Should Abortions Be Legal - Research Paper Example

 INTRODUCTION There is a very high rate of unwanted pregnancies and unwanted babies in most countries of the world today. This is a social issue and must be dealt with accordingly, by the law. The decision to go for abortion of an unwanted baby is greatly affected by the relevant legislation, social attitudes and availability or non-availability of abortion facility. Since legalizing abortions not only reduces crime rate in a society but also results in decreased teenage child bearings; therefore, the law must have a provision for legalized abortions and pregnant women seeking an abortion must be able to avail proper facilities for the procedure under the law. THESIS According the American Heritage Dictionary (2011), abortion is defined as the induced termination of a pregnancy, achieved via destruction of embryo or fetus. Abortion therefore refers to ceasing the process of child birth before the child is born. Opting for an abortion is not an easy decision, but there are many unfortunate circumstances where women find themselves with no other choice. Several reasons for opting for an abortion may include: rape pregnancies, accidental pregnancies, divorce, illness of the mother or the mother being underage etc. Abortion has for long been viewed unfavorably by most societies. In America, abortion was legalized only in five states in 1970 and in all states in 1973 (Levitt & Donohue, 2001). Women who do opt for abortion to avoid giving birth to unwanted babies face many difficulties in areas where abortion has not been legalized. If a woman is too young or unhealthy to bear a child, or if the baby is unwanted, she should have the right to terminate her pregnancy before bringing the child to life. This will not only save an unwanted or abandoned baby from being born but will also give the woman a chance to live a healthy life and make a career after attaining whatever education she may seek chances of which would be rare if she gave birth to a baby while being in her teens. Unprepared couples or those not wanting another baby do not prove to be good parents and it is not fair for any child to be born in a home where he or she is not welcome and where his or her parents cannot support the baby. In worse cases where abortion is not an opportunity and the baby is not given for adoption either, the baby is either abandoned, or is brought up very poorly by the parents or parent. There are cases where pregnant women are murdered by their partners who are unwilling to have a baby and share the responsibility or in some extreme cases; even the newly born infants are murdered by one of the parents. All this can be avoided by taking a timely step namely that of abortion if contraception did not work. Even if given a chance to live, unwanted babies are deprived of normal lives where parents care for children and support them. Unwanted children often have abusive, frustrated parents who do not care for the children, resulting in unhappy lives for such children. ANTI-THESIS There are always two sides of a picture and it is pointless to prove an argument while ignoring the counter arguments available. There is some available research and literature in favor of not legalizing abortion as well. Lott and Whitley (2010), cited in UFI (2010) conducted one study to find the relationship between abortion and crime rates. They concluded that contrary to what Levitt and colleagues (2005) previously found, crime rate specially that of murders had actually increased with legalizing abortion. The researchers supporting this finding explain that with legalized abortion, pre marital and extra marital unprotected sex has also become a more encouraging option which has therefore elevated the rate of related crimes. Some people who oppose legalized abortion claim that abortion is another form of discrimination. Dr. Garton in her book ‘Who broke the baby?, cited in Murti (2006) says that we have actually conveniently excluded the unborn baby from the protection of law so we can deprive it from the basic human rights including the very right to life itself. Despite the declaration of the rights of a child by the UN assembly (1959) cited in (Murti, 2006) which stated that because of physical and mental immaturity, the child needs special rights and protection by law before as well as after birth; abortion is considered legal in many countries of the world including USA. This might be due to immeasurable social, political and economic advantages of legalized abortions of unwanted children that outweigh the concerns regarding killing of an unborn soul. Religious minded people take a more powerful stance on this issue. They clearly consider abortion as a murder (DesRochers, 2011). Drawing evidence from scientific reports, which confirm that a fetus is a growing baby inside a mother’s womb, with a beating heart (Smith, 1997), anti abortion supporters claim that abortion is analogous to killing a human being or murder. SYNTHESIS Legalized abortion has multiple benefits. Each one is discussed along with evidence from research below. Ever since abortion has been legalized, there has been a considerable decrease in teenage child bearings (Joyce & Mocan, 1990; Ozbeklik, 2006) which is socially healthy. Teenage parents are themselves immature and cannot in any way prove to be good parents to their unwanted child who deserves the best parenting like all other children. Research in favor of legalized abortion has mainly focused on the relationship of legalized abortion with that of crime rate. In this regard, a popular study was conducted by Levitt & Donohue (2001). These researchers found and reported evidence that crime rate has decreased in the USA ever since abortion has been legalized. Though this study received a lot of criticism from Lott and Whitlety (2010), but there were other subsequent studies (Berk, et.al; 2003) confirming the findings of Levitt & Donohue (2001). Stated that legalized abortions reduce crime rate, the process of legalizing abortions can be viewed in a more favorable light. The law should have a provision for abortion by choice of the parents to avoid the birth of an unwanted baby who will naturally lead an unhappy life. Some research has focused on the maternal health in this regard. To begin with, abortion legalization has caused a decrease in maternal mortality rate (Roht, Sherwin & Henderson, 1974). Research has also ruled out the misconception that abortion is mentally disturbing for women. Kero and colleagues (2004) reported that women who go through legalized abortion do not undergo any mental uneasiness or regret after making this complex decision. In fact they are relieved after the process. According to researchers Russo & Rubin (1995), legalized abortion specially if performed in the first trimester is particularly less emotionally disturbing than giving birth to an unwanted child. CONCLUSION Choosing to abort one’s baby is definitely not an easy decision. Women who opt for abortion usually do so in cases of rape, divorce, financial difficulties, being underage or because of being unprepared to bring up a baby (Gurtovnik, 2008). Legalized abortion makes this decision and process easy for those who opt for it. It not only is individually beneficial, but also has a beneficial impact on society by reducing crime rate and decreasing the rate of teenage parenting. Abortion should be legalized in all countries of the world for the sake of social and maternal health; and for ensuring care, love and high quality parental brought up of all babies that are born. REFERENCES American Heritage Dictionary. (2011). Abortion. Answers.com. Retrieved from: http://www.answers.com/topic/abortion on April 4th, 2011. Berk, R.A; Sorenson, S.B; Wiebe, D.J & Upchurch, D.M. (2003). The legalization of abortion and subsequent youth homicide: A time series analysis. Analysis of social issues and public policies. Vol:3(1), p. 45-64. DesRochers, R. (2011). Chose Life: Abortion stops a beating heart. Daily news articles. Retrieved from: http://www.dailynewarticles.com/article/337/25383/Choose_Life_Abortion_Stops_A_Beating_Heart.html on April 5th, 2011. Donohue, J.J & Levitt, S.D. (2001). Impact of legalized abortion on crime. The quarterly journal of economics. Vol: CXVI (2), p. 379-420. Gurtovnik, R. (2008). A study of the effects of abortion in the United States. Florida: Boca Raton. Joyce, T.J & Mocan, N.H. (1990). The impact of legalized abortion on teenage child bearing in New York city. American journal of public health. Vol: 80(3), p.273-278 Kero, A; Hogberg, U & Lalos, A.(2004). Wellbeing and mental growth-long-term effects of legal abortion. Social sciences and medicine. Vol: 58(12),p. 2559- 2569. Murti, V. (2006). The liberal case against abortion. R.A.G.E Media. Retrieved from: http://books.google.com/ebooks?id=0UFKQtDsnosC on April 5th, 2011. Ozbeklik, S. (2006). The Effect of Abortion Legalization on Teenage Out-Of-Wedlock Childbearing in Future Cohorts. Retrieved from: http://ideas.repec.org/p/scp/wpaper/06-50.html on April 5th, 2011. Roht,L.H; Sherwin, R & Henderson, M.M.(1974). The impact of legal abortion: Redefining the maternal mortality rate. Health services reports. Vol: 89(3), p. 267-273. Russo, N.F & Rubin, L.(1995). Opinion Comment and reviews. Psychology and reproductive choice. Retrieved from: http://www.prochoiceforum.org.uk/psy_coun11.php on April 5th, 2011. Smith, M.G. (1997). The Casey court and reliance on murder. Texlife. Retrieved from: http://www.texlife.org/humanities/casey/ch3.shtml on April 4th, 2011. UFI. (2010). Research shows: Abortion increases crime rate. The united families international blog. Retrieved from: http://unitedfamiliesinternational.wordpress.com/2010/04/30/new-study-abortion-increases-crime-rate/ on April 5th, 2011. Read More