Exploring the Arguments: A Comprehensive Look at Legalizing Abortion

This essay delves into the contentious debate surrounding the legalization of abortion, presenting arguments from both pro-choice and pro-life perspectives. It highlights the significance of respecting individual autonomy and women's rights in making decisions about their reproductive health. The essay discusses the potential benefits of legalizing abortion, such as reducing unsafe abortions, addressing unwanted pregnancies resulting from violent crimes, and enabling women with serious health conditions to avoid life-threatening childbirths. Additionally, it explores how legalized abortion can serve as a tool for population control and family planning, while also acknowledging the cultural and social opposition to abortion based on moral and ethical grounds. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of considering various factors, including individual circumstances, healthcare implications, and societal well-being, in the ongoing discussion about legalizing abortion.

Running head: LEGALIZING ABORTION 1
Legalizing Abortion
Name
Institution

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Legalizing Abortion
The debate about abortion is becoming one among the most contested in few decades
ago. The debate on abortion is bringing sharp reactions to the public concerning legalizing it or
not. The extent to which numerous parties are being drawn to the debate on abortion is clearly
justifying how the issue greatly concerns the society. For instance, the religious leaders,
politicians, human right activists, the judiciary, and medical practitioners are mostly involved in
the debate for period. The public in general has been highly divided all the time on abortion issue
with every faction (pro-choice and pro-life) having cited various justification on their stand on
the abortion matter. Pro-choice comprise of the individuals in support of abortion while the pro-
life comprised of the individuals who claim abortion as being illegal (Lowen, 2012). However,
the choice as to whether to legalize abortion or not is deemed a personal entitlement and these
privileges ought to be respected.
Various events have triggered the need for legalizing abortions. For instance, the
requirements for upholding women rights for making choices concerning the number of children
they wish to bear has been the justification for legalizing abortion. Currently the society are
living in a society that is liberalized society where every community member enjoys certain
privileges. It has been plausible that some efforts are being made aiming at promoting the
women status in the society, precisely political and economic participation. Legalizing abortion
has been a crucial boost in promoting the women right for deciding the number of children they
would love to have and also for ensuring that the women status in the society are being upheld.
Legislations are being put across for protecting the lives and health of the women in the society
(Joseph, 2009). However, after legalizing abortions the women have been involved in a very
dangerous abortions and even childbirth.

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However, there are some institutions that disregard abortion. Similarly, cultural and
social drivers have also shown some interest in fighting against abortion. They disregard abortion
as the worst thing any woman could do against human dignity. It has been a crime against life
and no woman had the right to kill any new living being. Some countries are banning abortion as
well as fighting against it as they deem it immoral. Women with serious illnesses such as
hypertension, heart diseases, severe diabetes, and sick-cell anemia may have medical
complications that can risk their life during childbirth or during pregnancy. In other words,
abortion is being legalized by some states to ensure these women with serious health problems
are not involved in dangerous births. Doctors are positioned to assess the health of a mother
before childbirth in order to avoid double tragedy of losing either the child or mother or even
both.
It is an individual’s personal choice to decide when and whether to have a child. Every
sane individual is at a better position to decide whether she is ready and able to be a parent, and
as such nobody including the government should curtail such a choice. According to John and
Whitley (2007), women understands themselves better especially when an issue relating to child
bearing is the point of contention. This is because there are instances when an individual may
end up being pregnant but incapable of giving birth owing to different reason. This means that
abortion should be allowed to assist women in deciding whether they are ready and capable to
become parents.
Abortion should be legalized in order to avoid unwanted pregnancies. Forcing women to
have their pregnancies, especially those who were conceived from violent crimes that include
child abuse, rape or incest is unjust and retrogressive. Women should be allowed to get rid of
unwanted pregnancies especially those that results from rape because majority of these

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pregnancies are the resultants of unwanted children. Such unwanted children greatly suffer in the
hands of their parents. For instance, unwanted children are mostly neglected, abused, brutalized
and unloved an aspect that is not right considering that the children are innocent.
Other legislations legalize abortion in order to prevent teenagers from having children
(Olmos-Armas, 2006). Teenagers are renowned for engaging in irresponsible and unprotected
sex, which is the leading cause of almost all teen pregnancies. Joseph (2009) asserts that studies
indicate that teenage mothers often have a slim prospect of succeeding in future owing to a
number of challenges which include the role of parenting, while at the same time schooling or in
most cases drop out of school owing to embarrassments or tight parenting role at a tender age.
Legal abortion will help minors to get rid of unwanted pregnancies that can curtail their future
career prospect and lives.
Legal abortion has the advantages of reducing instances of back-alley abortions. Self-
induced abortion has been in existence for a long time even before abortion became a major
public debate. Women are always determined when they want to get rid of unwanted pregnancies
and as such, they will carry it secretly even when it is controlled by laws. According to Lowen
(2012), trends indicate that self-induced abortions are mostly carried out by poor women in the
society and much worse they are not safe thus leading to uncountable deaths in the community
which is a great disadvantage. Legalizing abortion will allow women especially from poor family
background to carry out safe abortions using taxpayers’ dollars in better medical facilities under
the assistance of qualified medical practitioners thus reducing mortality rates.
Abortion should be legalized to allow for termination of pregnancies where the unborn
child is exposed to serious risk of developing a fatal condition or has a limited chance of
surviving. Mothers should be allowed to carry out abortions when their pregnancies are likely to

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result in child’s health complications or in cases where there is a high likelihood of death of the
unborn. Moreover, mothers should be in position to terminate pregnancies when physician’s
evaluation on the pregnancy indicate that it is likely to increase the risk of giving birth to a child
who is serious disabled (John & Whitley, 2007).
Legalizing abortion gives the government an opportunity to carryout effective policies
with respect to population control. It is noteworthy that a legal abortion can be used as a tool for
national family planning, especially when the government is highly interested in regulating its
population size (BBC, 2012). In other words, abortion has been used successfully in several
countries as a tool for controlling population growth by terminating unwanted pregnancies that
are the reasons for population outburst.
Abortion should also be legalized to allow families to cope with social problems such as
poverty, large family and inability to handle with child rearing (BBC, 2012). Unwanted
pregnancies can cause tension as well as disrupt stability in a family where resources are
strained. In other words, abortion should be legalized to substitute other contraceptives used for
family planning.

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References
John, R. & Whitley, J. (2007). Abortion and crime: Unwanted children and out-of-wedlock
births. Economic Inquiry, 45(2), 304-324.
Joseph, R. (2009). Human rights and the unborn child. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Lowen, L. (2012). 10 Abortion Arguments: 10 Arguments For Abortion, 10 Arguments
Against Abortion: Abortion Arguments from Pro-Life and Pro-Choice Sides & Main
Points of Debate. Retrieved October 2
from:http://womensissues.about.com/od/reproductiverights/a/AbortionArgumen.htm
Olmos-Armas, M. (2006). Nine reasons in favor of retaining abortion access. Retrieved October
2 from: http://www.religioustolerance.org/moa02.htm
Reasons for abortion. (2012). BBC. Retrieved October 2 from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/legal/when_1.shtml