There are two main groups of people who are constantly in conflict over the ethics of abortion, they are Pro-Life and Pro-Choice. In my view both of these groups will never co-exist with mutual respect for one another as perfection or beliefs are subconscious, everyone on this planet has dissimilar thoughts and feelings. We all strive towards separate ideologies thus inducing the thought that humankind can under no circumstances exist in a utopian society.
Pro-Choice supporters believe that parents of a child have the right to have an abortion as the child is their “property” and in some cases they believe in the ownership of the unborn child. Pro-Choice supporter believe that there is an inadequacy of a sharp boundary in which we realise that the foetus is alive. They believe that to exclaim that there are sharp boundaries to state when abortions take place is arbitrary because a person is a loose concept and that the transition from a fertilized egg to a child can be better represented by a fairly steady upward curve rather than separate stages with abrupt transitions. They believe that life is as uncertain as death as we do not know exactly when we are born and when exactly we will die.
There are many views on when life begins. One view is that life begins at conception, this means that life begins as soon as the male sperm and female ovum combine. Another view is that life begins at some definite point during pregnancy. Thomas Aquinas, a medieval philosopher, argued that a foetus became a human when a soul was implanted this process is called ensoulment, some people believe ensoulment is when the mother feels the baby move for the first time in her womb. A third view is that life does not start until birth as this is the first time people can view the child in all its glory. Pro-Choice supporters also believe in women’s rights as if a woman does not want the child why should she let the child take control of her body as the child will survive for 9 months in the mother’s body. They also believe that a foetus is not a person and that the woman’s right over her body is more important than the life of the person in her womb. Pro-Choice supporters believe that if a mother’s life is threatened she has the right to terminate the pregnancy as her life is seen to be more important than the life of the child, her life takes priority.
Pro-Life supporters are commonly called anti-abortionists. Pro-Life supporters believe in the sanctity of life, that each life is sacred and that each child deserves the right to potential life. The foetus is seen to be a human being it has reached the development stage to qualify as being a human being. Pro-Life supporters believe that contraception is a form of abortion as you are not allowing nature to run its course as the contraception pill prevents fertilization as it causes the womb lining to change through the influx of oestrogen. Pro-Life supporters believe that I.U.D. (inter-urine device) or coil count as types of aided abortion. They also believe in viability; viability is the point a baby could survive independently, it is now an independent creature. A child is seen to be the bearer of rights and as the parents have consented to sexual intercourse they should not bring and end to its life, the argument still rages that there is an arbitrary start to life. Each child deserves the right to have a life, even if the child is unwanted there are many families who want children but are unable to conceive themselves.
Abortion is not a clean-cut subject as there are many factors that are concerned in this issue. An emotive quandary would be any case of a woman being raped: should she be forced to have the child or is it her decision as it is her body thus as the Pro-Choice supporters state her body is her property? Both of the views of each group can be criticized as in the Pro-Choice argument a child cannot be associated with a house or a material possession as a child deserves its personhood. The Pro-Choice view is not emotive enough as you treat material possessions the same as a child. Both of these arguments generate highly emotive feelings but in my view there is no right or wrong as it all depends on a person’s situation.
