Abortion

Should abortion be legal? This question has caused a huge controversy and raised countless debates. Issues dealing with moral and health aspects of abortion have been discussed for years. Some say women have freedom over what happens to them and their bodies. Others go in the opposite direction and say it’s murder. Abortion causes health problems. Abortion prevents neglect. These are some of the arguments used when defending different sides of the debate. I believe abortion should be illegal for both moral and health reasons, with the possible exception of certain special cases.
Perhaps one of the best arguments for making abortion legal is that women should have freedom of choice. It’s their body, and they should be able to decide what happens to it. However, abortion is not only about what happens to the mother, it’s also about what happens to the baby. The fetus is to some degree separate from the mother. It’s an individual. Pregnant women are carrying another life inside their bodies, though some fail to take notice of this. The would-be mother should at least consider the other life inside of her and spare it.
Some scientists state that a fetus is not technically a human until premature signs of development occur. According to some religious parties such as Mormons or Fundamentalists, however, “personhood” begins at conception. As soon as the fetus is formed, it is considered to be a living thing. And from that small fetus a baby develops, which is undoubtedly a human.
Many women get abortions because of unplanned pregnancies. This shows irresponsibility, and should not be a legitimate reason for aborting a fetus. You conceived it, now you should take care of it. There are those who say that unwanted babies will be neglected during childhood and become scarred because of that. However, every child should have a chance. There are many loving families who are willing to adopt unwanted children. In addition, there are countless women in the world, unable to bear children, who would love the opportunity to have a baby. Yet others are willing to abort a child because they don’t want to, or can’t, take care of it.
From a health point of view, abortions are dangerous. Medical studies show that women who have abortions may get a uterus infection and become unable to bear children in the future, and it can affect their health in other ways. For instance, medical abortions can cause bleeding for 13-15 days or more; the tools used during an abortion can puncture and damage other organs, which also causes extensive bleeding. Also, twenty one worldwide studies have linked abortions to breast cancer. In the worst case scenario, abortion can result in death of the mother, especially if done during the first three mothers of pregnancy. However, this is rare. Abortion also affects the mental health of the parents. Following an abortion, some men and women experience sadness, guilt, suicidal thoughts, increased drug and alcohol use, and difficulty maintaining relationships. Clearly, there are many health risks associated with abortion. Is it worth compromising a person’s health to end the life another?
It is true that there are cases when abortion could be considered the better of two choices concerning the health of the mother or the unborn child. If the mother’s health or the baby’s health is at risk, many believe abortion is acceptable. In the case of complications with multiple pregnancies, removing one or more or the fetuses is sometimes considered necessary. However, cases like these are not extremely common.
In fact, a study conducted in 1998 in 27 countries on the reasons women seek to terminate pregnancies concluded that common factors which influenced the abortion decision were: “desire to delay or end childbearing concern over the interruption or work or education, issues of financial or relation stability, and perceived immaturity.” An American study conducted in 2002 showed that 54% of women getting an abortion were getting a form of contraception at the time of becoming pregnant while 46% were not. Obviously, irresponsibly seem to be a much bigger influence on abortion than anything health-related.
Abortion on account of rape and incest is also a big issue. Many women want to abort the child because having it around would be a constant reminder of the incident that conceived it. Guilt causes them to abort. However, as rape is usually not provoked, guilt should not be a reason to abort a child, either. Again, there are orphanages that can take in children who are not wanted by their parents, and there are families that would adopt them. Furthermore, pregnancies caused by rape and incest are not very usual. In fact, a 2004 study in America, in which women at clinics answered a questionnaire, showed the cause of pregnancies resulting in abortion. About 1% of women in the survey became pregnant as a result of rape and 0.5% as a result of incest. Clearly, this is not a strong argument in favor of legalizing abortion.

Aborting in any case, with the possible exception of compromised health, is to a certain degree selfish. Just because the woman was irresponsible does not mean the child should suffer. Women more concerned about their career or reputation should think of that before engaging in activities that could result in unplanned pregnancies. The child should not feel unloved purely on account of the feelings of the mother. In addition, cases of women who do not want to accept the consequences of their actions should not justify making abortion legal. Because abortion has been legalized in so many countries, countless unborn babies never see the light of day. Children who are given a chance to be born may become important figures. A baby that is allowed to live may grow up to be a doctor that will save someone’s life or an astronaut that will go to Mars. Why should the baby take the blame for the mother’s actions?