As I sit here writing this at midnight, I realize that this is the article that will probably make a lot of people angry. But oh well. I'm good at that.
Abortion is, for those of you who don't know, the termination of an unborn fetus by basically sucking it out with a hose and into a sink. Yes, it's brutal. Yes, it's wrong, but can our society function with it prohibited?
I know all the pro-life'ers are saying "Yep.". Sorry, I don't see it that way.
It is a known fact that people will continue to have sex. It is an act that is necessary for the advancement of the human race, and for that reason God made it so pleasureable that humans would continue to do it. Since people won't stop having sex, there will be unprotected sex and there will be unwanted pregnacies. Nothing can prevent this.
As long as there are unwanted pregnacies, there will be women, particurally teenagers or people who feel they can not afford the embarassment or the responsibility, who will go to great lengths to rid themselves of their child. Abortion is a legal medical procedure done by competent doctors who know what they're doing (for the most part) and who must go to school for many years to learn their craft. As long as abortion remains legal, this will remain true.
Now, of course, there's a flip side. Imagine, if you will, that Slick Willie has just signed a bill passed by congress prohibiting abortion. Now there are no longer trained professionals doing abortions. It's the street doctors who take over. These people may or may not know how to do an abortion. They may do a good job, or they may butcher you. It'll be done in the backroom of a clinic, or maybe even in the bathroom of your home. But it will be done. And hundreds of thousands of women, old and young, will die. Desperate to hide from the embarassment, shame, and perhaps consequences posed by parents or guardians, these women will allow themselves to be butchered by an unprofessional quack charging a huge fee just so they can get rid of their "burden".
Those who don't go to street abortionists will try and do it themselves, with coat hangers, drugs, alcohol, and maybe even suicide. Abortion may not be morally right, but if it were made illegal, more than just an unborn child will be murdered. Also, there are other terrible things that can occur. For example, in England, there was a serial killer named John Christy who advertized as a backstreet abortionist. He lured pregnant women to his home, then tortured, raped, and murdered them savagely. This is the type of thing that would happen if abortion was illegal.
Another aspect of this complex issue is whether or not there should be circumstances in which abortions should be widely accepted. I think this is a great idea. If I was raped, I would want an abortion. If I knew that the birth of this child would cause me to lose my life (certain people, due to diseases, complications, and so on, are not able to have children because it might kill them...see Steel Magnolias), then I would want an abortion. It just makes sense not to prohibit women in these types of situations from having the ability to get rid of their child.
Abortion is not a good thing. It is not something that should be done time and time again. It is not something that should be done carelessly, without the blink of an eye, but it IS something that can not be made illegal. In this case, the repercussions outweigh the benefits that would be recieved by our nation if we stupidly made abortions illegal. And it's funny, that the "Pro-Lifer's" never parade pictures of murdered, butchered women when they block the entrance of abortion clinics. Because that's what would happen if you got what you wanted.
And that's how I see it.
~*Feisty Charli*~
May 28, 1999
ADDITION ON FEBRUARY 19, 2000
This addition comes in light of evidence culled from About.com, written by Margaret Sykes
1946 - 1972
Number of abortions: Anywhere from 11 million to 32 million, the vast majority obtained illegally.
Deaths: Almost 7,000 women's deaths, practically all from illegal abortion, were reported to state vital statistics departments and collected by the National Center for Health Statistics for those years. It is acknowledged that many abortion-related deaths were unreported.
1973 - 1999
Number of abortions: About 34 million, almost all obtained legally and safely.
Deaths: Fewer than 500. The CDC has actively investigated every report of an abortion-related death since 1969. Between 1973 and 1990, 252 women died from legal abortion and 50 from illegal abortion, most of the illegal-abortion deaths occurring in the years just after Roe v. Wade. Since then there have been 6 to 12 women's deaths resulting from legal abortion and no more than one or two from illegal abortion each year.
