ABSTRACT

Abortion is a highly debated human act in ethical studies; it has attracted the attention of both the pro-life and pro-choice scholars. While pro-lifers' major take on abortion is anchored on the sanctity and inviolability of human life (taking into consideration that foetuses also enjoy right to life), the pro-choicers on the other hand, based their views on the freedom and right of a woman over her body (this is to say that, even if the foetus can be said to be human, its rights are subsumed under that of the mother's because, it cannot survive on its own). Arguments from the pro-choice scholars are based on expediency; that is, given to some circumstances surrounding conception and pregnancy itself, the potential mother reserves the right to keep or terminate a conceptus. In view of this, this study, first of all, considers (in their merits) some of the reasons given so far for or against abortion. Considering the high rate of maternal death in Nigeria resulting from abortion, this study, using the philosophical method of hermeneutics, interprets these arguments on abortion vis-à-vis their Igbo-Nigerian implications. This was done by considering the legality of abortion in Nigeria and its ethical implication and the pristine Igbo thoughts around the value of life in the light of abortion. At the end, it concludes that, induced abortion is alien to the pristine Igbo tradition and due to the high rate of the act of abortion amongst the Nigerian youths today, the act of abortion should remain criminalized. Going forward, Nigerian parents should reduce the act of female chastisement and be more accommodating. If abortion must be carried out (maybe as a result of the ill-health of the mother), the study recommends that it be done in accordance to the provision of the principle of double effects as propounded by Thomas Aquinas.