The fetus is physically dependant upon the mother for life. To complicate it even further, we need to realize that physicaldependence also means a physical threat to the life of the mother. The World Health Organization reports that nearly
670,000 women die from pregnancy-related complications each year. That's 1,800 women per day. We also read that indeveloped countries, such as the United States and Canada, a woman is 13 times more likely to die bringing a pregnancy
to term than by having an abortion.
Anti-abortionists believe that the fetus should have the same human rights as the mother. What they disregard is the factthat when a mother does not want to have the child, and is then forced to because abortion would then be illegal, they areignoring the mothers rights for those of a fetus that is only POTENTIAL to become a person, and gain full human rights.Now adays, with cloning and the wonders scientists are doing with genetics, a hair follical or skin cell have just as much
potential to become an individual human as the fetus. I’m not saying that the fetus should not have the full human rights. Ijust believe that a potential person must always be given full human rights unless its existence interferes with the rights ofLife, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness of an already existing conscious human being. Thus, a fetus has no rights before
birth and full rights after birth. If a fetus comes to term and is born, it is because the mother chooses to forgo her own
rights and her own bodily security in order to allow that future person to grow inside her body. If the mother chooses to
exorcise control over her own body and to protect herself from the potential dangers of childbearing, then she has the full
right to terminate the pregnancy.
It's actually quite simple. You cannot have two entities with equal rights occupying one body. One will automatically haveveto power over the other - and thus they don't have equal rights. In the case of a pregnant woman, giving a "right to life"
to the potential person in the womb automatically cancels out the mother's right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit ofHappiness. A tactic often used by pro-life activists to prevent women from having abortions is to call abortion MURDER. But howcan a woman simply terminating a potential life out of her own human rights be murder? Should a person be preventedfrom removing a cancerous tumor from their lung simply because it is alive and has the potential to grow? But that doesn'tstop religious fanatics from dumping their judgements and their anger on top of women who choose to exorcise the right to
control their bodies. It's the ultimate irony that people who claim to represent a loving God resort to scare tactics and fearto support their mistaken beliefs. It's even worse when you consider that most women who have an abortion have just made the most difficult decision oftheir life. No one thinks abortion is a wonderful thing. No one tries to get pregnant just so they can terminate it. Eventhough it's not murder, it still eliminates a potential person, a potential daughter, a potential son. It's hard enough as it is.
Women certainly don't need others telling them it's a murder. In the end, it does not matter what you or I believe to be morally right or wrong. Abortion is an individual choice, and anoutsider can not judge whether or not it is wrong for the woman to have one. Keeping abortion legal is simply a statementthat women DO have the right to exorcise control over their bodies, and the choice of abortion is available to them. It isnot a promotion, simply a statement of human rights. Now we need to remove the impediments and the stigmas - andmake sure any woman anywhere can make that decision of abortion for herself, armed with all the information, free ofsuperstition and lies about it. THANK YOU. Extras About The Religious Implications: The Bibles References to if a fetus is a body or a person Consider first, Genesis 2:7, And the Lord God formed man ofthe dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." First, God forms Adam, he forms of dust, a flesh and blood body. SECOND, he "breathes into his nostrils the breath oflife" and THEN man became a living soul. Man did not become a living soul when God first formed the IDEA of creatingAdam, in Genesis 1:26. Man did not become a living soul when God created his BODY. Not until God gave man his firstBREATH did he become a living soul. Life comes from God. It does not come from human conception. To believe thatthe entry of a sperm into an egg constitutes a human soul is blasphemy. To believe this is to eject God from the mystery ofbirth and put the power of the male ejaculation above the generative power of God. It is nothing less than idolatry,elevating the status of mere man, his sperm and his ejaculation above the power of God to give life.
The verses in Genesis are not the only verses in the Bible to make this clear. Consider Job 33:44
The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life."
