Aug-16Ethi Flashcards
Aug-16Ethi -Index
- Prevention of Corruption and Personal Integrity
- Commercial Surrogacy
- Celebrity Endorsements
- Issue of Abortion- Legal or Ethical?
9.1. PREVENTION OF CORRUPTION AND PERSONAL INTEGRITY
Why in news?
Recently case related to indictment of coal secretary under ‘coal scam’ allegations has been taken up in SC.
Stakeholders: Coal Secretary, Political bosses, Ministry, society in general.
Ethical issues involved
Objectivity v/s Confidentiality – He had to take decisions with objectivity, but he also had to maintain confidentiality to preserve the team spirit and decision making.
Integrity vis a vis Obedience to the law – The coal secretary may have integrity, but he didn’t protest in the first instance when the decision was going against the spirit of the law.
Self-Regulation or Autonomy v/s External control – more events like coal scam will reduce the legitimacy of autonomy demanded by the ministry and will put them under control such as under ombudsman.
Negligence v/s Duty of obedience – there are doubts of negligence while he has dutifully respected the hierarchy.
Probity – as there was loss to public exchequer.
Section 13(1) (d) (iii) - burden of proof in criminal cases, which normally rests with the prosecution, shifts here to the public servant arraigned by law.
Abuse of office.
Values under question
Professional competence and due care
Selflessness, integrity
Legal and Judicial accountability
Political neutrality
Values shown by stakeholder 1
Prudence – signifies practical political wisdom
Fortitude – moral strength or moral courage in endurance of pain
Teleology or Consequentialism— i.e., the stakeholder has not strictly followed deontology or strictly doing one’s duty.
Way forward
By Ministry:
Codifying ethical norms and practices.
Providing norms for qualifying and disqualifying a public functionary from office.
Structure of decision making to be made transparent. Cumbersome procedures of dealing with various matters have to be simplified.
Preventive and punitive vigilance.
For Civil servants:
Using the best judgement – as mentioned in code of conduct. But there always scope for doubt on the integrity on the officers.
Written orders and civil service boards for transfers.
For Political Authorities:
Fixing of accountability and responsibility of a particular duty on a particular person.
PoCA to be amended to combat collusive corruption.
CBI should be made autonomous, so that it can interrogate political authorities with impartiality.
Conclusion: As Honorary Secretary of the Central IAS Officers Association has said “An honest civil servant should not be harassed by anybody or agency or institution while in service or after retirement. It would make the civil servants working in the system nervous and edgy, which would not be in the interest of the country.” But at the same time the system should be made such that it is rewarding for the honest and punishing for the dishonest.
9.2. COMMERCIAL SURROGACY
Why in news?
Union Cabinet recently cleared the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2016, banning commercial surrogacy in India and allowing only the altruistic surrogacy to infertile parents. Overview At a glance, surrogacy seems like an attractive alternative as: a poor surrogate mother gets very much needed money.
an infertile couple gets their long-desired biologically related baby and the country earns foreign currency.
Although this arrangement appears to be beneficial for all parties, when human reproduction meets commerce, gender inequality, and wealth disparity, the potential for ethical transgression becomes great indeed. Ethical issues as to commercial surrogacy
In general, the ethics behind the commercial surrogacy is that it is helpful for women who are naturally not in a position to become a mother. It helps them to enjoy the motherhood.
At the same time, those families which are having the problem of lack of peace due to absence of child can overcome the said quandary and for achieving this goal commercial surrogacy is no doubt a way out.
Many argue that surrogate arrangements depersonalize reproduction and create a separation of genetic, gestational, and social parenthood. Others argue that there is a change in motives for creating children.
According to them children are not conceived for their own sakes, but for another’s benefit. Whereas some other consider it as a moral duty to alleviate the “curse” of infertility from the women who purchase their services.
Some of the ethical issues regarding commercial surrogacy
What is the degree of stress on the couple and especially on the surrogate mother? What kind of medical and psychological screening should be provided to all parties? What can be the emotions associated with relinquishing a child?
Can true informed consent ever be given by the surrogate?
What are the possible adverse psychological effects on the child? What identity crisis might ensue, and will there be a desire on the part of the child to know his/her gestational mother? Should the child be told?
Will surrogate arrangements be used not only by infertile couples but also for the sake of convenience, or by single men or women?
Should the surrogate be paid? Would this lead to commercialization of surrogacy and expose the surrogate mother to possible exploitation?
What happens when no one wants a handicapped newborn?
Should the couple and surrogate remain unknown to each other? What kinds of records should be kept, and should the child have access to them?
When doctor is being paid by only one party and he has to pay to the other party, will it not create a conflict of interest?
9.3. CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS
Why in news?
The parliamentary panel on consumer affairs, in its recommendations on the Consumer Protection Bill, 2015, has called for stringent provisions, including jail term for up to five years and penalty of up to Rs 50 lakh if a celebrity endorsed product misfires.
When Celebrity Endorsements Aren’t Ethical
Authenticity: Usage of by famous Celebrities may look unethical when he is non-user of the product. Moreover it is quite complex to find out whether a celebrity is a common user of the product.
Unsafe or ineffective product endorsement: Unethical aspects pave its way again when celebrities endorse some products which are hazardous for society.
Misleading information: when celebrities say something deceptive / make false claims than the endorsement is lacking in ethics.
Conflict of interest: when a particular ad conflicts with the celebrity’s image, principles, interests etc., Celebrity is totally money minded, hence the ethical implications can be very serious.
Override expert opinion: It is especially unethical when a celebrity endorsement overtake the expert judgment. i.e., when he interjects his non-expert opinion he undermines the opinion of more qualified individuals.
Conclusion
In general, celebrity endorsements have existed for decades and likely to continue in the future. But the performance of these celebrities is not always ethical. Although the severity arising from such unethical behaviors of celebrities can vary, it is necessary for the enterprise and the celebrity that to consider all ethical considerations prior to publicly supporting a product or service.
9.4. ISSUE OF ABORTION- LEGAL OR ETHICAL?
Background
The abortion debate deals with the rights and wrongs of deliberately ending a pregnancy before normal childbirth, killing the foetus in the process. Abortion is a very painful topic for women and men who find themselves facing the moral dilemma of whether or not to terminate a pregnancy.
Worldwide, it is estimated that 46 million women seek abortion every year and the World Health Organisation estimates that close to half of these happen in unsafe conditions. In India, around 20 million women seek to terminate an unwanted pregnancy every year.
Even today, due to the stigma around women’s sexuality and abortion itself, a woman dies every two hours of an unsafe abortion.
Arguments against Abortion
Since life begins at conception, abortion is akin to murder as it is the act of taking human life. Abortion is in direct defiance of the commonly accepted idea of the sanctity of human life.
No civilized society permits one human to intentionally harm or take the life of another human without punishment, and abortion is no different.
Adoption is a viable alternative to abortion and accomplishes the same result.
An abortion can result in medical complications later in life; the risk of ectopic pregnancies doubles, and the chance of a miscarriage and pelvic inflammatory disease also increases.
In the instance of rape and incest, proper medical care can ensure that a woman will not get pregnant. Abortion punishes the unborn child who committed no crime; instead, it is the perpetrator who should be punished.
Abortion should not be used as another form of contraception.
For women who demand complete control of their body, control should include preventing the risk of unwanted pregnancy through the responsible use of contraception or, if that is not possible, through abstinence.
It’s morally wrong to use tax money to fund abortion.
Those who choose abortions are often minors or young women with insufficient life experience to understand fully what they are doing. Many have lifelong regrets afterwards.
Abortion frequently causes intense psychological pain and stress.
Arguments for Abortion
Nearly all abortions take place in the first trimester, when a foetus cannot exist independent of the mother. As it is attached by the placenta and umbilical cord, its health is dependent on her health, and cannot be regarded as a separate entity as it cannot exist outside her womb.
The concept of personhood is different from the concept of human life. Human life occurs at conception, but fertilized eggs used for in vitro fertilization are also human lives and those not implanted are routinely thrown away. Is this murder, and if not, then how is abortion murder?
Adoption is not an alternative to abortion, because it remains the woman’s choice whether or not to give her child up for adoption.
Abortion is a safe medical procedure. The vast majority of women - 88% - who have an abortion do so in their first trimester.
In the case of rape or incest, forcing a woman made pregnant by this violent act would cause further psychological harm to the victim. Often a woman is too afraid to speak up or is unaware she is pregnant, thus the morning after pill is ineffective in these situations.
Abortion is not used as a form of contraception. Pregnancy can occur even with responsible contraceptive use. The ability of a woman to have control of her body is critical to civil rights. Take away her reproductive choice and you step onto a slippery slope. If the government can force a woman to continue a pregnancy, what about forcing a woman to use contraception or undergo sterilization?
Taxpayer money is used to enable poor women to access the same medical services as rich women, and abortion is one of these services. Funding abortion is no different from funding a war in the Mideast. For those who are opposed, the place to express outrage is in the voting booth.
Teenagers who become mothers have grim prospects for the future. They are much more likely to leave of school; receive inadequate prenatal care; rely on public assistance to raise a child; develop health problems; or end up divorced.
Like any other difficult situation, abortion creates stress. Psychologists found that stress was greatest prior to an abortion, and that there was no evidence of post-abortion syndrome.
Way forward
The ethical issues here are not just of the rights of the foetus. The foetus is not an independent entity and depends completely on the welfare of the woman. So it’s a matter of rights of foetus vs rights of mother.
The abortion dilemma has overlapping issues from different realms like legal, medical, ethical, philosophical, religious and human rights. It should be analysed from different perspectives. There cannot be any hard and fast rule over abortion. It must be discussed and deliberated to evolve a common consensus.
