One of the biggest political and social controversies of all time is abortion. There are those who see it as immoral and even murder. Pro-life believe that abortion should be illegal but what they fail to take cognizant of is the fact that even if it were to be illegal there would still be those procuring abortion with the unfortunate bit that they will be unqualified for the task leading to numerous casualties. It is estimated that unsafe abortions contribute to over 70,000 deaths annually. To avoid such deaths and give people the opportunity to chart their own destinies in life, pro-choice believe that abortion is good for the society.
Women should have the choice to do what they want with their lives and no one should infringe on their privacy. When one procures abortion, the body in question is their own and so it is illogical for a third party to try to argue that they are protecting the interest of the person who has made the choice. Take for example, a woman is raped by a man and unfortunately becomes pregnant. She needs to have a choice on whether to keep the baby or get rid of it. Pro-choice supports the idea of allowing the woman her privacy and choice over her life. Many are the times that the idea of living with the child of a rapist is too painful to bear for a woman and even the simple act of carrying the baby becomes traumatic to her and so the only way out is to procure abortion. When the rules are tight and she has no choice, it can only mean that she will be put down by depression and other mental challenges emanating from the trauma that she has to undergo especially when the rape thought crosses her mind. Pro-choice members sympathizes with such women and that is why while pro-life may call her a murderer the pro-choice will encourage her and look at her as someone who made a choice over her own life and is ready to face life again without any trauma ( Greenhouse & Siegel, 2012) .
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Pro-choice believe that there are those that get pregnant without fully understanding what the same entails. These girls do not in the literal sense understand the consequences of their actions. Take a fifteen year old girl for example who in the process of experimenting sex becomes pregnant. Telling such a girl to give birth is like telling her that she has no future. The fact that she has lost her virginity does not mean that she is ready to become a parent and so it would be against her will to force her to keep the baby if she is not ready. To start with any responsible parent would kick such a girl out of the home, this means that she would be financially unstable and eventually she would lose her education. The idea of keeping the baby would see such a girl become a child bearing another child. Such a girl would not have to deal with the above issues is abortion is in place although the emotional aspect of removing the fetus may be present. She would learn from her mistakes and become a responsible adult rather than live in a state full of repression. Such a girl would end up being socially mature and evolve into a responsible member of the society ( Medoff, 2010) .
Pro-life argue that life begins at conception and that abortion is thus denying the fetus the right to life. They go ahead to state that because the fetus will eventually develop to a human being it has the same constitutional rights to life just as the human beings. What these pro-life activists fail to understand is the fact that individual rights are the benefits that one accrues due to the doctrines that exist in a society. Born children and even animals are by all means present in the society and to ensure that they function properly there is need to protect them from the exploitation of other society members. These rights are numerous, there are the rights to minimal taxation, rights to health among others but the bottom line is that these rights demarcate the interaction that occurs between all the members of any society. The rights protect the individual from violations that may occur in the future but again the said individual must be part of the group that is according the rights. It is impossible for someone from South Africa to claim rights in the United States. The person must first come to the United States, get the citizenship before they can claim the rights. The accordance of the rights is dependent on the ability to enter America. In the same way, the fetus is does not have any constitutional right as human beings because the fetus is just a potential member of the human society but not yet a member until it is born. Therefore, it would be improper to deny the woman a choice to abort on the pretext of protecting the right to life. It is impossible to protect the right of someone who is not part of one’s society. The fetus will only use the medium of the mother to react to anything in the society and as such it the mother who has the right to decide on what to do with the fetus ( Ananat et.al, 2004) .
There is also the issue of the quality of life. Many will dismiss but abortion gives room for quality of life not just for the mother but for the children. Motherhood is a very special and a remarkable period in the life of the child and a mother. It is at this stage that the mother and child develops a bond. It means that motherhood requires a huge amount of emotional investment and capacity. Raising children for any mother should be one of the most conscious decision that one makes in their life. When a mother is forced to have children when the emotional status is not right, the child will bear the consequences of poor motherhood but when such mothers are allowed to have abortion and later conceive when they are mature and stable emotionally they end up becoming some of the best mothers giving their children the best quality of life in the world. Pro-choice believe in the assertion that just as contraception is legal, abortion should be legal so that parents can be in a position to give the best life to their children.
There are many people who die every year due to unsafe abortion. Numerous women are raped every year and the trauma associated with the same is taking toll on many of them with suicidal thoughts increasing daily. The society that is supposed to protect women is slowly turning their eyes against them and many are criticizing them instead of understanding them. It is important to note that whether illegal or legal abortion is taking place in the society today. To make it safe, to secure the future of our girls and to ensure that children have a healthy life, abortion should be legal and women should have the right to privacy as well as a choice on what they want to do with their bodies.
References
Ananat, E. O., Gruber, J., & Levine, P. B. (2004). Abortion legalization and lifecycle fertility . Cambridge, MA: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Greenhouse, L., & Siegel, R. B. (2012). Before Roe v. Wade: Voices that shaped the abortion debate before the Supreme Courts ruling . New Haven, CT: Yale Law School.
Medoff, M. H. (2010). State Abortion Policies, Targeted Regulation of Abortion Provider Laws, and Abortion Demand. Review of Policy Research, 27 (5), 577-594.
