Is the life of an unborn, nonliving so-called human worth more than the life of an actual living and breathing human woman? Many people believe that abortions are an immoral injustice, but that simply is not the case. Some say that abortions are against religion, or should not be a right. But if saving the life of a woman is unjust or abominable then so be it. The right to a safe and legal abortion should be a permanent right for all women, no matter the age. Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy, most commonly performed in the first twenty to twenty eight weeks of pregnancy (Almond 40).
A vast majority of society sees this termination as a murder, but can one murder something that is not alive? At twenty weeks, the fetus has no complex cerebral cortex and no major central nervous activity. This simply means that the fetus cannot perceive pain. The neurological structures needed to register and record sensations of pain either do not exist or are not yet functioning at the time an abortion would occur. According to Watson, an adult in the state of a fetus at this time would be considered dead.
An organism in this condition cannot be killed because it is not alive. Contrary to the popular beliefs that the Bible is pro-life, there is no proven evidence to support the claim. Out of more than six hundred Laws of Moses, none comment on abortion. The Bible also clearly states that a miscarriage does not involve the death of a human being. Many religions consider the fetus to be alive when it takes its first breath, and not while it is in the womb. Jewish law traditionally states that personhood begins at birth.
Moreover, Exodus 21:22-25 makes it clear that an embryo or fetus is not a human being. The Bible in not anti abortion, but it also isn’t pro-life. Moreover, even if the Bible was anti-abortion, this society is a democracy, not a theocracy and the beliefs of one group should not have control over the society as a whole. Almond says that the Bible is anti-woman. Women are blamed for sin, are demanded subservience, and are mandated to maintain a slave/master like relationship to men. The Bible is blatantly discriminatory, much like the anti-abortion laws.
The anti-abortion laws are gender discriminatory. The Human Rights Committee has recognized that criminalizing abortion, even in the case of rape, is incompatible with the states’ obligations to ensure the equal right of men and women to the civil and political rights set forth in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Human Rights Committee has also recognized that denying women access to legal abortion services is an arbitrary interference in their personal and private lives(“Safe and Legal Abortion is a Human Right”).
The idea of abortion being a personal, private matter does not only apply to adult women but also for teenagers. New policies and laws at the federal and state levels have begun to allow teenagers to consent to reproductive health services and ensure the services would be provided discretely upon request. The new laws have produced a wave of political backlash among religious and social conservatives. Many individuals have concluded that the availability of these services undermines parental authority and interfere with parent-child relationships.
In contrast, when informed about their daughter’s pregnancy, eighty-seven percent of mothers and seventy-seven percent of fathers were supportive of abortions (Watson 105). Teen abortions should be legal. A growing body of research shows that teenagers who gave birth scored worse maternal and child health. The reproductive experts and others are concerned about the adolescents’ health and well-being. They have started to focus their services to preventing early pregnancies by providing abortions.
Watson says that in the late nineteen seventies the Supreme Court extended the right to inors to obtain contraceptives and abortion to prevent teen deaths due to illegal and harmful abortions. Illegal abortions are extremely harmful, even deadly. According to Singer, eighty-six percent of all abortions occur in the developing world. About twenty million women have unsafe abortions every year. A recent report by the World Health Organization states that unsafe abortions lead to the deaths of forty-seven thousand women each year. A further five million women are injured due to these botched abortions, many times permanently.
The legalization of abortions in South Africa ,in nineteen ninety-eight, dropped the death rates by ninety one percent. There is also a need for available contraception and sex education. An estimated two hundred and twenty million women in the developing world wants to prevent pregnancy, but do not have the means or lack the knowledge on how to do so (Singer). The right to an abortion and contraceptives go hand in hand. Women have the right to health, just like any other member of society.
Health is the “state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. In this context, the government is required to take the appropriate measures to ensure that the women are not harmed during the legal abortions that the government should provide. Furthermore, the right to health requires the removal of all barriers interfering with access to health services, education, and information, including the area of sexual and reproductive health. The governments should respect a woman’s right regarding the decisions made about her reproductive life. The forty-six million women that want abortions should have the access to the correct facilities and care that will ensure her personal safety after abortions.
Compromising these rights leads to undertaking a serious risk to her health and her life. The denial of access to abortion services, regardless of the situation or legality, conveys cruel, inhuman treatment. The government should not prosecute and punish women for exercising their basic rights (Center for Reproductive Rights). There is also the position that women should not be able to access safe and legal abortions. Matthews-Green says that It is because I still believe so strongly in the right of a woman to protect her body that I now oppose abortion.
The right must begin when her body begins, and it must be hers no matter where she lives- even if she lives in her mother’s womb. The same holds for her brother. This view has been a prominent aspect of the abortion and antiabortion argument. Although it may seem like the abortion ends life before it begins, women are not obligated to, allow every being with the potential to become a rational being to realize that potential (Singer). Why would a person bring another human into the world when it will not be properly cared for?
The phrase better off dead would come into play in this scenario. In the countries where abortions are limited or illegal, the death rates of women and children alike increase exponentially. Instead of introducing more and more children to these harsh conditions, measures should be taken to provide the basic means of survival to the children already alive. There are few countries in which abortions is outlawed that are not suffering. There is severe harm caused to a society due to excess people and unchecked populations is well documented (Almond 41).
Abortions ultimately benefit all members of society. If not for abortions, many scientific advances would not have been made. The rates of maternal morbidity and mortality have been reduced due to the practice of safe abortions (“Safe and Legal Abortion is a Human Right). The right to a safe and legal abortion should be a right for all women. The ideals that abortions are unlawful and immoral are due for their own termination. The women of today should have her rights protected by the government, including the right to an abortion.
