Issues of Life and Death

Pro-choice arguments for Abortion

Pro-choice - Pressure groups like the National Abortion Campaign

• a woman has the right to decide what happens to her body

• it would be wrong for a woman who has been raped to have to have a child that will remind her of this terrible act (similarly a young woman who has been forced into incest)

• it is cruel to bring a child into the world who will suffer extreme disability

• the woman’s right to life is more important, what if carrying the child or giving birth threatens her life

• the foetus does not have its own rights up to the point it relies on the mother to survive

• viability – the idea the foetus can survive by itself outside the womb, it is no longer part of the woman, some argue up to that point it does not have its own rights

• if abortions were banned, then the practice would go underground as shown in the film Vera Drake set in the 1950s

Alternatives to Abortion

Fostering – the woman has the baby but someone else looks after it for a while, this may work if the woman was too young and her parents look after the baby

Adoption – the woman has the baby and gives it up for adoption, someone else becomes the legal parent, the woman loses all contact, unless the baby later wants to find the biological parents

Euthanasia

Euthanasia - a ‘gentle death’, it is a mercy killing

• active euthanasia: dying person is killed to stop their suffering, the act of killing leads to the death, not the illness

• passive euthanasia: dying person is allowed to die, by removing medical support, the illness kills them

• voluntary euthanasia: the idea that a person should make their own decision about euthanasia

• prolonging life: keeping someone alive on a support machine who would die if it was switched off (it might reach the point where it is decided there is no hope of recovery)

Law on Euthanasia

Suicide Act 1961: forbids anyone from helping someone else to die, it carries a possible 14 year jail sentence

Life support machines: doctors do switch these off when a patient has no sign of brain activity

Assisted Suicide is legal in Switzerland; this is where someone helps someone to end their life by providing the means to do it; Dignitas is the clinic that helps with this

Arguments for Euthanasia

• Everyone has the right to decide whether their life should end

• Everyone has the right to die with dignity, not in pain or with reduced faculties

• It is an act of kindness to help someone die if they want to

• The only way you might be able to help the person is to help them die

• When there is no hope, the quality of life goes down

• We treat animals better than humans

• Euthanasia can save relatives unnecessary strain and anxiety

• People should be able to sign an Advance Directive (Living Will) with a witness, that would be recognised in law, whilst still of sound mind; they could express their wish before their illness progresses

Arguments against Euthanasia

• Only God who gives life has the right to take it away

• euthanasia is another form of murder

• there is always hope of recovery, a wrong diagnosis could have been made

• no one needs to die in pain with palliative care

• voluntary euthanasia would put pressure on elderly people, it would be a slippery slope with more and more people being seen as eligible for it

• doctors take the Hippocratic Oath, promising to protect life

• there can be miracle cures

Christian attitudes to Euthanasia

• God created human life in his own image

• You shall not kill (10 Commandments)

• God gives life, only he can take it away

• Catholic Church says life should be respected from conception to natural death, euthanasia is murder

• but the Church of England says that doctors do not have an obligation to prolong life, keep someone alive unnecessarily when there is no hope, so passive euthanasia is tolerated; it is wrong to prolong life unnecessarily

• Dutch Protestants stand out as supporting active euthanasia and blessing people before the procedure is done

• Many Christians say it is wrong to unnecessarily prolong life as this goes against God’s wishes too

Hindu attitudes to Euthanasia

• ahimsa: causing no harm is a major principle of the religion

• daya: compassion should be shown to those who are suffering, they should be helped and cared for, palliative care

• you cannot escape the trials of life, those who take their own lives will suffer more in the next (Yajur Veda)

• suffering in this life is due to bad karma and it must be lived out

• to take life brings bad karma to the one who ends life and this will lead to a bad rebirth

Life-support machines

• Doctors turn these off with the consent of the family when there is no hope of recovery

• the machine keeps the person alive by making their lungs breathe, monitoring the heart and feeding the patient intravenously

• this is not euthanasia as the patient is in effect already dead

Christian attitudes to life after death

• at death the person awaits judgement, each person will face God and Jesus and be judged.

• The waiting period is called purgatory by Catholics and it is a time that the soul can achieve purification of sin.

• At judgement, those that were good and accept Christ will go to Heaven. Those who were bad and do not accept Christ will go to Hell for eternal punishment.

• Traditionally Christians believed in the resurrection of the body, where at the day of Judgement bodies will be raised; the whole person goes on to Heaven or Hell

• Today many Christians believe in the immortal soul, the spiritual part of a person that is eternal which goes on to Heaven or Hell

Hindu attitudes to life after death

• Hindus believe in reincarnation.

• The atman (soul) lives through many lifetimes.

• Each lifetime is shaped by the thoughts, words and actions of the past lifetimes. Good karma leads to a good reincarnation and bad karma to a bad one. The person will move up and down a caste.

• The goal is to achieve spiritual enlightenment, to be free of samsara (the cycle of birth, death and rebirth) become one with Brahman and stop being reincarnated.

• Becoming one with Brahman is the state of moksha.

(1) Christian funeral rites

• The priest will say last rites when a person is close to death (in the Catholic Church)

• prayers are said for the forgiveness of sins, enabling the person to die at peace

• the funeral is usually held in a Church, the coffin is carried to the front, flowers are displayed, candles may be lit to show Jesus is the light guiding the path to Heaven

• the priest reads, ‘I am the resurrection and the life,’ from the Bible, reminding the congregation that those who believe in Jesus will go to Heaven to be with him for eternity

• Psalm 23 ‘The Lord is my shepherd’ is read which states that God will be at the side of those who pass through the valley of death

(2) Christian funeral rites

• Catholics hold a mass (communion service) for the dead, to pray for God to be at the side of those who have died

• when the coffin is buried, the words ‘ashes to ashes, dust to dust’ are said by the priest to show people will return to the dust from which they were made (creation story in Genesis 2)

• today many Christians prefer to be cremated not buried; this is because many believe only the soul goes to Heaven

(1) Hindu funeral rites

• in India funerals are arranged soon after the death, as the body will decay fast in the heat

• bodies are cremated to allow the soul to leave behind all attachments to the previous life

• many Hindus hope to die by the Ganges, on the ghats (mountain range in India) and have their ashes scattered there

• at death, the body is wrapped in a white shroud and a garland of flowers is placed around the neck

• drops of water from the Ganges are placed in the deceased’s mouth (to represent purification and the elimination of bad karma)

(2) Hindu funeral rites

• the eldest son walks around the funeral pyre seven times and lights it (this helps the atman on its way to a positive reincarnation)

• prayers and verses from the scriptures are recited

• sweet smelling incense is placed on the pyre

• the eldest son collects the ashes and scatters them in a river (preferably the Ganges) – this is a reminder that the body is temporary and no longer needed and the atman moves on

• relatives of the deceased do not mix socially for ten days after as they are impure