The problems of bioethics

While taking the widely used theories by ethicists to solve the problems of bioethics are consequentialism, deontology, virtue and the casuistry theory. However among them mostly used are consequentialism or utilitarianism and deontological theories. The principle of public benefit is widely used in the Islamic bioethics which is equally related to the consequentialism theory. Consequentialism is practised as to promote maximum good/ pleasure for the sake of community and to avoidance of pain or is a public benefit model. It would be not wrong to say that tremendous advancement in the field of technology has thrown the human beings in the no man’s land where his situation is like a standing pillar neither he can come back nor he can move forward. Because technology has provide humans so many benefits in every aspect of life but along with these benefits it carries bundle of problems like social, economical, environmental, and most striking among them all is moral problems raised in the field of medical science especially and hence succeed to drag the attention of the people all over the globe automatically. These issues are more drastic in nature than ever observed before.

To get benefit is a good thing but while getting benefits we should make ourselves prepare for the bad as well and expected in the future ahead? These discoveries of science especially medical field have severely affected the people living in the multi-faith based societies. Religions of the world are not taking their steps back but the scholars of all religions put efforts to adopt these changes within the purview of religions. No one religion in the world is go against the scientific progress because these are upcoming facts and truths which religions have to be realised in the future, they cannot turn their heads away from these scientific discoveries, therefore modern science has left no place to go back. To live a good life, the only solution is to adopt these technologies keeping the religious sanction in to the consideration.

Now turn towards a very important moral problem of contemporary bioethics which is faced by all communities together everywhere and every person poses this question and tries to draw a comprehensive answer of this question by interpreting it from his own related fields, when does human life begins? This is the mostly discussed and debatable issue in whole human life. A divergent opinion has been stated by the different persons like religious scholar, doctors, lawyers and common people about this issue. After deep discussions and debates the concerned people draw certain lines from where it could be considered when human life gets starts or when a foetus could be identifies as a person.

Different stages has been identified by religious and non religious thinkers who consider the foetus a complete human being like conception, gestation, viability, at the time of birth, at baby’s first cry and at the time of naming process. At first Supreme Court of United States divide the foetus development (pregnancy) into three parts namely trimesters and one trimester is composed of three months and most of the terminations of pregnancies occur in the first period in almost all cultures even though terminations of pregnancy is strictly banned in most of the parts of the world religions and laws has been employed by governments of different countries. While in second and third trimesters abortion is prohibited but in certain case it is allowed when foetus is abnormal or the health of the mother is in extreme danger. But the difference in the secular context and religious context is that in former it has got sanctions of abortion employed by law openly in some countries but in the later it is strictly prohibited to perform.

Philosophically speaking we adopt two positions mostly conservative and extremist position regarding the foetus life. Conservatives as strong defenders of foetus life on the bases of moral grounds and potential argument and find any kind of abortion is an immoral act, because of certain features which got a mention in the liberal view like feeling (sentient being) when brain completely developed and have the capacity to grow (potential being) in future if not intervened as has been proved by the modern technology. But the extremists on the other side deny considering any entity as a person would not lacking such specific qualities like self consciousness, rationality, a sense of time and ability to relate with others that would only recognised him as a person. So we came with the conclusion that personhood is a matter of degrees that an entity must have to qualify to consider itself a person. Both the Christianity and Islamic perspectives on abortion of any kind is strictly prohibited in the primitive times, now the knowledge flow enforces the religions to make certain changes in the context.

Now religions have sanctioned limited alternatives because keeping the health of the mother, developing foetus and some social factors in mind and answering the question by reviewing the primary and secondary sources of religions. However in the contemporary times two positions were mostly held by the religious scholars of Christianity and Islam about the issue of beginning of human life, some stands with the conception position and the others stands with the ensoulment position. Ensoulment position starts after the 120 days after fertilisation occurs. Every time with advancement in the medical technology we find the dynamic definition with respect to moral values of foetus life.