Abortion

Abortion Abortion is the premature termination of pregnancy prior to birth (J. P.Thiroux, Keith .P. Krasemann, pg. 254), resulting in the death of the fetus. Abortion is and has been one of the most controversial issues in the society. Although many women feel they have the right to choose, while others feel opposite. For instance some may believe that if a woman’s life is in danger or she has been raped, a victim of incest, then abortion should be used. As a moral and ethical issue, abortion is a dilemma for society. Abortion was illegal prior to the 1973 Supreme Court decision in the trial of Roe v. Wade, (J. P.Thiroux, Keith .P. Krasemann, pg. 255), but since abortion has being legalized, women have the freedom and the choice to live their life the way they want to. Abortion may be performed for many reasons. The main reason would be if the woman’s health is at risk. However, some people abuse this right. There is an ongoing debate over the political, legal, and moral status of abortion. The two sides of abortion include, "pro-choice" and "pro-life. Pro-choice argues that the decision to abort a pregnancy is to be made only by the woman and the government or the society has no right to interfere, they states that a woman “ought to be able to have her abortion without suffering recrimination, guilt or restrictions, legal or otherwise” (J. P.Thiroux, Keith .P. Krasemann, pg. 262) and according to them human life does not begin until birth. Contrary to pro-choice views, pro-life argues that, from the moment of conception, the embryo or fetus is alive; that this life imposes on us a moral obligation to preserve it. Pro-life argues that “because people cannot agree on when the human “soul” is present- by valuing a conceptus as human from conception onward we are ensuring that we do not act immorally or irreverently towards human life and especially towards innocent, unborn human life. I certainly support pro-life view on abortion. Although abortion is legal, I think it is immoral and unethical, since people argue that a woman should have right over her body that should include taking responsibility for their sexual activity. We should all know that once a woman engages in sexual activities with or without contraceptives there is a probability that pregnancy may occur, therefore they must be accountable and take responsibility for such actions rather than sacrificing the life of an innocent human being. On the other hand, some women are victims of rape or incest, which is very unfortunate. “Pregnancy resulting from rape is very rare and those resulting from incest is even rarer still, if rape is reported on time contraceptive procedures can used effectively” (J. P.Thiroux, Keith .P. Krasemann, pg. 262), the unborn conspectuses should not have to pay with their life for the sins of other because there are other options if the child is unwanted, therefore the society should urge rape victims to report rape on time to avoid the risk of unwanted pregnancies and even sexual transmitted diseases. In addition to the moral view on abortion; Abortion could also be medically and psychological dangerous to the mother’s well-being, life and future. There are lots of potential dangers in abortion such as possibilities of infection and sometimes excessive blood loss. After dealing with the fear of medical dangers associated with abortion, the mother will have to live with guilt of killing her baby. Therefore, if medical dangers are ruled out, the emotional effect of abortion can never be eradicated. So why not consider giving the child up for adoption. Thus, abortion should only be considered if the mother’s health is at risk and not as a form of birth control.