Introduction
Over time, research findings show that ambivalence is evident when a woman decides on keeping the child; however, abortion becomes a choice when there are fears about adverse effects that might occur to a woman. (Kirkman, Rowe, Hardiman, Mallett, & Rosenthal, 2009). Abortion can be defined as a voluntary termination of the life of a fetus by terminating a pregnancy. In the recent past, there has been a serious debate about abortion, and various opinions have been debated about whether abortion is right or wrong. Most scientists have been seen to argue in support of abortion, whereas most religious groups and some human rights activists have been quoted seriously condemning the practice. Each group has given its argument and reasoning which seem to be genuine. However, even after studying the cases and thinking of those who support abortion, people still cannot recommend and firmly stand against it. Some organizations have also laid down a maximum age after which the fetus should not be aborted, while others insist on it for reasons related to the mother’s health (BBC, 2014). Abortion has many serious consequences both for individuals and for the entire community. The effects of abortion cannot be underestimated. There are, however some extraordinary occasions where abortion can be carried out, but it should only be done by an experienced medical officer to avoid the physical and biological effects and risks of abortion to the mother. The term paper aims to evaluate and shedding light on the impact and consequences of abortion.
Evidence Against Abortion
There is a lot of evidence that shows the wrongness of abortion. Abortion involves the killing or termination of life. According to most religious articles and beliefs, life begins at conception. The moment fusion occurs, life starts, and it means that the fetus is a living creature and its presence should be respected. According to most of the constitutions of different states in the world, killing is illegal. This makes me wonder how abortion is legalized in these same states where killing is unlawful. It shows some discrimination in the definition of murder. A fetus is a very innocent being who cannot defend himself or herself and hence should not be killed; therefore, this shows that abortion is wrong.
To prove that the fetus is a living creature, it is essential also to note that scientifically, every fetus has a unique genetic code which can be determined by the test of their DNA hence they are a unique individual. Abortion can also be viewed as a way of terminating the life of an individual who could have had a future similar to ours; hence it should be strongly condemned. According to science, a fetus is in a position to feel pain at the age of 18 weeks after conception. This means abortion after this age is a way of infringing pain on this innocent creature. According to the constitution of most of the world states, it is illegal to cause pain to any individual intentionally hence judging that abortion is right yet it is an intentional way of causing pain leaves me with the question of the justice of this fetus. It can be concluded that abortion is killing and allowing abortion to be carried out is similar to encouraging killing which in turn reduces respect of people, and this may, in turn, lead to increased cases of genocides and murder as people do not take life seriously.
Abortion and Social Immorality
The act of abortion was initially meant to empower women to free them from unwanted childbearing and housework that come with having a child and also to assist them in achieving an equal place with men in the workforce (The Life Resources Charitable Trust, 2011). However, allowing and legalizing abortion is a way of encouraging social immorality. Morality is a principle concerning distinguishing between right and wrong things or differentiating between good and bad. It is clear and accurate to say that abortion is an immoral act. Abortion is a way of terminating the life of an innocent creature. Once abortion has been legalized, any woman will be in a position to carry out any number of abortions as they wish. This means that even young girls will be at liberty to have immoral acts since the consequences will be easy to deal with. This will also increase the spread of diseases since most of youths will engage in unprotected sex without fear. As of now, most of young people use protection to avoid unplanned pregnancies compared to protection against sexually transmitted diseases. Legalizing abortion will also lead to irresponsibility in society as no one will account for their immoral acts.
Psychological Damage and Health Risks
Abortion has been proven scientifically to be a significant cause of psychological damage. Most people believe from religious teachings and feel as well as the instructions on morals that abortion is not right even when their states legalize them. Once they go ahead and perform the act, it causes them depression. No one can defeat their conscience on such an issue as killing hence the chances of getting depressed are very high. According to scientific research, it has been proven that depression caused by abortion can extend up to five years after the abortion. Scientific research has also confirmed that those women who abort are at a very high risk of committing suicide. Research has proven that for every 100,000 women who indulge in abortion cases, 34 percent of them end up in depression and another 11 percent commit suicide within the first two years of the act (Sedgh, 2015). Depression is one of the leading psychological causes of death in the world. This is an unfortunate finding as many lives are lost both the life of the mother and fetus.
Abortion places the life of the mother at risk of death. It is clear that abortion causes excessive bleeding, which may cause death. This happens when abortion is not professionally done as is the case in developing countries and also the case in states where abortion is illegal as the mothers abort in hiding. When abortion is not conducted professionally, some pieces of the fetus may be left inside the womb in their attachment. This is because the uterus cannot squeeze them by itself. This causes excessive bleeding in the mother from the uterus which can easily cause death. Abortion may also cause tearing up of the uterus which is a significant contributor to excessive bleeding, which can easily lead to death.
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Infertility and Risks to Future Pregnancies
Abortion may also lead to infertility and pose a risk to future pregnancies. Abortion may lead to the destruction of the womb, rendering the involved lady unable to conceive (Gerdts, 2016). However, it is also true that most of women get natural conception even after the abortion, but some are unlucky. Abortion sometimes causes infection of the womb which in turn leads to its inability to hold a fetus hence rendering the mother infertile. Abortion may lead to a woman getting Pelvic Inflammation Disease (PID). This disease is hazardous to a woman’s fertility as it causes the eggs to implant outside the womb. When one individual gets involved in several abortion cases, these people place themselves at the risk of premature births where the child is born before its time and also causes the miscarriage of subsequent pregnancies. These two cases mainly take place before the 37th week of these subsequent pregnancies (Mahon, 2016). Some women get hazardous experiences during an abortion and end up deciding not to get pregnant in the future. In addition to this, some engage in abortion with no idea of the future consequences of their actions. As a result, when they get to know the future implications of what they did, they fear the unknown and fail to decide not to get pregnant.
Arguments in Support of Abortion
There are those people who argue in support of abortion. They say that life starts at birth and hence the fetus is not alive; thus abortion is different from killing. This argument has been backed up by many scientists stating that a fetus is dependent on the mother for survival; hence it is not alive. This belief is a contradiction to this discussion.
Other people also believe that not allowing them to abort is an infringement of their rights. They claim that the fetus exists inside their body; hence they have a right to decide if it remains inside their organization or not. The argument here is as per human rights that everyone has a right over their bodies. This was one of the main features of the United States of America’s supreme court decision in the case of Roe versus Wade which ruled that it is against human rights to deny a woman the right to abort (Summit, 2017).
Some people also argue that allowing women to abort at their wish is a way of encouraging gender equality and will impact positively these women and their full potential will be easily witnessed. The argument behind this point is that it takes nine months to nurse the pregnancy and at least six months to take care of the young kid before weaning. During this period, these ladies have to leave jobs, drop out of school or move away from their regular daily duties. This puts the male gender in a better position to prosper compared to the female gender; hence the ladies should be granted the right to abort an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy.
Those ladies and human activists who are arguing with people who support abortion say that each woman should be allowed to give birth to the children they have planned for and those that they are comfortable with bringing up. They claim that some of the men act irresponsibly by impregnating them and leaving them to suffer alone in bringing up these children. This should not be the case as every woman should be responsible for their actions and should have in mind all these factors before taking any of such decisions.
Exceptions for Abortion
There are however some cases when abortion can be allowed and even encouraged. These cases include instances of rape. Rape is a common phenomenon in some countries, especially developing countries. In a situation where a child has been raped and cannot take care of the child due to her tender age or the pregnancy is dangerous to her, then abortion can be carried out in favor of the child’s life. In another case, in the event, that the pregnancy is endangering the life of the mother, abortion is the only way to save the mother. Abortion can be carried out to save the mother as it is better to save the life of the mother than to have both of them die as the mother is the support of the fetus.
Abortion Conclusion
In conclusion, it is vital to take care of life since it starts from conception. The arguments for the support of abortion are not strong enough to convince someone to legalize abortion, and every individual in the society should take responsibility for their actions.
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