Abortion involves the intentional termination of a foetus. Much of the debate about this centres on the moral status of the foetus. The following questions might give an idea of the complexity of the situation:
- Is the foetus a person?
- If so, is it a person from the moment of conception?
- If not, when does it become a person?
- Or is it merely a potential person?
- Could it have a right to life in virtue of this potentiality?
However, another aspect of the debate grants that the foetus has a Right to Life and then addresses the question of whether even so abortion might be morally permissible (such as in cases of rape, threats to the woman’s welfare, etc.). Another important issue concerns the basis of the woman’s right to choose. Some have recently argued that the debate does not make sense at all as a debate about rights and only makes sense as a debate about the sacred value of human life. Finally, is the state justified in prohibiting or restricting abortion even if it is morally impermissible?
When Human Rights conflict: This debate is a difficult one to resolve, especially when considering it within a Human Rights framework. Two basic Human Rights are at stake when we look at the question of abortion:
- The mothers right to reproductive choice, and;
- The foetus’ right to life
In the case of abortion, the claiming of one right would automatically lead to the violation of the other. Can this conflict be resolved?
Professional Ethics in Physiotherapy by the University of the Western Cape is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.