Abortion
First, using your favorite search engine, research abortion. This is necessary to complete your discussion questions.
Then consider the following question:
If abortion is allowed, should the father be allowed to prohibit it?
Take a position on the issue and state it in the Discussion Board. Support it with information from the sources you located on the internet.
The Father’s Input in The Abortion Discussion
Many discussions of abortion have focussed on upholding the mother’s rights or the unborn child with little concentration on the father’s decision on the issue. From an ethical point of view, I believe that the father needs to be made aware of the situation since they do have morally legitimate interests in the child. The father needs to be allowed to prohibit an abortion if the mother’s reasons to abort are matters that he can handle after the unborn child has been born. While a father’s consent during an abortion is not legally required, such an important decision must be communicated to the father the same way the father is always necessary to provide critical input such as finances, support, and care is required after the child is born (Findlaw, 2018). The only time the father cannot prohibit abortion is when the mother’s life is at risk. Notably, the other times requires both his notice and consent considering even after birth; the father plays a fundamental role in raising the child.
The philosopher George Harris also indicated that there are circumstances when a woman’s choice to have an abortion would be morally wrong as it would cause harm to the father (BBC, 2020). For instance, if the mother promised the father that she would give him a child if he accomplished certain things., then the mother goes back on her word after the father plays out his obligations, it would be wrong for the mother to prevent the father from having the child deliberately. In such a situation, the father’s morally legitimate interests should allow him to prohibit abortion from happening.
References
BBC. (2020). Fathers’ rights. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/legal/fathers.shtml
Findlaw. (2018, October 3). Fathers’ rights and abortion. Retrieved from https://family.findlaw.com/paternity/fathers-rights-and-abortion.html
