Abortion as a moral issue

Until, the late 1900s, the issue of abortion was not discussed among most American citizens. It wasn’t, however, until wealthy physicians “who used abortion to make a symbolic claim to medical expertise” that abortion was even mentioned (Munson 78). As a result of these physicians and through the support of the Catholic Church, abortion is one of the most talked about moral issues in today’s society. Many pro-life organizations have turned to activism to illustrate their beliefs on abortion as a moral, rather than medical, problem.

Pro-life activists within Family Guy portray abortion as a moral issue, and ultimately sway Peter and Lois from going through with their plan of terminating their pregnancy. The activists within the episode utilize the presence of shame, through propaganda, with statements such as “promising human lives that were probably snuffed out by abortion” when describing the act of abortion. The ideals of the activists within Family Guy parallel the ideals of the Catholic Church within Munson’s article. The Catholic Church utilized “a combination of lobbying, public education campaigns, and support for the fledging grassroots organizations that were beginning to appear around the country,” similar to the use of facts, shame, and education, as present in the Family Guy clip (Munson 82).

Munson, along with Fischer, in The Abortion Puzzle, view abortion as more of a moral issue than ever before—looking past women’s expected roles and religion and shifting to focus on the “personhood of the fetus” (Fischer 4). As proven by the current upcoming election, the issue of abortion has transformed from a non-issue into a main division in today’s society, as proven by Munson stating, “abortion is one of the only morally charged social issues about which American opinion has become more polarized over the last three decades” (Munson 87).