Abortion: Justified or Not - Essay Example

Abortion: Justified or Not Opinions about abortion may be best explained as being a amalgamation of beliefs on its morality, and beliefs on the responsibility, ethical scope, and proper extent of governmental authorities in public policy. Religious ethics also has an influence upon both personal opinion and the greater debate over abortion. In the United States of America, those individuals who are in support of legal prohibition of abortion are generally portrayed as ‘pro-life’. While those who are against legal boundaries on abortion, they portray themselves to be the ‘pro-choice’.

However, both are used to characterize the key principles in arguments for and against abortion. The first question is what is abortion? And the answer is that abortion is the removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death. Abortion can be natural i.e. it can be the spontaneous expulsion of a fetus, commonly known as a miscarriage. Or it can be induced i.e. the removal of a fetus by medical, surgical, or other ways at some stage in human pregnancy.

Let’s begin with discussing the pro-life point of view about abortion. They say that because life begins at the time of conception, abortion is like to kill as it is the act of taking human life. It is in direct disobedience of the universally accepted notion of the sanctity and the blessedness of human life No civilized society allows one human on purpose to destruct or take the life of another human without penalty, and abortion is no poles apart. For women who insist absolute control of their body, they should practice control to prevent the threat of an unwanted pregnancy through the responsible use of contraception or, if that is not possible, through abstinence.

Abortion is not and must not be considered as another type of contraception. Also it later causes severe mental and emotional pain and stress, thus it can result in medical obstacles in later life. And as far as the circumstances of rape and incest are considered, appropriate medical care can make certain that a female will not get pregnant.Now, how the pro-choice counter argument the pro-life point of view. The idea of personhood is poles apart from the perception of human life. Human life occurs at conception – this is agreeable.

Then what would one say about the fertilized eggs used for in-vitro fertilization, they are also human lives and if they are not implanted aren’t they usually thrown away. Is this murder, and if not, then how is abortion murder? The pro-choice supporters say that abortion is not used as a form of contraception. Pregnancy can take place even with responsible contraceptive exercise. Its only a small population of women who have abortions do not use any form of birth control, and that is due more to individual negligence than to the availability of abortion.

The ability of a woman to have control of her body is critical to civil rights. And being a parent is a profound responsibility: monetary, mental, and moral. It's a around the clock job for early years, consuming thousands of hours after that: as caretaker, supervisor, and mentor. To a woman who does not want it, this is a death penalty. Thus, sentencing a woman to forgo her existence to an embryo is not keeping the "right-to-life." So to abort or to not, it should be the mother’s choice.Works Cited1.

Alcorn, Randy. Pro-Life: Answers to Pro-Choice Arguments. Multnomah Books 1994.2. Messerli, Joe. Should Abortion Be Banned (Except in Special Circumstances Like Saving the Mother's Life)? Balanced Politics 17th March 2007.3. Planned Parenthood of America. Pro-Choice Debate Handbook. http://www.plannedparenthood.org/politicalarena/Pro-Choice_Debate_Handbook.html#4