Reproductive freedom – the fundamental right of every individual to decide freely and responsibly when and whether to have a child – is a reaffirmation of the principle of individual liberty cherished by most people worldwide. It helps ensure that children will be wanted and loved, that families will be strong and secure, and that choice rather than chance will guide the future of humanity. Shouldn’t this be the way forward for humanity? It seems not. In many parts of the world abortion is illegal as it is seen to be the murder of human life, to be taking away the unborn’s right to live.
At last count, the world was slowly becoming overcrowded. It seems ironic that abortions are illegal and in some countries have been since man can remember. In Ireland, abortions are strictly illegal, especially in the Catholic Church. In the 16th century, Popes Sixtus V and Gregory XIV said that causing or having an abortion means that the guilty person is excommunicated. Notice how this statement comes from two men. One doesn’t keep something one doesn’t want, so why should it any different for women? Therefore, pregnant Irish women travel abroad to receive a termination hether their religion allows it or not.
As the operation is free of charge to the patient on the NHS, it has to be paid for somehow. The government then turn to the country’s people and bump up the taxes. As most people are tax payers, I’m willing to bet they aren’t too happy about giving money to a cause which is hardly life threatening towards women. A ban on abortions creates havoc – post-natal depression for example. If the mother has an unwanted child and suffers this depression, I sincerely doubt she would love and cherish it, and the child would be unloved and neglected.
Although the abortion costs money on the NHS, to treat someone with long term depression would cost infinitely more and therefore be more of a drain on resources than a one-off abortion. Could this lead to the murder of a child, because the mother was forced to have it? If this was the case, the mother would be punished. In my opinion this would be pure injustice and could easily be avoided by having a termination. Bring in abortion. An even greater injustice is the biggest killer in Ethiopia – back street abortions.
Contrary to popular belief, it is not starvation, as hown through my research. Pregnant women seek the help of ‘doctors’ who have no idea what they are doing causing painful death to the women. Many women in Ethiopia have numerous children and would not be able to handle another child being young themselves. The cause of starvation in Ethiopia is mainly due to overpopulation, which in turn is caused by lack of contraception and sex education. It’s easy enough for us condemn them for having sex in the first place, but how many people do you know are celibate through choice?
If condoms were introduced for instance, the spreading of atal diseases would be minimised, the risk of pregnancy especially among teenagers would drop considerably, women wouldn’t be lumped with unwanted children or endure pain or fatalities to terminate it illegally. Therefore, Ethiopia’s birth rate would fall, allowing the country to have more food. This sounds logical to me. Thousands of women worldwide are raped – statistics show that there is one rape every six seconds in America. Millions more are the victims of sexual abuse, many of these sexual acts performed by a father, uncle, mother’s partner or other male relative.
These abusers have no idea of right from wrong; do you think they are going to protect the female in question from diseases and more so pregnancy? Unlikely. If the female were to fall pregnant as a result of sexual abuse in a country where abortion is illegal, she would have to keep the baby. Every time that female looks into the cot she should feel overwhelming happiness and pride. Instead, she remembers the night she was raped, and all she feels is hatred for the rapist and the little reminder in the cot of how he stripped her of her life and dignity.
In my view this is morally wrong, as the ictim – key word here is victim – is suffering every day as a single parent, yet the ‘father’ has no worries. Not only is the mother suffering, the child will never have the chance to meet its father. Now think of the reasons why abortion is illegal. Seems minor compared to the ones I have expressed. So, in this world we have thousands of unloved children, who have no guidance to teach them right from wrong and who are probably fending for themselves. As a result, no-one teaches them how to conform to society and its rules, therefore, they may become a social deviant.
With no parenting young girls feel unwanted; therefore, to build their self-esteem they go onto have numerous sexual partners. And so the cycle begins again when they accidentally fall or get someone else pregnant – more tearaway children are born with no parenting skills, keeping this cycle going for generations. So what is the solution? Legalize abortion. Let women worldwide want children, not just end up with them through bad timing and a stroke of bad luck. Surely women are able to take charge of their own body and make their informed decisions regarding it.
Let’s advocate contraception, which will have a knock-on effect on the teenage pregnancy rate, in turn decreasing unemployment and tax rates. Consider women’s needs. Women need to gain life experience first in order to pass this onto their offspring. They need to be able to want, love and financially support a child. All of these are basic needs. Children need to be loved, guided and taught. At the end of the day it is the women’s choice but it must be borne in mind that it is not the child’s fault that they are here. Legalize abortion for the sake and the health of future generations.