An ethical dilemma is a problem in decision making involving two or more moral imperatives where neither of the options is acceptable unambiguously. The complexity arises because of a situational conflict where selection of one alternative would lead to transgression of the other option. Ethical dilemmas are invoked to refute a moral code or make improvements to it so that a solution can be achieved. Numerous ethical dilemmas are often debated upon from different perspectives with basis of such arguments being religious, moral, cultural and legal perspectives aside differing personal views. According to Vanderwalker (2012), the abortion debate is a controversy that has been ongoing with it being surrounded by the differing opinions from religious,
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In reference to bodily rights, abortion is permissible morally since a woman has the right to have control over the life-support functions of her body. In some states, an abortion is permissible if it puts the life of the mother at risk while some allow it since a woman has a right to make decisions about her body. Different philosophers such as John Nooan and Judith Jarvis Thompson have differing arguments about the topic. Jarvis argues out that a person has the right to abort since the fetus does not necessarily have a right to use the life-support functions of the host’s body against their …show more content…
The Kantian theory, an example of a deontological moral theory, states that the correctness or wrongness of an action is independent of the consequences of an action but on the fulfilment of the required duty. Kant believed that actions such as lying, murder, theft, among others are not permissible regardless of the actions resulting in increased satisfaction and happiness as compared to the contrary. The questions one needs to ask themselves before acting are that whether a person’s will that other people act as they intend to and if they answer no, then they should not perform the act. They also need to ask themselves whether their actions are respectful to the goals of human beings as opposed to the actions being selfish. If the answer to this is also no, then the actions must not be performed (Thiele & Leier, 2010). In relation to carrying out an abortion while applying Kantian deontological ethics, abortion is not permissible. This is because it is essentially classified as murder and more often than not, when asking oneself the two questions, despite the greater good the action is perceived to achieve it is not a desire that all people act in the same way and the action is selfish. In carrying out an abortion, the duty of humans is not fulfilled since according
In reference to bodily rights, abortion is permissible morally since a woman has the right to have control over the life-support functions of her body. In some states, an abortion is permissible if it puts the life of the mother at risk while some allow it since a woman has a right to make decisions about her body. Different philosophers such as John Nooan and Judith Jarvis Thompson have differing arguments about the topic. Jarvis argues out that a person has the right to abort since the fetus does not necessarily have a right to use the life-support functions of the host’s body against their …show more content…
The Kantian theory, an example of a deontological moral theory, states that the correctness or wrongness of an action is independent of the consequences of an action but on the fulfilment of the required duty. Kant believed that actions such as lying, murder, theft, among others are not permissible regardless of the actions resulting in increased satisfaction and happiness as compared to the contrary. The questions one needs to ask themselves before acting are that whether a person’s will that other people act as they intend to and if they answer no, then they should not perform the act. They also need to ask themselves whether their actions are respectful to the goals of human beings as opposed to the actions being selfish. If the answer to this is also no, then the actions must not be performed (Thiele & Leier, 2010). In relation to carrying out an abortion while applying Kantian deontological ethics, abortion is not permissible. This is because it is essentially classified as murder and more often than not, when asking oneself the two questions, despite the greater good the action is perceived to achieve it is not a desire that all people act in the same way and the action is selfish. In carrying out an abortion, the duty of humans is not fulfilled since according