Women would not only have abortion in serious condition but also in normal condition, for example they have too many children or they got accidentally pregnant. Accidental pregnancy can be caused for a number of reasons, here are some examples:
(a) pregnancy with IUD in situ; (b) IUD expulsion: (c) IUD overdue for removal; (d) oral pills taken improperly; (e) oral pills in deteriorated condition; (f) improper use of injectables; (g) condom breakage; (h) improper use of condoms; (i) wrong calculation of the safe period; (j) withdrawal failure; (k) new contraceptive failure; (l) male sterilization failure; (m) female sterilization failure; (n) other reasons; and (o) not clear. (Mundigo, 1997:92)
Career women state that their responsibilities should only be with their work force. A woman who is both a wife and a mother, her responsibility naturally lies with her family and home. Women with a career often sees that having a baby is often difficult because they have to give their duty to her family by providing money or sometimes the women have to work because of the low income provided for the household. (Luker, 1985:204-205)
Women also believe that abortion should be allowed because of the difficulties they face. If a woman got pregnant intentionally, in the sense that she was hoping to marry the man she loved, or accidentally pregnant, then it may be the case that the child’s father refused to marry her, so the mother was left without a husband and all the household responsibilities was given to her. (Goggin, 1993:69)
Sometimes mothers with too many children can go through mental stress, for a mother’s work is considered hard. It could also be that the previous child is still too young. This can lead them to a request for abortion. Women who are studying have to go along the path of having an abortion as they have to concentrate on their children; otherwise they would have problems such as who would look after the child while the mothers working and the cost of looking after them. (Goggin, 1993:69)
There are also biblical evidences to support the view that abortion is acceptable. According to the people who are in favour of abortion uses this verse to explain why abortion should be allowed and shows that the penalty for causing abortion is not as serious as hurting the mother:
“22 ¶ If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart from her, and yet no mischief follow: he shall be surely punished, according as the woman’s husband will lay upon him; and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life,
24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.” (Exodus 21:22-25)
This verse refers to the mother. This explains that the mother has had a miscarriage but it does not mean the man should be killed because he did not commit murder. If the mother were killed then the death sentence would be applied.
King Solomon explains that life is useless. He said that when life was good then we should be thankful otherwise when life was bad Solomon said:
“3 ¶ If a man beget an hundred children, and live many years, so that the days of his years be many, and his soul be not filled with good, and also that he have no burial; I say, that an untimely birth is better than he.
4 For he cometh in with variety, and departeth in darkness, and his name shall be covered with darkness.
5 Moreover he hath not seen the sun, nor known anything: this hath more rest than the other.” (Ecclesiastes 6:3-5)
Undoubtedly the issue of miscarriage is mentioned and states that it is better to end a pregnancy early rather than have it come into a sad life.
Pro Choice says the baby is not alive when it is in the mother’s womb. If it was alive the zygote does not have full human rights for example the right to be aborted during its growth. Another single-cell amoeba also coverts nutrients and oxygen into biological energy that causes its cells to divide, multiply and grow. It also contains a full set of its own DNA. It shares everything in common with a human zygote except that it is not a potential person. If it is left to grow, it will always be an amoeba and never a human person. The amoeba can be just as live as the zygote but we would never say that it has human rights. The foetus is dependent of the mother because without the mothers continuous nutrition and oxygen the baby can die. (Schroeder, 1992:37-38,72-73)
If the foetus develops and eventually born then it is because of the mothers choice to allow her own body to secure the baby in order to allow it to grow. If the mother wished to control her own body because of any possible danger of childbearing then the right to abort the foetus becomes acceptable. What ever affects the mother can affect the child and vice-versa. (Luker, 1985:92)
There cannot be two people controlling the body with both equal power, naturally there is someone with more prohibition power than the other. If it is considered that the potential person has the right to live then the mother’s rights such as mothers right to life, freedom and Happiness automatically is cancelled making the potential babies life more important than the mothers. After birth, on the other hand, the potential person no longer occupies the same body as the mother, and therefore giving it full human rights causes no interference with another's right to control her body. Therefore, even though a full-term human baby may still not be a person, after birth it enjoys the full support of the law in protecting its rights. After birth its independence begs that it be protected as if it were equal to a fully-conscience human being. The baby is not a person and therefore seeing that abortion is a logical and moral choice.
The anti-abortionist has a different view with regards to abortion. They want to abolish abortion because it is simply murder to take someone’s life. They support their views by claiming that ‘life begins at conception’ and that the zygote contains the entire DNA needed to make it into an independent, conscious human being. The mother supplies continuous oxygen and nutrition to the potential person allowing its cells to dived, multiply and grow, therefore being classified as alive. (Schroeder, 1992:72-73)
They also claim that if you are a human then you must be alive because the new fertilized zygote is already a person. The foetal dependence cannot be used as an issue in the abortion debate because the baby is still dependent on the mother and the father after the baby is born. Therefore if it is said that it is ok to kill a baby because it is dependent then the question lies if it is ok to kill a three-month-old baby because it is still dependent on his or her parent.
In 1959 the American Law Institution had allowed abortion in only serious condition and say abortion should be approved when a woman is raped, incest, to save her life, to protect her from mental health or the woman has foetal harm. (Mundigo, 1999:24-25) Women who are raped have a lot of support from the legal side. The law understands their cause for having abortion. Women that are raped go through a lot of suffering emotionally and mentally and therefore some women delay their abortion while others are unaware of rights they have for abortion. (Mundigo, 1999:251-252) Incest is another act that occurs and therefore abortion is allowed because marriage between the two is prohibited. (Luker, 1985:234-235)
Mothers who have metal health problems or physically unable to look after a child, for example women who are disabled or learning disabilities should be able to have abortion, because of the illness they face and in incapability of looking after the child. The interest of the child safety must be acknowledged according to the medical professionals. (Sheldon, 1997:46)
The drug RU-486 should not allow mothers to use this to abort their baby because it causes her uterus to flush its nutrient-rich lining, therefore removing a zygote from its necessary support system and, therefore, ending its short existence as a life form. (Sheldon, 1997:125)
It has been advised for women who have never been pregnant before or never given birth to a child before should not induce their baby as this can affect the uterus and could also affect her internal function such as endometriosis causing pelvic pain. The probability of these problems could increase and affect the pregnancy outcome if she continues to have induced abortion every time she gets pregnant.
(Mundigo, 1999:228,233)
According to some Christians, they consider abortion as murder as well. They proved this by providing biblical evidences which has been mentioned in Psalms that God is working in the womb:
"13 For Thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are they works: and that my soul knoweth right well.
15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made I secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them." (Psalm 139:13-16)
According to Genesis, God was involved in the creation of every living thing.
Another verse quoted by anti-abortion Christians relates the story of Elizabeth and Mary while both were pregnant. When they meet, the pre-born John the Baptist leaps in his mother's womb at Mary's salutation:
"39 About this time Mary set out and went straight to a town in the uplands of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby stirred in her womb. The Elizabeth was filled with Holy Spirit." (sic) (Luke 1:39-41)
Anti-abortion mean that all foetuses are living persons because one is recorded as knowing Mary's words and then leapt inside the womb. Anti-abortion concludes their argument by saying that abortion is murder to end the life of a child. They say that the baby’s life begins at conception and it is independent because of the ability to grow by itself into a conscious baby therefore being alive. Drugs and inducing the baby could have a strong affect on the mother or the child so for the safety for the mother it is better not to abort a child except in only serious condition.
On the other hand pro-choice say that women have a right to control their own body’s because they can go through stress problems if they are not given their right. There can not be two people control the same body, one must have veto power over the other and therefore it is the mother that has more rights because she is the one who allows the baby to continue to grow and allows her oxygen and nutrient given to the child to live, therefore seeing the baby in the womb dependent to the mother.
The foetus is considered not to be a person as the anti-abortion activist claim that it is merely a potential person. In the Longman Active Study Dictionary a person is described as "a man, woman, or child:" (2000:491). The difference between human and a person is 'consciousness.' With self-awareness we think about ourselves and use language to describe ourselves. Usually consciousness does not come until months or even years after a baby is born.
Pro-choice people claim that a baby is dependent on the mother and abortion is therefore acceptable, but this theory cannot be used because the child is still dependent on his or her parent after birth. Does this mean that it is ok to kill a three-month-old baby?
It can also be argued that a single-cell zygote is not a human that anti-abortionist claim because a normal hair follicle could contain DNA where the identification of a man or woman can be made but it is not said that the strand of hair is a human. Therefore the signal-cell zygote is not a human.
There are a number of arguments that is in favour of or apposed to abortion. They both have an equally good biblical evidences and hard evidence. The question will always stay whether an embryo is just a foetus or a human. What people would tend to do is have their own personal preferences. If the embryo is a foetus then the women would go ahead with the abortion otherwise if the embryo is a human then they would refuse to have an abortion.
List of References
Authorized King James Version. Holy Bible. Authority London. Collins clear-type press.
Francome, C. (1984) Abortion Freedom: A worldwide Movement. London. George Allen & Unwin (Publishers) Ltd.
Goggin, M.L. (1993) Understanding the New Politics of Abortion. United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data.
Holborn College (1961) The New English Bible. Great Britain. University Press, Cambridge.
Longman, W. Longman Active Study Dictionary (2000) (3rd Edition) England. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data.
Luker, K. (1985) Abortion & the Politics of Motherhood. University of California Press, Ltd. London. The Regents of the University of California.
Mundigo, A.I. and C. Indriso (1999) Abortion in the Developing World. South Asia. Vistaar Publications.
Schroeder, B.A. (1992) Human Growth and Development. United States of America. West Publishing Company.
Sheldon, S. (1997) Beyond Control. London. Pluto Press.
Yacoub, A.A.A. (2001) The Fiqh of Medicine: Responses in Islamic Jurisprudence to developments in Medical Science. London. Ta-Ha Publishers Ltd.
