mes come from the embryo parents, when joined together, they make a new unique human being. Abortion should be a restricted medical procedure, suggests Donald Marquis, Journal of Medical Ethics. It was not until he read about fetal pain that he had doubts about abortion. He states, There is no doubt that, after its nervous system has developed to a degree, the fetus being dismembered or poisoned the womb feels excruciating pain. One argument that used to defend abortion was that during the first two months after conception, the embryo does not have a human appearance. Another argument is that the embryo is not fully perceptive, but neither is a person with advanced Alzheimers disease. Killing the Alzheimers patient or a senile person would not be accepted. James Wilson gives an example of moral respect persisting in difficult circumstances: An elderly man has been a devoted husband and father, but now lies comatose in a vegetative state barely alive; yet we experience great moral anguish in deciding whether to draw his life support or not. He suggests that the family would not think about removing life support, even though he is not lifelike or perceptive. That, of all things, would be morally wrong. After all, the doctors said he might wake up in six months to a year and he might be perceptive and normal again. The difference is this: the elderly man would be deprived a few years of living, the unborn fetus would miss out on a lifetime of play, learning, love and happiness. There is one word that comes to mind concerning all of this: choice.We hear the words pro-choice, reproductive rights, etc. All of those terms suggest that there is a choice, but that choice is certainly not referring to the fetus whose life is at stake. There is an argument that abortion on demand would guarantee that every child would be wanted and would keep poverty, child abuse, and illegitimacy levels low. However, all of these levels have soa...
