Monday, October 15, 2007
Listening in on the debate
There are alot of arguments out there concerning the topic of abortion; I thought it might be helpful to identify just a few of the beliefs commonly upheld between the two sides. Pro-choice activists do not generally believe that the child aborted is alive in the mother's womb, but rather is a small collection of tissue. Those of the pro-life position may believe that life begins as early as conception and generally view abortion as murder. Abortion supporters also argue that a women should have the right to control her own body. Taking away her ability to choose what happens to her body is, in theory, taking away her life. Anti-abortionists, however, argue that a women can have the right to choose anything as long as their decision does not infringe on the rights of another, which abortion does. Also, a women made her choice when she decided to put herself in a situation where she might become pregnant. Her life is not completely taken away if denied the ability to have an abortion for the condition of pregnancy is temporary; the life taken away from a child, however, at abortion, is a permanent consequence. Many pro-abortionists bring up the issue of rape victims having abortions. They will also discuss examples of women who have abortions because they know that the child will have a low quality of life if birthed. Perhaps the family is dysfunctional or poor, or perhaps the child has a traumatic disability; these rare cases seem to make having an abortion completely ethical in abortion-activists eyes. Anti-abortionists would argue that, since we believe the child is a human being even in the mother's womb, aborting it would be wrong under all circumstances. You would never kill a newborn just because his mother was raped, or because he would be going home to poverty. Why? Because its murder and you have no right to determine whether the child should be allowed to live or not. Abortion supporters like to point out that without abortion, the global population would explode beyond it's current state of overpopulation. Abortion critiques, however, argue that this should be the least of our concerns when we are dealing with this issue as a moral wrong. You would never kill a newborn just because their are too many people in this world.
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2 comments:
Have you considered what would happen if abortion was made illegal? Do you really think that most women who get abortions today would let the law stop them, or do you think they would be desperate enough to get a back-alley abortion instead? Outlawing abortion may not actually lower its frequency by any considerable amount. In that case, all that would be accomplished is making abortion more dangerous to the mother.
You bring up a good point and I'm sure your right in saying that if abortion was made illegal, women would find alternative and probably more dangerous ways to have an abortion. The fact that abortion would be more dangerous, however, for those deciding to commit the crime isn't reason to keep something considered unethical from being made illegal. The laws instituted by our legal system are more than guidelines to promote a better life for the public well being; they are statements that represent our principles. They represent our value system as a people.
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