Resolving Ethical Dilemmas
Uploaded by CaseyP on Nov 19, 2018
Resolving Ethical Dilemmas
Dilemmas are the instances and situations where one has to choose between two or more options that are conflicting and have moral and ethical implications. There are many dilemmas in society. For instance, people have different definitions of what is right and wrong. These differences lead to conflicting views on various issues in society. One such issue is abortion. Abortion is a controversial subject in most societies. A section of people believes that abortion is wrong as everyone, including the unborn, have a right to life. Other people also take the stand that a mother has the right to choose whether to have a child or not. Such people claim that by dictating whether one should have an abortion or not, the law interferes with individual privacy. The paper discusses abortion as a contentious issue in the United States.
The Fundamentals of the Policy Described in the Article
The article describes an abortion issue involving a 17-year-old teenager (North, n.d.). The teenager was an immigrant and had applied to have the abortion since she could not sustain the pregnancy. Before then, there had been changes to the abortion laws relating to immigrant minors. Such laws required the minors to seek permission. The minor had sought permission and was waiting for the determination of the case. However, the government was determined to prevent her from having the abortion. A District judge ordered the government to allow the minor to have her abortion (North, n.d.). In return, the government appealed and got an order allowing them to delay the abortion even longer.
Judge Kavanaugh who has since become a president appointee gave the delay order (Gerstein, n.d.). There were numerous concerns about his appointment to the Supreme Court. Many were worried about the fate of abortion cases. In his ruling, he had indicated that the Director of the refugees had the right to block an immigrant minor from obtaining an abortion.
The dilemma, therefore, involves the right of minors to obtain an abortion. Certain groups and individuals maintain that before a pregnancy reaches a certain age, a mother has all the rights to terminate it should she wish to do so. Such a choice would thus be a personal choice. However, there are people with a contrary opinion. These claim that the government has the right to delay or even block some people from obtaining an abortion. According to Reamer, there...