Abortion has been a hotly debated topic since as far back I can remember with two groups always either in support or against it. Normally, you have to either be pro-life or anti-abortion. No gray area here. Coming from a deeply religious family, I tended to believe in the doctrines of the church that dictated the belief that abortion is bad and should be considered a crime against humanity because it is tantamount to murdering an unborn child, a fellow human being.
Continuing to read on the topic of the abortion debate from our assigned readings, I was amazed to find out that, according to Roger Rosenblatt, the author of the article, we can all be both pro-choice and pro-life. One of the most important pieces of information that he pointed out, which is normally not found in mainstream debates is that there IS a middle ground that can be found in the middle of this crazy debate.
According to Rosenblatt: … most people recognize abortion choices pit two genuine values against each other in a case where both of them count. First of all, just because an egg has been fertilized and now forms a zygote, that does not mean it is already a human being. There is nothing about a pregnancy in its first few weeks that would indicate that life would be ended by an abortion.
The zygote does not have a heartbeat and is incapable of sustaining any type of life is removed from the body of the host. If there is no heartbeat, then there is no physical development ongoing that would even make me remotely consider the mass of muscles to be a human being.
Next, we have to consider the issue of unborn child rights. Moralists always argue that an unborn child has the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. But this argument falls apart once we consider that the unborn entity that is leeching off its mother in all its efforts for survival. Instead, the fetus endangers the body of the mother from pursuing her human rights.
A human becomes a human once it can exist outside of a host body. Before then, it only sucks the life out of its host. It is like a worm that feeds off the life force of another, without any assurance that it will be able to exist outside of its artificial life-giving surroundings.
However, the most important argument in favor of abortion has to do with the rampant sexual assault of women that tends to be a growing problem these days. Date rape, incest, and sexual abuse victims who find themselves pregnant should have the option to abort that unwanted pregnancy. Moralists will argue that the pregnancy should be carried to term and the resulting child gave up for adoption.
However, pro-abortion and pro-choice advocates make highly logical arguments to counter the moralist’s cause. In the case of unwanted pregnancy, as a result of a violent act upon the woman, the choice to abort the remainder of that ugly event in her life must remain an open consideration.
It is senseless for a woman, who is already traumatized by her experience, to continue with a pregnancy that will serve as a painful reminder of what she wants to forget for nine whole months. By allowing such pregnancies to continue, the woman will be punished over and over again, preventing her from effectively overcoming the crime that was committed upon her and going on with her life.
If she is forced to carry the pregnancy to term to give up the child for adoption, then she will still have a constant reminder of that part of her life, always stashed away in the back of her mind. Being fully conscious of these arguments has even furthered my belief that abortion is a personal choice and should not be frowned upon. Nobody should judge a woman’s choice to abort her pregnancy either. After all, nobody can understand her situation better than her.
References
Loan, Bisma. “A Moral Argument For Abortion”. The Express Tribune Blogs. 17 February 2011. Web. 16 April 2011.
Mckinley, Brian Elroy. ” Why Abortion Is Moral”. n.p. 2008. Web. 17 April 2011