Abortion: Is it Suicide in the Guise of Murder?

The concept of “rights” is central to most of the arguments on abortion in medical ethics. The common approach is the comparison of embryo’s “right to life” and woman’s “right to decide about her body”; and the issue is handled as a “conflict of interests”. This approach can not embrace the issue. Perhaps, the most important point is neglected.In this essay, I will try to develop my argument from “women’s point of view.” I will point out that, in the cases of abortion embryo and the woman are not sides in conflict. Since women’s sense of self is continuous with the others, women are, also, violated in abortion. Abortion is defined as “murder” in the arguments of its opponents. I will offer to define it, rather, as a kind of “suicide” from women’s point of view.