In the current world, one of the most debated and controversial topics is abortion. Many judicial proceedings have decided on the legality or the illegality of this act. Most of the ladies in the society have tried to abort because, in their mind, it is not the right time for them to give birth. Furthermore, some get faced with unplanned pregnancies, and they see themselves as too young to be mothers. The only option that seems practical is to abort. However, some of them get faced with health complications such as ectopic pregnancies, where the way that sounds viable to save them from death is committing abortion. It means, abortion has many merits and cons, but it is different from an unexpected end or a miscarriage. Nevertheless, an innocent kid should not be responsible for the parents’ mistake and committing an abortion is the euphemism killing of a blameless life.
In support of the thesis, abortion is murder because a fetus is a living organism developing to be mature. The developing kid is composed of living cells and has the potential of becoming a person if the process is not interrupted (Kaczor 144). The most significant loss that an individual or the society suffers is losing an individual’s life. Within the first three weeks of pregnancy, the heart of the unborn pumps blood, the brain, arms, and leg bud are also present. After a month, the fetus has ears, mouth, and nose and after forty days, the brain of the unborn controls the movements of muscles and respond to different stimuli. Abortion means, terminating the life of a human being just because he/she is not conscious and is helpless. Based on the divine command theory, an action is right if it follows the God’s commandments (Kagan 67). Most of the people in the society believe in a supreme being, where for example, one of the God’s commandment is that “thou shall not kill.” The moral obligation of every creature is to obey the God’s teachings, and one of them is to preserve the life of every individual. Many people think that a fetus is a not living human being and therefore, it doesn’t experience any pain; forgetting that it is a developing life, which needs space.
Second, abortion can lead to physical health risks to the mother of the fetus. During or after the act, the patient may experience infections, hemorrhaging, and in some extreme situations, death. One of the known risks linked with abortion is the breast cancer. According to Francome (6), during the pregnancy of a woman, the structure of the breast starts to change. Studies affirm that cancerous cells are prone to occur among these transitional cells of that lady who terminates the pregnancy through abortion. The chances of getting cancer if a woman aborts more than once increases at a significant rate. In every year, there are almost 1.7 million cases of abortion, where 55% of them are first abortions, and 45% are second or even more (Faúndes, Anibal, and Laura 52). Out of 1.7 million to a woman who commits abortion, 10% of them get cancer, and 30% of them die. Other long-term health issues brought about by abortion are a systemic infection, torn cervix, infertility, urinary tract injury, among others, and most of them may lead to death. People argue that most of these complications are also present during pregnancy, but aborting increases the risk in one’s body. In line with utilitarianism ethical theory, an action is right or wrong based on the consequences (outcomes) of choosing the response (Vaughn 88). One of the effects linked to abortion is health issues, which may even lead to death and this makes the act an unethical and wrong.
The third factor that opposes abortion is that it results in mental/emotional torture. After the abortion, some women may get relief, and feel like things are working for them, but afterward, they end up suffering Post Abortion Stress. Emotionally, the human being is created with no power to end life and therefore, it is hard and irritating to comprehend the act of killing someone (Kaczor 43). Since every person has a conscious, after committing this act, they tend to rethink and meditate, where mental complications start to appear. Post Abortion Stress leads to anger, sexual dysfunction, flashbacks, hallucination, suicidal ideas, drug, and alcohol use, among others. Again, based on the social contract theory, people live in the society in harmony, peace, and togetherness by what they agree to be morally right and correct. Over centuries, people have lived to believe that abortion is wrong and something that needs condemnation. Rational people within the society accepts that abortion is a condition that should not be allowed, and that is the reason why after committing the act, people start to develop Post Abortion Stress as they feel unaccepted in the community. Therefore, no need to go contrary to the societal beliefs and principals to avoid mental risks.
Lastly, there are valid choices instead of an abortion. As affirmed by Kaczor (146), one of the safest options is to abstain from sexual intercourse until either marriage or the time that one is ready to raise a child. The second alternative is an adoption where a woman gets a kid, and let other able people take care of it. In the world, there are millions of families willing to adopt kids because they are unfortunate and they cannot give birth. Those unsuccessful in reproducing will perceive it as a great gift, and the lady will have saved the life of an innocent kid and put it into the hands of able and willing parents, who will support the young one until he/she is of age. Furthermore, there are numerous established companies, designed to find homes and rest to those children without able parents. Consequently, other options that are better and ethical than committing abortion include emotional counseling by therapists, financial assistance from the government and other support groups, and commercial teachings from different stakeholders. Besides, planned parenthood is also a procedure that provides individuals with childbirth classes, post-partum classes, guidance, and counseling, among other prenatal services (Vaughn 41). Therefore, it implies that abortion is unnecessary and wrong as there is a wide range of alternatives.
Nevertheless, there are several reasons why abortion should be allowed. One of them is that every woman in the world should have the right to decide on what to do, abortion being one of the choices. It is wrong for any government to dictate any person on which road or path to take in their lives. For instance, a lady may not be ready to be a mother because she is too young or she doesn’t want to give birth. In some cases, women conceive as a result of rape, where if she happens to give birth to that baby, she will live to remember that weird mistreat (Faúndes, Anibal, and Laura 54). There are rampant cases of ectopic pregnancies or other health complications that may demand the fetus to be aborted to save the life of the mother. Although it contradicts based on the Utilitarian theory, an action is morally right or wrong following the outcomes or the consequences (Mill 341). When a woman aims to save her life or to stop her from remembering the rape experience, then, abortion may be the right thing to do. Therefore, abortion among other medical decisions that ladies make in their lives should remain private and never available to the public for debate.
Conclusion
As discussed above, there are various pros and cons of committing abortion, and all of them deserve consideration. For an individual to come up with the decision to oppose or propose the legalization of abortion, they must have conducted adequate consideration, and therefore the decision arrived seems to be the best for their situation. All in all, abortion should not be allowed as it has numerous drawbacks associated with it than its benefit unless in a case where the health status of the woman is in danger. The embryo should be allowed to develop until it turns to be a mature kid, and if someone is not sure on whether it is their right time to get a kid, they need to abstain from sex.
Works Cited
Faúndes, Anibal, and Laura Miranda. "Ethics surrounding the provision of abortion care." Best Practice " Research Clinical Obstetrics " Gynaecology 43 (2017): 50-57.
Francome, Colin. Unsafe Abortion and Women's Health: Change and Liberalization. Routledge, 2016.
Kaczor, Christopher. The ethics of abortion: Women’s rights, human life, and the question of justice. Routledge, 2014.
Kagan, Shelly. Normative ethics. Routledge, 2018.
Mill, John Stuart. "Utilitarianism." Seven Masterpieces of Philosophy. Routledge, 2016. 337-383.
Vaughn, Lewis. Doing ethics: Moral reasoning and contemporary issues. WW Norton " Company, 2015.
