Every day, about 1000 abortions are carried out in the island as a whole, and 700 of these are done in Colombo. This is an unacceptably high rate for a country with a population of just 19 million. "We get at least two bad cases a month," says Dr. Neil Seneviratne, a gynaecologist at the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital. Here is another story of abortion in another country. In the republic of Ireland; 'Miss X' was a fourteen year-old girl who lived in the Republic of Ireland. In 1992, she was raped by her school-friend's father and became pregnant. The Irish constitution forbids abortion, but every year thousands of Irish women go to England, where abortions became legal in 1967.
Miss X pleaded with her parents to take her to London for an abortion and they agreed. Because of the trial of the school-friend's father, the family told the Irish police what they were going to do. The result was a terrible legal argument in Ireland. Miss X's life was a nightmare. The police telephoned her family in London and said that they must return home without having the abortion. The girl said she would kill herself.
The Irish public - and many other people around the world - watched in horror as the lawyers continued to argue about the Irish constitution and rights of a child who had been raped. After several weeks, Miss X was finally allowed to leave Ireland again so that she could end her pregnancy. As you can see, that even if in the case on the Republic of Ireland where everything was sorted out, the fear of all abortions going illegal in every country could produce escalating female deaths due to illegal abortions.
Rape victims should also get the chance to have the baby aborted because how can you force a victim of violent rape to give birth to a rapist's child. It is argued that in these tragic cases the great value of the mental health of a woman who becomes pregnant as a result of rape or incest can best be safe-guarded by abortion. It is also said that a pregnancy caused by rape or incest is the result of a grave injustice and that the victim should not be obliged to carry the foetus to viability. This would keep reminding her for nine months of the violence committed against her and would just increase her mental anguish. It is reasoned that the value of the woman's mental health is greater than the value of the foetus. In addition, it is maintained that the foetus is an aggressor against the woman's integrity and personal life; it is only just and morally defensible to repel an aggressor even by killing him if that is the only way to defend personal and human values. It is concluded, then, that abortion is justified in these cases.
Another reason for an abortion is if the child is likely to have a deformity. Here the mother may have the child’s best interest at heart and may not want to bring someone into the world who would be treated differently because of their deformity, the way they are treated could have a negative effect on their life and that will restrict their chances for a good and happy life.
Having argued the case for abortions I will now put the case forward for the reasons against abortion. In the case of an abortion you must consider the rights of the unborn child. The unborn child is the bearer of rights which are violated by abortion. In the common law world there is a complex mass of decisions relating to unborn children which are often difficult to settle. Their incoherence derive from the obvious fact that the unborn child is an individual organism of the human species, and the objective in certain respects is to ensure that he or she does not have the same rights as other human beings. The common law has not treated the unborn child as a legal person for all purposes. However it cannot be right that the most basic question - who is the subject of human rights - who is a member of our community under the rule of law - should be left piecemeal or incoherent either by the government or by the courts; and that it cannot be reasonably treated as a matter to be decided by arbitrary line drawing by the accidents of precedent.
Each person has the right to "life, liberty and security". These rights are inalienable and are expressed in many national constitutions and international charters. The right to life of all people is undisputed and indisputable. It is a 'core' right without which all other rights are meaningless. If society accepts that unborn babies are human beings then it follows that they are entitled to the protection afforded by this right. The fact that the human foetus is weak, vulnerable and inconspicuous is no reason to ignore or override her right to life. A failure to try to protect a person in these circumstances would demonstrate that rights for individuals are only acknowledged for those who exercise power or who are visible.
Some developmental facts which confirm the personhood of the unborn baby are:
18th to 24th day after conception - the little heart is beating.
28th day - muscles are developing along the future spine. Arms and legs are budding.
40 days - heart's energy output is 20 percent of adult's.
42nd day - skeleton is formed. Brain coordinates movements of muscles and organs.
8 weeks - every organ is present. Stomach produces gastric juices. Kidneys begin to function and liver makes blood cells.
12 weeks - Vigorous activity shows distinct individuality.
An abortion is immoral. Every rational thinking person will agree that terminating/killing an innocent human is being immoral whether it’s a fully formed person or/and even worse a weak, defenceless unborn baby. When a sperm and egg cell combine, it becomes something fundamentally different. It becomes a human being in its early stages. The embryo has the information necessary to develop into a fully-functioning human being like you or me. In addition, the embryo is already in the process of developing into a human like you or me. The only essential difference between the embryo and a full-grown human is that they are in different stages of life.
Another argument against abortions is for religious reasons many religious beliefs centre around the fact that abortion is wrong.
This is the Protestant Christian teachings against abortion,
God created human beings making them to be like himself" (Genesis 1)
"Do not kill." Life is sacred (10 commandments)
Body is the "Temple of the holy spirit." (Corinthians 3) means God's spirit is present in the human body
"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you." (Jeremiah 1) shows the unborn child is special to God
"You put me together in my mother's womb." (Psalm 139)
This is the Catholic Christian teachings against abortion,
Same as Protestant teachings
"From the time that the egg is fertilised, a life has begun." (Catholic declaration on abortion - 1974)
This is the Moslem teachings against abortion,
Submit to Allah's will
"If you think you control your own destiny, try to stop your own soul from leaving its body at the hour of your death." (Surah 56)
"Do not kill your children in fear of poverty." (Qur'an 17)
"No severer of womb relationship ties will enter paradise" (Hadith)
This is the Hinduism teachings against abortion,
“May this our song of praise reach you, O Maruts, and Visnu guardian of the future infant.”
”May they vouchsafe the singer strength for offspring.”
Rig Veda - The quote is from 7:36:9
Rig Veda quote shows how foetus are given protection status Ashwathama killed Parikshit in the womb itself. Krishna got angry and cursed Ashwathama eternal damnation and revived Parikshit. Both these incidents show how disgusting foetus-killing is considered in Hinduism. Anyone who aborts a foetus in 3rd trimester for no reason whatsoever is not a good Hindu. Mahabharat - The Ashwathama episode.
My final point arguing against abortion is the fact that abortion is being used as the fail safe or safely net for the failure/misuse of contraception. This case generally concerns younger people when sexual intercourse takes place and the contraception used is not 100% proof to stop the female conceived and therefore the only easy option to turn to is abortion. Abortion should not be given in this instant as the results of the couples actions should have been taken into consideration by themselves before the female conceived and became pregnant.
We were all tiny once, tiny but steadily developing. Journeying through each stage of life we are conceived, we are born, we grow through infancy, childhood and adolescence, eventually reach adulthood and then the final stages of life. It is our right to expect protection throughout each stage of our life. Just because we are small and unseen within our mothers' wombs does not mean those rights should be denied. The right to life is a 'core' right without which all other rights are meaningless. In seeking to protect the unborn there are some painful decisions to be made because many women are in situations of injustice. Creative non-violent solutions to such problems are far more desirable than abortion which is the ultimate social injustice. Even though the enforcement of laws to protect unborn babies is difficult, this does not remove the need to seek just solutions.
