Ethics and Abortion Essay Example for Free

Ethics and Abortion Essay Nicky was 18 when she started dating with James. They had unprotected premarital sex. After a few weeks, she found out that she was pregnant so she asked an advice from her doctor. She wasn’t ready for a baby yet. She still had her ambitions in life and she didn’t want to give up her social life. So she and James decided to abort the baby (Real Life: Abortion (Nickys Story), 2003). Yes, you read it right. In this time of one-night stands, premarital sex and unwanted pregnancies, abortion has become a common resort from responsibility. Abortion is the removal of an embryo or a POC (Product of Conception) from the uterus. Basically, there are two types of abortion: the spontaneous abortion and the induced abortion. Spontaneous abortion is the type that is caused by accident and/or by natural cases. It can also be caused by environmental factors. On the other hand, induced abortion is caused by human action. It is further categorized into therapeutic and elective. Therapeutic abortion is the act of removing the fetus from the uterus for reasons of safety and/or survival in the part of the mother, to preserve the mother’s health, to terminate pregnancy that would result in a child born with congenital disorders, and to selectively reduce the number of fetuses to lessen health risks regarding multiple pregnancies. Meanwhile, elective abortion is the kind of abortion performed for any other reason. There are two different but parallel theories regarding abortion—the consequential theory and the deontology theory. The consequential theory believes that an act is morally right if and only if it contributes to the common good(Williams, 1973. ). It outrightly supports abortion—may it be therapeutic or elective. In therapeutic abortion, if the mother life is at risk in having the pregnancy, then the consequential theory allows for such action. If having a baby destroys a person’s future career, then abortion is okay. Consequential theory denies that moral rightness depends solely on the anything other than the consequences (B. Hooker, 2000). Nonetheless, what makes this morally wrong is not the abortion itself but the consequences it may bring to the mother such as emotional trauma. Consequential theory ignores all morally relevant factors to the consequences as opposed to whatever the circumstances there may be(Mill, 1861). However, deontology theory asserts otherwise. Deontological ethics or duty-based ethics does not consider an act as good or evil per se but classifies the action as it is being performed or on the process of performing devoid of prejudice or pre-established ethical principles. It judges morality by evaluating the nature of the actions and the will of the person involved rather than what is achieved(Kay, 1997). It is also known as nonconsequentialism. Deontological judgment depends on the object or original nature of the act. It typically involves two important elements, prerogatives and constraints. Prerogatives deny that one should always choose the option with optimistic consequences and constraints place limitations on the actions that the person may do in order to bring about his own personal good. Thus, from the deontological parlance, abortion, because it takes away life, upsets nature’s way of creation, and denies the natural capacity of a woman to give birth, is objectively and intentionally malicious, although it could be justified in extreme cases which would merit for an exception. These two theories, in essence are different but somehow, they are compatible with each other. They do not really contradict each other, rather, they are analogous. Analogous theories are truly and essentially different but necessarily contradictory with each other in principle but they could have similar effects or conclusion per application that is why they are analogouspartly the same, partly different. In the present society, most women view abortion consequentially. They justify abortion by consequences it may cause. Let’s take Nicky’s situation as an example. Nicky believes that the abortion of their baby is right mainly because it was not yet the right time for them to have a baby. If she were to continue with her pregnancy, what would have happened? She would have lived a miserable lifenot having a job or a career and tied down with a baby. What if her boyfriend James left her? Could she find another man who would readily accept her despite her past? There were lots of things to be consideredschool, financial stability, and emotional stability. These and a lot more questions ran through Nicky’s mind before she decided to go with the abortion. Obviously, it is not easy to try to confuse one’s conscience. But if we look at it closely, it is a matter of rights. Women’s rights. Everybody makes mistakes. Nicky did a mistake by engaging in unprotected sexual intercourse with her boyfriend. Nevertheless, continuing the pregnancy could also be a mistake. Abortion, when we look at its consequences, is not a mistake. According to the Women’s Rights, â€Å"women have the right to bodily integrity and autonomy†. Whether or not the woman decides to resort to abortion of the fetus inside her body, it is her right to decide on that. Aside from that, women also have the right to parenthood and marriage. Women who have committed abortion should not be discriminated by the society. True, it is not such a nice image but hey, women are humans. Women have rights—equal rights—and dignity(2006, Human Rights Watch).

Men, Women, and Sex Differences Essay -- Nature vs. Nurture

Nature vs. Nurture? The debate has obsessed the minds of psychologists and philosophers for many years, each arguing their idea is the right way. ABC aired a TV documentary "Boys and Girls are Different" hosted by John Stossel to show some of the leading feminists ideas and their opponents thoughts. Psychologist, and researcher from the Kinsey Institute, June M. Reinisch believes that biology and culture shape gender differences. She believes that men and women aren't the same. Simply that "equality does not mean being the same, it means having equal opportunities" (Men, Women). Reinisch, leader of the advanced studies and projects at Kinsey stated, "When people say women can’t be trusted because they cycle every month, my response is that men cycle every day, so they should only be allowed to negotiate peace treaties in the evening." June Reinisch fights for equal opportunities for women by giving seminars and speeches nationwide to groups of women. In addition, she speaks and writes on sexuality issues. "We are very adolescent about sexuality as a society, thinking it is for young people," says psychologist June Reinisch, director emeritus of the Kinsey Institute in Bloomington, Ind. June is a very outspoken woman and for that has several consequences that she faces in life. She faces criticism daily from the public, media and other scientists. Luckily, her job at the Kinsey Institute doing gender research, results in her not worrying about the thought of losing her job over gender issues. However, her status is continually up in the air for the media to pick at. The media can say negative ideas regarding her research and beliefs because she is so well known. June documented several early behavioral di... ...levision programs are sex-typed and white-male oriented. More male than female roles are shown and male characters act strikingly different from female ones. Males typically are more aggressive, constructive, and direct and are rewarded for their actions. By contrast, females are depicted as acting deferential toward other people or as manipulating them through helplessness of seductiveness to get their way"(Kendall Page 3). It goes as far as simple education programs such as Sesame Street and Barney that have mainly all male characters and names. The characters also participate in mostly boy activities. Consider all sides of the debate and each group's affiliation. Finally, the question is up to you as the program announcer said, "Should gender influence our place in society? Some research says yes. Some people don't want you to hear about it" (Men, Women).

United Nations Reform for Indirect Exporting

An Indirect Exporter is when a firm†s product is sold in foreign markets with no special activity for this purpose occurs within the firm. Others carry a firm†s product overseas. Although exporting this way can open up new markets quickly a firm will have limited control over distribution of its product. A firm likes to have a buyer; thus products are sold in a domestic market then resold overseas in different ways. -Foreign wholesale and retail organisations that have purchasing agents in a firm†s home country may find the firm†s product good for their market. -Manufacturers and firms have U.S. offices obtain equipment and supplies to their foreign operations. Companies have an advantage by selling to the U.S. firms because they are using export routes already supplying their domestic operations via the U.S. -With multinational operations buy equipment and supplies for them through their regular domestic purchasing. Equipment is shipped and installed in foreign plant. Foreign producers take note of the equipment. Then orders for the equipment will follow. Thus, an active exporting involvement by the supplying firm. This has befitted the supplying firm with a free introduction to the foreign market. International trading companies are very important for some markets. Some of these companies handle the majority of the imports into the country. The size and market coverage of these trading companies makes them excellent distributors, especially with their credit reliability. They cover their markets and provide service for the products they sell. Using these trading companies has negative factors. These companies have a tendency to carry competing products and the latest product may not receive the attention its producers desired. The sales from these kinds of indirect exporting are as good as domestic sales and, show that they are less stable. Since being so far from the main market a firm has little control. Even though new sales is helpful the disadvantage of not having more control of foreign sales a company may look for a more suitable arrangements in the long-run. Some companies work with an export management to have increased control over its product. There are some advantages of using an export management company: -The manufacture receives instant foreign market knowledge and contacts via the operations and the experience of the EMC. -The manufacture saves the cost of developing the in-house expertise in exporting. An EMC cost is spread over the sales of several manufacturers. -EMC offer clients consolidated shipments for savings. -Lines of complementary products can better foreign representation than the products of just one manufacturing. Also, EMC†s accept foreign credit responsibility. There are also some disadvantages to using an EMC: -Some EMC†s handled too many lines to give the proper attention to a new exporter. -Many tend to be market specialist rather than product specialist, thus product expertise is weak. -Some EMC†s coverage is only regional rather than global. A ETC acts as the export arm of a number of manufactures. ETC†s allow U.S. companies or banks to form a trading company with the size, resources, sophistication, and international network comparable to the Japanese companies. Unfortunately U.S ETC†s have not really worked out. Most of them are small or they have failed. One manufacture uses it overseas distribution to sell other companies† product with their own. One party is called the carrier; the carrier is the firm that does the exporting. With the export of the new non-competitive product may help ease the cost of exporting. Piggybacking can be attractive because a company can fill up its exporting capacity or fill out their product line. Also, piggybacking can help in a lost cost way for the carrier to export and save on investment in R&D, production facilities, and market testing for a new product. There are also some negatives, quality control and warranty. The rider may not maintain the quality of the products sold by the other company. Concerns of supply, a carrier can develop a large market abroad, the rider firm may favor its own marketing needs it tight demand conditions. The party called the rider has a great advantage. By using another company a company can get its product to foreign markets. This offers the riders and established export and distribution facilities and shared expenses, and benefits close to an EMC and a ETC. The difference between direct exporting and indirect exporting is that the task of market contact, market research, physical distribution, export documentation, pricing, is bestowed on the company. Another producer under contract produces a firm†s product in a foreign market with the firm. This is feasible when a firm can locate a foreign producers with the ability to manufacture the product in satisfactory quality and quality. The advantages are the company can reduce the risk of failure in a foreign market by simply terminating the contract. Other saving include transportation. The drawback is to this is that the manufacturing profit goes to the local firm rather than to the international firm. Also, finding a suitable manufacturer may be difficult.

Huygens Principle of Diffraction

Huygens principle of wave analysis helps you understand the movements of waves around objects. The behavior of waves can sometimes be counterintuitive. Its easy to think about waves as if they just move in a straight line, but we have good evidence that this is often simply not true. For example, if someone shouts, the sound spreads out in all directions from that person. But if theyre in a kitchen with only one door and they shout, the wave heading toward the door into the dining room goes through that door, but the rest of the sound hits the wall. If the dining room is L-shaped, and someone is in a living room that is around a corner and through another door, they will still hear the shout. If the sound were moving in a straight line from the person who shouted, this would be impossible because thered be no way for the sound to move around the corner. This question was tackled by  Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695), a man who was also known for the creation of some of the  first mechanical clocks  and his work in this area had an influence on Sir Isaac Newton  as he developed his particle theory of light. Huygens Principle Definition The Huygens principle of wave analysis  basically states that: Every point of a wave front may be considered the source of secondary wavelets that spread out in all directions with a speed equal to the speed of propagation of the waves. What this means is that when you have a wave, you can view the edge of the wave as actually creating a series of circular waves. These waves combine together in most cases to just continue the propagation, but in some cases, there are significant observable effects. The wavefront can be viewed as the line tangent to all of these circular waves. These results can be obtained separately from Maxwells equations, though Huygens principle (which came first) is a useful model and is often convenient for calculations of wave phenomena. It is intriguing that Huygens work preceded that of James Clerk Maxwell by about two centuries, and yet seemed to anticipate it, without the solid theoretical basis that Maxwell provided. Amperes law and Faradays law predict that every point in an electromagnetic wave acts as a source of the continuing wave, which is perfectly in line with Huygens analysis. Huygens Principle and Diffraction When light goes through an aperture (an opening within a barrier), every point of the light wave within the aperture can be viewed as creating a circular wave that propagates outward from the aperture. The aperture, therefore, is treated as creating a new wave source, which propagates in the form of a circular wavefront. The center of the wavefront has greater intensity, with a fading of intensity as the edges are approached. It explains the diffraction observed, and why the light through an aperture does not create a perfect image of the aperture on a screen. The edges spread out based on this principle. An example of this principle at work is common in everyday life. If someone is in another room and calls towards  you, the sound seems to be coming from the doorway (unless you have very thin walls). Huygens Principle and Reflection/Refraction The laws of reflection and refraction can both be derived from Huygens principle. Points along the wavefront are treated as sources along the surface of the refractive medium, at which point the overall wave bends based upon the new medium. The effect of both reflection and refraction is to change the direction of the independent waves that are emitted by the point sources. The results of the rigorous calculations are identical to what is obtained from Newtons geometric optics (such as Snells law of refraction), which was derived under  a particle principle of light—although Newtons method is less elegant in its explanation of diffraction. Edited by Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.