Abortion

Legend transcription     Legal on demand     Legal for maternal life, health, mental health, rape, fetal defects, and/or socioeconomic factors     Legal for or illegal with exception for maternal life, health, mental health, rape, and/or fetal defects     Illegal with exception for maternal life, health, mental health and/or rape     Illegal with exception for maternal life, health, and/or mental health     Illegal with no exceptions     Varies by region     No information

Abortion is a difficult topic to discuss as there are so many different aspects of society which influence it. There is no right opinion, because everyone has different ethics and values. As it is, the majority of the northern countries have it legal on demand, meaning that people can get one whenever they want. Most other countries have it illegal apart from if it harms the mother or is a result of rape or incest.
America holds the most controversy on the topic. The Roe v. Wade case of 1973 is what legalised abortion in the United States. Jane Roe, from Texas, claimed she had been raped but the state forced her to give birth anyway. Later, her case was reconsidered, and she won, legalising abortion before the end of the first trimester. This created an uproar with the anti-abortionists and changed America in a big way, and in turn, influencing the whole world.




There are many different opinions on whether abortion should be legalised or not. Pro-choice and pro-life debates commence throughout the world trying to get what they believe is right to be the law.

Pro-life people hold the belief that the foetus is a human being as soon as it is conceived. The main point in this argument being that abortion is, in essence, murder. Roman Catholic teaching states that as abortion is murder, and murder is a sin - "thou shalt not kill," the fifth commandment - they will not support it, therefore most catholics are pro-life. Some catholics even actively attempt to stop it with protests outside clinics. Part of the argument with this, is that even when it is harmful to the child bearer, the catholic church would not condone surgery which could harm the foetus, regardless of the mother's health.

"The Tribunal of the Holy Office ruled on 1894-MAY-28 and 1889-AUG-19 that:

"It cannot be safely taught in Catholic schools that it is lawful to perform...any surgical operation which is directly destructive of the life of the fetus or the mother."

This would seem to include operations needed to save the life of the woman."


"Pro-choice individuals often do not consider themselves "pro-abortion" because they consider abortion an issue of bodily autonomy, and find forced abortion to be as legally indefensible as the outlawing of abortion." - wikipedia.

Pro-choice activists are for women having the right to choose whether they give birth to the child or not. They want women to have the right to their own body.
"This argument reminds us that even in the abortion debate, we should regard the woman as a person and not just as a container for the foetus."
There are some people in the middle that believe abortion is okay during different stages of the pregnancy, for example the trimester law in America, but partial birth abortion isn't.
The main concerns are about the mother's health, mentally and physically, as well as if the baby was a result of rape or incest, therefore causing not only harm to the mother, but also to the child. Pro-choice activists focus on what is right for the human which is already developed, unlike the foetus, and aim to prioritise their rights.

There is also a side debate about who should have a say in this issue. Many people believe that a man shouldn't as they don't know what it is like to be a mother and can't comprehend what it is like to give birth to a child. Apolonio in the documented debate says "A mother always sees the beauty of a human being more than the man."
Other people rebut this opinion with "abortion does not affect only women. Every aborted child has a father as well as a mother. If a women chooses not to have an abortion, the father can be required to provide child support for 18 years. Why should he have legal responsibilities but no legal rights?" on http://www.pregnantpause.org/abort/choicarg.htm.
I tend to agree that the father should have a say, not a 100% vote, but his opinion should count when the child bearer is making the decision as it is their child also.

Ultimately, it is up to the government to decide what is accepted and what isn't. I personally believe that a women should have a right to her body, up to a point. There is a point when the foetus develops beyond the idea of not being a "human being". After three months, that's when I believe that the woman should stop considering abortion, and think about other options after birth.


References


BBC News. (2004, December 10). Roe v Wade: Key US abortion ruling. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/49315.stm


The Hill. (2010, August 17). Groups on both sides of abortion debate boost their support for dueling female candidates. Retrieved from http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/politics-elections/114651-groups-on-both-sides-of-abortion-debate-boost-their-support-for-dueling-women-candidates-


Latar, A. (n.d.) Debate on Abortion. Retrieved from http://www.bringyou.to/apologetics/p10.htm


Robinson, B. A. (2010, May 15). Abortion access: All sides of the issue. Retrieved from http://www.religioustolerance.org/abortion.htm