Editorial

Editorial Submitted by Ruth Benedict:

In this world today there are many ethical questions that need answering. One of them is this issue of abortion. Both sides have made their arguments for either pro-choice or pro-life however; the correct method that is to be put into place is pro-choice. According to my theories of moral relativism we must be pro-choice because as moral relativism is defined in the fact that moral standards are grounded only in social custom. To bring this into the abortion controversy today that whatever the person or society believes, then that is correct. I have stressed throughout my life the concepts of tolerance, openness, and individuality and to take this away from a woman and her choice to have an abortion is wrong. We must be tolerant in what we do and all of these cultures around the world have their own morals and they are all fine because they fit their own society and culture.

We moral relativists base our beliefs on these two concepts:
     1. Primacy of Defacto Values
     	a. Which states that our conceptions of morality should be based on how people  
		actually behave and not an ideal standard on how they should behave.
     2. Cultural Variation
     	a. Which states that our main moral values vary from culture to culture.

These two laws base my beliefs on the abortion issue because of their validity and the ability for them to withstand the test of time and be able to be used hundreds of years ago or even today. These standards apply to abortion because people today actually behave in a way where a child if born would have a terrible life or die in infancy and we must be tolerant of that and let the mother decide. Also on the grounds of cultural variation we must realize that in many cultures abortion is wrong and we also respect that belief but still leave the choice open to the mother.

To recapitulate, abortion as many other issues should be left open to the person, in this case mother, to make the decision accordingly. In moral relativism whatever applies best to the individual or society should used, not an ideal of what people should be like.