ABORTION: SHOULD WOMEN HAVE THE RIGHT TO MAKE THAT DECISION?
Abortion is a way to end pregnancy. Sometimes, an embryo or fetus stops developing and the body expels it. This is called spontaneous abortion or “miscarriage.”
A woman can also choose to end a pregnancy. This is called induced abortion. There are three ways it can be done — with medicine, vacuum aspiration, or surgery.
Abortion has been a part of our country for many years, but it has only been a hot topic for debate for the last twenty-five years.
As far as how long abortion has been around for that is an interesting question. According to some historians, abortion has been around in some form for thousands of years. It is believed that some ancient tribes who were sometimes forced to move quickly would perform abortions on the pregnant women because these women would slow down the entire tribe.
According to an article on a women’s history web site abortion laws started developing in the 1820’s “forbidding abortion after the forth month of pregnancy”. It also states that “most abortions had been all but outlawed by 1900”. In 1965, all fifty states banned abortion. Of course there is always an exception to the rules a loophole if you will, you can still have an abortion if it would “save the life of the mother, in case of rape or incest, or if the fetus was deformed”
When discussing the abortion topic you should know about the two main players. The first ones are against abortion and believe that it is immoral and unconstitutional for abortion to be legal. These people are your religious members, they are mothers and they are fathers. They believe that abortion is murder plain and simple. They believe that an embryo has the right to a chance at life regardless of what the circumstances are that brought about the fetus’s conception or the environment that it will live in when it is born. This group of people does not believe that a fetus should be aborted even if there is a real threat to the life of the baby or the mother. In fact, here is a quote by one woman that takes it as far her wanting to die to provide a life for her unborn child while at the same time she condemns people that are pro choice claiming that they have no love in their hearts for children. In a case that the birth would be life threatening towards the mother, personally, I would give up my life for my child. That is love! How can a person put themselves before their children? These people are classified into the Pro-life group because they adamantly believe that the child has a right to life regardless of the possible negative outcomes that could come from the baby being born.
The next individuals we need to talk about are the ones that believe women should have the right to have an abortion if one is necessary. They believe that there are some circumstance were it would be in the best interest for everyone involved if they had the choice to have an abortion if one is needed. These people are also religious they are mothers and fathers just like your pro-life group. These people understand that complications of birth can arise that there could be deformities or even complications that would cause the mother or the baby or both to die during the birth. Some of the people in this group go as far as to say that abortion should be legal just for the fact that the baby should not have to be born into a poor environment. Where a lack of food, shelter or even a place to live could be life threatening. Essentially these people do not believe that the unborn baby is a person, that it is only a fetus in its early stages of development. The people in this group are referred to as Pro-Choice because they believe that their right to choose should overstate the child’s Right to Life
There are many different views and levels of views when it comes to abortion, but the two main views that we need to know about are the views of those who are Pro-Life and those of the individuals that are Pro-Choice. Earlier we discussed who were in these groups and in both groups, we had religious people we had mothers and we had fathers. I think that is important so that we can understand that regardless of who you are. You can still have an opinion, and that everybody is entitled to their own opinion regardless of what one group they are in or what the other groups thinks, that is what makes us individuals.
When you are looking at a topic for discussion, it is always good to view both sides without bias in order to form a well-educated opinion on the topic. Unfortunately, that is usually quite hard to do because everybody is exposed to different experiences in their lives that can cause them to see or think in different ways. In addition, some topics, like this one are just so hot or hit so close to home that it is simply impossible to keep an open mind when it comes to both sides of the debate.
My experience to this topic is limited I am not a parent, although I do believe in God, I may not be that religious at this time. This Abortion is one particular topic that is actually televised quite often; it is covered extensively throughout the news and media coverage. You can hear about it on talk radio just about any time of the day. It is part of life in our country, they make sitcoms that show women getting, or thinking about getting abortions, there is always some protest harassing some clinic that we hear about on TV or see in a newspaper.
As far as my background goes, I am a twenty five year old male who has grown up in a city for the majority of his life. I have never had to ask a girlfriend to get an abortion or need one myself. My parents waited until they had been married for probably 3 to 4 years before I came along. So therefore I know that it is possible to have sex with somebody whether you are married to them or not, and not produce a child.
I was raised knowing right from wrong and left from right. I know that if I did wrong I got in trouble and this was when spanking your child was allowed. Therefore, when I did wrong I got in trouble. I know stealing is wrong I know that murder is a sin and that you will go to Hell for it if you do not ask for forgiveness. I know that growing up God has a plan for all his children and that the worst thing you could do would be to kill an innocent child.
However, it is a fetus and not a child. God does not intend for us to die during childbirth, it is called the miracle of life, not death. I also know that God made us into intelligent being capable of learning and thought. Don’t you think that if there was a procedure that could prevent the death of the mother or the child, then they should be allowed to have a procedure done to them that will prevent the complications from killing the mother or baby? That is how I can justify a late term abortion. I believe that it would be one of the hardest decisions that a mother would have to make, but shouldn’t she be able to make that decision. I believe that the decision should be discussed between the mother and the father a doctor should be involved in the decision to insure that all the possible outcomes a made clear to the parents to be. I just think that you are not killing a living being because a fetus is not alive, and I do not think that it is alive, until it can live and breathe on its own.
I just cannot help to believe that it is fundamentally wrong to take way the rights of the mother and give them to a child that is not yet even developed enough to sustain life on its own. Women have been fighting for their rights for many years, and to allow somebody to take even one of those right away is unthinkable to me, and I am a guy what do you think women would say about this. I think that it is put best in a statement from Planned Parenthood “Abortion is never an easy decision, but women have been making that choice for thousands of years, for many good reasons”.