An abortion refers to the process of terminating a pregnancy and is therefore involved with the death of an embryo or a fetus. Abortions might be either induced or therapeutic – meaning, they could happen naturally, or sometimes they might be caused by voluntary efforts. In the case of it being induced, abortions might be therapeutic or elective. Abortion has become a highly debatable issue in the United States because of the ethics and morality involved in the act and the possibility of resorting to it in an elective manner. There are controversies surrounding the morality and legality of this practice. The issue of abortion may be discussed in many contexts – ethical, moral, philosophical, biological, and legal. Though abortion is debated on so many grounds, it must also be remembered that abortion is also a very deeply personal issue that affects interpersonal relationships, family, and friends, apart from the woman undergoing it. The outcome of abortion is always a painful decision for the mother – it is after all her child’s life and her life that are placed at risk. Though abortion should not be encouraged, the mother must be provided the right to taking the choice of having an abortion or not.
Recent statistics show that 50% of pregnancies among American women are unwanted pregnancies and 40% of these unwanted pregnancies result in abortion (Finer and Henshaw, 90). Moreover, about 22% of all pregnancies, without including miscarriages, end in abortion, and this percentage excludes miscarriages (Jones et al, 6). Along with its wide prevalence, abortion also carries a certain amount of risks that range from infection, injury, trauma to death (Brown, 11). Whether abortion can be made legal or not and whether it is good to provide medically safe abortion in hospitals are public health issues. By just trying to stop abortion from happening legally people assume that babies will be saved. But it can kill mothers, as illegal abortion procedures are found to be very dangerous to the victim’s life. Women, since historical times, have always resorted to abortion and it is highly probable that they always will. However, increasing advances in medical technology are ensuring that the risks involved in abortion are minimal when performed in a safe legal environment. It is based on this premise that many countries have legalized abortion. A report by the United Nations Population Fund says: “Where abortion is safe and widely available, and other reproductive health services are in place, rates of abortion tend to be low” (Brown, 11). Thus on grounds of public health, safe abortion should be freely available on request by the pregnant woman, at least up to some agreed time limit.
Central to the debate on abortion is the biological, legal, and moral status of the fetus. The “pro-lifers” believe that a fertilized ovum is a human being and that abortion is the intentional murder of that little human being (Sharvy, 1). They argue that every unborn baby has a right to live and no woman has the power to take the life of an unborn child though it may be embedded within her own body. Pro-lifers also argue that permissive laws encourage women to resort to abortions too often and they also ignore the sanctity of human life. Moreover, by allowing people to do abortion as and when they want, pro-lifers feel that the law will send the wrong precedent regarding issues such as morality, values, respect for life, parenthood, responsible sex, etc. Moreover, from the religious viewpoint, abortion has been banned by churches.
The primary argument is about the status of the unborn fetus. Neither law nor science is able to provide information as to when life begins in the womb. No legal decision can be taken on something that is just a conjecture. Scientifically speaking, human life is said to begin at conception and end at death. This is undeniable. But it cannot be accepted that the unborn fetus within the woman is an individual with an identity of its own. The Supreme Court verdict in the Roe vs Wade case that legalized abortion in 1973 implies that the fetus cannot be considered a person (Grisanthi, 170). The verdict shows that the Court considers the fetus was not a person within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment. That amendment instructs the states that they may not deprive “any person of life, liberty, or property” (Grisanthi, 170) As Justice Harry Blackmun, who wrote the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade, readily acknowledged at the time, if a fetus were a person, then its right to life would be guaranteed (McKenna, 1). Researchers such as L. W. Sumner, have said that “human personhood does not arrive until the fetus is sentient and acquired the ability to feel and sense as a conscious being” (Beckwith, 2001, 1). The development of feelings and senses, says Sumner, happens only around the middle weeks of the second trimester of pregnancy and hence the fetus acquires a personality only by the end of that trimester. The early fetus, although human, is neither sentient nor capable of independent existence. It would seem therefore to deserve less consideration than a live mouse (Brown, 12). Many of the pro-life arguments are based on the central argument that the fetus is a human being. Considering that this is just an assumption that cannot be scientifically validated, abortion during early pregnancy cannot be considered wrong.
In Roe v Wade the Supreme Court passed the judgment that a woman has the constitutional right by virtue of the Fourteenth Amendment, to decide whether or not to terminate her pregnancy (Wilson, 21). The number of reported abortions in the U.S. rose sharply after the Supreme Court verdict in 1973. In the 1980s, the number leveled off at just fewer than 1.6 million, but since 1989, the number has been declining (Henshaw and Vort, 102). According to research by Meyer and Buescher (1994), a study of trends in maternal mortality in North Carolina, immediately during 1973-1977 when legal abortion became available, the maternal mortality ratio for deaths related to induced abortion was almost 85% lower than the ration during the previous five year period (Meyer and Buescher, 179). There was also an overall decline of 46% in the total number of maternal deaths. This contradicts the argument of pro-lifers that the legalization of abortion will lead to an increased permissiveness among women (Meyer and Buescher, 179).
Taking this counterargument further, Steven Levitt in his paper “The Impact of Legalized Abortion on Crime” cites that the legalization of abortion in the US was followed by approximately sixteen years of reduced crime. This was because, Levitt explained, that children who were brought into the world in a willing happy manner tended to have a normal life compared to unwanted children who tended to grow up with criminal tendencies. He concluded therefore that the legalization of abortion would reduce the number of unwanted children, and thereby result in the reduction of crime in society (Levitt, 1).
Talking about the religious viewpoint, it must be noted that in ancient days, abortion was not considered a crime in Christianity. St. Augustine (AD 354-430) had said that abortion is a sinful procedure only because it was associated with irresponsible sex. He and other early Christian theologians believed that the fetus came alive as a person forty days after conception for a boy and eighty days after conception for a girl (Kelly, 86). Thus abortion was accepted by Catholics until 1869 when Pope Pius IX officially banned abortions at any stage (Babinski, 1). This change is mainly because of the declining Catholic population during that period in Italy. Thus, religion cannot be a basis for banning abortion (Babinski, 1).
Both historically and legally, women have had the right to choose whether or not to have their pregnancy terminated. Historically, abortion was not uncommon in colonial America. Herbal abortifacients were widely known, and cookbooks and women’s diaries of the era contained recipes for medicines (Craig and O’Brien, 213). Recent studies of the work of midwives in the 1700s report cases in which the midwives provided women abortifacient compounds. More significantly, these cases are described as routine and are unaccompanied by any particular disapproval. The absence of legal condemnation of abortion in colonial America is all the more remarkable because both families and society valued children and population growth in a rural economy, with vast unsettled lands, where diseases of infancy claimed many lives. It must be remembered that the colonial period was when people who violated the moral norms of the community were chastised. The absence of legal condemnation during this period shows that abortion has never been viewed as a crime or an immoral act since ancient times (Craig and O’Brien, 214).
The Supreme Court decision in 1973 that legalized abortion proved to be a widely debated one as people were not sure whether the legalization of abortion would be beneficial or detrimental to society. According to Roe v. Wade, decision women have a right to choose to have an abortion during the first two trimesters of pregnancy (Linder, 1). The verdict has brought about new regulations such as 24 hour waiting periods. The main point is that abortion is now legal. Newly instituted pro-choice policies have helped many poor women finance their abortions. By removing the criminal tariff and permitting the procedure to be done on an outpatient basis, legalization has significantly reduced the cost of a simple abortion. Legalization has permitted philanthropic organizations to subsidize abortion fees for those who could not otherwise afford to terminate a pregnancy. Many abortion clinics offer discounts and some waive payment entirely for indigent patients. Now, fewer women of all races and classes presently suffer botched abortions. Dr. Tietze estimates that as of 1984, legalized abortion had saved 1,500 maternal lives and prevented “several tens of thousands… of life-threatening, but not fatal complications” (Graber, 67). Roe and hence pro-choice, has improved maternal health by replacing unsafe, usually illegal, abortions with safer legal abortions. Most legal barriers merely delay the eventual abortion, thus increasing both the expense and risk of the procedure.
Thus we find that legally, socially, historically, ethically, bioethically, and morally, pro-choice is the rational solution to abortion. While pro-life people oppose the very concept of abortion, it is interesting to note that the other camp is pro-choice and not pro-abortion. Pro-choice allows the woman to make the final choice with laws guiding her to make the right decision. The pro-choice perception should guide a woman towards pro-life and this combined method would be the ethical way to decide the morality of the issue.
Works Cited
Babinski, T. Edward (2005). Christians Have as Many Abortions as Everyone Else, Catholics Have More. Web.
Beckwith, J. Francis (2001). Abortion, Bioethics, and Personhood: A Philosophical Reflection. The Center for Bioethics and Human Dignity. Web.
Brown, Diana (1999). A Wiser View of Abortion. Free Inquiry, Volume 20, p. 11.
Craig, Hinkson Barbara and O’Brien, M. David (1993). Abortion and American Politics. Chatham House. New Jersey.
Finer L. B. and Henshaw S. K. (2006). Disparities in rates of unintended pregnancy in the United States, 1994 and 2001. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2006, Volume 38, Issue 2, p. 90–96.
Graber, A. Mark (1999). Rethinking Abortion: Equal Choice, the Constitution, and Reproductive Politics. Princeton University Press.
Grisanthi (2000). The Abortion Dilemma. The Master’s Seminary Journal, 169-190.
Henshaw, W. Stanley and Vort, Van Jennifer. Abortion Services in the United States, 1987 and 1988. Family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 22, No. 3 (1990), pp. 102-142
Jones R. K. et al. (2008). Abortion in the United States: incidence and access to services, 2005. Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, 2008, Volume 40, Issue 1, p. 6–16.
Kelly, B. Evelyn (2007). Stem Cells. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007
Levitt, Steven (1999). Does Abortion Prevent Crime? Web.
Linder, Doug (2007). Exploring Constitutional Law: Right to an Abortion? Web.
McKenna, George (1995). On Abortion: A Lincolnian Position. The Atlantic Monthly. Web.
Meyer and Buescher (1994). Maternal Mortality Related to Induced Abortion in North Carolina: A Historical Study. Family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 26, No., pp. 179-180+191
Sharvy, B. (2005). The Morality of Abortion: A Critique. Web.
Wilson, Q. James (1994). On Abortion. Commentary. Volume 97, Page 21+.