Legality, morality, ethical
What if they conflict?
There is a great deal of confusion in the public about the difference between legality, morality, and ethics. This feature on davidgmarkham.substack.com is focused primarily on the ethical, but legality and morality must be taken into account in discussing the ethical.
Legality is stipulated by the government and is focused on obedience and punishment.
Morality is based on personal beliefs about right and wrong and these personal beliefs are shaped by upbringing, culture, and/or religion.
Ethics is formulated by professional groups and philosophical frameworks to guide decision making and behavior by members.
These three perspectives sometimes conflict as when certain behavior can be legal but immoral and unethical or when certain behavior can be illegal but moral and ethical. These conflicts often create distress which manifests in demoralization, anger, anxiety, and/or depression.
At the current time, 2026, in the US the conflicts over the legality, morality, and ethics of behavior by government officials creates significant distress in members of the US and around the world.
A 16 year old pregnant female in Texas would like to terminate her pregnancy of 8 weeks and seeks consultation with a health care professional. She has not told her parents that she is pregnant and only two of her closest girlfriends know. She has not told her boyfriend who is 18, the father of the child, who is a devout Christian and a conservative Republican.
Knowing that abortion is illegal in Texas and anyone helping her obtain one can be subject to fines up to $100,000.00 and automatic revocation of their professional license, she seeks help online from a health care professional in another state. What do you think an appropriate position would be for this health care professional to take in responding to this young woman? What would be a few of the considerations about the legality, morality, and ethical requirements and expectations?
Editor’s note:
Articles about ethics will be published on this blog on Saturdays for the next few months so subscribe to davidgmarkham.substack.com if you haven’t already and look for them on Mondays.
You can access previous articles on this topic by clicking on the link “ethics” in the navigation bar.
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Leave questions, ideas, and concerns you would like to see father discussed on this topic in the comments.