Bioethics — Abortion

Bioethics — Abortion

There is a lot of controversy on the issue of abortion. The reason for choosing one side or another is more than just black and white; there is so much gray area that the reason for an abortion could be a justifiable one. Many people believe that an abortion is a murder of human life but then by what definition does human life begin? Does the human life begin during the conception or within the first two weeks before conception or the middle stages of pregnancy or at birth? If the woman has the right to choose then what about the babies right to live? Is the baby not living even as it starts its development as a fetus? What about people who believe abortion should be illegal just because of religious beliefs and that god is the only one to decide to take a life? (Abortion Arguments website)

I believe that abortion should be a legal choice for women. I'm not saying that women should use abortion as a form of birth control but if a woman needs an abortion it should be available. There are many reasons a woman might need to get an abortion. A woman could have been raped or the baby is going to have birth defects. The birth could be unhealthy for the mother or the mother could be unfit to care for a child. The conception could have been the cause of a defective condom or the birth control being used did not work. There could be a number of reasons to have an abortion and because there are many circumstances I believe that abortion should be available to women.

Legal abortions can help protect a women's health. While keeping abortion legal women can receive an abortion in a licensed medical facility and stay away from “back ally” abortions that can mangle or kill the mother. If a woman needs or wants an abortion bad enough she will get one some how. In the decades before abortion was legal thousands of women were killed or mangled by these back ally abortions. Legal abortion can help women that might have life threatening problems like heart disease, kidney disease, sickle-cell anaemia or severe diabetes stop the pregnancy that could lead to complications during the birth (Jones, 2005).

Keeping abortion legal can help cut down on the number of children having children. But we must be ...