Abortion is the process in which the developing child is removed from a mother’s womb. Abortion is an act of violence against the unborn child as well as the woman about to have a baby, apart from being a moral crime in itself. Abortion is a highly controversial and debatable subject. Life and death are closely related, and so are the arguments to it. One of the fundamental and basic arguments supporting anti-abortion is the argument so put forward against capital punishment – what right do humans have to curtail the life of something that providence has created? Abortion was considered as a sin in many religions until some years ago.
Another moral argument put across as a reason against abortion is yet again a phrase instilled into humankind since time incarnate – If providence has given, it shall arrange for it too. Simply put, this means that a child has been brought on earth, he or she should be given a full chance to live a life, as God must have planned something for them. While the above arguments may not find favor amongst the modern generation or even the atheists, who consider life forming as a simple scientific process, here are some various psychological, medical and human-emotions related facts against abortion.
While it cannot be said whether an abortion is an unforgivable event, it is of course an unforgettable event. An abortion plays havoc with the psychology and the future life of the entire family. The woman who has lost her child, at any time between the pregnancy, will never be the same. While the woman may be the hardest hit by an abortion, one also has to think about the mental and emotional state of the entire family. Abortion also emanates into various medical complications in the woman which can be considered as the cons of abortion.
Some of the general complications arising in women due to abortions are: blocked fallopian tubes, weakened cervix, uterine scarring, and damage to the woman’s reproductive system which may make her unable to conceive in the future. Apart from these common problems, women may also: face the increase in the probability of an increase in tubal babies, hysterectomies, miscarriages, stillbirths, and premature births. Abortion is also related to the increase of chances of breast, uterine and cervical cancer in women.
It is a fact that almost ninety percent of the abortions taking place in the United States of America are illegal. Today, various aspects of abortion are being debated, particularly the legal, ethical, biological, philosophical, and moral ones. Each country has its own abortion laws, according to the cultural, moral, religious, and legal mores prevailing in them. The debates about abortion are usually spearheaded by two groups: one, the pro life group, and the other, the pro choice group.
The pro life group is of the opinion that human life begins at conception, and that killing a fetus is akin to murdering a human being. They support this argument on the basis that by the time induced abortions are usually performed, the fetus already develops recognizable organs as well as organic functions like the brain, heart, circulation, tiny limbs and so on. The pro choice group, on the other hand, advocates against any restrictions on abortion by law.
They are of the opinion that the fetus is, especially at conception, nothing more than a protozoan, with a nucleus that has the genetic code of a human being. And while indeed this protozoan does develop into a human being, but the line between it being a mass of tissue and a human being is vague. Another important fact about abortion is that in most countries where abortion is legal, it can be performed at any time during the pregnancy, right up to the moment the child is born. Some of the methods used to perform abortions are: