Emily Nelson RD

Emily Nelson

Bryan Lutz

English 151

23 October 2011

Abortion Pros and Cons in Today’s Society

Abortion is one of the most highly debated topics among the world to this day. There are many different views and opinions that surround this topic that make the situation all that more complicated. The sides of the argument include Pro-Choice and Pro-Life. Pro-Choice refers to those who believe women should have the option to abort a fetus. Pro-Life activists believe abortion should be made illegal. When a woman is given the option to abort, immediately there is a lot of emotion and pressure surrounding the decision to be made. Depending on the circumstance, a woman’s right to abort a fetus is crucial, always controversial, but ultimately it is a very impactful decision from all angles. Pro-Life activists have valid arguments and support the right to life, but there are times where abortion is done in an understandable situation. Overall, abortions can be done for the right reasons but they aren’t always recognized for being a logical decision.

PRO-CHOICE

The main argument for pro-choice supporters is for choices to remain an open option for any individual, there should not be a law against deciding if having a child would be a good option for the carrier or for the unborn. When a fetus isn’t recognized as entering personhood, abortion is not able to be judged by the government as murder. When researching the topic of abortion, a lot of results are personal stories and experiences. Many pro-choice activists post about positive abortion experiences, one article in particular can be found at http://www.kimberlyblessing.com/archive/category/prochoice. This article by Kimberly Blessing goes into detail about the reasons of why she is pro-choice. Many of her points can resonate with many people across the United States. Blessings makes the statement, “I’m pro-choice because I know the panic a woman can suffer when she thinks she’s pregnant,” (http://www.kimberlyblessing.com/archive/category/prochoice). This feeling is common amongst countless women everywhere. Maybe there was a misuse of no use of contraceptives or maybe there was an incident of rape, sometimes women feel like their life is over when they have an unplanned pregnancy. They must look at the facts and are faced with a very hard decision, women must ask themselves “will I be able to take care of this baby” and/or “will I be able to give this child up after birth”. If a woman has an unexpected pregnancy after rape, it is emotionally stressful deciding what to do with the fetus. This is a situation where pro-choice support groups gain a lot of respect on their stance. How can a woman be expected to care for a child that would be a constant reminder of being raped?

PRO-LIFE

Supporters of Pro-Life beliefs use The Bible and government policy to support their anti-abortion opinions. They believe that all lives should be saved, no matter what circumstance, no matter how long the fetus has been in the womb, according to the pro-life side of the argument, once a woman has conception of the fetus, it is a living person and abortion is murder. Most women who have gotten an abortion typically have misused contraceptives or used them, very few women use protection methods correctly who get abortions. Pro-life supporters believe abortion questions some women’s morality. The topic is black and white for anti-abortionists, if a women is pregnant, they should have the baby. On this side of the argument, they understand that some women are not ready to bring a child into the world, keeping that in mind, this group also provides support to help the mother raise the child or they help them with the adoption process. The main belief of pro-life supporters is a mother should take care of the child until it is able to live outside of the womb, they do not necessarily have to raise the baby but having the baby is the purpose of anti-abortion activists. 

SETTLING THE ARGUMENT

Pro-life supporters are accused of not giving enough support to pregnant women and pro-choice supporters are accused of being murderers. As of now, there is no settlement on the debate of abortion. Many states have lowered the amount of money they give to abortions and require much more legal processing before a woman can actually get an abortion. The numbers of abortions have been on the decline since the 1980s but they still occur fairly often. Unintended pregnancies will always be an issue in the United States, how the government decides to handle the situation is still very much undecided and could go any way.