Rights

What do you need to be confident with for the exam?

Who may have rights and what these rights are. e.g. foetus, mother, father.

How these rights could be applied to the issue of abortion.

Exam Questions:

1. Why do many women believe that they have the right to choose whether or not to have an abortion? (3 marks)

2. 'The Father should have rights when abortion is being considered' Do you agree? Give reasons for your answer, showing that you have thought about more than one point of view. Refer to religious arguments in your answer. (6 marks)

Display work

Choose either one set of rights or include a few elements e.g. the mother and the foetus and design a display piece to highlight the rights that are considered or you think should be considered.

Ensure that your work is accurate and attractive to look at. They will be displayed to help us with revision of this topic.

Doctors and Nurses

Doctors are not forced to carry out abortions or refer a patient for abortion if they have a conscientious objection about doing so. This is protected under law and therefore have a right to refuse to do so.

The Foetus

Some would argue that the Foetus should have rights.

The UN Declaration of Human Rights gives children the right to life and safety/protection from harm. Some argue that this should apply to unborn children too. They argue that unborn children have:

A Right to life.

A Right to protection from harm.

Others argue that the foetus should have the Right to a Quality of life. This would mean in some cases abortion would be in the foetus' best interests.

A Roman Catholic Christian would argue that the foetus has rights as they are a life from conception and the Bible teaches that God knows us in the womb. Catholics believe all people are made in the 'image of God' and therefore have a right to life and a right to protection from harm. They have equal rights to the mother. Their rights should be important not ignored when choosing abortion.

Discuss: 'An unborn child has and deserves no rights'. Using your A3 sheet debate this statement. Try to put down arguments for both sides of the argument. Conclude what you think as a pair to this statement.

http://www.truetube.co.uk/film/abortion-male-perspective

The Father.

Rights

The Father currently has no rights under law but this is being challenged by men who feel that they should have some rights too.

They do however have the responsibility to pay child support if a child is born whether they wanted the foetus to be aborted or not.

Do you think the Father should have rights? What would they be?

Can abortion harm the mother in terms of her mental health?

Does this need to be considered?

http://www.truetube.co.uk/film/abortion-and-depression

http://www.truetube.co.uk/film/my-decision-philosopher

The Mother

The mother is considered to have some key rights in the issue of abortion:

The right to control her body.

The right to safety.

The right to equality of opportunity.

For each one what would these rights mean and how can it allow abortion?

Who has rights?

To consider who has rights and what these are in the issue of abortion.

With your partner on your table at the back of your book write down who you think has rights that should be considered in the issue of abortion. What do you think these are?

Be ready to feedback to the class.

Connect:

What do you think?

Give reasons for your viewpoint. (3 marks)