Should all abortion be illegal, even in cases of rape or incest? Abortion is a term the average American has heard at least once in their regular day lives. Whether one learns about it in a school lecture, passing by an abortion clinic, or more recently, hearing it in the presidential debates, it is one of the most highly debated topics of our century. This debate is not just a religious and moral issue; it also carries undertones of law, health, and economics. According to the definition of abortion in the medical dictionary, Abortion is the pre mature exit of the products of conception form the uterus. (Merck 1999). Abortion is one of the main controversial subjects in society. A main component of the controversy revolves around the question of who makes the final decision- the state or the individual. Does the government have the right to tell a woman what to do with her body or does the woman have the right to make a choice with her own body regarding abortion? These perspectives on abortion highlight other views, such as the religious view on abortion, the pro-choice perspective and even viewing the unborn as a moral subject.
Most the population that is against abortion have a one main argument: you are killing a life. The biblical definition of abortion is the killing of a baby inside a mother’s womb.(Gordoski 2011) Mother Teresa said: “Many people are very, very concerned with the children in India, with the children in Africa where quite a number die, maybe of malnutrition, of hunger and so on, but millions are dying deliberately by the will of the mother. And this is what the greatest destroyer of peace is today. Because if a mother can kill her own child - what is left for me to kill you and you kill me -- there is nothing between.” Those who are pro-life argue that abortion eliminates legal rights of the unborn child. They state that from the exact moment of conception, the fetus is a living breathing human being. After the 22nd day of conception, the baby already has a beating heart. By the end of third week the child’s backbone spinal column and nervous system are forming, also the liver, kidneys and intestines begin to take shape (The Unborn). Because of facts like this, many people have come to believe that abortion is in fact the murder of a human being, and it should not be legalized in any circumstances.
Also, many say that any doctor who performs an abortion is going against their Hippocratic Oath. This is an oath that doctors take at the beginning of their practice that requires them to swear that they will uphold a number of professional ethical standards. Another point made by those opposed to abortion is that many couples who cannot have babies are waiting to to adopt a baby. If a woman who did not want her baby choose to carry it to term and then put the child up for abortion, the child would have a life and there would be a couple who’s wishes would be answered. It could be argued that carrying a child and then putting it up for adoption would be a better thing for society than simply terminating that baby’s life.
Some of the people that oppose abortion do so because of their religious beliefs. Both the Catholic and the Christian church base their belief in that all life is sacred and that only God has the power to end life. Abortion terminates life; therefore, this idea must be rejected among the religious faith. Many believe that abortion is just as wrong as murder, kidnapping and stealing is wrong in any society. (Beckwith, 2007)
On the other side of this debate, are those who call themselves “pro-choice”. Those who are pro-choice mainly argue that the government cannot take away a woman’s right to do whatever she wants with her own body and reproductive system. They also argue that legal abortion which is only performed in the early weeks after conception does not kill an actual human being because the fetus has hardly developed. Many also are not for the actual performance of