The Abortion Debate

1 The Abortion Debate Introduction Since time immemorial, abortion has been a highly contentious issue. Proponents of the practice, also known as pro-lifers, affirm that a woman is solely responsible to make decisions about her body and reproductive health. Therefore, if they believe that they do not have the physical, mental or financial capacity to have a baby, they are well within their right to terminate the pregnancy. Opponents of abortion, otherwise referred to as being pro-choice, believe that life begins at conception. Thus, aborting a zygote or foetus amounts to murder since life has already been formed. This paper examines each side's beliefs to determine the beliefs and reasoning behind them.

My Stand on the Debate I am pro-choice because I believe that access to safe methods of pregnancy termination is a public health matter and not a matter of morality. Allowing access to safe abortions is an essential part of healthcare because it allows women to end an unwanted or botched pregnancy without risking their lives. Research shows that banning abortions does not reduce their number, but only increases the rate of unsafe abortions leading to health complications and in some cases, death. Safe abortions, on the other hand, do not result in health complications or infertility (Hagel, Hagel, & Mansbach, 2016). As a pro-choice advocate, I believe that it is crucial to find a more effective strategy of reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies as opposed to simply banning abortion. To effectively lower the rate of abortions, it is essential to focus on lowering the rate of unwanted pregnancies and unviable pregnancies, by providing sex education, affordable and accessible healthcare, and economic opportunities to citizens.

2 I also support free-will and I believe that women should have the right to reproductive freedom. Any woman who feels that they are not emotionally, physically, financially or mentally equipped to deal with pregnancy and motherhood should have the right to choose whether to proceed with it or not. Women who procure abortions are stigmatized and are considered to be irresponsible, whereas choosing an abortion could be one of the most responsible things that a woman who is fully aware they are not capable of raising a child could do. Contraceptives are not 100% fail-proof, therefore it is possible for a woman to become pregnant despite having taken the necessary precautions, thus, it is unfair to stigmatize women who have abortions since there are several factors which contribute to it.

Being pro-choice means that one does not understand the magnitude of the choice to end a pregnancy, instead, it is about understanding that an adult female has the agency to make decisions about themselves and their body, and also to access sex education and healthcare when needed.

The Pro-life Debate 1. Abortion is Murder Opponents of abortion believe that terminating a pregnancy voluntarily amounts to murder. According to the US constitution, unborn children are considered to be human beings, therefore they deserve to be protected from assault. (a) Why this view is thought-provoking This opinion is thought-provoking because it stems from the belief that life begins at conception, therefore, once an ovary is fertilized, a new life is formed (Alcorn & Alcorn, 2013). Murder is when one human being deliberately ends the life of another human being.

The motive behind the murder is usually malice, vengeance or anger. However, when one

3 deliberately decides not to carry the child to full term, she does so out of her inability or unwillingness to carry the pregnancy and raise a child. (b) The highlights of this view Believing this argument should make one question whether a foetus is an actual human being because it fully relies on its mother’s body for survival. However, it has the potential to develop into a human being if the mother opts to carry the pregnancy to full term.

This, therefore, raises the question of whether unborn children have rights. (c.) How is this idea true?

The notion that abortion is murder might be true if a woman continually has abortions despite having access to contraceptives and sex education (John, 2017). Ideally, abortion should be performed in the first trimester of pregnancy. When the abortion was available in the early stages of pregnancy yet it is performed much later in pregnancy when the fetus is in good health and its physical features are fully formed, it can be considered to be murder.

2. Abortion may affect the health of the mother in the long-term.

Some opponents of abortion believe that terminating a pregnancy increases a woman’s risk of miscarrying pregnancies or contracting breast cancer in future. (a) Why this view is thought-provoking This view is interesting because it fails to distinguish between safe and unsafe abortions. Research shows that less than a quarter of 1% of women who have safe abortions develop health issues since they are performed under sanitary conditions. On the contrary, limited or lack of access to abortion causes women to procure abortions using dangerous methods and may, therefore, result in future infertility, post-abortion complications, and even death.

4 (b) The highlights of this view If I considered this view to be true, I would notice that the rate of post-abortion health complications is highest in countries where the practice is illegal. Women who have unwanted or unviable pregnancies and are unable to access quality medical services are at high risk of developing health complications from attempting to procure an abortion (Ziegler, 2015). I would also notice that countries that have the lowest rate of abortions are those where sexuality education and effective contraception are easily available. (c.) How is this idea true?

Post-abortion complications and future health risks occur depending on the method used to terminate the pregnancy. Therefore, this idea might be true in cases where a woman terminates the pregnancy using unsafe methods, for instance by swallowing a concoction of pills, or in cases where the woman develops an infection soon after a safe or unsafe abortion and lacks access to treatment.

3. Performing an abortion goes against the Hippocratic Oath The Oath provides the moral standards that doctors should pursue in their medical practice. The first version of the Oath, written in 400 BC, was devoted to the preservation of all forms of human life including that of unborn children (Kershnar, 2017). According to this version of the Oath, the sole responsibility of a doctor was to cure and take care of human life, from conception to death. (a). Why this view is thought-provoking This view is thought-provoking because it shows that classical version of the Hippocratic Oath assumed that life begun at conception. Therefore, aborting an unborn baby was considered to be grave medical malpractice. It is also worth noting that the Oath was

5 written at a time when human life was not considered sacred, therefore the tenets of the Oath had to be strict to bring order and respect for human life to the medical profession. (b) The highlights of this view If I considered this view to be true, I would see that there have been a few changes to the Hippocratic Oath since its inception. According to the first version, explicitly forbade abortion because the concept of terminating a pregnancy amounted to showing a lack of respect for a potential human life (Reilly, 2013). Due to the controversy associated with whether forbidding abortions denies women the right to make reproductive decisions about their bodies, modern versions of the oath avoid mentioning abortion. (c.) How is this idea true?

The Hippocratic Oath was written at a time when there was a total lack of ethics and disregard for life in the medical profession. The idea that the classical version of the Hippocratic Oath should be adhered to might be true in the case where a woman who is aware that she is likely to become pregnant fails to take contraceptives and instead opts for an abortion. Such a case might show negligence and a disregard for the sanctity of human life.

This concept can, therefore, be applied to advise women to take preventive rather than reactive measures to avoid pregnancy. The Hippocrates’ stance on abortion is right in the sense that terminating a pregnancy should never be used in the place of contraceptives.

6

References Alcorn, R., & Alcorn, R. (2013). Why pro-life?. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers.

Hagel, V., Hagel, A., & Mansbach, D. (2016). Reproductive Rights in the Age of Human Rights. [Place of publication not identified]: Palgrave Macmillan.

John, D. M. (2017). Pro-life and pro-choice mobilization: Infrastructure deficits and new technologies. In Social movements in an organizational society (pp. 48-66).

Routledge.

Kershnar, S. (2017). Does the Pro-Life Worldview Make Sense?. London: Taylor and Francis.

Reilly, N. (2013). Women's Human Rights. Oxford: Wiley.

Ziegler, M. (2015). After Roe: The Lost History of the Abortion Debate. Harvard University Press.