Abortion is a matter of life and death for an innocent human being.

GCSE Religious Studies (Philosophy & Ethics)

Hazera Begum 10N

Today, more than twenty-seven years since the legalization of abortion, over 30 million legal abortions have taken place in the United State. Abortions were widely used as a form of contraception in Poland when the communist party ruled the country. More than100, 000 abortions were carried out each year in Poland. To me, this issue, which is more than a simple question of women controlling their own bodies? It is a matter of life and death for an innocent human being.

An abortion is the termination (ending) of a pregnancy before birth, either by natural or artificial means. It is an issue many people feel very strongly about. People on both sides of the debate can become very heated and emotional. For some people abortion is nothing less than murder of an unborn child. For others, it’s about a woman right to choose whether she feels ready or able to cope with bringing a child into this world. An abortion is the premature expulsion from the body of an embryo or fetus. Before abortions were made legal, many women went to ‘back-street’ abortionists. These were illegal abortions, often performed by untrained people in unhygienic conditions. The result was many women were seriously injured and approximately 30 women died each year.

In 1967 parliament passed and Abortion Act, which made an abortion legal if it was performed in the first 28 weeks of the pregnancy. The human Fertilization and Embryology Act 1990 reduced the time in which a legal termination is permitted to 24 weeks. An abortion is legal if two doctors agree that one of the following circumstances exists:

There is risk to the life of the mother if the pregnancy continued.
There is risk of injury to the mental or physical health of the mother.
There is a substantial risk that, if the child were born, it would suffer from physical or mental abnormalities.
There is risk to the physical or mental well being of her existing children if the pregnancy continues.

Some people support abortion such as the (Abortion Reform Group), these are the following arguments for abortion:

A woman should have the right to choose what happens to her body.

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There is risk to the life of the mother if the pregnancy continued.
There is risk of injury to the mental or physical health of the mother.
There is a substantial risk that, if the child were born, it would suffer from physical or mental abnormalities.
There is risk to the physical or mental well being of her existing children if the pregnancy continues.

Some people support abortion such as the (Abortion Reform Group), these are the following arguments for abortion:

A woman should have the right to choose what happens to her body.
If it becomes more difficult to get legalized abortions there would be an increase in the number of illegal abortions.
It is wrong to bring unwanted children into this world, especially if a child is handicapped. Unwanted children may suffer rejection and become problem in society.
When pregnancy is the result of rape, the woman should not be forced to continue with the pregnancy.
Abortion is not murder as it destroys only a collection of cells, which cannot survive outside the womb before the 24th week of the pregnancy.
A woman who is at risk of dying, or of being handicapped, by the pregnancy should be allowed an abortion especially if she already has children needing her care.

Some people do not support abortion such as the (Save the Unborn child); these are the following arguments against abortion:

The unborn child is alive from the moment of conception and has the right to life. An abortion is infanticide (child killing).
If abortion is easily to obtain, they may be used as another form of contraception, that encouraging people to have casual attitude to sexual relationship.
Many couples would welcome the chance to adopt an unwanted baby, but abortions have reduced the number of babies available for adoption.
There are physical and mental risks for the woman who has an abortion. The operation may lead to sterility. Many women have suffered guilt feeling afterwards, which have resulted in depression and in some cases suicide.
There would be no need for woman to seek abortions if there was sufficient provision to help them overcome any emotional and financial difficulties the pregnancy will cause.

The Bible does not make any direct reference to abortion. Christians have to decide when life begins before deciding whether or not abortion breaks the commandment not to

Kill. Some Christians believe that abortion is murder because an abortion breaks the commandment ‘Do not kill’. The Roman Catholic Church believes that life begins at the moment of conception and that everyone has the right to life.

There are other Christians, such as Anglicans and Methodists, who believe that life does not begin until the baby has a chance of surviving independently of its mother. These Christians believe that an abortion is an evil to be avoided if at all possible. However, abortion could be justifiable if it meant that greater evils were avoided. An abortion could be justifiable if there were a risk to the physical or mental health of the mother, if she were likely to give birth to a handicapped child or if the pregnancy were the result of rape.

The Organization (Christians for Free Choice) believes that the matter should be left to a woman’s own conscience; conscience is seen as a guide from God as to what action to take. The decision to continue a pregnancy should not be forced on a woman

I agree with the term ‘Abortion is never justified’. Some Christians will say that abortion is not a matter of life and death, arguing that a fetus is not a person or a human being yet; medical research proves that a fetus is a living organism from the moment of conception. It may be argued that this living organism is not a person; it seems that it can be nothing other than a human being.

The problem I have with abortion is why should we deny this individual the right to live? At what point is the unborn worthy to live? Some Christians believe that even though there may be life, or potential life or however one wants to refer to the fetus that be denying a woman the right to an abortion is denying her control of her body. I am obviously against people to control woman or their bodies. The fetus is a completely separate life from the woman. It has a complete different blood type and genetic code; it is not just part of the mother’s body. It is temporarily residing there, and birth is just the change of residence from an already living, active person. Just because the unborn child is dependent on the mother for nine months, it does not give anyone the right to choose to end its life.

Being dependent on others should not deprive a helpless human being the fundamental right to live; we do not base humanness on whether another person is around to take care of that life. Trying to justify abortion by arguing that the unborn does not have this right is a form of discrimination based on age and the fact that they cannot speak for themselves.

You should remember that a death occurs every time an abortion is performed (the death of an unborn child). Woman has control over choosing an illegal abortion that they know can be harmful. The unborn has absolutely no control when the mother chooses to abort. In addition abortion is a surgical procedure, and even though it is legal it still puts many women at risk. Many women suffer post-abortion complications, such as severe muscle damage plus damage to the uterine wall, which can lead to scarring, future miscarriages, entopic pregnancies. In addition induced abortion approximately triples the risk of suicide.