Abortion is one of the most controversial issues of our time. It’s right up there with politics and even religion. It’s one of those topics where, when someone asks you what your stance is on it, you will most likely shake your head and reply, “I’d rather not get into that discussion”. If it’s such a personal issue, shouldn’t you be passionate about it and ready to stand by your reasons for being for or against it?
According to the National Abortion Federation, each year, almost half of all pregnancies among American women are unintended. About half of those are unplanned pregnancies. 1.3 million pregnancies each year, are ended by abortion and if current rates continue, it is estimated that 35% of all women of reproductive age in America today will have had an abortion by the time they reach 45 years of age. There are many instances were a woman may contemplate having an abortion, but are any of those reasons enough justification to do it? Most aren’t, all accept when the mother’s life is at stake and that should be a very serious issue that the family discusses at length before coming to a decision.
Many people believe that life begins at the point of conception. The minute the sperm meets the egg, a new life begins. Furthermore, it has been proven that a fetus’ heart will start beating 7 days after conception. That means, it starts to develop almost immediately after the sperm and egg meet. Therefore, for the entire time a woman is pregnant, she is carrying a living, growing, human being inside of her. New technology can prove, via ultrasound, that at a very early age, the egg starts transforming and you can make out that it is indeed a baby, much earlier on than you could years ago. Based on these facts, having an abortion essentially means killing, or even murdering an innocent and helpless life. Just because it may not be seen, doesn’t mean it isn’t so, and with this new technology it can be seen. Essentially, it is just the same, or very similar to, someone holding a new born baby at gun point and pulling the trigger of the loaded gun. A disturbing picture, but not exaggerated like some people will argue. Babies, whether planned or unplanned, are a blessing. You, the person reading this right now, were a blessing to your mother and father and to the world at large. Why take that away from someone else? No one is ever 100% ready to be a parent. Some women or couples are too young, not ready financially, or not very interested in having children yet, if ever. What about the people that fit those categories and have the baby anyway? More times than not, they will say they don’t regret a single second of it. What about those couples that can’t have children of their own?
“What about young girls?”, you may ask. According to Wiki Answers, 18% out of 1.3 million abortions a year is 234,000 abortions done by teens. There are always other options. If a young girl and her boyfriend knowingly engaged in sexual intercourse, it stands to reason that they learn the consequences. Those consequences, will inevitably be looked at as blessings as the woman matures. That happens a lot more quickly, for the most part, when you have the responsibility to care for, love and raise a baby. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a perfect world, and that is not likely the case most of the time. However, is that a reason to kill an innocent life? If you’re looking at it from the point of view of life beginning at conception, the answer would be no. Again, that would be just as bad as murder.
Another reason a woman, young or older, may consider having an abortion, is in the case of a rape. After all, she was engaged in sexual intercourse against her will, why should she have a child against her will as well, right? Wrong. Yes, some people are more sympathetic to women who consider having abortions in rape cases, but does it make it right? According to Wiki Answers, about 13,000 abortions per year are for pregnancies that occur because of rape. Either way, however the woman got pregnant, there is still a baby inside of her that would end up being killed if she got an abortion. Is it the innocent child’s fault that the woman was raped? Should an innocent baby be punished for something they had no control over? On the other hand, some people may ask, “why punish an innocent child or woman over something they both couldn’t stop?”. Who said anyone had to be punished? A baby is a blessing, no matter what circumstances it was born into. It could be a blessing to the birth family, or another family. This day and age, there are so many other options to consider over having an abortion. You can get help from family to raise your baby, or put it up for adoption so that a woman who doesn’t have the ability to have children, can still experience raising a child she calls her own, the list goes on. That is one of the most selfless things a woman, who doesn’t want to be a mother, can do for someone who does.
Late term abortion, also known as post-viability abortion, is a big issue all on it’s own. Some states have thankfully outlawed late term abortions. The arguments of “life begins at conception, so abortion is murder”, don’t even need to come into play here. This is far beyond the point of conception. You really are killing a little human being if you get an abortion during the last few months of pregnancy. In some of these cases, women will get an abortion because they found, via an amniocentesis, that there are complications with their baby. Some couples can’t deal with babies that are born in need of some extra care. Sometimes the couples even end up divorced because of it, when a child, with or without complications, should only bring them closer together. Why is that? Fear is one thing, but that should go away as soon as you set your eyes on that baby. Why rob yourself of that chance? Why rob that innocent child of an opportunity at life? Granted, these days if a complication is found on the amniocentesis, it may be able to be fixed in the womb or as soon as the child is born, but so what if it can’t? If the child is going to live and have a chance to have a happy life, even if it isn’t a “normal” life, why rob them of that chance? There is no such thing as a normal life, just what society wants us to think of as normal. You adapt and find your own definition of “happy”.
Give children the chance to grow and find their own definition of happy, even if that ends up being with another family. Give them their own fighting chance at life, no matter what cards are stacked against them. We live in a world where people are thriving when they were told they’d never sit, stand, roll over or talk. Children are a blessing to be proud of. Think hard about it before you act and can’t take it back.