christian bioethics (1 Viewer)

[fareezuh]

hey,
just wondering about christian bioethics.
i have to wrte an essay on this:
" What ethical principles should underlie an approach to the practice of abortion"

"in your essay you (i) need to give a definition of the practice(abortion) followed by a detailed discussion and analysis of relevant ethical considerations"

firstly, could anyone recommend any books i have some chapters to read, i have some websites.

secondly i don't understand what points to make in my essay.
am i comparing the secular definition of abortion with the christian world view and saying that it is different and infact conflicting because of ten commandments, teachings of jesus and the various branches of christianity.
if anyone has done a similiar task on any religious tradition i'd like to see it so i can have a model response to look at.

(my school just started this course we'll be the first to sit the HSC, my teacher has taught at bible college but is still unfamiliar with this course... just some contextual info regarding my situation)

any help appreciated, thankyou in advance.

 

[fareezuh]

through readings i ahve come across that christian views conflict

 

[alcalder]

Well, by law, before 20 weeks, a baby is not a human being. It is just a foetus.

According to God in the Bible in Psalm 22 and 139, it is very clear that humans are human from the hour of conception. God knows us from that moment and thus we are human. Life begins at conception. Thus it certainly brings about lots of ethical considerations of murder and such if a pregnancy is terminated. (And some to do with IVF as well and destruction of eggs that are not implanted AND stem cell research, just quietly.)

But even if you then consider the development of the foetus (definition from law) a human is fully formed in the womb from about 12 weeks when the placenta takes over control of maintaining the pregnancy. So, could you possibly argue, in law, that a human being is fully formed from 12 weeks?

Or do we go to 20 weeks because by then the baby is too big to fit out through a tube and would need to be born if terminated. Because a baby of 20 weeks gestation certainly can't survive outside the womb. 22 weeks is the absolute minimum, I believe, at the moment. So, 20 weeks seems such an arbitrary definition of when life begins.

Or should it be when the baby first begins to move and their movement are felt? That would make it about 14-16 weeks.

But I can tell you, for a mother, that baby is a full human with a full life ahead of them as soon as that mother knows they are there.

So, ethical principles with regards to abortion should consider when does LIFE really begin? What is life? Is it a new combination of DNA that is developing into a full human being or is it the fully formed human being just growing in size and maturity or is it the human being that can survive outside the womb? (It which case we should be arguing that life begins at 22-24 weeks.)

But God was very clear - conception is the beginning of life. To willingly destroy that is, in essence, murder.

 

[fareezuh]

hey,
thankyou so much.