There are two different views on abortion pro-choice, they believe every woman should have a choice and pro-life, they believe every one should have a right to life. Here are some of the main arguments for and against abortion.
For abortion (pro-choice)
- The woman should have the right to chose if she wants to bear a child or not.
- If the woman is raped or on the grounds of incest
- A foetus is only a postnasal life but a women life and the effects of a baby would have on it is a reality.
- If the pregnancy endangers the mother’s life it is better to abort the child.
- If the woman is physically or mentally incapably of looking after a child
- Many women get abortions simply because a baby is inconvenient
- A woman might not have the money to support a baby.
- If abortion weren’t legalised then it would force many women to go to underground and get dangerous operations done by unqualified people.
- Many young girls get abortions if they don’t feel that they are ready to be parents and that they have things like school to worry about.
Against abortion (pro-life)
- Every child has the right to be a wanted child
- A handicapped person can live a happy and prosperous life, they should be given the chance to live
- Abortion is just discrimination against the weak
- Killing is killing, however it is justified
- A foetus is a potential human being with unique characteristics and should have the right to life.
There is a mixed opinion about when the foetus becomes a baby. There are several stages in the growth of the embryo when people says it is ‘alive’ but there is no right or wrong answer.
Some people believe the life begins as so as the sperm joins with the egg.
Others think it is at approximately
- 21 days when the heart starts to beat.
- 28 days when backbone and muscles are forming
- 40 days when brain waves can be detected
- 7 weeks when the embryo begins to move spontaneously
- 8 weeks when the embryo can now be called a foetus, everything is now present that will be found in a fully developed adult
- After about 9 months when the mother gives birth
Its main Christian view is that all human life is sacred, even the baby in the womb. And life starts as soon as conception has taken place.
The Catholic Church has always been against any form of contraception but it feels very strongly towards abortion.
For Christians the bible is an important text for teaching about their faith.
It contains the words and teachings of Jesus. I have picked some quotes to try and illustrate a Christian view.
In Jeremiah 1:5, it says: Before you were formed in the body of your mother I had knowledge of you, and before your birth I made you holy; I have given you the work of being a prophet to the nations.
This tells us that god had already made us before we are born and this backs up the theory that every human life is unique and that we are indeed killing a person by aborting it.
In genesis 1:27, we are told that god made man in his image, which tells us that we don’t have the right to take away a life.
In Psalm 139 we are told that god knitted us together and that he saw us even before we were formed.
This again backs up the opinion that we are all individual and unique from the moment of conception.
Christians have a range of different viewpoints; I have done some research and found some quotes from different Christians expressing their views on abortion.
"Life must be protected with the utmost care from the moment of conception; abortion and infanticide are the most abominable of crimes"
Statement from the Roman Catholic Church
"From the time that the ovum is fertilised a new life is begun which is neither that of the father or the mother. It is the life of a new human being with its own growth. It would never become human if it were not human already"
Document on Procured Abortion (1974) [Roman Catholic Church]
"We affirm that every human life, created in the divine image is unique ... and that this holds for each of us, born or yet to be born. We therefore believe that abortion is an evil ... and that abortion on demand would be a very great evil. But we also believe that to withhold compassion is evil, and in circumstances of extreme distress or need, a very great evil ... Christians need to face frankly the fact that in an imperfect world the 'right' choice is sometimes the acceptance of the lesser of two evils"
General Synod of the Church of England
"If you do make a mistake don't destroy the life ... because also to that child God says, "I have called you by your name, I have carved you in the palm of my hand: you are mine"
Mother Teresa (Roman Catholic Nun)
"Although the foetus is to be specially respected and protected, nonetheless the life of the foetus is not absolutely sacrosanct if it endangers the life of the mother"
Church of England - Board of Social Responsibility Report 1984
"To regard the life of the mother as less valuable than that of the unborn child does not consider her 'right to life' in terms of her wider roles of wife or mother (actual or potential) of other children, as well in terms of her own person"
Abortion, an Ethical Discussion, Church information office 1965, p33
Some people think that abortion is wrong; they believe that life is sacred and should be protected at any cost. Other people think every woman should have a right to choose weather or not she wants to keep here baby. If she keeps it, it would dramatically change her life and only she should decide. I think that there are so many different women in the world and their circumstances are so different that it would be narrow minded to say abortion should be made illegal. If a woman really didn’t want to give birth to a child she would find some way of having the baby terminated. This would almost certainly be very dangerous. I think that every woman should have the right to choose for herself.
Bibliography
Internet
Fact sheets about abortion (Rhyn Park School library)
Oxford interactive encylopedia
