Izvorni znanstveni članak
Abortion as a Bioethical Challenge
Cifrić Ivan
; Odsjek za sociologiju Filozofskog fakulteta u Zagrebu
Marinović Jerolimov Dinka
orcid.org/0000-0002-6511-3124
; Institut za društvena istraživanja, Zagreb
Sažetak
Abortion is an indicator of some controversial bioethical issues of the modern society. It indicates both the social and personal attitude towards unborn life. Two basic attitudes and their own arguments are shown in the contemporary discourse. One attitude allows abortion in certain cases: a heavily damaged foetus, an unmarried woman, a couple who do not want any more children or a particularly difficult financial situation. The other attitude forbids abortion because it is a crime, it is immoral, it puts a woman’s life in danger and it threatens the birth rate of a country. The question is: who is to decide about it? Some people believe abortion should be regulated by law, whether it forbids it or allows it in some cases. Others believe there is no need for legislation because a woman alone should decide. In this paper are shown the results of an empirical survey conducted in 2004 by the Institute for Social Research in Zagreb for the project “Social and Religious Changes in Croatia”. The survey was carried out on a representative sample of adult population (N=2.220) and a special instrument for the perception of abortion was applied. The aim of the paper is to examine how the respondents’ attitude to abortion relates to their religious beliefs (or lack of them), their views on life after death, euthanasia, suicide and cloning as well as their sociodemographical characteristics. The results show that only one third of respondents think abortion should be forbidden by law. 46% think abortion should not be regulated by law. A remarkable number of respondents (62%) believe the decision should be made by women. In cases when respondents think abortion should be allowed, they mostly choose medical reasons for it. Regarding religious self-identification, “true believers” oppose abortion much more strongly than other (un)religious groups and the same is true for those respondents who believe in the Christian afterlife, do not accept suicide, euthanasia and human cloning. Regarding sociodemographical characterisics, respondents with lower education, advanced in age and from smaller (rural) areas where religion plays an important part in life – oppose abortion. Again this points to the established system of traditional values in some population segments (the most religious people) and the modern, liberal system of values in less religious or unreligious segments of population.
Ključne riječi
abortion; religious feelings; dying; life; euthanasia
Hrčak ID:
20651
URI
Datum izdavanja:
20.2.2008.
Posjeta: 9.437 *