"Abortion: A Bioethical Viewpoint"  Essay by
samgracesmomCollege, Undergraduate,A+, March 2005  download word
file, 8 pages ( 11 KB ) 3  Downloaded 62 times  Abortion is one
of the most controversial bioethical issues of our time.
Throughout history the moral values concerning abortion have
been matters of ceaseless debate and disagreement, but in the
past three decades the debate has intensified. One view--known
as "pro-life"--sees abortion as the slaughter of innocent life.
Pro-lifers march with pictures of mutilated fetuses on their
posters. The other view--"pro-choice"--considers abortion an
option that must be available to women in order for them to have
control over their own bodies. Pro-choicers use a bloody coat-
hanger as their symbol of the days when women didn't have this
option.  At the heart of the controversy, of course, is the
debate over when human life actually begins. Does it begin at
the moment of conception? At 4-6 weeks when the heart begins to
beat and brain waves can first be detected? A