An Analysis of Rights Theories: Concepts, Applications, and Debates

This essay delves into the complexities of rights theories, exploring various ethical perspectives and their applications. It begins by defining a right and examining how it is perceived through different political and philosophical lenses, including utilitarianism, Kantian ethics, and natural rights theor...Read More

Running Head: RIGHTS THEORIES 1
The Rights Theories
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A right can be viewed differently according to one’s political affiliations. It is defined as
an ethical judgment, acceptable entitlement to acquire or own something to act in a certain way.
According to Bentham, the founder of utilitarianism theory of right, a right is one which
encourages us to undertake a certain task which will bear more pleasure than doing anything else
would (Hurford, 2014). Right is believed to be something that is obtained from a morally right
doing. This is also discussed in other theories such as Kantian ethics, Natural Rights theories and
religious values.
Rights may be positive or negative depending on different people’s preferences and
perceptions. What seems to be rightful to one party may be of great harm to another. The right
theory emphasizes on both the positive and negative rights. For instance, abortion under the
rights based ethics system is viewed as both positive and negative right. It is the right of women
to choose where both pro-choice and pro-life advocates make different discussions, with the fact
that both sides are of great importance to their proponents and opponents. It is acceptable for a
woman to choose to undertake an abortion act when in critical condition which may endanger
their lives (Honneth, 2014). Abortion discourages women from giving birth to many children
that they cannot take care of thus seen as an alternative way of controlling birth. This act is also
advisable to ladies who might have gotten pregnancies accidentally, e.g. through rape cases,
incest or forcing a woman. Religious theories are very much against this
On the other hand, abortion is taken as a fatal and dangerous doing which should be
highly discouraged in the society. It is assumed as committing murder and denying innocent
creatures the right to live. It affects the victims negatively by creating a lot of stress to them
regardless of their age, social status or circumstances (Trevino & Nelson, 2016). There is an
evolution of self-guilty to oneself. Abortion is denying a person their right to live. Women who

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have ever undertaken abortion are prone to miscarriage and pelvic inflammatory diseases which
are an automatic threat to their lives. This is mostly triggered by the power and ability
guaranteed to women when it comes to making one's choice at the expense of life (Morgan, &
Wisneski, 2017)
Under whichever circumstances, we ought to do things which lead to positive
consequences. The virtue of ethics advocates for not undertaking actions at the expense of
others’ lives. It discourages abortion at all costs. To some people, abortion is healthy while to
others it’s a crime. These consequences should not be limited to what will increase or decrease
happiness of either party. Abortions are both good and bad actions as well, depending on the
doer and the reasons behind the move though many researchers view it as an intrinsic moral evil
in the society (Anastasiou et al., 2017). It remains to be an evil act.
In conclusion, nothing is always right or wrong; it only depends on what drives a person
to undertake a certain task. In my own opinion, abortion should highly be discouraged since its
consequences outweigh the benefits. It is also against the rights theory based on ethics. Where a
woman is privileged with all the rights to choose whether to practice abortion or not, they should
make the right choice of not engaging in such activities.

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References
Anastasiou, A., Borsten, L., Duff, M. J., Marrani, A., Nagy, S., & Zoccali, M. (2017). Are all
supergravity theories Yang-Mills squared?. arXiv preprint arXiv:1707.03234.
Honneth, A. (2014). Freedom's right: the social foundations of democratic life. Columbia
University Press
Hurford, J. R. (2014). What is wrong, and what is right, about current theories of language, in the
light of evolution?. Origin and Evolution of Language, 123.
Morgan, G. S., & Wisneski, D. C. (2017). The Structure of Political Ideology Varies Between
and Within People: Implications for Theories About Ideology's Causes. Social
Cognition, 35(4), 395-414.
Trevino, L. K., & Nelson, K. A. (2016). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do
it right. John Wiley & Sons.