Should Abortion Be Legalized?

Nowadays abortion is a hugely controversial issue. The Pope, and other religious leaders in the world are for it, as they believe that it is a sin since it apparently says so in the Bible. What is the Bible anyways? Some say it is a well-crafted work of fiction? Some say it is a religious work? Some just say its full of crap. Who to believe. Bush is against abortion, because he is considered to be a conservative and that is one of the platforms conservatives tend to stand for. Bush has also talked about getting more conservative members on the United States Supreme Court to overturn such controversial amendments as Roe v. Wade and make abortion completely illegal. Abortion is among the top 10 things argued about in this country aside from War, Affirmative Action, Racism, Sexism, Censorship, Euthanasia, and the Death Penalty. A lot of people, when arguing this topic try to argue that the presence of the Death Penalty should also mean that abortion is legal, since it is apparently killing someone. Odd how conservatives love the death penalty, yet hate the concept of abortion. Controversy in this area tends to get a bit far-fetched as we saw 10 years ago when John Salvi walked into an abortion clinic and opened fire on one the people who were there, hitting and killing an old high school friend of my mothers. There are 10 different types of abortion (2). They range from injecting medicine to sucking the developing baby out with a vacuum tube to Partial Birth Abortion. Partial Birth Abortion is the most disgusting thing I have ever read and its definition is "Performed during the late second or third trimester. Using ultrasound, the abortionist grasps the baby's leg with forceps, and partially forcefully delivers all but the head. Scissors are then jammed into the back of the babies' skull, and the wound is pried open. A powerful vacuum tube is inserted and sucks out the baby's brain." (2). I am glad that congress recently passed legislation banning this form of abortion, and one can only hope that it will soon encompass hysterotomies and salt poisoning in the list of things that have been made illegal.

In today's world, people are having abortions at an alarming record, but statistics (3) have shown that most of the people who have abortions do it because of rape, health concerns or the fact that they can't afford it at all. Welfare and programs such as W.I.C (Women, Infants and Children) have been designed to help poor parents raise children, and if one really can't afford it, they can always put it up for adoption, find surrogate parents, or put it in an orphanage. Bush has publicly stated that he wants abortion made illegal, although he probably said it in some illiterate fashion like "Our parents need not have abortions, or abortions are the devil"

Some of the pro-life arguments in regard to abortion include it being immoral, sac-religious, and just wrong regardless of whether the woman is raped or if it is a product of incest or not. The religious aspect has people quoting the bible with verses such as "Jer. 1:5.... "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you."" (1). Some of the arguments that have been made just to oppose this, even by some moderate pro-lifers is that if you make abortion illegal, then more would-be parents would die because they would use "coat-hangers" or try unsafe and illegal back-alley abortions provided by doctors who do not believe in said laws regarding abortion.

Some of the pro-choice arguments about abortion include "The fetus is not a human, just a mass of tissue." Abortion is safer than childbirth, every child should be a wanted child, and a woman should be able to control her own body. Abortion must be kept legal, especially for all the rape and incest pregnancies, and Aborting unwanted children reduces the number of abused children.

Both sides tend to equate each other as being immoral and corrupt, and more often than not, pro-lifers call pro-choice people murderers, and then the pro-choicers will call pro-lifers some insult about stealing peoples right to choose. Abortion is actually hard to get nowadays, considering the amount of paperwork and hassle you have to go through. 10 states have a law requiring spousal consent to get an abortion, 38 have laws for parental consent for a minor, and 16 states have laws specifically banning partial birth abortion. If you are a pro-lifer than I can honestly understand where they are coming from because it is similar to murder in various ways. If you view a fetus, that can't breath on its own as a child, it would be considered murder. Or if you want to get technical, it is the death penalty.

Some people want to compare assisted suicide to abortions, which I could also understand; being that a baby who can't grow up to function well being killed would be assisted suicide. I know if I were aware of what was going on around me, but that I looked mentally handicapped, I wouldn't want to exist on the planet as fodder for rude high school kids to mock at every turn. The death penalty on other hand, I can understand more.

I am generally confused as to what I believe in this regard. I believe that abortion is somewhat wrong, but I would want my girlfriend to get one if she had one at this point in my life, and I don't want people to have kids they can't afford, or kids that will come out half retarded. In my humble opinion, I think someone needs to invent a pill that is mandatory and makes everyone sterile until they make a certain amount of money or reach a certain age, which would eliminate the need for certain programs, freeing up money for other stuff. If someone is raped, they should not have to bear the child and live with the consequences of looking at the child as it grows up knowing the father was an evil rapist who should die a painful death, or having to tell the child as it gets to a particular age. That's cruel. I'd like to say that I am against abortion, but I don't think that the government should have any say in what a woman chooses to do with her own body. I don't equate abortion with the death penalty, but once again in regard to the death penalty, I do not think that the government should be involved in sponsoring public murders. Everything I believe in, I always see the other side to, because I am used to playing the devils advocate with people.

As I said earlier on in this paper, if abortion comes to the Supreme Court again in the next few years, given the conservative nature of the court, then I think that we will have a crises on our hands. It is a sad world out there and it scares me that people would most likely riot over a topic such as abortion. It is a very important time for those of us who are going to lead the country in 30 or so years, and for us college students to just continue and sit by and watch is disturbing.