This paper looks at the abortion debate as the structure of a real debate. Positions on both sides of the debate are given and then pro and con statements are made which shows why people fall on one side or the other. The first side is that or the religious and the other side is that of feminists and those who agree that it is not a religious issue but a woman's issue.
Abortion Debate
Pros and Cons of Abortion and the Feminist Perspective
The Pro-Life (Judeo/Christian) Perspective: God is the author of life and controls how that life will be dispensed. This is true of both birth and death. It is not the responsibility of the individual to either begin their life or to end it because the life is not theirs it is God's. When God chooses to bless a human being with being the surrogate for the beginning of said life, again it should not be the decision of that individual, who has a completely separate life growing inside of them, to choose whether that life should be continued or ended; again, that decision is to be made by God, the author of life. A woman's right to choose then ends when she decides to have intercourse with a male, realizing that the end product could be a sampling of God's gift of life. The fact that women are the vessels chosen to bare this life means that they are blessed above men, not that they are somehow subject to laws that men are not a part of. If the life becomes an issue for the mother, then God will end that life Himself. It is God's law that decides when life is to begin and end not human law. Therefore, it is a null argument to believe that people are trying to control what happens to another individual and their body. The attempt is to realize that life is sacred to God and should be to His creation also.
The Anti-Judeo/Christian Position: Not every person has a monotheistic belief in a Creator God Who is in control of all actions, and has created life. Even the Christian God admits that He gave people the ultimate decision over what they believe is right and wrong, so it should not be a question of whether God controls life or not, but who makes the decision. Since the woman is in control of her body, she makes the decision regarding anything that happens with it. It also does not matter whether life begins at conception or not. The embryo or fetus is within the woman's body and thus is controlled by the decisions of the person whose body it inhabits.
The Feminist Perspective:
The main question in this position is when a pregnancy can be said to represent a life. Research contends that "the feminist perspectives assume the medical distinction between the zygote (the fertilized ovule in the first hours after conception), the embryo (pregnancy from the first to the eighth week) and the foetus (the human entity developed inside the uterus after the eighth week)" (Gavriluta, 2010). Therefore, the will of the mother is preeminent during the first eight weeks and concern for both lives occupies the following 32.
Abortion Pros:
A woman is always in control of her body. There should be no interference from anyone else because what happens within the sphere of her body is her business (radical feminist perspective) (Gavriluta, 2010).
Studies indicate that "emotional responses to legally induced abortion are largely positive" (Pourezza & Batebi, 2011).
This is not a religious issue, but a woman's issue. It has to do with emotional and physical well-being, and a woman's personal belief in her ability to care fore a child at that particular time (Balogh, 2009).
A man cannot understand the experiences that a woman goes through during pregnancy (Pickering, 2003). The fact is that most legislators are men, and they cannot adequately express what it is for an unprepared woman to endure a pregnancy.
It is better for the child if the mother wants to take a pregnancy full term rather than being forced to carry a child full term.
Women who have been raped, faced incest or have been molested in some other fashion should not be required to carry a child which will remind them of the situation. The psychological damage due to this will carry more weight than if she aborted the pregnancy (Pourezza & Batebi, 2011).
It is the law of the United States that a woman has a constitutional right to privacy given by the 14th Amendment. This was upheld in a majority vote of the Supreme Court in the Roe vs. Wade decision in 1973. The law has not changed.
Women are more likely to die from the procedure if abortions are deemed illegal and they use illicit means to obtain one.
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