2013年12月24日 星期二

Revised Annotation (4)- Embryos Deserve Rights To Live

Ronald Dworkin is a contemporary American scholar of constitutional law. In Dworkin's book, Life's dominion: an argument about abortion, euthanasia, and individual freedom, he argues on page 29 that there are two arguable aspects in abortion issue. The first concerns whether the embryo has the two morally relevant qualities or not, benefits of living continuously and rights to protect these benefits. If the answer to the first question is yes, then we can get derivative objections against abortion and the derivative reasons of allowing law to prohibit or to restrain abortion.
 And then here comes another query, is abortion sometimes wrong morally not because it makes somebody unfair or non-right but because it denies and offends the sacredness or irreverence of human lives? Suppose the second question is true, this is detached objections against abortion and it can also hold detached reasons which argue that abortion is illegal or it has to be regulated instead of mentioning derivative objections and explanations.  
        On page 40, Ronald brings up the ideas of typical liberals who are against abortion. They insist that abortion is always the serious moral decision made at least after embryos' individual genetic qualities established and successful embryo implantation.(usually about fourteen days following pregnancy) From that time on, abortion means eliminating a human life that has already begun. Only due to this cause, it involves in solemn moral expense.
It is by no means allowable to take abortion by virtue of tedious and trivial reasons. Unless abortion is taken in order to avoid tremendous harm, there are no excuses for abortion. The following are false actions. A woman takes abortion because of a long-expecting journey to Europe, being more comfortable when getting pregnant in other seasons, the embryo being a girl and she wanting a boy and so on. (Ronald Dworkin, 2002)
 Decision of abortion involves moral aspects. Both derivative and detached objections stand against abortion. When contemplating on whether taking abortion or not, we need to take embryos’ benefits of living and the holiness of human lives into account. Even though somebody may think an embryo is not a complete life therefore does not equip with human rights, but it is out there, just inside mother’s uterus. It is certainly being. It deserves the basic rights to continue living which nobody can deprive of.
As for the abovementioned motives for abortion, college students may find other reasons other than merely boring and petty ones such as economical burdens and psychological pressure. If students can find ways to balance the difficulties, I think they should not give up their babies easily since the action also entails mothers shouldering ethical loads and social judgments. Abortion is not always the best refuge from the upcoming responsibilities. Take them and let embryos proceed with their lives.
  
Reference:
Ronald Dworkin. (2002). Life's dominion: an argument about abortion, euthanasia, and individual freedom. (Ya-Ru Chen, Zhen-Ling Guo, Trans.)

        

Revised Annotation (2) – The Amended University Act Ensures Students’ Right to Education.

If college students or their lovers are pregnant, should they give up their current studies? Should they give up their colorful university lives in order to give birth to their babies and raise them? As a matter of fact, they need not sacrifice their studies.
Article 26 of University Act was amended in 2008 by Ministry of Education and the amended Article 26 allows college students, both females and males, to extend their studying term due to pregnancy, childbirth and childcare. As a result, college couples can apply for temporary suspension of study in order to earn money to raise their children. Giving birth does not mean college students should totally give up everything including their studies for their children.
Before Article 26 of University Act was corrected, most college students can only apply for temporary suspension of study for at most 2 years. However, it takes a mother at least one and half year to go through the pregnant period, deliver her baby, take postpartum staycation and breastfeed. If a mother wants to continue looking after her youngster, it may go beyond 2 years, which is the limited length for temporary suspension of study.
Fortunately, according to the revised Article 26 of University Act in 2008 , ''A student pursuing a bachelor degree or above may request for prolonging the studying term on account of pregnancy, childbirth, or childcare for the toddler under three years old. '' Moreover, the Act is suitable for both males and females.
In terms of the academic rules of NCU, Reg.40 notes that students can apply for temporary suspension of study because of pregnancy, childbirth, or childcare for the toddler under three years old. The accumulated suspension length is limited to 4 years. The period of suspension will not be taken into account for the total suspension length. Upon the termination of the suspension period, the birth certificate of the student’s child and relevant documents will be used to apply for resumption of Study.
All in all the revised version of Article 26 of University Act ensures students’ right to education and at the same time offer them time to take care of the toddler and earn money to support the economic needs for raising a child and a family during the temporary suspension of study.

References:
1.    Ministry of Education-University Act. (2009, Nov 18). Retrieved October 28, 2013 from the Ministry of Education: http://edu.law.moe.gov.tw/EngLawContent.aspx?Type=E&id=24
 2. National Central University, General Rules and Regulations.(2010, July 19).

Retrieved October 29, 2013 from National Central University:http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://pdc.adm.ncu.edu.tw/rule/rule99/1.pdf

Revised Annotation (1) – Abortion Influences Women’s Mental and Physical Health.

Life is so precious that everyone should take abortion issues more seriously. In a video entitled ‘‘College Talk-If College Students Are Pregnant’’, a student called Lin Lin argues that if she is pregnant, she will deliver her child because it is a life and she is reluctant to give it up. She will also be afraid of the unborn child following her after she takes abortion. The host then asks her, “If the child’s father and you haven’t built a steady relationship, what will you do? ” Lin Lin responds,“ It’s ok. I can take care of the baby by myself. And my parents also think that if I get pregnant accidentally, I should deliver it because abortion is harmful to female’s body and the baby is a life. Even the father cannot take care of it now, in the future, probably there will be another man who is willing to accept this child.”
Dr. Chen mentions that university students are special cases. Their ages range from 18 to 22. They have higher knowledge background. Many students would find ways to solve the pregnant problems by themselves. Accordingly, they do not have exact statistical data about the rate of pregnancy among college students. However, he shares another data. According to the rough estimation from Taiwan Association of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2011, every year, the average amount of abortion is twice as much as the amount of childbirth. That is to say, last year, the fertility amount was 170000 and the amount of abortion would be around 340000. According to this ratio, among the 340 thousands aborted babies, he believes that there were 60000 to 70000 babies aborted by mothers aged around 18 to 22 years old. The statistical data is extremely shocking.
Abortion may cause eternal mental fear and trauma to the person taking it. For instance, Lin Lin says that she will be afraid of the unborn child following her after she takes abortion. Moreover, abortion will lead to infertility forever. For example, university students may buy miscarriage medicine from unreliable or illegal sources and may accidentally find an unreliable doctor to conduct an abortion surgery. If the baby in the uterus is not moved out completely or during the process of abortion, the doctor hurts the endometrium, there is a good possibility that women cannot get pregnant anymore in the future.
To sum up, university students should not take abortion because it affects both mental and physical health toward women. Besides, nowadays the abortion rate is too high compared with the fertility rate in Taiwan. We are responsible for stopping this trend in order to protect each precious life.

References:
ctitv.(2011). 5/3 College Talk- If College Students Are Pregnant (Part 1).
Retrieved October,10, 2012, from YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwLTQHKwtGQ




2013年12月23日 星期一

Transcription (2)

R: Hello everyone, I am Ruby.
E: I am Emma.
R&E: And we are going to talk about should university students take abortion.
E: And my side is to take abortion.
R: And my side is don’t take abortion
E: Hey Ruby, what are you reading?
R: I am reading Life’s Dominion.
E: Oh! But I remember this book talks about take abortion.
R: Yeah, but I just read it.
E: No, no way. Last time I told you to take abortion, haven’t you do that?
R: Of course not.
E: Why not? This book talks a lot of reason for you to take abortion.
R: Oh, maybe you can show me what you read from this book.
E: Okay, let me introduce the author to you first.
This book’s author is Ronald Drworkin. He is an American law scholar and also a philosopher.
So why do you object to abortion? Do you think taking abortion is immoral? Or very cruel? If you do, I will make you think twice. This author divided those who are opposed to abortion into two parts. The first part is derivative objection. They think, care babies’ rights. But actually is meaningless to suppose something has rights when it hasn’t had. Just take Dr. Frankenstein for example. If the doctor could make the dead body come alive, then could the stop of the experiment also be a way to take away the body’s right?
And the second part is the detached objection. They regard taking abortion as a murder and think life is so precious and sacred. But do you think it is acceptable when the pregnancy is resulted from a rape or incest? Incest means 亂倫. But most of people think it is acceptable, and they even can agree women to take abortion when the pregnancy is life-threating. However, those young girls also don’t want the children, and they also will have life difficulty. Now that life is so precious, why the former is acceptable, and the latter is guilty?
So the first thing we have to define is, is an embryo a person? Embryo means 授精卵, do you think an embryo is a person? Just think about it, and we will talk it later.
R:But on page 40, I also found the ideas of typical liberals who are against abortion. They insist that abortion is always the serious moral decision which made at least after embryos' genetic qualities established and successful embryo implantation. From that time on, abortion means eliminating a human life that has already begun.
It is not allowable to take abortion because of tedious and trivial reasons. For example, a mother takes abortion because of a long-expecting journey to Europe. Or because she wants to feel more comfortable when getting pregnant in other seasons such as fall or spring. Or she wants to have a boy, but the embryo is a girl and so on. They are all trivial and tedious excuses.
 Decision of abortion involves moral aspects. When college students contemplate on whether taking abortion or not, they should take embryos’ benefits of living and the holiness of human lives into account. Even though somebody may think an embryo is not a complete life therefore does not equip with human rights, but it is out there, just inside mother’s uterus. Therefore, it is certainly being. It deserves the basic rights to continue living which nobody can deprive of.
   As a result, I think if college students can find ways to balance the economical burdens and mental pressure just like me, I think we should not give up our babies easily since abortion also makes mothers shoulder ethical burdens and social judgments. Abortion is not always the best refugee from the upcoming responsibilities.
E: okay, but in my annotation 4, it talks about taking abortion in the United States. Roe was a poor girl and she wanted to take abortion, but the laws in Texas forbade it. So, she brought the suit to the Court, and finally she won. Because of the fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution said that the local government cannot deprive persons of life, liberty, or property legislative authorization. But the word “persons” does not include the unborn baby.
So my conclusion is that I think it is not proper for a young girl to have a child. Not only they will have to face the financial problem, they will also have mental stress during the pregnancy. And I think it is not fair that the stigma which those girls have to bear when they want to take abortion. If they want, we should stand their side and respect their decision. Putting the overwhelming stress on them with those unclear reasons is too cruel. Just like the Roe’s case, in the end, she still had to deliver it, she couldn’t support the child, so she still had to give it up for adoption.
So, Ruby, I think you should be positive to abortion. If the abortion can make you take having sex more seriously next time, and it could also relieve your financial problem, why don’t you just take it?
R:Ok, but you talked about an example in America. I also got an example from Malaysia. In 2010, the chief minister of Malacca, Mohammed Ali Rustam, set up the first school for pregnant girls in Malaysia. The school not only provides normal courses, it also gives students a dormitory to live in which is translated into Home of Hope. In School of Hope and Home of Hope, students can receive religious, maternity healthcare counseling, medical check-ups and skill training such as cooking and baby-caring for the preparation of being a mother and a wife in the near future. The school of hope is a great support for pregnant girls. If those girls can receive thoughtful care, nonstop education and most important of all, a shield from the outside gossip, they will have greater willingness and courage to deliver their child and to take care of them.
And Emma, remember that I told you some information few weeks ago? Article 26 of University Act was amended. And according to the rule, students can apply for temporary suspension of study. Then they have more time to earn money for their child and have more time to stay with their child. Moreover, abortion harms women’s body. If the baby in the uterus is not moved out completely or during the process of abortion, the doctor hurts the endometrium, it will lead to infertility forever. All in all, I think I won’t take your advice to take abortion.
E: Why not?

R: I still want to deliver my child.
E: Okay.

R&E: And thank for your listening!

2013年12月15日 星期日

Annotation 4- Embryos Deserve Rights To Live

             Ronald Dworkin is a contemporary American scholar of constitutional law. In Dworkin's book, Life's dominion: an argument about abortion, euthanasia, and individual freedom, he mentioned on page 29 that there are two arguable aspects in abortion issue. The first concerns whether the embryo has the two morally relevant qualities or not, benefits of living continuously and rights to protect these benefits. If the answer to the first question is yes, then we can get derivative objections against abortion and the derivative reasons of allowing law to prohibit or to restrain abortion.
        And then here comes another query, is abortion sometimes wrong morally not because it makes somebody unfair or non-right but because it denies and offends the sacredness or irreverence of human lives? Suppose the second question is true, this is detached objections against abortion and it can also hold detached reasons which arguing abortion is illegal or it has to be regulated instead of mentioning derivative objections and explanations.  
        On page 40, Ronald brings up the ideas of typical liberals against abortion. They insist that abortion is always the serious moral decision made at least after embryos' individual genetic qualities established and successful embryo implantation.(usually about fourteen days following pregnancy) From that time on, abortion means eliminating a human life that has already begun. Only due to this cause, it involves in solemn moral expense.
It is by no means allowable to take abortion by virtue of tedious and trivial reasons. Unless abortion is taken in order to avoid tremendous harm, or there are no excuses for abortion. The following are false actions. A woman takes abortion because of a long-expecting Europe journey, being more comfortable when getting pregnant in other seasons, the embryo being a girl and she wanting a boy and so on.
 Decision of abortion involves moral aspects. Both derivative and detached objections stand against abortion. When contemplating on whether taking abortion or not, we need to take embryos’ benefits of living and the holiness of human lives into account. Even though somebody may think an embryo is not a complete life therefore does not equip with human rights, but it is out there, just inside the mother’s uterus, beating and beating feebly. It is certainly being. It deserves the basic rights to continue living which nobody can deprive of.
As for the abovementioned motives of abortion, college female students may find other reasons other than merely boring and petty ones such as economical burdens and psychological pressure. If students can find ways to balance the difficulties, I think they should not give up their babies easily since the action also entails mothers shouldering ethical loads and social judgments. Abortion is not always the best refugee from the upcoming responsibilities. Take it and let the embryo proceed with its lives.   

Reference:
Ronald Dworkin. (2002). Life’s dominion: an argument about abortion, euthanasia, and individual freedom. (Ya-Ru Chen,Zhen-Ling Guo, Trans.)
        

Revised Annotation (3)- Pregnant Girls Find Hope In The School of Hope

People in Malaysia, especially Muslims, are expected to keep sexual abstinence until marriage. In Islamic tradition, if people break the rule and get pregnant, they are not even allowed to take abortion. Consequently, the shame of giving birth out of wedlock and the lack of anywhere to turn for help cause numerous pregnant young girls in Malaysia to take the only solution they see before them: to abandon their babies. According to the website of Royal Malaysia Police in 2010, from 2005 to 2010, there were 407 unwanted babies be dumped in Malaysia.
In light of the stigma of pre-marital sex and the horrible amount of abandoned babies in Malaysia, the chief minister of Malacca, Mohammed Ali Rustam, set up the first school for pregnant teenagers in Malaysia, Sekolah Harapan, or School of Hope, in September 2010.
The idea of the school is to provide education for pregnant girls, and they need not stop their education due to pregnancy. They will be shielded from the gossip and shame they would experience in their original schools and will carry on their schooling in privacy until they give birth.
The school not only provides students normal courses, it also gives pregnant girls dormitory to live which named Rumah Harapan, or Home of Hope. In School of Hope and Home of Hope, students receive religious and maternity healthcare counseling which mainly encourage those pregnant girls to face social perspectives and to deliver their children with great bravery. They are also provided with medical check-ups and skill training such as cooking and baby-caring courses for the preparation of being a mother and a wife in the near future.  
The abovementioned treatments, tuition, fee of dorm and even students’ deliveries are all provided by the Malacca Islamic Affairs Department. In a state where many Muslims reside, the chief minister of Malacca, Mohammed Ali Rustam, bravely takes the initiatives to provide a shelter for pregnant girls. The school of hope is not merely a hope for the mothers and the babies; it is also a hope for the whole country, the sprouting consciousness for the rooted Islamic traditions little by little.
The school of hope is a great support for pregnant girls. If they can receive thoughtful care, nonstop education and most important of all, a shield from the outside gossip, they will have greater willingness and bravery to deliver their embryos and to take care of them.
Before, nobody tells pregnant girls how to deal with pregnancy. But now, in the School of Hope, somebody provide counseling, skill training and a refuge for them. Pregnant girls then find fire of hope to light up lives of them and their embryos once again.            
References:
1.PDRM. (2010). Baby Dumping Statistic. Retrieved December 14,2013 from Official Portal of Royal Malaysia Police : http://www.rmp.gov.my/
2.Tawfiq, I. (2010). A School of Hope?. Retrieved November 25, 2013 from OnIslam .net: http://www.onislam.net/english/family/gender-issues/education-f