Introduction
Over the past year, the issue of abortion has become particularly contentious in the U.S. legal environment. After Roe v. Wade was overturned, a significant number of states have chosen to ban abortions as an illegal procedure that violates the foundational principles of ethics. Specifically, by its definition, abortion implies ending the life of a human being, which means that it should be equated to murder, which means that performing it should be regarded not only as unethical but also as illegal.
Arguments Against Abortion
Moral and Legal Implications
There are multiple arguments against abortion, yet the fact that abortion ultimately implies the murder of an unborn child is the core statement that should be seen as the main reason to oppose the procedure in question. It is presently established that life begins at conception, which suggests that even at the stage of an embryo, a fetus should be regarded as a living human being and, therefore, needs appropriate protection against violence, which includes legal support.
Therefore, abortion needs to be recognized as murder; moreover, it could be seen as a particularly egregious type thereof. Specifically, abortion could be interpreted as aggravated murder since it targets an individual who is completely incapacitated due to their dependence on the host body (Bobier & Omelianchuk, 2021). Therefore, from a legal perspective, abortion must be deemed as a case of aggravated murder and treated as such.
Cultural Impact
Furthermore, by normalizing abortions, one creates a cultural environment where life is deemed as something that can be easily disposed of and discarded as unnecessary. Specifically, the life of an unborn child is seen as inferior to that of a woman carrying the baby. In turn, the specified situation creates a scenario in which the rights of an unborn child are violated and are regarded as lesser than those of the pregnant woman. The specified setting contributes to the idea of a life being disposable, which is further exacerbated by an increased inaccessibility to abortion and related options. In turn, by encouraging a ban on abortions, one is likely to cause people to reconsider their stance on the life of a fetus, specifically, the significance thereof.
Ethical Concerns
Furthermore, the concept of abortion creates an ethical issue in which a woman represents her unborn child not as a human being but as a problem that needs to be disposed of and terminated. The specified problem in the issue representation is linked to the concern regarding life disposability mentioned above.
However, it also entails another ethical controversy, specifically, the attempt to portray a human being as an obstacle in a woman’s life. Instead of accepting a child as a person, a woman strives to eliminate it as an impediment to her future life. The specified attitude leads to a slippery slope fallacy that may result in questioning at what point in one’s development one becomes fully human. The specified attempt to question the humanity of a child may lead to dismantling the rights of children, in general, including the right to life and protection for children who have already been born (Bernstein & Manata, 2019). Therefore, venturing into the moral discourse on the subject matter represents a slippery slope that will inevitably end in a massive controversy and a threat to children’s rights.
Alternative Solutions
Finally, one of the core reasons for abortion to be made illegal is that it does not address the problem that it is expected to solve. Specifically, some proponents of abortion point out that forcing pregnant women to carry their children to term will entail greater issues. For instance, one could mention the increased risks of poverty for single mothers who were forced to carry and birth their children, thus abandoning further prospects for continuing their education and receiving a degree along with career opportunities. However, the described issue, as well as the related obstacles that the abolition of abortion will supposedly entail, can be resolved by additional measures aimed at sex education for the target population.
Sex Education
Specifically, the introduction of sex education for general audiences will create an environment in which both men and women will be informed on the core risks that may lead to unwanted pregnancy, as well as the means of preventing the specified outcome from taking place. Moreover, contraception tools must be made available for all people of reproductive age so that unwanted pregnancies cannot occur. While the specified solution will not be significantly helpful in the scenarios that involve pregnancies caused by rape, it will allow for minimizing the percentage of scenarios in which women are unwilling to carry a baby to term.
Access to Contraception
Moreover, access to reproductive care must be increased, which will become possible with further emphasis on promoting innovations and improvements to the present-day healthcare system. Granted that the U.S. economy is currently struggling due to the ongoing crisis, efforts can be made to update the existing healthcare system to ensure that women are provided with the necessary resources. The outlined change should involve offering free pregnancy control and prevention options, including condoms, oral contraception pills, IUDs, and contraceptive implants. It is expected that the outlined measure will prevent cases of unwanted pregnancies from occurring as often as they tend to happen presently.
Medical Intervention vs. Abortion
Some might argue that abortion could be seen as a necessary medical intervention in certain cases and, therefore, should be regarded as a life-saving procedure. While in certain scenarios, carrying the pregnancy to term may involve complications and even a life threat to the mother, one must keep in mind that the proponents of abortion suggest an intervention that ends the life of a child. In turn, one must remember that in no other situation is the life of one person terminated to sustain the life of another. Therefore, using the specified argument as the means of supporting the concept of abortion represents a dishonest attempt at eliciting sympathy toward a woman committing an act of violence and crime toward her unborn child.
Conclusion
Since life starts at conception, performing an abortion at any stage of the fetus’s development should be seen as murder and, therefore, regarded as such. For this reason, Abortions must become illegal as a form of murder. Even in cases of pregnancies that involve a direct threat to the mother if the fetus is carried to term, abortions must be outlawed since the life of one being, namely, the child, should not come at the price of another one, the mother.
Moreover, abortion appears to be a rather poor solution to the problems that its proponents claim it to help resolve. Specifically, the issues in question can be addressed by introducing sex education and providing healthcare support for the target population. Thus, abortions must be banned nationwide and, preferably, on a global level.
References
Bernstein, C. Z., & Manata, P. (2019). Moral responsibility and the wrongness of abortion. The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of Medicine, vol. 44, no. 2, pp. 243-262.
Bobier, C. A., & Omelianchuk, A. (2021). Dilemma for appeals to the moral significance of birth. Journal of Medical Ethics, 47(12), e80-e80.