Abortion is a process that involves discontinuation of fetal development through termination. This process kills the fetus. This essay will focus on the article, “Why abortion is immoral” written by Don Marquis to draw it is discussion on contraception as viewed by Marquis. The author mainly focuses on explaining why abortion is immoral and unacceptable. In the introduction, the author says that the people against abortion must give their reasons for this. The reasons given before were either too wide or too narrow.
The author starts by saying that abortion is wrong because it torments the murderer and those close to the victim might miss them. He further disputes his own reasoning and says that the main reason for killing is that the unborn baby he or she is deprived of the future; this is morally unacceptable. He supports this claim when he says that the fetus is not aware of this but at one time, the future awaits it and it is entitled to enjoy it. Furthermore, the author says that the pain of not enjoying the future is one of the reasons why the terminally ill are always depressed. Secondly, the author says that abortion is wrong because it inflicts pain on the victim. Infliction of pain is immoral and he supports his claims by referring to another author, Kant, claims. Kant, in his work said that a person who causes pain to animals is capable of causing pain to another human being. This he said was very wrong and Marquis supported the claims basing on his work.
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Contraception is also one of the key issues that Marquis wrote about in his work. The writer starts by disregarding this practice especially if it is intentional. The author further says that it is immoral to intentionally stop the future of a being. He claims contraceptives harm the sperm or ovum, or both based on individual judgment. He concludes by saying that his article was focusing on deprivation of a future of an existent something, which is not the case with contraception. He says contraception was only wrong if it was done intentionally. This means that it was done to stop the existent of a being. This statement is ambiguous. The author says contraception use is not wrong because no being exists when it is being administered. He concludes that it is immoral if administered intentionally. The author must have thought that a second party gives contraceptives to the recipient without their knowledge. What he did not address is that the use of contraceptives is a personal choice and in most cases, a person on contraception decides whether to use it or not.
Contraceptives stop an individual from becoming pregnant and one has full knowledge that he or she is on contraception. I think the author was carried away by the idea of abortion and that is why he tried to relate it to abortion. Abortion in most cases is also intentional as it is the case with contraception but I ought to think abortion directly kill an already existing being and this what Marquis was against and tried to give various reasons as to why it is immoral and wrong. The author should have supported that stopping a being from experiencing and enjoying the future is wrong through abortion. His idea of talking about contraception brings a bit of confusion on what he was really defending. Other people against abortion like Marquis should further explain how the use of contraception is wrong and how it stops a non-existent being from experiencing the future.
Reference
Marquis, D. (1989). Why Abortion is Immoral. Journal of philosophy , Vol. 86, 183- 202
