The Ethical Issues of Women's Reproductive Rights and Healthcare (Essay Sample)

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The Ethical Issues of Women's Reproductive Rights and Healthcare
Women's reproductive rights and health elicit a myriad of ethical issues, which revolve around the right to procreate, assisted reproduction technologies, abortion, contraception, surrogacy, and genetic manipulation (West and Alena 336). For example, induced abortion provokes ethical questions regarding the mother's right versus the fetus’. On the one hand, the protagonists of abortion believe in women's absolute autonomy over their bodies. On the other hand, opponents view abortion as murder and illegal because life begins at conception. This paper examines the ethical issues of women's reproductive rights and health.
Abortion and contraception are long-running issues of controversy in biomedical ethics globally. These two issues raise moral dilemmas for governments, agencies, health professionals, and society (West and Alena 338). The opponents of abortion and contraception equate their use to murder. They claim that governments and agencies should not allow such immoral actions. On the contrary, advocates of women's rights to abortion and contraception perceive them as essential health services. Jelinska and Susan assert that birth control choices are necessary to enjoy women's ultimate freedom, health, and reproductive liberation (86). Additionally, the emergence of novel effective contraception methods and safe abortion options profoundly impact women's reproductive health. For instance, contraception can potentially reduce maternal and infant mortality rates. Women's decisions on the appropriate time to bear children have been challenged by the diverse perspectives on abortion and contraceptives.
Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) have emerged, sparking controversy and provoking ethical questions regarding women's reproductive rights and health in the twenty-first century. According to Noli et al., innovative reproduction methods such as in-vitro fertilization (IVF), surrogacy, and egg freezing play a fundamental role in building families, controlling reproduction, and enhancing reproductive health for women (158). Advocates of ART believe that they are beneficial to women in various ways. For instance, ART helps couples with infertility struggle to have children using their gametes or with the help of sperm donors. Moreover, egg freezing technologies allow women to delay having children because of career, lifestyle, or financial reasons (Borovecki et al. 102). The technology enables women to store eggs while they are young and use them at older ages when ready to have a family.
Nevertheless, ART and surrogacy prompt several ethical issues, including the embryo's moral status, biological linkage to the child, and legal parentage. West and Alena postulate that most countries worldwide lack appropriate legislation protecting in-vitro fertilization, cryopreservation, and lab tests on embryos (342). Consequently, the non-recognition of the fetus as a legal human being compromises women's right to autonomy. Furthermore, women bear ethical obligations towards the unborn child. However, this obligation need not be imposed by the rule of law. Also, third parties' involvement in the procreation process provokes the ethical question of whether it is morally right to interfere with the reproduction process. Noli et al. add that assisted reproduction technologies create injustices and inequality (164). Even though ART helps couples with inf