Being pro-choice is my choice

I have met thousands and thousands of pro-choice men and women. I have never met anyone who is pro-abortion.
- Hillary Clinton


I became inspired to write this after someone decided to try and tell me that a woman should not be able to have the option for an abortion- he (oh yes, a he!!) basically said to me that a woman had no right to choose what happened to her body, please feel free to give your opinion. However before you continue reading I would just like to point out that I am Pro-choice, if you are against pro-choice I am warning you now that you will not like the rest of this piece. If you would like to read on regardless that is fine but I am stating this now because my pro-choice beliefs mean that this piece is more then a little biased.


You don’t have to be anti-life, to be pro-choice.Abortion… when people think of abortion there are many different responses. Many are arguments for people with strong pro-life beliefs, but what these people do not understand that just because women want the choice to have an abortion does not mean they will have one.


Being pro-choice is having the option for women to choose what happens to their body. It is not about encouraging as many women as possible to abort unborn children. There are women who are pro-choice but would not want to have an abortion- I am one of them. Personally I do not feel I would have one because I do not want to ever have one, but I do not know what will happen to me in the future. There are countless different scenarios that could happen, from rape to a medical condition. If something terrible has happened to a women and the choice to have an abortion is not available, numerous things could happen.


There are many different arguments for and against abortions, here listed, are 10 on both sides of the argument:

Pro-Life:

1. Since life begins at conception, abortion is akin to murder as it is the act of taking human life. Abortion is in direct defiance of the commonly accepted idea of the sanctity of human life.


2. No civilized society permits one human to intentionally harm or take the life of another human without punishment, and abortion is no different.


3. Adoption is a viable alternative to abortion and accomplishes the same result. And with 1.5 million American families wanting to adopt a child, there is no such thing as an unwanted child.


4. An abortion can result in medical complications later in life; the risk of ectopic pregnancies doubles, and the chance of a miscarriage and Pelvic Inflammatory Disease also increases.


5. In the instance of rape and incest, proper medical care can ensure that a woman will not get pregnant.Abortion punishes the unborn child who committed no crime; instead, it is the perpetrator who should be punished.


6. Abortion should not be used as another form of contraception.


7. For women who demand complete control of their body, control should include preventing the risk of unwanted pregnancy through the responsible use of contraception or, if that is not possible, through abstinence.


8. Many Americans who pay taxes are opposed to abortion, therefore its morally wrong to use tax dollars to fund abortion.


9. Those who choose abortions are often minors or young women with insufficient life experience to understand fully what they are doing. Many have lifelong regrets afterwards.


10. Abortion frequently causes intense psychological pain and stress.
    
    

Pro-Choice:

1. Nearly all abortions take place in the first trimester, when a foetus cannot exist independent of the mother. As it is attached by the placenta and umbilical cord, its health is dependent on her health, and cannot be regarded as a separate entity as it cannot exist outside her womb.


2. The concept of personhood is different from the concept of human life. Human life occurs at conception, but fertilized eggs used for in vitro fertilization are also human lives and those not implanted are routinely thrown away. Is this murder, and if not, then how is abortion murder?


3. Adoption is not an alternative to abortion, because it remains the woman’s choice whether or not to give her child up for adoption. Statistics show that very few women who give birth choose to give up their babies - less than 3% of white unmarried women and less than 2% of black unmarried women.


4. Abortion is a safe medical procedure. The vast majority of women 88% - who have an abortion, do so in their first trimester. Medical abortions have less than 0.5% risk of serious complications and do not affect a woman’s health or future ability to become pregnant or give birth.


5. In the case of rape or incest, forcing a woman made pregnant by this violent act would cause further psychological harm to the victim. Often a woman is too afraid to speak up or is unaware she is pregnant, thus the morning after pill is ineffective in these situations.


6. Abortion is not used as a form of contraception. Pregnancy can occur even with responsible contraceptive use. Only 8% of women who have abortions do not use any form of birth control, and that is due more to individual carelessness than to the availability of abortion.


7. The ability of a woman to have control of her body is critical to civil rights. Take away her reproductive choice and you step onto a slippery slope. If the government can force a woman to continue a pregnancy, what about forcing a woman to use contraception or undergo sterilization?


8. Taxpayer dollars are used to enable poor women to access the same medical services as rich women, and abortion is one of these services. Funding abortion is no different from funding a war in the Mideast. For those who are opposed, the place to express outrage is in the voting booth.


9. Teenagers who become mothers have grim prospects for the future. They are much more likely to leave of school; receive inadequate prenatal care; rely on public assistance to raise a child; develop health problems; or end up divorced.


10. Like any other difficult situation, abortion creates stress. Yet the American Psychological Association found that stress was greatest prior to an abortion, and that there was no evidence of post-abortion syndrome.

What could happen if abortion was illegal in the UK?What if medical reasons meant a woman’s life was in danger if the pregnancy progressed? For example if as the mother’s pregnancy advanced her life were to be in danger would you tell her “Tough! Your not allowed to have an abortion”. This could potentially be fatal to the mother. Also in instances of ectopic pregnancy, if a woman continues with the pregnancy in this case, at the very best the woman will very likely either not be able to have children again or find it very hard to conceive. In this case abortion is the only way to ensure the mother’s safety. While the Republic of Ireland do condone abortion if the continuation of pregnancy poses a ‘real and substantial’ risk to a pregnant woman’s life, if it is suspected that a woman is leaving the country for an abortion her passport will be confiscated and she will be forced to continue with her pregnancy. Other then that women only have the right to travel to undergo an abortion, if they are suicidal.

If women were not allowed to have abortions, more lives would be ruined because we would go back to ‘backstreet’ abortions, as it is they are still happening. There is often mention to the ‘backstreet’ abortions that take place African, Middle Eastern, Asian and South American countries were abortion is still illegal as well as places such as India where there is not adequate provision of services. Many illegal abortions are carried out using primitive surgical methods: injecting poisonous solutions into the womb or inserting objects intended to dislodge the fetus. These kinds of abortions are referred to as ‘backstreet’ abortions because they are often carried out by someone with no training, in an unhygienic environment, in conditions of great secrecy. The fact that such a thing exists proves that without the option of legal abortion, many more lives will most likely be sacrificed.

What is a pro-life supporter’s view of rape?Every 34 minutes a rape is reported to the police in the United Kingdom. Thousands more victims do not come forward. So it stands to reason that some of these victims (if women, rape victims are also male) may become pregnant from such an attack.I read recently the thoughts of a pro-life supporter on his opinions of abortion in the case of rape, they included statements that someone who is pro-choice would easily support:

I think it’s ridiculous to suggest that a single-cell fertilized egg (the moment after conception) has just as much a claim to rights as a woman who has been raped and had her rightful choice, and probably the rest of her life; stolen from her. I think it would be ridiculous to suggest that a woman who has been raped should have no access, in the immediate aftermath, to drugs that will help her prevent infection by STDs and furthermore to drugs to help prevent lifetime of negative consequences from carrying a baby she did not choose to have.

The response he received was this:

Everybody accepts the tragedy of rape. But the sinner is the rapist, not the child. God has still created a human, with a right to life.

What this man (it is a man, I checked) has failed to mention is where the woman fits into this. Yes the rapist is the ‘sinner’ (as he puts it) and yes the child is not responsible, but neither is the woman. If the ‘sinner’ is the rapist then why punish the woman? If the woman would like to keep the child that is her personal choice but if she does not why should she have to carry that child for nine months with the constant reminder of what happened to her?

To conclude.When I have expressed my views I have been asked “What if your mother chose not to have you?!” and all I can say to that is:
At that stage in life (both my mother’s and my own) it was her choice to make because it is her life, BUT she chose to have me! And that’s why I am here choosing to tell you exactly how I feel. The point here is… You don’t have to be anti-life, to be pro-choice because you can chose to abort a child… but you can also choose to keep it.



Sources:


http://womensissues.about.com/od/reproductiverights/a/AbortionArgumen.htm


http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=599http://ubrm.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2390451222


http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2222831342