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Introduction
Abortion is a public health challenge on a global level. It is a healthcare issue that plagues both developed and developing countries. Apart from the implications that it creates on a healthcare basis, there are also considerations of human rights, the legal definition of life, and parental rights that come into play on this issue. As a result, each country's legal system has a different take on abortion. Depending on the values that the social norms each culture upholds, there are many factors to consider when debating the legal standing of abortion. As a result, the abortion issue has consistently led to an extensive debate, especially on the subject of its legalization. The legalization of abortion becomes a larger issue each year, as trends in its occurrence are on a steady rise. These upward trends in abortion generally lead to a dilemma whereby abortions are procured in unsafe conditions. Policymakers must weigh societal values against the health of the population receiving illegal abortions. One study shows that, on a global scale, up to 44 percent of all pregnancies are unwanted (Bearak, 2018). Increases in unwanted pregnancy rates have been posited as the reason behind procuring abortions, and especially illegal abortions (Bearak, 2018).
Furthermore, researchers have proved that a lack of contraception is the primary driver behind procuring abortions and that in cases where unwanted pregnancies are prevented more efficiently, abortion rates will decrease (Bearak, 2018). This undermines the long-held societal view that the erosion of societal morals is the reason behind rising abortion rates. Additionally, it suggests that the reasons behind abortion are driven by practical reasoning rather than moralization and that the solutions to this issue should mirror this practical reasoning. With this in mind, this essay will explore abortion and mainly why it should be legalized.
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Thesis Statement
In this paper, the issue of legalizing abortion will be discussed. In the vast majority of the world, abortion is still illegal (Center for Reproductive Rights, 2021) . Even in countries such as the United States, where reproductive rights are a major political issue, there are varying restrictions placed on abortion from state to state. This essay will argue for the position of legalizing abortion for various reasons ranging from health to socioeconomic factors.
Discussion
Historical Perspective
One of the major influences over the issue of legalization of abortion is societal mores and values. To accurately understand these values, however, it is important to understand the background and history of the abortion issue. In this section on the historical perspective of abortion, it will become clear that the moralization of the abortion issue as it currently stands today is flawed, as it is not based on the historical and traditional views on abortion as they are reported by historical documents and historians themselves. Instead, current anti-abortion rhetoric is based on a modern, evolved version of morality that does not reflect traditional views, whether Western or otherwise.
A history of abortion must consider some angles on the issue, varying from secular to religious. Abortion as a societal issue has always involved an intertwined view from both religious and non-religious perspectives (Hovey, 1985; Stensvold, 2015). Abortion can be traced back to antiquity, but the recent views on abortion, especially anti-abortion rhetoric, can be traced back to the 19 th and 20 th centuries. Abortion has historically been practiced throughout the ages (Hovey, 1985). However, the degree to which it has been available or legal has been threatened repeatedly by forces seeking to establish their own views and societal agendas. These views have consistently tied the abortion issue to the issue of human rights by constantly seeking to put women's rights against abstract social theories and conformity (Stensvold, 2015). In recent years, there have been increased efforts to decrease the need for abortion by improving access to education and contraception. Education has been viewed as a means of decreasing abortion by preventing unwanted pregnancies (Bearak, 2018). Over time, research has shown that more educated girls and women are less likely to have unwanted pregnancies than less educated. These measures, while effective, are often based on the societies and cultures in which they are being introduced. Thus, they are not always simple to implement successfully. Additionally, while these measures have indirectly lowered the number of abortions being sought out, they do not directly address one of the main problems with abortion. Women who seek it out in areas where it is illegal must have it performed in unregulated, non-standard environments and often done by technicians with unclear qualifications. With 44 percent of all pregnancies being unwanted, this situation turns abortion into an issue affecting a significant part of the female population globally.
Historically, laws prohibiting abortion to an absolute level are relatively recent. The religious leanings of the anti-abortion agenda make it appear that abortion goes against several world religions, particularly Christianity. However, history will show us that even during the origins of the Christian religion – Roman Catholicism – abortion was not frowned upon for several centuries (Woodhead, 2016). In the early Roman Catholic Church, abortion was permitted in the first 40 days of pregnancy for males and the first 90 days for females. While these laws present other implications for gender bias, they are a clear demonstration of the relatively liberal approach of the early Christians. It wasn't until the Roman Catholic Church had been in existence for more than 1500 years that abortion was declared tantamount to murder ( Bhattacharyya, 2021). In 1588, Pope Sixtus V declared that abortion broke the commandments by killing children (Lopez, 2012). Thus, although the modern-day world mistakenly supposes that centuries of morality and religious traditions are the reason behind the anti-abortion sentiment, the earliest and most rigorous centuries of the Christian religion permitted abortion. In fact, even after Pope Sixtus V made his declaration, there was widespread discontent and opposition among the leadership of the church (Lopez, 2012). Three years after his declaration, a new Pope declared the sanction unreasonable and unworkable, returning Canon Law to allowing early abortions. It would be 300 more years before a stable and unanimous view on abortion would be held in the church (Lopez, 2012). Thus, for another 300 years, it was acceptable within the Church, and by extension, Christianity in general. Therefore, the anti-abortion rhetoric based on religion and morality has little tradition or history of standing on.
Further investigation into morality and abortion reveals that it was American doctors, rather than religious individuals, who created this relationship. As early as the 1700s, abortion was considered legal in most developed countries in the world. It was a legal practice among women, even in one of the most historically stringent anti-abortion nations in the world – the US. Regulations against abortion emerged in the early 19 th century as several states introduced restrictive laws about the practice. Although the particular laws and their severity differed from one state to another, the overall sentiment was negative. At first, the negative sentiment was connected to the risk of the procedure. Thus, by the mid-1800s, abortion was included within a list of procedures connected to fatal outcomes in many of the cases (Holland, 2020). Thus began the slow but steady transformation from legal practice to an immoral one. In 1900, this transformation became complete due to the opinions of a few members of the newly created American Medical Association. A few doctors declared that abortion was not only medically dangerous but immoral. They recommended the criminalization of the practice by all states, and fuelled by the standing that their new national organization had achieved, they succeeded. Within only a decade after the report was issued, the practice had been criminalized in most states. In fact, the only state that had delayed the criminalization by 1910 was Kentucky (Holland, 2020). Thus, abortion became irrevocably linked to an issue of morality.
Morality became a defining factor in abortion as a result of a few doctors that created a connection between conception and life. Its attachment to a religious agenda allowed the position to gain power and strength, and acceptability. Thus, a history of abortion demonstrates a strong reliance on anti-abortion on separate agendas and a strong reliance on pro-abortion on practicality and fact.
Women’s Rights Perspective
The anti-abortion and pro-abortion debates have always been polarizing regarding women's rights for several reasons. One is the connotation that abortion has always had towards female sexual freedom, conflating two things society considers taboo. Another reason is that it seriously affects women’s lives, but women were not in enough positions of power to have control over this issue. In this section, the correlation between women's rights and the abortion issue will be explored. The facts will demonstrate that the pushback against legalizing abortion is directly related to a lack of female representation in government and contributes to systemic deprivation of rights and power for women.
The entry of women into the workforce has led to a greater degree of legalization for abortion on a global scale. This fact demonstrates the strong relationship between women's rights and abortion. When women are less represented in positions of power and the patriarchal systems in society are stronger, abortion is less accepted and legalized. On the other hand, when women are better represented in societal positions of power, abortion is more accepted and legalized. Thus, abortion is a factor to consider when it comes to women's rights. It is a clear demonstration that the practice is directly related to the amount of power that society allows a woman to have over her own body. The global condition after the Second World War is a clear demonstration of this point. The proportion of women in the workforce after World War II increased drastically. For married women, this proportion increased by more than ten times (Rose, 2018). In 1890, the proportion of married women in the workforce was estimated to be 5 percent (Rose, 2018). By 1990, this percentage had increased to 60 percent (Rose, 2018). The vast majority of this increase occurred after 1940, as the US economy and labor market attempted to normalize the country's standards. Women became involved in the wartime labor force for some reasons. One was in the increased need for economic independence. As a result of the investments that this initial wave of women workers made into the market, more and more women became trained and qualified to come into positions of power. This was reflected both in private and public industries (Holland, 2020). Their entry into economic power thus weakened the political strength of the anti-abortion movement. It strengthened the argument that women had a right to exert control over their own bodies.
Public power and authority have a major influence on issues of child-bearing and sexual relations. For as long as men have had public power and authority, there has been either an encouragement to engage in sexual activities or a dismissal of their import (Holland, 2020). On the other hand, for as long as women have lacked public power and authority, sexual relations and child-bearing have remained taboo and something out of their reach to control. Attempts to strengthen the women's rights angle on abortion were stated to be dangerous to the traditional family unit and used to demonize feminist agendas (Holland, 2020). This was fuelled by a desire for the status quo to remain intact and for public power and authority to control one party over the other. For a time, these tactics worked. However, by 1973, the feminist movement had grown so large and strong that pressure to liberalize abortion laws had been successful in most Western countries (Holland, 2020). This demonstrates how the issue of women's rights is directly connected to the issue of abortion. In any society that recognizes the rights and freedoms as equal to that of a man, it is, therefore, necessary for abortion to be legalized.
Roe v Wade and its Global Impact
The impact of the famous Roe v Wade case impacted the legalization of abortion in the US and on a global scale. In a landmark case in 1973, the US Supreme Court upheld women's rights to procure abortion within the first three months (Franklin, 2016). The arguments presented in this case dealt directly with women's rights and demonstrated the issue of patriarchy-focused state control versus women’s control over their own healthcare decisions. According to Cohn and Goldstein (2005), after performing a stud spanning 30 years of impact and reform after the landmark Roe v Wade case. It introduced pro-abortion sentiment to the western world by citing women's rights. The number of women that died while getting an illegal abortion was previously 50 percent. Since the case enabled the idea of female control over female bodies, this number has dropped to 13 percent globally.
The availability of contraceptives and the right to an abortion has been linked at the global level to women's increased capacity for making economic choices that can improve their household status and marriage choices that can do the same. According to the review, the availability of abortion services or contraceptives has been linked to two main outcomes. The first is that the availability of both services impacts women's fertility in society, allowing it to be more controlled. This allows women to have fewer children and do so in a reliable and planned manner (Cohn & Goldstein, 2005). The second is that women acquire a bargaining effect with their position in society by no longer being beholden to one position – as homemakers – and allowing them to participate in the economy. The entry of women into the workforce in a more reliable and planned manner provides women with more autonomy in the family unit. It provides them with more say in the professional sphere. These facts highlight the strong relationship between equal rights between the genders and the legalization of abortion. There is a clear link between legalizing abortion and providing women with equal opportunities to careers and the lifestyle options that men enjoy in a free society.
These changes in US law had a global impact on the legalization of abortion regardless of the country. Anti-abortion rhetoric – both in terms of danger and morality – began in the US. Thus, the shift from anti-abortion to decriminalizing abortion within the US had a marked effect across the globe (Cohn & Goldstein, 2005). The arguments presented in Roe v Wade were replicated by other countries’ women’s rights movements.
Criminalization is Ineffective
Even though the global criminalization of abortion has been in place since the early 19 th century, it has not significantly affected the rates of the practice. Research shows that despite the criminalization of abortion, global trends showed that practice was being carried out more often. By the 1970s, up to 10 million abortions were illegally procured in developed countries every year (Holland, 2020). The only result of the criminalization was adverse health outcomes. Due to the illegal nature, many women resort to unregulated and under-qualified professionals to carry out the procedure. The lack of standardized care often creates adverse effects. This situation has only lent more weight to the argument of legalization.
Conclusion
In conclusion, there are a variety of reasons for the legalization of abortion. Furthermore, there are a variety of invalidations for the criminalization of abortion. The arguments used to uphold anti-abortion laws and sentiment are flawed and misrepresent the issue from both a historical and a human rights perspective.
One of the major reasons for the criminalization of abortion is an issue of morality. However, the exploration of the history of abortion in the discussion section shows that this morality issue is misrepresented. Abortion is not considered a moral issue in most major religions. Even in relatively conservative Islam, abortion is not as prohibited as in modern-day Christian rhetoric. For the vast majority of the history of Christianity, abortion was allowable at the parents' discretion. In the modern-day world, the connection between morality and abortion was made, not by religious leaders or the religious faithful, but by an arbitrary party – the American Medical Association. Through the proclamation of medical professionals, a previously routine medical procedure was deemed immoral and banned. By demonstrating that the connection between morality and abortion is misrepresented and thus non-existent, it becomes clear that there should be no anti-abortion laws based on issues of morality.
One of the major reasons for the legalization of abortion is a human rights issue. In the discussion, the issue of women's rights was discussed vis-à-vis abortion. Through various research studies, it has become clear that abortions – and forms of contraceptives in general – are an essential right for women. Laws that criminalize abortion create a situation where the government controls women's bodies than women themselves. The fact that most governments and political positions are male-dominated means that this issue is a gender rights problem. The control that patriarchal systems have over women's ability to make their own healthcare decisions violates equal rights. Furthermore, laws that limit the control that women have over their fertility also limit the decisions and economic power that these women will have. Providing women with this option will allow them to better participate in the workforce and the economy and allow them to better plan their lives and the lives of their families.
Lastly, a major reason that abortion should be legalized is that its criminalization is ineffective. The lack of legalization does not curb the number of abortions that are carried out. However, it creates a situation where women must rely on dangerous and unreliable practitioners and facilities to carry them out. Before Roe v Wade, which created a global move towards the legalization of abortion, up to 50% of women that received an illegal abortion died on the table (Cohn et al., 2005). The legalization of abortion is about more than fertility – it is about saving the lives of women who must put themselves in danger every time the procedure is carried out.
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