Abortion refers to the immoral killing of an innocent human being, a child. Regardless of whether it is surgical or a medical procedure, abortions are undertaken purposely to end human life. Utilitarianism defines an effort to provide an answer to the practical question of “What man ought to do?” It acts on the fact that he ought to work in a way that provides the best possible consequences. In the contemporary world, abortion has turned out to be a controversial topic because while some analysts and policies are very hostile to this idea, other individualities argue that abortion should be a personal decision, choice and that it is essential. Regarding the pregnancies that are caused by rape, several people believe that promiscuous women exclusively undertake abortions, but in all reality, it can be made by any person who has undergone sexual assault.

Rape refers to a forced yet unlawful sexual intercourse that happens without the victim’s consent, and which can happen to both sexes; men and women. According to statistics, less than 1% of abortions occur because rape was involved in creating the pregnancy. Almost 32.4% of the same individuals still do not realise their pregnancy until later on after they enter the second trimester. Statistics also prove that the national rape-related pregnancy rate is about 5.0% per rape among victims within the reproductive age. The utilitarian doctrine works against abortion options because they are unethically appropriate. Since the theory is meant to ensure great good for the majority and abortion only impact the person in question positively, it means Utilitarian does not support abortion.

In assessing the effects of actions, utilitarianism relies much more on the theory of intrinsic value: an act is held to be appropriate in itself. Although some fear possible fatal issues which could increase the possibility of a miscarriage, societally, utilitarianism considers abortion as a dangerous yet callous decision to follow through with. However, taking someone’s life always and denying them a chance to live is morally inappropriate. Certain obligations, however, ought to be considered like preventing harm and respecting privacy. The three available options presented by utilitarian include abortion, adoption, and seeking financial help from the rapist.

These virtue ethics have it that abortions are generally unethical basing on the fact that a mother must stretch an unconditional love to the baby and with abortion idea in the picture, it reduces compassion for her offspring (Vaughn, 2015). Based on practical ethics, it is unethical to abort a child after the sexual assault because the process has adverse effects and risks to the victim. With abortion, it has both long and short-lasting effects such as trauma, health effects, depression, and possibly death (Vaughn, 2015). Basing on the ethics of care presented by utilitarian ethical doctrine, abortion is not right because women would be destroying the relationship that would have been created both with the mother and the people involved in the process.

In conclusion, abortion is a social issue that has created several debates on health concerns and ethical issues. The utilitarian doctrines have it that it is not ethical for mothers to abort children regardless of the situation on the ground because it is wrong for a baby to be denied the right to life.

References

Vaughn, L. (2015). Doing ethics: Moral reasoning and contemporary issues. WW Norton & Company.