Teenagers should have the final say in going through a medical procedure or not since not having a choice disrespects their rights as an autonomous person.
One cannot always judge whether or not another is completely autonomous, but which is worse, to give a voice to the incompetent or take away the voice of the competent? We can debate whether or not teens should have the right to make serious choices about medical procedures, or we can realize that controlling such a big part of their lives is the equivalent of disregarding their right as a human being. Take the case of Maria, her reasons for keeping the baby are not specified, but should be respected. If she believes abortions are immoral, than forcing her to undergo the procedure is forcing her to go against her morality. If she just wants a baby just for the sake of having one, a seriously …show more content…
This means that people should be recognized as individuals with autonomy. Unless a teenager is obviously incompetent or unable to make a choice, they deserve the right to choose whether or not to go through a medical procedure. These are not children who think that the tooth fairy exists and believe that living in the wilderness is easy because Tarzan did it. These are teenagers who, while may have a lot to learn about the world, deserve to know what is happening, what their choices are, and that they can choose. You can respect their right as a human being to make choices, or you can disregard that because it does not matter what they think. What people don’t realize is that adolescents making these choices are not anarchists, but autonomous. Anarchy is your son telling his mother that he can do drugs and skip school because it is his life. Autonomy is your son telling you that he wants to die at home in his bed. Even though he knows that falling asleep without being connected to the machines will kill him, he rather die in peace than live in
One cannot always judge whether or not another is completely autonomous, but which is worse, to give a voice to the incompetent or take away the voice of the competent? We can debate whether or not teens should have the right to make serious choices about medical procedures, or we can realize that controlling such a big part of their lives is the equivalent of disregarding their right as a human being. Take the case of Maria, her reasons for keeping the baby are not specified, but should be respected. If she believes abortions are immoral, than forcing her to undergo the procedure is forcing her to go against her morality. If she just wants a baby just for the sake of having one, a seriously …show more content…
This means that people should be recognized as individuals with autonomy. Unless a teenager is obviously incompetent or unable to make a choice, they deserve the right to choose whether or not to go through a medical procedure. These are not children who think that the tooth fairy exists and believe that living in the wilderness is easy because Tarzan did it. These are teenagers who, while may have a lot to learn about the world, deserve to know what is happening, what their choices are, and that they can choose. You can respect their right as a human being to make choices, or you can disregard that because it does not matter what they think. What people don’t realize is that adolescents making these choices are not anarchists, but autonomous. Anarchy is your son telling his mother that he can do drugs and skip school because it is his life. Autonomy is your son telling you that he wants to die at home in his bed. Even though he knows that falling asleep without being connected to the machines will kill him, he rather die in peace than live in