Before we begin to make decisions about abortion we must first examine the definitions that surround this issue. The first definition that we must define is "personhood". What makes up personhood? The definition of when a fetus becomes a person is a very gray area, however if we utilize medical definitions of life, we can see that a fetus is a person when its heart begins to beat on its own. This d

As most issues in life are not clearly "right" and "wrong", neither is the issue of abortion. With the world today comprised of various cultures and beliefs it is impossible to adopt one set of morals to use as a base for our moral and ethical decisions, however while we are different we can take certain human values and base our decisions accordingly. For example if a woman has a form of cancer of the uterus or cervix it is morally right for the doctor to try to remove it. If the fetus dies as a result of this it is not wrong since it was not intentional (i.e. The Principle of Double Effect). This was the decision in the case of Doe vs. Bolton, which overruled Georgia law making abortion legal when the mother's life is in danger. Some also argue that if a woman is raped or is a victim of incest and becomes pregnant, then it is morally and ethically acceptable to have an abortion. This argument is wrong and can be proven so if the basic definitions of personhood are applied. It is not a matter of how the pregnancy occurred that is important, it is the fact that the pregnancy did occur that has the most importance. It is wrong to intentionally kill another person no matter how that person was conceived. If one were to argue that it is morally and ethically right to kill a person

Some common words found in the essay are:
Issues Abortion, Double Effect, morally ethically, potential person, fetus person, innocent person, kill person, partial rights, abortion wrong, person rights, heart begins beat, innocent person abortion, morally ethically wrong, person abortion wrong, person abortion, ethically wrong,
Approximate Word count = 866
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)