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The medical ethics topic I have investigated is abortion and how religion can provide us with good moral guidance. Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy. Views regarding abortion is divided as some perceive abortion as murder whereas others would consider it more of the removal of cells. In the UK, abortion is legal and has been since the Abortion Act of 1967 was passed.

Contrary to the view that religion does not provide us with good moral guidance, Roman Catholicism (RC) is guided by the idea of the Sanctity of Life (SoL). The SoL states that all human forms are incredibly sacred as they are made in God’s image therefore, it is forbidden to harm them. In Roman Catholicism, human life begins at contraception, when a woman’s egg is fertilised with a man’s sperm. The theory of the Sanctity of Life is supported by Genesis 9:6, which states “whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image”. The RC church expands their view on abortion further with the use of Canon Law, a law laid down by papal declarations which has been enforced since as early as 1398. In 1983, the code of Canon Law states that, “a person who actually procures an abortion incurs automatic excommunication”. Morally guided by religion, Albert Schweitzer had developed a theory which he called “reverence of life”. In this theory, he stated that humans should respect all forms of life as they all have a natural inbuilt desire to live. To respect all forms, we must avoid killing them. In addition, Catholic theologian Thomas Aquinas provided a deontological theory of Natural Law which states that moral acts always have moral value. This means that abortion is intrinsically wrong as it ignores the SoL. in 2009, Scott Roeder had an extreme form of this view and shot Dr Tiller, who carried out abortions. Roeder said, “I did it to save the children”. 

However, Mary Anne Warren raises the issue of illegalising abortions. Warren points out that if abortions were illegal as RC demands, this will not prevent them from happening. Instead, ‘backstreet’ abortions will occur. Backstreet abortions goes against the SoL as they’re  extremely dangerous and could result in the death of the mother. Therefore, by denying women the opportunity to abort, this would have a much more detrimental consequence overall than if the woman was allowed to abort her foetus in the first place. In Northern Ireland, abortion is illegal due to the country’s Christian values.