When you go shopping for something you are given lots of choices. Lets say that you were going house shopping, you would have to make an important choice as to the location, the size, the price and your personal preferences as to the appearance. People make choices every day. If you went shopping and somebody told you that you had to buy a certain house, and there were problems with this house, maybe safety problems, maybe you couldn't afford this house or maybe you are to young to be moving out into a house. Should you have to buy this house? It should be your choice, right?
This is similar to abortion, there are many reasons why women have abortions. Each year 50 percent of all pregnancies among American women are unintended. About half of these unplanned pregnancies, 1.5 million each year, are ended by abortion. The reasons for these abortions are diverse.
Abortion has not always been so safe. "Between 1880 and 1973, when abortion was illegal in all or most states, many women died or had serious medical problems after attempting to induce their own abortions." Even if women don't have the legal choice to abort their unplanned pregnancies they are going to do it any way. According to the National Abortion Federation, abortion is one of the safest types of surgery. Complications from having an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy are considerably less frequent and less serious than those associated with giving birth. We should make sure that the mother is safe. I would rather hear about somebody getting an abortion by a doctor, than somebody attempting it themselves with a coat hanger.
Women are not using abortion as a method of birth control. "Half of all women getting abortions report that contraception was used during the month they became pregnant." Perhaps some of these couples used the method improperly. The fact is that no contraceptive method prevents pregnancy 100 percent of the time. Because of an accident somebody shouldn't have their life ruined.
Teenagers with unplanned pregnancies face difficult choices. Sometimes abortion is the responsible choice to make. "If a teen gives birth and keeps the baby, she will be much more likely than other young women to: drop out of school, receive inadequate prenatal care, rely on public assistance to raise her child, develop health problems, and have her marriage end in divorce." A young girl should not have the rest of her life ruined.
Many people think that the woman will go through a great deal of distress after an abortion. Some women will find it helpful to talk about their feelings with a friend or family member. Although The American Psychological Association finds no scientific support or evidence for the so-called "Post-abortion syndrome". "The most frequent response women report after having ended a problem pregnancy is relief, and the majority are satisfied that they made the right decision for themselves."
The biggest problem that people have with abortion is that they are killing a human. When does the egg become a human, because if we count the potential for an egg to become a human we should be screaming murder each time a women has her period. Is the egg considered human when it becomes a fetus? Is the egg considered human when it takes its first breath of air in the outside world. This is a never ending loop and it is all in the opinion of who is arguing.
To me I am against abortion if the fetus is going to feel pain. To me pain is human, and once the fetus can feel pain I don't think it should be killed. At some stage during pregnancy a fetus does become capable if feeling pain. The issue of fetal pain was addressed by a working group appointed by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists in the United Kingdom. The panel consisted of experts in fetal development , law and bio-ethics. Dr. Anne McLaren headed the group. She commented: "Pain can only be felt by a fetus after nerve connections became established between two parts of its brain: the cortex and the thalamus. This happens about 26 weeks from conception. We recommend that painkillers should be considered before an abortion for any fetus which is 24 or more weeks. This would give a 2 week safety factor in case the date of conception is incorrectly calculated." In the US fewer than one percent of abortions occur after 21 weeks and of these one percent almost all of these are done before 23 weeks. To be suffering is to have life, without pain there is no suffering.
I don't want other people making decisions for me. I don't feel that people should be making decisions for these women. It is not the place of the government, the church or anybody else to dictate what we can or cannot do to our bodies. It is one of our human rights to have a freedom of choice and I will always stand by that and support anybody that makes a responsible decision.
