Abortion Essay Plan

Question 1

Introduction/Statistics

Answer 1

• Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy.
• In the UK, you can terminate a pregnancy up to 24 weeks.
• Since 2017, it has been legal to take abortion pills at home, and 150-meter buffer zones outside abortion clinics have been set up to prevent protests.
• There were over 18,000 abortions in Scotland in 2024.
• Then LINK TO Q

Question 2

Rights of the foetus

Answer 2

• Roman Catholics = foetus should be granted the full rights of a person from the moment of conception, life begins at conception, should be treated with dignity, God’s creation, closely tied to their interpretation of the incarnation of Jesus at his conception.
• Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in your mother’s womb, I knew you,”
• Only been their official view since 1869, before they believed that personhood began at ensoulment around 16–17 weeks.
• American philosopher Judith Jarvis Thomson states, “It does not follow that an acorn is an oak tree.”
• Liberal Christians = look to Jesus’ love for vulnerable people.
• Philosopher Peter Singer = a foetus only gains value if it is wanted by the mother, and its personhood becomes relevant only when it can express preferences and autonomy, ~ two years after birth.

Question 3

Autonomy

Answer 3

• Singer = abortion should always be acceptable as a woman has the autonomy, value, and ability to make her own decisions.
• JJ Thomson = even if the foetus has some value, no one should be forced to use their body to sustain another life, she uses a violinist analogy, she suggests that a woman getting an abortion can still be a “minimally decent Samaritan.”
• Roman Catholics = life begins at conception so the foetus must be carried to term, Jesus was a full person even before birth showing the sanctity of life.
• Liberal Christians = abortion can be a necessary part of healthcare, Kamitsuka states, “This kind of survival cannot be appropriately labelled sin”.
• Joseph Fletcher (situation ethicist) = decisions are contextual, compared unwanted pregnancy to a “venereal disease.”

Question 4

Ableism

Answer 4

• A disabled foetus can be terminated up to birth.
• Roman Catholics = all life is intrinsically valuable, they argue that selectively aborting disabled foetuses devalues the dignity of individuals with disabilities, violating God’s will, Genesis “God created man in his own image, in the image of God.”
• Peter Singer = disabled babies have less value, as value is derived from autonomy or being wanted.
• SPUC compares this practice to Nazi eugenics, with John Wyatt calling routine abortions for Down’s syndrome “chromosomalism.”