Can abortion be morally right from a logical viewpoint?

Question

I cannot see how abortion can be seen as morally acceptable from a logical perspective. Where would we be if Edison, Einstein, Newton and Pascal were aborted?

Answer 1

who to say we didnt already abort the next one. or the one who could have cured cancer, aids, or one who could have built a new type of engine that get 100 mpg. or a replacement for gas. the world will never know the possible results of our evil ways. but most important innocent lives were murdered, and continue to be taken daily.

Answer 2

From a logical viewpoint, the moral rightness or wrongness of abortion depends on whether you regard an embryo or foetus as equivalent to human being. Many religious people believe a soul is created at the moment of conception, which makes the embryo fully human. If you don't believe there is any soul inside the embryo or foetus, then abortion is less of a problem except at later stages of the pregnancy when it takes on more human characteristics.

I don't think the point about Edison, Einstein, Newton, and Pascal not being born if they'd been aborted carries much logical weight. Such individuals are very rare. Also, the number of 'ifs' you can make about historical facts is endless. There are many more issues to consider in the abortion debate - rights of women, population policy, unwanted children etc.

Answer 3

Where would we be if Hitler, Stalin, Pohl Pot, Mussolini and Attila the Hun were aborted? Logic and morality do not neccesarily work hand in hand. Logic can be devoid of morality and morality can be illogical.

Edison actually stole a number of his inventions from others, so we would still have lightbulbs. There were other physicists and mathematicians working on the same things as Einstein. Leibnitz discovered calculus at about the same time as Newton. As for Pascal, "Among the contemporaries of Descartes none displayed greater natural genius than Pascal, but his mathematical reputation rests more on what he might have done than on what he actually effected, as during a considerable part of his life he deemed it his duty to devote his whole time to religious exercises." - From `A Short Account of the History of Mathematics' (4th edition, 1908) by W. W. Rouse Ball. His contributions weren't that tremendous, apparently.

If these genii had been aborted, someone else would have made these contributions instead, because the time was right for these discoveries to be made.

Answer 4

Yes, it can be right if the mothers life is in danger. I believe it would be morally right to save the mother first, then, if possible, an unborn baby. The fact is, Edison, Einstein, Newton and, Pascal were not aborted so you don't need to worry about where we would be. That is a subjective question. I'm sure that there have be other humans who had the potential of contributing to our world and changing life as we know it but didn't live to do it.

Answer 5

'From a logical perspective' - who's? If you are a woman who's been raped, in an abusive relationship, mentally not in a stable position to cope with pregnancy or birth, medical conditions which would put them at risk or still a child themselves....would they not see it as 'logical' to abort? How can it be logical anyway when it is such an emotive issue?

I personally could not abort a foetus, but I do believe that women have the right to choose. And think, what the world would be like if the mothers of the likes of Hitler, Stalin and Bin Laden had had abortions - would the world be any better for it? Both bad and good people are born.

Answer 6

What if Hitler, Charles Manson, and Jeffrey Dahmer were aborted? What ifs don't really cut it in this sort of argument.

Fetuses are cells that are attached to a female's body. Any person has the right to remove parts of their own bodies if they choose to, and that includes the endometrial lining that connects a woman to her fetus.

Since we don't know for sure what souls are, or when they inhabit a body, we can't have a real debate about whether a fetus is a person or a bunch of cells, so it seems like a logical person could clearly see that this topic has two possible morally acceptable answers. We will never know which side is right, until maybe we die or science has some way to prove the existence of a soul.

Answer 7

Yes. It is moral to not bring another mouth into the world if the mother cannot feed herself, was raped by her brother and there is a strong chance of physical/mental disabilities in a child carried to term, if there is a famine in the region; many fetuses aren't able to develop and would never be viable outside the womb. Abortions are performed. This is held against the doctor and the mother by the anti-abortion groups. What about severe mental retardation, as in some Fetal alcohol syndrome babies....
The father is absent, the mother cleans house for little money...the would be child, if brought to term, would have the intelligence of a year old baby, for life. The expense and emotional struggle for the woman would be extreme. The infant would have no real life. It is her body, her life, and her right to decide what is best for her in this situation. No government should have the right to ruin her life by laying down laws. There are indivisible human rights that no one can take way. The right to decide what you will do with your body.
A decision to abort might be, for her, the only moral prerogative.

Answer 8

"Where would we be if Edison, Einstein, Newton and Pascal were aborted?"

-Yes, and what about all of those genetic combinations of major contributors to society that never existed because such zygotes were never conceived in the first place, because people didn't have enough sex? What a loss! Anyone that is not constantly in the process of producing offspring is therefore a morally-unacceptable murderer!

Most abortions are made on fetuses that are deformed, retarded, or otherwise highly disabled, or are the offspring of rapists, one-night-stand sleazebags, promiscuous minors, or poor people that don't know how to prevent pregnancy. I agree with you that such aborted fetuses are much more likely to produce great contributors to society, than they are to produce criminals, sleazebags, idiots, and other burdens on society.

Answer 9

You didn't really ask any question. You have "acted" like you asked a question just so you could present your opinion. Which I wouldn't resent except you haven't presented a logical argument for your viewpoint. Stating "Where would we be if ...(specific people)... were aborted?" is not a logical argument

Abortion is not going to be a "logical" issue. It's an emotional issue with each side having both good and bad points to their argument.

By the way, I do want to thank you because you reminded me of a question I have always wanted to ask in regards to abortion.

Answer 10

Logic is not concerned with truth or ethics or morals. Logic is just a systematic way of thinking with certain rules. for example: if - then statements... if 100 men have beards and 20 women do, then both men and women have beards. We check the logic here to see if it went by the rules and then the answer would be judged as 'true' or 'false',, but that doesn't really mean that it is actually True,,, it means it went by the rules. Logically statements have certain parts, like sentence structures do: the first part is called the 'premise' and everything else is built on that. so if your premise is actually true then the logical conclusion will have more chance of being 'true' than if the premise itself is not actually true.

Here's a link to an explanation of how logic works:
http://www.jcu.edu/philosophy/gensler/logic.htm

so it is not wise to base our values on what might appear to be logically 'true', unless you make sure that each part of the argument is actually and really true. And not just half of the truth either, because sometimes just leaving something out will twist the argument.

Answer 11

abortion morally right or not??? it depends upon the situation of conception..........................in what condition has a woman become pregnant? if it is some kind of rape case, then abortion is okay.............but if abortion is taken as a means of family planning then nothing is worde than it..........and who told you that mothers of edison, einstein, newton and pascal were going to abort them..............and as a reply to previous or first answer let that person know that everyone is genuine and important in its own place..........even bin laden may have done something good so abortion is not good for any person untill and unless the case is too sensitive and serious as previously mentioned