January 1999 From the EditorAbortion and ChoiceAbortion has been a controversial issue throughout human history. Broadly speaking, there are three identifiable positions: the conservatives who think that abortion is never ethically acceptable; the moderates who think that abortion is morally justifiable up to a certain pointy of fetal development or under certain exceptional cases; and the liberals who think that abortion is always morally acceptable, regardless of the stage of fetal development. My instinct tells me that abortion is morally wrong, except in certain cases. Conception is the staring point of personhood. An egg and a sperm about to merge are not a person whereas a newborn baby through a normal gestation period undoubtedly is, so a person is gradually forming between these two points. In the process of fetal development, its degree of personhood between the two poles is increasing. Although that person does not have full moral status, an intentional killing of this partial person destroys certain degrees of personhood, hence, to a certain extent it is murder. The mothers bears the responsibility for killing what may be a person, that is, a potential person. Nevertheless, I feel that abortion is justified under certain extreme cases - rape, incest, life endangerment of the mother, grossly-deformed fetus or birth control failure. When the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest, the victim has no moral obligation to complete the pregnancy. Her psychological and emotional states are not suitable to give to a babv, therefore, under this particular situation, abortion is morally permissible. When the fetus is grossly-deformed, or when it severely endangers the health of its mother, the fetus can be aborted. While my position is that abortion should be avoided by all means, the mother, who faces the moral struggle alone, has the final right to choose whether to carry the fetus or not.
Clara LoonEditor-in-Chief
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