Context

France has become the first country in the world to explicitly include the right to abortion in its constitution. The constitutional change was prompted by recent developments in the US, where the right to abortion was removed by the Supreme Court in 2022. Individual states are now able to ban the procedure again, ending the right to an abortion for millions of women.

1: Dimension: Arguments in favour of Abortion

• Mothers’ rights supersedes the rights of the foetus: A female is considered a moral person that is entitled to rights, including the right to life. So, abortion is deemed acceptable as the foetus is not a person. The mother, who is a person, has a right to life and it supersedes the rights of the foetus to choose whether or not it remains connected to her body.
• Unwarranted: Also, pregnancy is assumed to be a foreseeable consequence of heterosexual intercourse, that too when there is no intention to ‘have a baby’. So, denying her the right to abort the child when she was not planning for it is unwarranted.
• Self-defence: It may be ethical for a mother to have an abortion to defend herself from the danger to her mental or physical health than continuing with the pregnancy would cause. Abortion is considered in relation to the ‘Doctrine of double effect’.

2: Dimension: Arguments Against abortion

• ‘Future like ours’ argument:Abortion is wrong because it deprives the foetus of a potential 'future like ours'. It suggests that death is a bad thing because it deprives people of all the experiences, enjoyments, opportunities that would make up their future personal life.
• Moral conduct: Killing an innocent human being is a moral wrong. Those who are against abortions believe that human life begins at conception, and by drawing the same analogy, the foetus is an innocent human being. So, killing the foetus is wrong and abortion is always wrong.