Moral Duty

"Can it be that only freely willed and consciously contracted relationships can create moral obligations? If so, then all moral responsibilities in relationships which we have not entered into with informed consent will be endangered". This quote can be found on page 48 of the Callahan article. I disagree with the point that Callahan makes with this. I do think that people must enter into a freely willed and consciously contracted relationship. Of course people will not have a moral responsibility to something they do not feel compelled to protect. People do not automatically feel morally obligated to protect family members, friends, or neighbors out of the blue. They choose to protect these people because they find that in their own set of morals. The same goes for strangers: A person may feel that it is necessary to donate to a good cause or help someone whose car has broken down because the moral guidelines they have created for themselves say that is the right thing to do. In applying Callahan's idea of moral duty to abortion, I think that it is extremely lopsided. Of course one can say that just because the woman did not think it was convenient, planned, or wanted she can devalue the "life" enough to get an abortion. Callahan is blatantly disregarding who will ultimately end up being at a disadvantage for making the morally right choice in her opinion. In the end, the woman will most likely end up taking the responsibility for the unplanned pregnancy: the process of pregnancy, birth, child rearing, expenses, etc. putting women at a great disadvantage compared to men, who are more able to walk away from the situation. The father's moral obligation to the child is not necessarily guaranteed. Callahan's idea of moral responsibility is nice in writing, but it does not actually work like she thinks it may. People choose their moral duties, they are not inherent and there are no moral obligations that we do not choose for ourselves, even when it comes to one's own child. Where it does matter is in the law, where some obligations are made for us, however it is still a personal choice to follow these laws (though repercussions may follow). In the situation of abortion and where life begins and Callahan's idea that medical terms and legal definitions devalue human life, I would argue that not allowing choice devalues a woman's autonomy over her body, and forces her in a situation where her power is greatly diminished. A male would never be placed in the same situation of not having control over their bodies like this, nor would they be judged by society to the same extent for not choosing to be morally obligated to taking care of another human life where they do not see themselves fit to do so.