Abortion in United States - Essay Example

ABORTION Introduction Abortion is one of the most debated issues in the modern United s. Liberals tend to view abortion in terms of privacy. For them, only the pregnant woman should decide if the fetus should be aborted; it is her body, after all. Moreover, liberals feel that if the pregnant woman does not possess the resources, financial or otherwise, to look after the child sufficiently, the most humane thing to do would be to abort the fetus. Conservatives tend to view the fetus as a human life.

Undeniably, abortion is an old societal issue. The legality of abortion, however, is a different story. Abortion in any form was not legal in the United Kingdom in the 1800s (Josephine, 19). The Infant Life Preservation Act of 1929 was passed in May of that year, intending to protect children's rights to life. It did have one small provision, though. It allowed a doctor to decide if the pregnant woman's health were in danger. If it were, then the abortion could be performed (Herring, 161).

Thus, it can well be stated that abortion can only be permissible under the parameters of medical ground and logically enough all other causes of abortion should be systematically banned and considered illegal. One important reason why women tend to be more sexually conservative than males is the possibility of pregnancy. Pregnancy and child rearing require enormous resources; therefore, females do not want to risk unwanted pregnancies. This translates into a general reluctance to engage in casual sexual relationships because of the fear of abortion.

This fear is important because abortion is an act of inhuman indulgence and at the same time it is immoral and a sacrilege in the eyes of religion. However, it must be noted that, because of contraception, abortion, and changing mores, women in industrialized societies are beginning to mimic the sexual behaviors of men. The infamous "double standard," which stigmatized "loose" women, appears to be eroding to a considerable extent. It is time that this issue of abortion should treated as illegal and laws should be imposed and executed against it at least in the United States.

Apart from these factors religion bars abortion completely. Roman Catholic Modernism came from the work of individual Catholic intellectuals at the start of the 20th century who in different ways wanted to modernize the Catholic Church and Catholic beliefs. Alfred Loisy, who is know as the 'Father of Catholic Modernism' sought to meet the challenge posed by critical study of the historical Jesus by concentrating on the development of faith within the life of the church and under this parameter too abortion is considered as sin and a hideous crime against god and life as a whole.

Abortion as cold-blooded murder and the rights of the fetus loom large in the minds of Pro-Lifers everywhere. Pickets and demonstrations in front of abortion clinics claim headlines in the United States. It seems as the life of the fetus has begun to overshadow the rights of the mother in the United States but much is yet to be done. People should move an extra mile to implement the legal issue of establishing the new law against abortion. References:Josephine, Sahaya; Abortion: A public health issue; Student BMJ; 2002, FebruaryHerring, Mark; The Pro-Life/Choice Debate.

London, Greenhaven Press, 2003