Abortion & Divorce - Essay Example

An abortion takes place if pregnancy is terminated either unintentionally {miscarriage} or willfully. Today, while most of the nations in the world do not permit abortion, some countries {like the U.S.} permit it. The U.S. has allowed it ever since the landmark Roe vs. Wade case ruling by its Supreme Court in 1973. While the controversy over the pros and cons of abortion continues to rage, there is no doubt that abortion is a bad practice that deserves to be banned.

The foremost anti-abortion argument is that a conceived, unborn child is undoubtedly a living human being. Hence if an abortion is performed at any stage between conception and birth, it is nothing but murder, and those guilty of such murder include the mother, the operating doctor, and the lawmakers of the country who do not enact laws to prohibit it. Secondly, several medical problems {like infertility, miscarriage, and premature births} can surface due to abortions that will scar the future of women greatly. The medical problems aspect takes on terrifying dimensions when the possibility of developing breast cancer {recent medical research firmly links abortion to breast cancer} is added. Thirdly, there is no world religion that condones abortion and this is reflected in all religious books {including the Bible whose Tenth Commandment states: “Thou shall not kill”}.

Apart from the above 3 arguments, the two main pro-abortion stances have no solid foundation, namely, that it is a symbol of feminine liberty {a favorite feminist argument}, and that it saves women from the high cost and danger of traveling to other countries to undergo secret operations.  Today, with the massive advancement of science and technology, a large number of birth control methods are available to women to choose from like abstinence during certain days of the month, sterilization, male and female condoms, and diaphragms perhaps the most commonly used oral contraceptive – The Pill, which in its latest version can even be effectively taken 72 hours after sexual intercourse.

In conclusion, abortion, when viewed through the prisms of the most highly prized concepts of mankind {morality and religion}, besides having several other drawbacks as discussed above, cannot be pronounced as ‘good.’ The fact that many abortion cases in the U.S. involve young, unmarried women clearly shows that legalized abortion is wrongly being used by the younger generation to indulge in promiscuous sex. The esteemed lawmakers of our nation should stop the rot by prohibiting abortion.

Divorce refers to the legal termination of a marriage between two individuals by the judgment of a competent court. While the couple can very well say that nobody has the right to interfere in their personal lives, the extreme step of divorce can be condoned only if they do not have children; if they do, then it is better that they do not break up their marriage by divorce because such an action will have several irreversible adverse effects on their children.

The first set of adverse effects includes the fright of change and the fright of being abandoned. Human beings always dread change, and this feeling is exacerbated in children, making them dread the fact that their normal routines like fixed meal-times, school going and bed-times will be turned upside down. They also fear that once one parent has abandoned them in the divorce, there is every chance that the other one will also do the same, whereupon they will be left totally alone.

The second set of adverse effects of divorce includes the onset of physical and mental ailments in children. The most common physical ailment is eating disorders. Usual mental ailments include bouts of depression, a tendency to constantly seek isolation from others, and sudden fits of rage. These ailments may get exacerbated and prolonged if the divorce takes a long time to be finalized.

The last effect is that the negative perspectives will remain with the children when they grow into adults. It will make them try to avoid marriage, and even if they do get married, they will shy away from having children for fear of putting them through the same trauma that they experienced as children of divorced parents. This attitude will put the moral and social fabric of society at risk.

In conclusion, children are harmless and naïve observers in a divorce scenario who stand to lose the most if their parents’ marriage breaks up, not only in the immediate aftermath of the divorce but for years thereafter. Parents should recognize the irreparable damage their divorce will do to the lives of their flesh and blood siblings, and avert it by avoiding divorce while trying to resolve their personal differences in other ways such as seeking marriage counseling.