The Center for Bioethical Reform states that on lifetime average there will be one
abortion per woman in the world. This makes abortion a very relative point of ethical discussion.
According to the World Resources Institute there are about 3,155,945 females world-wide, and if
you used crude mathematics to make a rough estimate you would have potentially 3,155,945 lost
lives. We can no longer ignore an issue with such impact. I believe that abortion is an unethical
act and should not be an option to anyone.
One could say that an abortion should be legal because the developing fetus is part of the
female and she should be able to do with her body what she likes, but this is not so. The fetus is
not part of her body, it is inside her body. Since the fetus is made from a combination of the
male’s and the female’s DNA it has an entirely different chemical make up than that of the
female in which it dwells. The human developing inside the female was made from a
chromosome of both the male and the female making it not entirely the female and not entirely
the male. Also due to chromosomal mutations the DNA could vary even more. Therefore, a
completely different chemical make up is being developed inside the female and we now have
one organism inside of another. Thus making the argument mute, the fetus has a different makeup of DNA and is therefore a different organism.
Another fallacy of abortion is that sometimes it can be used to save the life of the mother.
This situation just does not happen. Dr. C. Everett Koop, former Surgeon General stated that he
was never aware or a single situation in which a pre-born child’s life had to be taken in order to
save the life of the mother. Less than 3% of women, worldwide, who had abortions stated that it
was because of a risk to their health. So it is true that women have aborted babies because they
believed it was in their best health interest, but this is a very small portion of abortions and
according to Koop it may not even be a threat to the mother’s health. This makes the mother’s
health argument a hypothetical situation that does not hold up to the test of reality.
Hypothetical situations are often created to give reasons for abortions but the facts show
that they are not the main reason. A survey of women after they had had abortions to find out
why they got an abortion shows that these situations are indeed hypothetical and just that. The
facts show that the main reason for abortions is simply to postpone childbirth. The main reason
stated by women who had had abortions (25.5%) was to postpone child birth. This reason was far
greater than rape (<1%), risk to maternal health (2.8%), and risk to fetal health (3.3%). One can
easily see that females who have had abortions almost never do it because of rape, or risk to their
own health. These are invented situations to induce sympathy on lawmakers.
Therefore the majority of aborted babies are due to people who are not ready to face the
consequences of sex. They think that they are ready for sex but then are often overwhelmed
when the results of their actions confront them and they choose the seemingly easy way out.
Abortion is still legal in America because people want to keep the easy escape option available to
those who make ‘mistakes’.
Saying that every woman has the right to choose is ignoring the idea of law. Law stops
people from harming others or infringing on personal property. If everyone had the right to
choose then there would be no law. People would be dying from car accidents every day because
there would be no incentive to not speed. Small arguments would turn to murder because no one
would have a reason to step in and the arguers would have no reason to step out. The law
governs people so that they don’t make decisions to harm others.
People should not be allowed to choose abortion just like they are not allowed to beat
their children. Laws against child abuse are in place so that parents will not harm their children
because the children can not defend themselves. In the same way, abortion laws should be put in
place. Laws are put in place to stop citizen’s unethical choices. And since the majority of
Abortion cases are because people do not want to face the consequences of their actions and try
to postpone them and the developing human inside is not part of the mother Abortion is an
unethical choice.
Some might say that life does not begin until the developing organism can support itself
on its own. This is a false statement unless you believe that I am not alive. I still rely on my
parents to support me and provide for me. A child greatly relies on his/hers parents for their own
survival. They according to this argument are not alive. Many other arguments rely on false
situations and often do not think their ethics though. It is my hope that people would consider
their ethics before performing such an act or even something that would lead up to it. I hope that
people would seek out information and knowledge on something with such great repercussions.
In conclusion, the reasons for abortion are most often unethical, the result of
misconceptions about genetic make-up, hypothetical situations, not being ready to foster a child
but ready to make one, and an unethical option to choose. Just like many other laws are in place
to protect others so other abortion laws should be in place. Abortion should not be legal just as
rape and theft should not be legal. Even if a law is not passed to stop abortion people should
become more educated on the subject.