Children are a blessing from God, or so we thought before we got ourselves into the business of ‘flushing’ out unwanted pregnancies. Unwanted simply because they came at a time when they weren’t planned for or at some point during the pregnancy one, felt that they were not ready. The task of bringing a child into this world and raising it is not easy. Therefore, this isn’t a task that should be left to any woman or man (after all, they too play a major role!)  Abortion is simply the termination of a pregnancy before its term. One may choose to have an abortion for several reasons. These reasons can either be supported or dismissed giving rise to two schools of thought: the pro-life and pro-abortion (pro-choice).

1. Pro-choice.

This school of thought advocates for abortion for several reasons. One of them is that one may have gotten pregnancy through rape. Rape victims suffer a lot of trauma after the incident and may take time to heal. Having a baby to show for the act is like adding salt to injury. The baby would serve as a reminder of the heinous act. You can rest assured that unless the mother learns to separate the baby from the rape, that child will pay for their father’s mistake. Why raise a child under such harsh conditions? To make matters worse, the child lives without the identity of the father.

Secondly, if one is too young to take care of the baby, why not allow them abort? For instance, a thirteen year old girl is too young to raise a child since she herself is still a child. Subjecting this child to carry the pregnancy to term let alone raise it is eternal torture to her. This is robbing the child their innocence and childhood. Hence, abortion is permissible in this case.

A mother may also be allowed to have an abortion for medical reasons. A mother may develop complications during the pregnancy, which if not handled properly may result in their death. Circumstances may force a couple to choose between the mother or the child for which the life of the mother will be saved. It is argued that the couple could always get other children in the future.

In addition to this, it is the mother’s decision on whether to keep the pregnancy or not. Thus, a woman should not be coaxed into having a baby because she will be the one to take care of it without the help of those pressurizing her to keep it.

Under all these circumstances, pro-choicers say that abortion allows one to continue with their lives without the burden of raising a child. Abortion allows one to achieve their dreams since they are not deterred from their goals.

1. Pro-life.

Life is sacred. No one could argue about that. For this reason, they that take the pro-life stand do not see the reason as to why one would ever want to abort a child. For them, under no circumstances should one consider abortion.

Pro-life supporters base this argument on their faith. Most if not all religions, consider life a gift from God and whoever tries to alter it is not greatful to God. Infact, they display ingratitude for their own lives. Pro-life supporters say that if one chooses to abort, then in essence, they are playing God which is blasphemy. Only God can determine when to end somebody’s life.

Life begins at conception, as they would suggest. Consequently, one cannot claim that they can abort at the early stages of pregnancy since it is a mass of cells or fetus.

According to the best record based study of deaths following pregnancy and abortion, a 1997 government funded study in Finland, women who abort are approximately four times more likely to die in the following year than women who carry their pregnancies to term. In addition, women who carry to term are only half as likely to die as women who were not pregnant(1).

Apart from this, they do not castigate the mother for choosing to terminate the pregnancy but also considers the mother’s state.  Abortions have been performed since time immemorial and experience shows that one is at risk of death while on the surgical table. Some people pretend to be doctors and without any care, perform the abortion shoddily.  Their sloppiness has cost several women their lives.  We end up losing two precious lives.

Besides this, many people that opt for abortion is as a result of reckless behavior. Some live promiscuously. Upon realization that they are pregnant, they go for the easier option: abortion. Some men also easily avoid taking responsibility by offering to pay for the abortion. One should be ready to face the music even if means raising a child.  If one will always have an easy way out, then they will never shape up. They will never reflect on their actions and the need to be responsible.

Some of the immediate effects of abortion include excessive bleeding,infection, anaesthesia complications and haemmorage.In addition to this, if the abortion is not carried out properly, one may never have children later on. Some ladies end up losing their uterus commonly referred to as the womb. If one does not have a compartment to carry the child in, any attempt at getting a child becomes futile.

Another reason why this school of thought is against abortion is that  abortion has a great bearing on the mother. During pregnancy, there is emotional attachment between the mother and child. This bond grows  and if anything such as abortion comes in the way of this connection, then the mother is scarred emotionally.  Psychological implications that follow thereafter include mourning , grief ,sense of loss or unfulfillment ,loss of self-esteem, self hatred depression and suicidal thoughts. Fergusson (2007) lists symptoms specific to post-abortion reactions as(1):

• Anniversary syndrome – an increase of symptoms around anniversary dates of the conception, abortion or due date
• Anxiety over infertility
• Avoidance behaviours – avoiding pregnant friends, babies, vaginal examinations
• Eating disorders
• Inability to bond with children
• Preoccupation with becoming pregnant again – atonement babies
• Psychosexual disorders – inability to engage in sexual activity or sexually acting out

Studies in which women give their own accounts of the experience (Boyle and McEvoy, 283-304) show clearly that they suffer a lot contrary to the lie that life continues as usual. Some women talk about the difficulty of making a decision which seems to put them and not others first; others talk of their fear of being ‘found out’ and thought cruel and selfish.The following story is as given by a first hand victim of abortion, Susan Neiburg Terkel:

1. Abortion story:

“Being a woman who experienced an abortion, I can tell you that withholding information from women that may affect them for the rest of their lives is both dangerous and demeaning. Doctors may explain more about tonsillectomies or appendectomies, than they do about abortions. I really believe that if I had been fully informed, both medically and as to my options, I would have chosen not to abort my baby.”

In conclusion, abortion does one more harm than good and should be avoided at all costs. One should also tey as much as possible to avoid situations that will put them in an awkward situation of having to choose whether to abort or not. Moreover, there is need for one to make an informed decision.

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WORK CITED.

Boyle, Mary. and McEvoy, J. Putting abortion in its social context: Northern Irish women’s experience of abortion in England. Health 2 283-304 (1998) Print

Gissler, M., et. al., “Pregnancy-associated deaths in Finland 1987-1994 — definition problems and benefits of record linkage,” Acta Obsetricia et Gynecolgica Scandinavica76:651-657 (1997) Print

Fergusson, Andrew, “Consequences of Abortion”:http://www.cmf.org.uk. (2007) accessed on Nov 2011. Web

Assocition for Natural Psychology,http://www.winmentalhealth.com/about_abortion.php accessed on Nov 2011. Web

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