PRO AND CON
Issues and Answers
SHOULD ABORTION BE ABOLISHED? Two Sides Debate When Life Begins and Female Autonomy
When does life begin, and who has the right to determine when that life begins? Those are the two pivotal questions that both sides of the abortion debate grapple with. Throughout history, the right to life has been protected for moral, ethical, religious and even practical reasons by all civilizations. Because women are the childbearing sex, logic would seem to dictate that they have the final say in whether or not to give birth, despite the fact that the father is the trigger in that pregnancy. Whether or not you agree that women (or couples) do not have the right to terminate that pregnancy, the simple fact is that abortion as an option will not disappear, even if it is legally outlawed. You cannot outlaw human nature and the natural birthing process. In the final analysis, abortion is merely a medical procedure. Here’s why:
THE FACTS ABOUT ABORTION
Abortion has been practiced since its development by the Egyptians as far back as 1550 BCE, but its legality and availability have been threatened continuously by forces that would take away women's fundamental
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rights. Laws that prohibit absolutely the practice of abortion are a relatively recent development and have always been enacted by men. Abortion was an accepted practice in ancient Greece and Rome. Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 BCE) wrote that “when couples have children in excess, let abortion be procured before sense and life have begun.” In the latter days of the Roman Empire, abortion was not considered homicide but rather a crime against a husband who would be deprived of a potential child. In the early Roman Catholic church, abortion was permitted for male fetuses in the first 40 days of pregnancy and for female fetuses in the first 80-90 days. Not until 1588 did Pope Sixtus V declare all abortion murder, with excommunication as the punishment. Just three years later, a new pope found the absolute sanction unworkable and again allowed early abortions. Three hundred years would pass before the Catholic church under Pius IX again
SPRING 2023
