Friday, May 3, 2019

Abortion


Abortion is one of the hottest topics debated in the world nowadays. By definition, an abortion is the conclusion of a pregnancy through the removal of the fetus from the womb, which directly results in its death. There are many reasons why this can happen, ranging from spontaneous occurrences (miscarriages) and pregnancy complications to intentional termination. Naturally, as with anything that deals with life, abortion is a sensitive subject. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court declared abortion a “fundamental right” in Roe v. Wade. To this day, the debate over its validity as a practice encompasses arguments ranging from practical, moral, medical to religious aspects. The debate concerning the legitimacy of abortion has two primary sides, to be specific the pro-choice camp, which believes in the validity of an abortion, and the pro-life camp, which defends the right of the unborn and seeks to establish the invalidity of choice in an abortion. It’s a tough subject, but today I bring you some of the arguments in support of abortion.  

No individual, regardless of gender, should be denied the right to fight for his or her own life. Societies and laws are built around this very framework. Extremists of the prolife argument are in some cases so focused on the fetus that they put no value to the mother’s life and do not indeed consider the practicality of the fetus. What on the off chance that a specialist was confronted with a circumstance where the fetus was not reasonable and in case it was not prematurely ended, the mother would die? While the decision will always be difficult, the choice is not ours to make, and as such we have no right to deny somebody his or her own choice.

While most arguments highlight abortion as the termination of life, they tend to be argued entirely focusing on the life of the unborn child. As with everything, there are components around a pregnancy that can lead to complications for the woman. Not all women are given the blessing of complication free pregnancies. Cases where complications within the pregnancy lead to essentially higher risk to the woman’s life are more frequent than we wish they would be. To deny a woman the choice to abort a pregnancy when her own life is associated to constraining her to do illegal abortion and let her life be in danger.  

Statistics shows that an estimated 49% of pregnancies in the United States are unintended. These numbers essentially demonstrate that the circumstances encompassing pregnancies are not restricted to cheerful families who have planned and intentionally attempted to have children. A large percentage is in fact unplanned for. Naturally, a woman or couple who face the circumstance of an unplanned pregnancy may not have the right condition to raise a child properly. Some cases indeed appear that they are incapable to financially or medically see the pregnancy to its full term. 

In conclusion, I would say that women should have the right to decide about their pregnancy based on their circumstances.