Abortion is termination of pregnancy before its maturity. Pro-choice advocates for women right to decide whether to abort or not, whereas prolife advocate for no abortion. However, both support termination of pregnancy for medical reasons.
Pro-choice are of the opinion that a child should start enjoying human rights after birth. Their view is that when the unborn is in the mother’s womb, then the mother should have the right to decide whether to keep the pregnancy or not (Mangel, 1988). This paper discusses the two sides of pro-life and pro-choice.
Thesis
Life is precious; it is every person’s reasonability to ensure it is protected. When a man and woman make love and conceive, a life is created in the body of the mother. There are two abortions that can happen, natural abortions; which is a medical condition and intentional termination of pregnancy by a mother. Intentional termination is not because of any danger but on feeling by the pregnant woman that she wants to terminate the pregnancy. Killing is illegal.
After conception, the mother carries a life. She can learn this through movements, unrests in the stomach and wastes from the foetus. After conception, a woman carries a living human being who is entitled to human rights as if living on the physical world. The mother is an agent to carry another life. Sometimes abortion can take place; this is when the life of the mother is at danger because of the pregnancy otherwise, termination of pregnancy is illegal (Sedgh, Henshaw, Singh, Bankole & Drescher, 2007).
In case of rape, there have been debates whether abortion should be allowed. The debate follows the same principle of life, that is life is precious should be respected. The child formed because of rape is innocent. It should enjoy human rights since it is not responsible of the actions that led to its formation.
Prolife are of the view that using morning pills and contraceptives’ is a method of aborting since they aim at flashing some conceptions that have taken place after an intercourse. When women are given the right to terminate a pregnancy, they are likely to misuse these rights thus; the right should not be given. A Country’s constitution is supposed to protect life, after conception, although the life formed cannot be seen by naked eyes, it can be proved existing.
During pregnancy, by the time a foetus is in the third week, the heart starts beating. By the end of the first trimester, the foetus has developed arms, legs among other physical features of a human being. The child is still unborn but when scanned, it has human features.
The only difference that the child has with human beings is that it is not yet born; otherwise, it is a human being. It thus has rights to enjoy human rights. One such right is the right to life. Supporters of abortion are of the opinion that a foetus is a tissue in the body of the mother that can be removed if unwanted; they fail to understand that human body is made of tissues just like the one in the foetus.
Different parts of the world have different religions. One of the most dominant and common feature in all religions is respect for life. In Christianity and Muslimism, which are the most dominant religions in the world, they believe that God has the power to oversee life. They are of the opinion that God is the sole giver of life and is the only one who have power to terminate it when he want.
The biological believe that life starts at conception should thus be respected as it goes in line with the teachings of the two religions. Abortion whether the pregnancy resulted from rape or whether is its unwanted should not be allowed. Medical conditions are an exemption.
Antithesis
The reason behind illegalising of abortion is that human life starts at conception. However, embryo or foetus is not a person thus human life does not start at conception. Characterises that can define a human being lack in a foetus and thus arguing that a foetus is a person is wrong.
A woman has the right of control over her health including deciding whether to keep a pregnancy or terminating it. It is only logical to respect the rights of the person who can be seen and not bother with the unseen person. The unseen baby should not be given the right to life since he has not been born. The child has not lived; only exists in someone and no two lives can live in one or no two rights of the same nature that should be accorded to the same person.
The mother should be given the right to terminate a pregnancy not only on medical grounds but also as matter of choice. The aborting mother and the doctor assisting in the abortion should be protected by a country’s constitution.
Another augment is that the enjoyment of a person’s rights should be to the extent that he does not limit someone else from enjoying his/hers. When a mother does not need a child, then saying that the child should stay because it has rights limits the enjoyment of mother rights thus termination should be allowed at the discretion of the mother.
Contraceptives and morning pills should not be seen as a method of aborting but should be interpolated as pregnancy prevention methods. With this believe, if a mother feels the need to avoid formation of a foetus, then she should be given the right to do so.
The unborn baby is, as a tissue in a woman, which the body can function without thus terminating the pregnancy, is not killing; it is removing a tissue that is not wanted from the body. For a person to enjoy human rights, he should have developed a certain personality that can be hurt by violation of his rights. An unborn child has neither feelings nor personality and thus arguing that the child should enjoy human right is not correct.
Cases of rape have resulted in heated debates. Supporters of abortion are of the opinion that the pregnancy came about not as a will of the mother but a misfortune. They argue that if the mother delivers such a child, she is likely to hate the child as it will remind her of the act, thus, such a pregnancy should be terminated. Supporters of life argue that the child should not be punished because of mistakes done by other people. The child is innocent thus should not be aborted (Wolf, 1997).
Synthesis
Life is precious should be protected. Biologically, life starts when an egg meets sperms. This is the perception that pro-life have. The truth is that there is a change that occurs in a woman’s body which if nurtured leads to life. However, the main augment is whether at this point the life in the woman should enjoy human rights. Pro-choice argues that life and personhood are two different things.
According to them for a person to enjoy human rights, he must have feelings and personhood, which lacks in the case of a foetus (O’Brien, 2005). Personality of the person can only be realized after birth, thus the embryo should not be recognized as a human being before birth. Pro-life counter this argument by arguing that when a pregnancy is terminated, there is life destroyed which has its own personality only that it is not living in the physical world.
They argue that an unborn have feeling, they become angry and are affected by the mothers external environment. They illustrate this by giving the example that if a mother is angry or restless; the child kicks in the womb. This is an indication that it is affected by the feeling that the mother is having. What should be protected is not the personality of the baby but the life that is holy.
This seems to hold more weight. Another aspect that the pro-choice argues, this is the fact that the unborn has no enough size, ability to feel pain, viability, self-awareness, and thus cannot be granted the right of personhood. Pro-life sees this argument from a different angle that human life is precious whether it is the life of unborn or born. They have equal rights, which should be respected (Fergusson, Boden & Horwood, 2007).
A foetus is the initial stage of life; no person could be living in this world if he did not undergo through the foetus stage. Thus, foetus is life at the earliest stage it should thus be respected. Life is a continuous stage where human beings learn different things as they develop thus a foetus is in a silent learning stage that takes place in a mother. It should not be aborted as this will be aborting a life. A foetus cannot fight for its rights, since he is in the unseen world. However, its existence is holy it should be respected.
Prolife and pro-choice come into an agreement that if the life of the mother is in danger, then abortion should be allowed. It should though be the last resort and conducted by an experienced medical officer. In these cases, the doctor and the mother are protected by constitution of a country as well as international medical practicing ethics laws. After a medical abortion, the mother should undergo psychological counselling to overcome abortion traumas (Avalos, 2003). The decision to terminate a pregnancy should only be made by medical practitioner to save the life of the mother.
Conclusion
In the battle for or against abortion, no single side wins; they both have concrete arguments. The pro-life have believed that life starts at conception whereas pro-choice believe that life starts at birth. One thing that gives the pro-life an upper hand is the psychological stress that a woman who has aborted has whether it is medical or intentionally abortion. Both pro-life and pro-choice agree that for medical purposes, abortion should take place.
References
Avalos, L. (1999). Hindsight and the abortion experience: what abortion means to women years later. Gender Issues, 17(2), 35-57. Web.
Fergusson, D., Boden, J., & Horwood, L. (2007). Abortion among young women and subsequent life outcomes. Perspectives on Sexual & Reproductive Health, 39(1), 6-12. Web.
O’Brien, D. (2005). No to Abortion: Posture, Not Policy. America, 192(19), 7. Web.
Mangel, C. (1988). Legal abortion: the impending obsolescence of the trimester framework. American Journal Of Law & Medicine, 14(1), 69-108. Web.
Sedgh, G., Henshaw, S., Singh, S., Bankole, A., & Drescher, J. (2007). Legal abortion worldwide: incidence and recent trends. International Family Planning Perspectives, 33(3), 106-116. Web.
Wolf, N. (1997). Pro-choice and pro-life. Human Life Review, 23(3), 60. Web.