Abortion; Biomedical Issues

at
Categories
Tags

choose an issue in applied ethics that greatly interests you. You may choose any of the following topics covered in the assigned readings from our textbooks:

For example: Abortion; Biomedical Issues (IVF, Stem Cell Research, etc.); Capital Punishment; Church-State Relations; Economics; Environment; Euthanasia; Just War; LGBTQ Issues; Marriage & Family; Healthcare; Political Engagement; Poverty; Racism and Race Issues; Sexual Ethics, etc.

 

Sample Solution

One ethical issue that greatly interests me is abortion. Abortion is a highly contentious and emotionally charged topic, often being portrayed as an either/or proposition with no middle ground or room for compromise. The major ethical questions surrounding the debate of abortion are focused on when life begins and to what extent the mother has rights over her own body versus those of the unborn fetus. Those who oppose it believe that life begins at conception and thus all abortions should be illegal, while those in favor of it prioritize individual autonomy and bodily integrity which allows for abortions in certain circumstances. Thus, abortion can be viewed as a moral dilemma between two competing values: one’s right to have control over their own body alongside scientific evidence concluding that fetuses are capable of feeling pain (Levy & Wellman 2017).

The biggest challenge faced when debating this issue is finding a balance between both sides’ competing interests while still maintaining respect for every individual involved in such decisions. As with any other ethical debate, determining if there is any sort of middle ground will likely depend on how “moral weight” is assigned to each side’s argument (Kamm 2001). Additionally, considerations must also be made when discussing potential solutions such as greater access to contraception methods to reduce unwanted pregnancies or allowing more lenient laws regarding late-term abortions (Levy & Wellman 2017).

 

NAc can be sub-divided into two regions: the core and the shell. Both regions have different input and output projections (Zahm, 2000) and thought to play different roles in reward pathway (Ito et al., 2004). Recent studies have also reported on different dendritic compartments specifically the proximal and distal (Spruston, 2008). Cocaine regulation of dendritic spines can only be observed in thin, highly motile spine (Kasai et al., 2010) which were thought to be relevant to learning (Moser et al., 1994; Dumitriu et al., 2010) and addiction (Shen et al., 2009; LaPlant et al., 2010). Cocaine exposure caused an increase in spine density in the shell region but a decrease in proximal MSNs in the core region which is seen to be far more enduring (Dumitriu et al., 2012). This enduring change in core reciprocates the idea that shell is involved in addiction development while core in the learning of the addiction or long-term potentiation (Di Chiara, 2002; Ito et al., 2004; Meredith et al., 2008). In a study done by Kourrich and Thomas (2009), however, showed an increase in core MSNs and a decrease in shell MSNs raising the possibility that spine regulation may be compensating the changes in MSNs or spine regulation may be causing a homeostatic tuning of MSNs excitability. Few studies showed homeostatic increase in MSNs excitability following spine downregulation (Azdad et al., 2009; Ishikawa et al., 2009; Huang et al., 2011) supporting the latter but the clear association between both processes is still unknown. A possible mechanism behind the selective downregulation of core MSNs could be dopamine since cocaine withdrawal decreases dopamine levels (Parsons et al., 1991; Baker et al., 2003). Further support to this could be from the higher convergence of the dual glutamatergic and dopaminergic pathways in the core (Zahm and Brog, 1992).

Other than that, a study has found that there is also structural plasticity in input regions to the nucleus accumbens. These inputs include the ventral tegmental area (VTA) which is thoug

This question has been answered.

Get Answer