Abortion: Strengths and Limitations

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Abortion occurs when one gets rid of the embryo before the time of birth is due for whatever reason. Abortion may be induced or accidental. Accidental abortion occurs naturally when one has a miscarriage due to a number of reasons which are unavoidable, while induced abortion is when one is certain of what they are doing and they, therefore, use a given procedure to get rid of the unborn willingly.

Induced abortion may be done due to a number of reasons. During pregnancy, a woman may encounter complications that may necessitate the need for abortion. This is done to prevent both the death of the woman and the unborn child. Abortion is also necessary when the pregnancy is a result of incest or rape when the embryo has adverse defects, e.g., has no vital body parts when the woman is not of age to give birth or to save the woman from death(Randy 5). During pregnancy, a woman may encounter health complications. This may necessitate the need for induced abortion in order to save the life of the victim involved. If this happens, then abortion should be done by a professional doctor using the right procedures and not a quack at a backdoor clinic.

Approximately 46 million abortions are performed worldwide every year. Of these, 26 million are said to occur in places when abortion is legal, and the other 20 million happen where the procedure is illegal www.religioustolerant.org.

Although all the groups involved in the debate about abortion believe that a newborn baby is a human being, they still don’t agree on whether the zygote is a human being as well or has some life. This is the main bone of contention that causes conflicts about abortion (Hyman, p. 3).

The debate about abortion involves two major opposing groups of pro-lifer and pro-choicers. Most religions use the pro-life doctrines, although some Christian communities’, e.g., Seventh Day Adventists, are pro-choicers. The prochoicers are the medical practitioners and other secular groups. The prolifers believe that any form of abortion is a killing of an innocent being. They believe that even an unborn child is a gift from God that should be protected from all kinds of harm from the time of fertilization. This also holds for most Christians and other conservatives (Cozic, p. 16).

The Roman Catholic, for example, prohibit the use of contraceptives, and even taking the “morning-after pills” is seen as a form of abortion. According to this group, life begins immediately after fertilization, and any form of medication that removes the fetus is induced abortion. They, therefore, feel that abortion should only be allowed in very special cases or should be stopped altogether. They fight a good fight to protect the unborn child. This fight may help reduce the immorality associated with legalizing abortion. They also help reduce the incidences of abortion while upholding human dignity in that each life is a gift from God and even the unborn child has a purpose to serve. However, abortion should be a matter of choice, and it should be evaluated as either appropriate or not, depending on the woman’s specific condition.

The problem is that they are very strict on the issues of the unborn child and fail to take much consideration of the situation of the mother. The parent should be prepared financially and psychologically to receive the unborn child. Why should an innocent child suffer just because of the mistakes of the parents?

The other secular groups’ and the prochoicers, however, have different views concerning abortion. They believe that it is the right of a woman to have an abortion when they want to, and they should also not be forced to have an abortion if they want to give birth. The condition under which a woman may take abortion, according to pro-lifers, is when one was raped, or when the contraceptives did not work, or the woman is not able to bring up the child comfortably, and also due to health problems.

This group holds that pregnancy starts at birth, and that is when the fetus can be termed as a human being. They also advocate for the use of contraceptives and the morning after pills because they are not believed to cause abortion. Training about reproductive health is given to various institutions by this group.

Women are thus given a choice to bear the pregnancy and give birth at their own convenient time. However, the local states and laws may not allow this to happen since they are highly influenced by the pro-life group, and abortion is not fully legalized in most states. Getting an abortion for convenience is highly opposed by the prolifers groups, and the two groups never come to an agreement. They may also uphold immorality bearing in mind that one can always get an abortion whenever they want.

There is little agreement among the prochoicers movement as to how late during the gestation period elective abortion should be permitted. www.religioustolerance.org “all human beings are entitled to inalienable human rights such as those enshrined in the universal declaration of human rights … these rights are to humans from the time the woman fetus becomes a viable biological entity capable of independent existence without physical or organic dependence on another human being” (Gunasekara, 8). Among the prochoicers, the period of gestation when the fetus becomes a human person or a life varies the world over, and they have not yet come to a conclusion.

The pro-life and pro-choice groups agree that once a human life starts or when it becomes a human person, it must be accorded the required respect and rights. However, there is a point of disagreement as to when the fetus becomes a living person. This causes a lot of problems among the groups, and it’s the reason why they can never work together to reduce the incidences of abortion. As noted earlier, the pro-life group believes that life begins immediately after fertilization. They thus see abortion as a killing of innocent life at whatever stage the procedure is performed.

Human life from the time of fertilization is viewed as a gift from God with DNA that is unique from any other (Bajema, p. 5). However, the pro-life group argues that life starts later during pregnancy when the fully formed and has all the body organs. The fertilized mass of cells is believed not to be functional because they do not have the vital body organs like a brain and other organs. It cannot respond to normal stimuli.

All these arguments may be right, but they both require not only the description of the fetus but also some moral guidelines that will show the fetus has or have no life. These guidelines will lead us to what to do, whether to end the life of a fetus at a certain stage or not at all. It is the pro-life belief that it’s wrong to kill innocent life, including a fetus and the pro-choicers believe that it’s really wrong to take the life of a fellow person in society are both right if they can come to an agreement at some point to avoid conflicts.

A point of agreement on this matter will also help reduce violence associated with abortion. Some of those who are opposed to abortion resort to even violence in their effort to get their way of stopping abortion completely. They try to justify their action that they are protecting the mass killing of innocent lives by getting physical with those who perform abortion procedures. This is an extreme case of getting their way and can lead s to grievous consequences of loss of properties and even termination of their funding.

These incidences, which lead to even loss of life, will not occur if the groups agree on this important issue of when the fetus becomes a human person with a life (James, p. 3).

An agreement will also help women to go for the procedures that are legal, thus reduce deaths that occur during an abortion that is done back doors. The rates of abortion will also decrease since the procedure will only be done in certain situations.

Works cited

A.T. Hyman, “The ‘A’ Word.” This is an essay on the legal aspects of the abortion debate. Web.
Bajema, Clifford E. Abortion and the Meaning of Personhood. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker
Book House, 1974. Bajema develops a conservative position on abortion based partly on scriptural evidence and partly on a natural law ethic.
Cozic, Charles and Stacey Tipp, ed. Abortion: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1991. This anthology is a collection of articles by authors on different sides of the issues.
James F. Bohan, The House of Atreus: Abortion as a Human Rights Issue. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1999.
Gunasekara, Victor A. “The Core Principles of Secular Humanism. Twelve Fundamental Principles Stated and Examined” Manussa, Web.
Randy Alcorn Prolife, Answers to Prochoice Arguments. Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2000. Web.
Stated and Examined, Manussa Web.
Religious tolerance.org.2007.Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. Web.

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Abortion: Strengths and Limitations

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