Abortion and Kholberg's Theory of Moral Development
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines abortion as “the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus” (“Abortion”). Apparently, people do not see abortion as murder or killing a life. According to Kholberg’s Theory of Moral Development, in the Postconventional stage, individuals define what is right and wrong according to their own beliefs. In this paper, Kholberg’s Theory and the self-application of abortion will be explained.
In the first stage of Kholberg’s Theory, the Preconventional morality, the rules are developed during childhood. Consequences of choices contribute to the goodness or badness of each act. A child would consider an act “bad” if he or she receives punishment—which could be physical or isolating an individual from activity—from the caregiver and “good” if the caregiver rewards the child with a treat. For example, when a child brings home his report card from school and earns high marks, his parents would treat him to a choice of his restaurant; his parents would do this whenever he receives good marks and he eventually only studies for this reward. If a child brings home low grades, his parents would take away his video games and television and maybe a hit on the foot as punishment; the only way to avoid this punishment is to study and obtain high marks. The child strictly studies to avoid punishment. Individuals in the preconventional stage decide what is moral by reward purposes and to avoid punishment.
In the second stage of Kholberg’s Theory, the Conventional morality, rules are set for the greater good. Individuals consider and understand other’s feelings and maintain rules set by others, without question of why the rules are set. For instance, a child shares his toys with his peers because it is proper and encouraged in the setting of playtime; his peers return the act of generosity because of the same rule to share. If a child refuses to give up his toys for another, one child might scold this child, and not explaining any particular reason why but for the purpose of maintaining the order and rules set by the authorities—for this example, parents or teachers. People in this stage follow the norms to obtain approval of others for their good behavior.
In the third and final stage of Kholberg’s Theory, the Postconventional morality, the textbook explains, “[the] individual defines what is right in terms of broad principles of justice that have validity apart from the views of particular authority figures” (Sigelman, Rider). At this stage, individuals clearly understand the purposes of laws and, if one disagrees, may act to change a law that may be morally wrong to one individual’s beliefs. Kholberg stated that at this stage individuals are able to take in another person’s perspective if one faces a moral dilemma, but Kholberg rarely observed his “vision of ideal moral reasoning” that he “stopped attempting to measure its existence” (Sigleman, Rider). To illustrate this stage, an individual would consider “mercy killing” as murder and immoral due to religious or by their own beliefs. Another would consider it just that, a death that was assisted to relieve suffering. Those in this stage create their own morals by their own ideas of justice and right or wrong.
At first, I concluded that abortion should only be allowed to rape victims. These thoughts follow the conventional morality stage of Kholberg’s theory because it is the social norm to abort potential babies during teenage pregnancy and rape victims. Teen pregnancy was no excuse for abortion since the teenagers knew the consequences of having sexual intercourse; schools teach sex education and caregivers are able to communicate to children. It is only moral for the mothers –and fathers—to not endure the suffering of young parenthood; my mother encourages abortion for teen pregnancy, especially if the young couple is not married due to this reasoning. Those who are pro-choice, rape victims should not have the obligation to raise children they did not want. That is common sense to those in the conventional morality stage, to maintain social order and to be approved by society—maybe by aborting in secret and not being a teen parent.
Commonly, people would think that abortion would fit under Kholberg’s stage of Postconventional morality. Many view that people have a choice of their belief in whether a fetus is a human life because they believe it is an abstract thought A sperm and an egg have each “one-half the chromosomes necessary to make a complete human being. If left alone, they don’t develop into anything: the sperm dies in a couple of days, and the unfertilized egg is expelled in a woman’s monthly cycle” (Craig). As stated in the textbook, “conception [is] the beginning of life [which] occurs when the genetic material of the sperm and egg unite to form a single-celled zygote” (Sigelman, Rider). Feminists believe women should have control of their own body—in other words, their life—, but if conception is the beginning of life, that means there are two lives being involved, not one. I told my mother all this and she responded, “A living human being is a being who can think, talk, breathe, and function as one.” I automatically noticed the flaw of this statement, “But mom, you’re saying a mentally retarded human being is not human; sometimes they can’t function by themselves and need help from other people.” She kept on repeating “no, no.” The argument ended there.
The next step is determining whether killing or terminating the life of the unborn fetus is immoral or moral. People agree that homicide –or the murder of an innocent life—is immoral and the murderer be punished. In Kholberg’s theory, murder fits under conventional morality and a postconventional morality because of the laws for maintaining social order—losing a life through chaos and violence disrupts order—and the understanding that killing a person is not moral due to physical, emotional, and even cognitive pain; people may be traumatized in experiencing murder and if one fails to kill they may have physical deformities.
After having personal experience with sexual contact, I know how tempting sex is. I became a Christian summer of last year and learning—through Bible study and books recommended by pastors, teachers and peers—now the morals of this religion, I understand the consequences of committing those immoral deeds spiritually, physically, emotionally, and cognitively. As Kholberg stated, these religious morals fit under the postconventional stage of morality, but also in the conventional stage for those who do not fully understand the reasons behind these “rules” of the Bible. Those who simply agree to the laws of the Bible do not have ground to support their view and thus having their self-perceptions incredible to others. Personally, being perceived as incredible, or in other words dumb, for not knowing why I support a view is a preconventional stage; it is punishment for me morally that I do not have a positive reputation and so I change to further learn my beliefs. Having sex before marriage is immoral to Christians: "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral." (Hebrews 13:4) and "Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I [apostle Paul] am. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion.” (1 Corinthians 7:8-9)
In conclusion, the morality behind abortion fits under all the stages of Kholberg’s theory. A person must have support behind their stance of abortion or it may be a punishment for being corrected and seen as implausible by those who have claims against one. People want to fit into society to belong and maintain order to avoid chaos. Few oppose the masses for their own good and beliefs. I do not want to live in a world where mothers –and even fathers—who murder their children when they are in the most helpless state, developing into a fetus.
Works Cited
"Abortion." Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 28 Nov. 2006 .
Craig, William L. Hard Questions, Real Answers. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2003. 7-169.
Sigelman, Carol K., and Elizabeth A. Rider. Life-Span Human Development. 5th ed. Canada: Thomson Wadsworth, 2006. 1-521.
