Essay, Research Paper: Abortion

Abortion has always been (and I reckon it will continue to be for quite some time) a very controversial issue not only due to the difficult comparison of rights (does the mother's rights outweigh the child's or vice-versa?) but also because of the many different instances in which the issue of abortion might come up. For instance, one couple who simply wants to plan their family, and be ready for it, is obviously different and less shocking a case as a raped fifteen-year old. Regarding abortion, pro-life and pro-choice are the two sides trying to impose their own points of view, but while one is extremely strict and makes a completely solid statement without taking each case in particular (pro-life), the other (pro-choice) acknowledges the implications of abortion and while not encouraging it in any way, it implies a certain flexibility depending on each case.
I, personally, am a pro-choice person, but not taking it to the extreme. I believe a woman should have the right to choose when to have a baby but I agree with creating limitations to this right. The reasons are simple and numerous, health being the most important one, for if abortion would be deemed illegal and immoral, not only would women turn to unsanitary secretive abortions (or even desperate self-induced ones) but the psychological pain and scars would also be considerably more unbearable (I say “more” because they are already quite unbearable and extremely stressful). Another reason is a biological one – it is the woman who carries the baby for nine months, and until the baby is out in the open, being a separate person, until the moment of birth, the baby is simply a part of the woman’s body. I choose to view childbirth as the moment when the child becomes the human, because it is the most valid turning point in its life -when it starts to live on its own.
I consider the pro-choice point of view as being the most rational. However, I also agree that the time period of six months after conception is more than enough for the making of a decision. I support fully the six-month time condition, again mainly because of the health issues involved (abortion after six months is a risk to the mother). I also acknowledge the gruesome methods abortion implies, but I don’t consider them a reason strong enough to ban abortion. I would wish there could be some sort of application process involved with abortion, but given the fact each and every case is different and also that such laws would have to be extremely detailed and confusing in order to relate to all cases on an individual plane. So I support abortion for all women as long as it is done within the first six months. And I state this because I don’t believe the child is a person by the end of the six months, nor a human life. Until that point, it is a life, but it is a combination of cells inside a body as well. Its size of only several inches adds to my inability of considering it human strictly because it lacks all the functions a human life form has, from consciousness to breathing and from feelings to personality.
My point of view has a personal history behind it and even though I am not in the position of claiming a strict perspective of the subject, I realize I may be subjective. My mother described to me how she had to go through around three abortions because of my father’s drinking problems. Most of the fetuses had vital physical problems such as a deformed (contorted) body or a missing organ. My mother chose to abort them and it was a physically as well as psychologically painful process. The worse thing is that she blamed herself for it, while all the time it was my father’s irresponsible drinking that caused the malformations. I don’t even want to imagine what would have happened had she been forced to carry those fetuses to term, and I am also extremely glad she didn’t (I wouldn’t be around if she had).
All in all, I don’t consider pro-life a valid, modern, twenty-first century attitude because it overlooks everything related to the social aspects of our civilization, taking away the woman’s right to control her own life and her own body. If a mother is forced to carry a child to term against her will, that child would be hated and a constant reminder of “what if?” thus sealing the baby’s as well as the mother’s fates in a sadistic way. Society is not allowed to dictate a person’s feelings or life. It can create vast limits in which the individual is allowed to modify their lives but even so, the individual is in control.


Word Count: 804