Ethics Project

[Heat]

So, I go to a Christian school. I take Ethics, and was just assigned a project, research topic, to give a formal essay on ethical controversial issues in modern day society.

There was a giant list. Literally almost every controversial topic you could think of.


I chose; Abortion.

Now, as an atheist, I have no problem pointing out flaws in others reasoning, and I have no problem going against the status quo in the class room. That's why I picked it. The vast majority of my class sees this as a settled discussion, in fact one girl questioned me as to why I didn't pick one that had more of a "debate" aspect to it. They pretty much all see it as a murder, that should be outlawed.

Now, evidently from reading that you can tell I don't have a problem with abortion as long as it's done under proper medical care and all the requirements are met. I'm pro choice.


My question for you guys is what advice can you give me on this subject? Whether that be ways to convince them, or points, comparisons, facts, etc. What's your advice for me?

Murder is the unlawful killing of a person.  Is a fetus a person?

A fertilized egg (one cell) does not fit any reasonable definition of person.
Neither does it after dividing once (2 cells).
Nor after it divides again (4 cells).
And so on.

When is the fetus even remotely "a person"?
There isn't a well-developed brain and nervous system until at least 6 months.  
One could reasonably argue that that qualifies as "a person".

You're missing the fact that they aren't interested in the technical specifications. Most of them know that an early-developing fetus can't feel pain, and isn't a person scientifically. However, the reason they see it as murder is because the vast majority of them believe all persons are designed by god. So if an unborn fetus dies, they see it as murdering one of "god's children". That's why they debate stem cell research, because a lot of them will argue that the stem cell of a baby is actually a baby, or was designed to live by god, and using it for research, or not letting it live, is murder.

All of this will seem very fucking crazy to a lot of you. It does to me don't get me wrong. However, instead of just saying "That's crazy" try to understand where they are coming from, wrong as they may be, this is a deeply held belief of a lot of Christians.

I'm saying this, because it pertains to how I will address this project, and maybe even what advice you guys could add. It's important to know what my audience's preconceived notions are going in to this.

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it." - Aristotle


p.s.

If I were to post my draft on this forum while i'm working on the project, would anyone be interested in reading it over? Giving suggestions, like to fix grammatical errors, but more along the lines of like maybe some points you think I left out, or key ideas I should add?

I largely like being creative, and writing my own way. Whenever I write creatively for English I hardly look at the format rules, I hate being constricted to doing specific things. However, knowing that in this circumstance I am going against the status quo, and might upset people, I think maybe i'd appreciate a second opinion if anyone's willing sometime in the future when writing.

If not, no worries though.