Abstract : The validity and persuasive force of arguments employed by antiabortion forces in Puerto Rico and counter arguments from the pro-choice side are analyzed in the context of Puerto Rican law and the influence of the US. Although abortion is legal in Puerto Rico, the right to abortion has been attacked, and its accessibility has been affected. Abortion has assumed a symbolic character in reference to broader views of society and the world, definitions of women, gender roles, sexuality, reproduction, the family, and social problems. The central argument of the antiabortion offensive is that human life begins at conception. The primary theme is fetal right to life, while the definition of women and control over their moral agency and reproductive capacity are secondary themes. The pro-choice forces argue that choice is essential to women s equal treatment as persons with the full range of human prerogatives and potentials. Forcing a woman to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term is a moral and ethical matter. The most dramatic argument employed on the pro-choice side concerns the hundreds of thousands of maternal deaths and injuries caused by illegal abortion. The need to respect the diversity of positions regarding the definition of human life and the separation of church and state, the biological reductionism of the view that the fetus is a human being, and the dehumanization of women implied by humanization of the fetus are other issues.
Notes : Español/espagnol/Spanish, nbsp;Abstract : Popline (http://db.jhuccp.org/popinform/basic.html) - PIP 145536