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Ahmed4

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Women and Religion

08/05/2021

Introduction

The issue of whether a mother should legally terminate a pregnancy or not has been a point of discussion for several years. Various religious groups point out that it is immoral to terminate a pregnancy whereby it is considered murder. An example is in Christianity whereby religious leaders have been against the act. However, several feminist activists have looked into the issue in the past with the view that pregnant mothers should be allowed to make decisions freely on whether to keep on terminate the pregnancies.

A prochoice theological Argument by Margaret

Margaret wrote the article in the year 2018 touching on the issue of pregnant women. Her argument is that a pregnant woman should be identified as a being who possesses the right to make a choice of terminating a pregnancy without being judged negatively in the society. (Margaret, p.3) She points out that for a woman to keep on taking care of the growing foetus, she must be self-conscious and also prepared to take responsibility for the child once it is born. This will give a chance to take care of the child without having to strain on motherhood responsibilities that will occur after the birth. Such an acceptance will lead to mother-child bond since the mother was psychologically set to take care of the child.

In cases where the mother is not ready to bond with the child, she might not be willing to take proper responsibility for the child. (Margaret, p.5). The author also points out that the pregnancy acts as a turning point for the mother’s life. Because of this, she must be given the freedom to choose whether to let go of the unborn child or not. The author explains that society should consider the situation of the mother before judging such a woman. One of the most significant arguments that are used to defend women’s decision towards whether to abort the unborn child or not is to separate the personhood of the unborn child from the choice that will be made by the mother. This means that it is not important to look at the unborn child as a real human being meaning that aborting the child should not be considered equal to a crime such as killing another human being. This way, the woman should be left with the decision on whether to keep the child or not. This argument is entirely based on profiting the woman and paying no attention to the woman. As long as she is happy with the decision then a child is not significant..

The argument considers the information that has been shared in the book of St Luke where the virgin Mary carried a baby without having to decide on whether she wanted the baby or not. According to the feminists, the people of Mary’s era had little say on whether they wanted to keep a baby or not. The most significant factor was that they were supposed to follow the laws that the community had set and also what the community felt should be right. It is important to look at the events during the era of Mary and the current era.

Today, society has empowered women which means that they cannot only be allocated the responsibility of taking care of the family but also are expected to work to earn a living. An example is a situation where both men and women have the platform of working hard to acquire a managerial position. A woman in such an incident is expected to put similar efforts to what the male counterpart is doing. Because of that, a woman who gets pregnant will have a difficult choice to make between keeping the fetus or doing away with it so that to focus on her main goal.

If she feels that she is not yet ready to take on motherhood responsibilities, then she might have no other alternative but to abort the baby. From her perspective, she has done it to achieve a greater goal. However, societies that are governed by Christianity morals will consider this as immoral hence creating a negative image of the women. There are other goals that the woman might be targeting such as education opportunities where the woman might be aiming to achieve high education goals so that to improve her career. The choice between living her dream and following the moral standards that have been set by society might greatly impact the decision that she is likely to make. At the same time, others might become pregnant in the process of having fun which means that they necessarily do not have a significant goal that might be pushing them to abort the child. If such a woman is not willing to move on from the life that she feels is the best for her, then society should not judge her for committing an abortion. Those are some of the views that have been given by the author and then supported by other groups of feminists.

Critiquing the journal

The author’s argument should be looked at using a critical analysis dimension whereby we are in a world where equity has become a major factor for both men and women. It is right to say that women cannot be left to only take care of the family since we are living in a society that has paid attention to empowering them. This means that to solve the problem, it is important to create a friendly environment for women to develop themselves although they will take time to take care of their newborn. This includes offering allowances and other opportunities that will make them appreciate the importance of becoming a new mother. The problem can also be solved through educating society on the matters of abortion so that to let everyone understand its setbacks before committing it.

Work Cited

Kamitsuka, Margaret D. "Unwanted Pregnancy, Abortion, and Maternal Authority: A Prochoice Theological Argument." Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion 34, no. 2 (2018): 41-57.