is to have a

rational look on the topic abortion and to know which side is better than the

other. The questions that are given importance here in this research are:

What are the consequences? What is the significance of consciousness and

sentience to abortion? What is the concept of personhood and individualism?

and Should you be a pro-choice or a pro-life.

One of the many consequences of stigma around abortion is many

women experience unintended pregnancies, and because abortion is highly

stigmatized in the The Philippines, many who seek abortion undergo unsafe

procedures. This report provides a summary of reproductive health indicators

in the Philippines—in particular, levels of contraceptive use, unplanned

pregnancy and unsafe abortion—and describes the sociopolitical context in

which services are provided, the consequences of unintended pregnancy and

unsafe abortion, and recommendations for improving access to reproductive

health services.

Unsafe abortion carries significant risks for Filipino women About 1,000

die each year from abortion complications, which contributes to the nation’s

high maternal mortality ratio. Tens of thousands of women are hospitalized

each year for complications from unsafe abortion.

Women coming from the poorer population of the country, rural women

and young women are particularly likely to experience unintended pregnancy

and to seek abortion under unsafe conditions. And because we live in a

country where people's views are heavily influenced by religion, we see

abortion as an act of sin instead of women's reproductive right.

As the complexity of the fetal brain grows, forming structures similar

to those we recognise in the adult, so the does the fetus’ ability to experience

and respond to its environment. Indeed, studies have shown that from 16

weeks the fetus can respond to low frequency sound and by 19 weeks will

withdraw a limb or flinch in response to pain. An observer would certainly

think these responses look very much like the start of conscious awareness.

However, during these early days the neural pathways responsible for

converting senses to conscious experiences have yet to develop. This means

what we are seeing are just reflexes, probably controlled entirely by the

developing brainstem and spinal cord.

In fact, we know that the brain structures necessary for conscious experience

of pain do not develop until 29-30 weeks, while the conscious processing of

sounds is only made possible after the 26th week. Even when the fetal brain

possesses all its adult structures, scientists are cautious to assume it possesses

what we refer to as ‘consciousness’. This is mainly because the low oxygen

levels and a constant barrage of sleep-inducing chemicals from the placenta

ensure that, until birth, the fetus remains heavily sedated.

If we look at the definition of “Personhood” it says in moral sense of

personhood denotes individual beings who are moral agents. Moral agents

engage in behavior that can be evaluated as moral or immoral, as morally

right or wrong, as morally permissible or morally impermissible. Their acts are

blameworthy or praiseworthy. This is something a fetus does not have.

Scope and Delimitation of the Study

Numbers of topics generate such a passionate division in opinion as abortion

and ultimately there is no easy answer when choosing between an unborn

child’s right to life and a woman’s right to freedom over her own body. In this

research we consider the scientific point of view to a topic that is a well

known debate in morality and values of people.

Significance of the Study

Pro-choice advocate believes that abortion is or ought to be considered

a casual event or that it should be undertaken without reverence and respect

for the life or potential life that is being ended. Almost none but the most
zealous pro-life advocates think babies should be made to be born if that

means they only suffer painfully and prolongedly until they die with nothing to

somehow make up for that suffering. Almost no pro-life advocate can

consistently maintain for any length of time their initial view that quantity of

life is more important than quality, or, put in another way, that life under all

circumstances is better than, and preferable to death under any circumstance.

The way we should look at it as the best of a bunch of bad options; and that it

would be better if women's other options were better so that abortion would

not have to be chosen. Almost no pro-life advocate argues that it is better to

force women to have babies they do not want than to help them want the

babies they might have and with the support from scientific facts, may this

sensitive topic be not stigmatized. Ultimately, although science cannot and

should not try and answer the moral questions behind abortion, it can give us

some amazing insights into how the brain develops. It seems that, in the

womb, a fetus is unlikely to ever experience traditional consciousness.