Pro- Life or Pro-Choice?

Pro-Life or Pro-Choice?

By: Bre-Ann Werner

The concept of Abortion is one of the most controversial topics to ever bring up in the American society. When I think of the word abortion I think of its technical definition; ending a pregnancy before the baby is in the initial phase of its existence. [1] While others may think of abortion as preventing what could possibly be a horrible life for the child, or for themselves due to a variety of potential reasons. As the topic of abortion is on the rise all over America, it may be a good time to consider all possible factors for or against abortion and ask yourself; are you pro- life or pro-choice? The fight for abortion, whether it should be banned or legal has been going on for decades because many believe that pro-life people are killing one of gods creations, while pro-choice people can’t seem to understand the “harm” that they are doing when looking at their circumstances. Has anyone ever looked at abortion being neither right nor wrong? I believe abortion is not right, but it is not wrong. I believe that it is all a matter of your personal opinion and the conditions that brought the individual to consider abortion as an option.  Taking all into consideration, I do believe that abortion should be legal. However the legality of abortion should be based upon a number of things, such as the reason why they are considering abortion, the status of that individual; how old are they? What are their health conditions? Do they have a family crisis? As well as, their home environment- were they planning on aborting the child because their home environment was not suitable for a child? Or were they a rape victim?

            Taking it back thousands of years to the beginning of history, the abortion procedure has been commonly performed on women in almost every American society. Up until the mid to late 1800’s a big portion of the United States were trying to pass laws to make abortion illegal for various different reasons. [2] One of the many reasons for trying to ban abortion in the United States back in the 1800’s was because of the risks and dangers that came along with the procedure. For instance, during the 1800’s hospitals in general were not common, and the ones that were around were not known for performing the safest surgical procedures due to their scarcity of antiseptics, and the doctors had little to no medical education. [3]Despite the fact that people wanted the abortion procedure outlawed due to its dangerous risks, people at the same time were fighting for the abortion law to be passed simple because the infant mortality rate during child birth were so particularly high without the help of today’s technology. [4]

            As technology began to advance, medical technologies and treatment also began to grow. Which then lead to much more reliable and safer medical care as well as infection prevention. The problem with the abortion procedure at this time was not the medical care and treatment, it was that the law was not yet passed to make this legal, which then forced women who needed this procedure done to go to an illegal practitioner. [5]Around the mid 1880’s to 1973 the want for legalizing abortion became real as the Comstock law was released, which outlawed the distribution and broadcasting of any type of birth control product.[6] The problem that came about during this time of history was that banning the abortion procedure did not reduce the amount of women that were going through with it, whether it was illegally or personally done. The real problem was that the number of women going through with the procedure was actually increasing due to the restrictions that were put on all birth control products and procedure. In the time frame of 1880’s- 1973 the number of legal abortions done to women sky rocketed to about 1.2 million per year. [7]

            With all of this being said, I think that the real problem with abortion even to this day is all of the restraints being put on the procedure. I understand that back in the day the procedure was very unsafe and it was being banned to protect the lives and overall health of the women who had the desire to go through with the abortion. However, with all of this new and advanced technology I do not see why we have to point fingers against those who agree or disagree with abortion. I think that abortion should not be labeled as right or wrong, it is 100% someone’s personal opinion. Legalizing abortion all over the United States would get rid of and prevent a lot of the controversy that has gone on in the past. However, if the procedure is going to be done there are a lot of restrictions and regulations that must be met prior to getting the procedure done. I am not an advocate of people getting abortions ‘just because’ they can, I am an advocate of someone getting an abortion because they desperately need one. For example, if you were a rape victim and got pregnant because of it, I do not think it is fair to hold an innocent women accountable or responsible for giving birth to that child and raising it when it was not planned in the first place, especially if they are at a young age. Therefore, I do believe that abortion should be legal. I also believe that we should once in for all stop pointing fingers at one another for what we believe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] Palo Alto Medical Foundation , "Abortion ." Last modified 2014. Date Accessed March 31, 2014. http://www.pamf.org/teen/sex/pregnancy/abortion.html.

[2] National Abortion Federation , "History of Abortion ." Last modified 2010. Date Accessed March 31, 2014. https://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/history_abortion.html.

[3] National Abortion Federation , "History of Abortion ." Last modified 2010. Date Accessed March 31, 2014. https://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/history_abortion.html.

[4] National Abortion Federation , "History of Abortion ." Last modified 2010. Date Accessed March 31, 2014. https://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/history_abortion.html.

[5] National Abortion Federation , "History of Abortion ." Last modified 2010. Date Accessed March 31, 2014. https://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/history_abortion.html.

[6] National Abortion Federation , "History of Abortion ." Last modified 2010. Date Accessed March 31, 2014. https://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/history_abortion.html.

[7] National Abortion Federation , "History of Abortion ." Last modified 2010. Date Accessed March 31, 2014. https://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/history_abortion.html.