ABORTION

Abortion

Abortion

Introduction

Abortion is one of the most controversial and important issues of today's generation. Each individual's opinion on this subject is so heavy that it has created a voting bloc in today's political society. The anti-abortion movement may have been started by the medical profession, but it is now primarily fueled by religious believers. Religious groups are one of the most involved groups within the anti-abortion movement (Shenkman, 1992). The name pro-life was chosen by the anti-abortion movement to show they value the life of human beings. Many pro-life supporters believe that God provides a human soul at the time of conception, which is known to be at fertilization when the sperm enters the egg or ovum. According to Schroedel (2000), early Christians believed that ensoulment occurred at animation, when the fetus was fully formed, forty-eight days after conception; prior to this moment “the prevailing view of the fetus was [that it is] an 'appendage' of the mother” (p. 18).

Discussion

For hundreds of years, there was a debate over what point the soul entered the body of the fetus, although it was accepted universally that abortion of an ensouled fetus was murder (Michelman, 2003). By the Middle Ages, the church felt that there was a sin attached to abortion at any point of pregnancy, so “preanimation abortions were viewed as attempts to conceal sins of fornication or adultery, while postanimation abortions were considered conscious attempts to kill the fetus” (Medoff, 2003). Consequently, a small fine was imposed if an abortion took place before animation and ensoulment. Furthermore, it was considered a capital crime if the abortion was performed after the fetus was formed fully and had a soul.

Until the microscope was discovered, it was unknown that the sperm entered an egg to create human life. At the moment, the sperm enters the egg, which is called conception, the egg becomes fertilized and is considered to be of the human form. This is why pro-life supporters consider any interference of the development of the fertilized ovum to be a form of murder. The pro-lifers emphasize the idea that one human life, the fertilized ovum, is worth the same as another, the mother's. Although they also believe, according to the Westchester Coalition for Legal Abortion [WCLA] (n.d.), that the right to life of the fertilized ovum or fetus is more important than the right of a woman to control her own body (Marquis, 2001). Some pro-life supporters are not as strict as others; for example, nearly all believe that abortion is acceptable in the case where the mother's life is in danger, and some believe that it should be allowed if the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. In all other cases, most pro-life supporters agree that abortion is immoral and should be unlawful.

Children may have multiple different disabilities, diseases or sicknesses, all because a mother was unfit to carry them, and was not allowed an abortion. Thus, abortion can be a very positive thing, because it can save children from having to ...