References: Ramon Agapay ,ETHICS for the FILIPINOS

1. PROBLEMS OF BIOETHICS
ABORTION

2. What is ABORTION?
• It is the intentional expulsion of a fetus which
cannot survive by itself outside of the womb
of the mother.
• In some countries, it is not only legalized but
is encouraged by subsidizing it with taxpayer’s
money.
• In the Philippines, ABORTION is considered a
CRIME.

3. When is abortion legal (in some countries)?
• Abortion for the sake of the mother’s health including her
mental health.
• Abortion in which pregnancy is a result of a crime such as
rape.
• Abortion where the child of the pregnancy would have an
“unacceptable quality of life” such as the cases where the
child would have serious physical handicaps, serious genetic
problems, serious mental defects.
• Abortion of social reasons including: poverty, mother unable
to cope with a child (or another child), mother being too
young to cope with a child.
• Abortion as a matter of government policy as a way of
regulating population size, as a way of regulating groups
within a population, as a way of improving the population.

4. Ethicists and theologians consider two
kinds/types of abortion:
•INDIRECT OR THERAPEUTIC
ABORTION
•DIRECT OR SELECTIVE ABORTION

5. INDIRECT OR THERAPEUTIC
ABORTION
• Performed for the purpose of saving the life of
the mother.
• Morally permissible
• Does not imply that the mother’s life is
preferred over that of the child.
• The moral dilemma is either to let both die or
to save the mother.

6. INDIRECT OR THERAPEUTIC
ABORTION
• For instance, the unencephatic fetus cannot
survive and cannot fully develop into a
conscious human life. Thus, it is justifiable to
abort it rather than have it endanger the life
of the mother.

7. Exception to Therapeutic
Abortion:
• Aborting a fetus because it is afflicted by some
kind of genetic disease, or possesses the risk
of it. The fetus, and not the mother is the
patient. “Killing the patient is no therapy
whatsoever”. What could/should be done is
to avoid conception insofar as genetic disease
is foreseeable . The only moral remedy is for
immediate treatment after the delivery of the
child.

8. DIRECT OR SELECTIVE ABORTION
• Expulsion of the fetus by the wishful wishes of
the parents for purpose other than saving the
life of the mother.
• Abortion is resorted to: as a means of limiting
the number of children, as a political ploy to
control population growth, as a means of
eliminating an “unwanted” baby for social or
economic reasons.
• Immoral
• Violative of the natural rights of the child to
live

9. THE DEBATE ABOUT ABORTION
PRO-LIFE vs.
PRO-CHOICE

10. PRO-LIFE
• Pro-life advocates adhere to the principle
which calls for the protection and
preservation of human life in all its forms.
• Argues that a human fetus is a human being
with a right to live, making abortion morally
the same as murder.

11. PRO-LIFE
Fr. P.J. Talty writes:
First, life is present from the moment of conception, and
secondly, that life will develop into a human being, unless it is crushed
out of existence. In other words there is already a human being there
in its first stages of development, like a tiny rose-bud that will one day
open into a beautiful bloom. Life is there from the first moment. It is
not just a piece of tissue, or a growth; it is a living thing, with a distinct
life of its own. Anyone who destroys it, destroys the human being that
is to be. A Christian writer of the 2nd century had already expressed
this very clearly in these words: “It makes little difference whether one
destroys a life already born or does away with it in its nascent stage.
The one who is to become a man is already a man”.

12. PRO-CHOICE
• Pro-choice advocates maintain that the
mother, being a human being, and not merely
a machine of procreation, has the right and
the freedom to decide when to continue or
terminate pregnancy.
• The State has no authority to prohibit
abortion, since this belongs to the domain of
the parents, especially the woman, as a
matter of human right.

13. PRO-CHOICE
• Pro-choice proponents do not deny the value of
life. Towards its promotion, they insist that there
are other situations which may justify abortion
other than that of saving the life of the mother.
One such situation is the socio-economic
capability of parents, especially of single parents.
Thus, accordingly, the ultimate decision whether
a pregnancy should be continued or discontinued
should belong to the woman and/or parents as a
matter of personal right.

14. PRO-CHOICE
• It contradicts reason to allow persons to be
reckless with their sexual activities and give
them besides the “right” to judge whether the
offspring deserves to live or to die.
• In this extreme situation, the parent/parents
would be the criminal, the judge, and the
executioner, and the child has no fighting
chance to survive.

15. MY OWN POINT OF VIEW
• I would definitely favor PRO-LIFE. Why? It is because of these
points:
– Abortion is not just a matter that concerns a human being
and their conscience, but something that concerns a
human being and God.
– The right to life underlies all other human rights - if we
protect those rights we should protect the right to life as
well.
– Parents have an obligation to their unborn children - it is
wrong for them to escape it.
– The unborn child is the most helpless form of
humanity, even more in need of protection than the poor
tenant farmer or the mental patient.