Abortion

Abortion

An Ethical Controversy

One of the western world's most controversial ethical issues in today's society is the act of abortion and its legislation. Abortion is the process in which a baby is killed whilst still in the mother's womb. This is performed for a variety of reasons. Due to the severity of the consequences of an abortion and the moral and religious elements involved, this is an ethical controversy and has divided people for decades.

Abortion is the act of killing the foetus or baby while it is still in the mother's womb. In the US and many other countries this is legal for the first four months of the pregnancy as aborting after four months is said to be terminating the life of not so much a foetus but a baby. There are a few different methods of abortion. One is to have the baby surgically removed through which the baby's feet are pulled by the abortionist and the living baby is pulled out of the womb except for the head. The abortionist then creates a wound in the base of the baby's skull with scissors or a metal tube and removes the baby's brain with a sucking vacuum-like machine before completely delivering a dead baby. Another way is to medically abort which involves taking medication in the form of a tablet to make impossible conditions in the womb for the baby to live and then delivering the dead foetus.

Abortion is an ethical controversy due to the consequences of the decisions made by the individuals involved. Whether it's called a foetus or a baby, a form of life is destroyed which deepens the importance of the issue and its ethics.

Since 1977, USA has 43 million recorded abortions and thousands more suspected 'back alley' abortions. A new readily available abortion drug, RU-486, has prevented recent abortion statistics from being accurately recorded as this option of pregnancy termination doesn't involve registering the pregnancy or abortion. RU-486 involves interfering with the hormone that keeps the baby implanted in the wall of the uterus, progesterone, killing her baby.

One in every three pregnancies in Australia are aborted however movements towards introducing the drug RU-486 have been strongly pushed through parliament in recent months with success so this statistic is expected to rise dramatically.

The two 'sides' or arguments that support and reject abortion are often referred to as pro-choice (for) and pro-life (against). Surprisingly, the majority of women are against abortions and the majority of men are for the procedure however both have justifiable arguments and are strongly supported by many different organisations, groups and cultures. The arguments that pro-choice presents are often related to the feelings, choices and lifestyles of the mother. The arguments are as follows:

It is the woman's body to do with as she chooses.

Making abortion illegal gives government control over a women's body. Personal freedom is being taken away.

Back alley abortions would increase if abortion was illegal.

Young women will always be seeking abortion whether it is legal or not. For this reason, if abortion was illegal it would just make young women have to resort to dangerous and risky procedures. These methods often lead to sterility or other harm, even death.

One brief mistake can take away a woman's childhood and trap her for life.

We all make mistakes, especially when we are young. Even a good responsible woman can make one mistake that will take away her life plans and trap her in the life of a young mother.

It is better to have the baby aborted than have it bought up in a poor and neglected environment.

Raising a child is a full-time laborious job with huge financial burdens. If a child is not wanted it will lead to neglect and abuse of the child who will then be at more risk of growing up to be a criminal, drug addict and burden to society.

Abortion is not murder because it is not yet a human person.

The foetus doesn't become a human being until it is psychically delivered from a mother's womb.

The pro-life or against abortion arguments are just as strong if not stronger than the pro-choice arguments. It is interesting to type abortion arguments on a search engine as a staggering majority of websites returned are all pro-life.

The arguments supporting pro-life are:

Abortion demeans the value of human life and is murder.

It is believed that after conception, human life has begun. A pregnant mother doesn't say, 'I can feel my foetus kicking'. She says 'I can feel my baby kicking'. The replacement of the word baby with foetus seems irrelevant but it desensitises the issue removing all emotion and making pregnant mothers think they are not giving birth to a baby but merely a mass of tissue. It is no more innocent to kill a baby in the womb than it is to kill one in a crib.

Contraception options are staggering.

Abortion shouldn't be a form of birth control. There are a variety of birth controls available including a 100% effective abstinence pill or the morning after pill. If abortion wasn't available, one wonders whether people would be more careful and thoughtful about the issue.

The contribution to society of an individual is wiped out.

If abortion is widely accepted and legalised, people may begin to have more abortions to avoid having a non-ideal person. With genetic testing advances and growing technology revealing every defect of an unborn baby, people may opt for abortions because their child isn't perfect. The potential contribution of a baby to society is huge, no matter what their disabilities are.

The parents of aborted children often suffer major psychological damage.

The mother and often father of an aborted baby are in most cases young and immature. The majority of abortions take place with 20-25 year old mothers who don't have the maturity or life experience to make such a major decision.

There are many couples on incredibly long adoption lists.

An aborted baby is not an unwanted child. There are 200,000 waiting for children