Pro-choice perspectives on abortion

Pro-Choice: The Abortion Issue -- A philosophical, as well as a legal issue of rights, responsibility, and the question of when life begins

Just across the border, in the United States, one of the most symbolically significant issues in political life today is the issue of abortion. Abortion is often phrased as question of personal rights and liberties: as in, a woman has the personal right and freedom to do what she wishes with her own body. Abortion is also often phrased as an issue of when life begins -- as in, a fetus is not a human being, or the fetus is a human being. Lastly, there is also another way to perhaps broach these two queries or ways of framing the difficult abortion debate, by stating that, even though when life begins is ambiguous, this should not require a woman, or any human being, to forcibly surrender her body to support the body of another.

In terms of rights, the pro-choice argument for abortion holds that every woman has the right to do what she wishes with her own body. In other words, individuals who attempt to limit the right to an abortion based upon the fact that a woman has the 'choice' to assume the risk of pregnancy before engaging in an act of sexual intercourse are really passing a moral judgment upon the woman's lifestyle that has no place within the legal system of rights. An individual has the right to freely use his or her body, provided it harms no one else, in a fashion that some may find morally aberrant. For instance, I have the right to get a tattoo even if my friend views such an act as a mutilation to my flesh. Without the right to choose to be pregnant or not to be pregnant, what use is the system of a law-based democratic system of rights at all, pro-choice activists ask? Pregnancy places a profound strain upon the female body. It requires a woman to sacrifice nine months of her mental as well as her physical health. It requires her to take time off of work, and to go through the physical stress of childbirth. True, one could say that the woman should consider all of these factors before having sexual intercourse. But firstly, does a young girl really have the mental capabilities of taking all of these scenarios into consideration, with a fully cognizant mind, every time she is subject to sexual pressure? And moreover, what of the fact that the male in question, no matter how irresponsibly he may enter the decision to engage in an act of sexual intercourse, will not bear the same long-term physical, social, and mental stigma that his female partner must bear? To not allow abortion is thus an act of sexual discrimination, unfairly penalizing the rights of the female and the body of the female.

Some opponents of abortion might counter this argument saying that the women's rights are irrelevant because the fetus is indisputably alive. Firstly, it should be noted that those who prohibit abortion in all cases but rape or incest engage in a contradictory argument when they state that the fetus is legally and morally entitled to personhood. If this were the case, a fetus would have equal rights on the parity of human beings, regardless of how the fetus' life originated. Just as individuals are not entitled to fewer rights because of their status as being born as the result of rape or incest, then a fetus would have to be protected that was the result of a rape, regardless of how cruel this would be to the woman who was raped. However, few would extend personhood to a fetus to such an extent -- moreover, just because something is alive does not mean that it is or should be entitled to the full range of rights as a human being. After all, trees, animals, and even yeast is technically 'alive,' however none of these things are considered persons in the sense that they fulfill the sentient capacity of life deemed to be significant enough to override a fully fledged human being's right to life, or in this case, the woman's right to decide to dispose of her body as she chooses.

Lastly, it has also been argued that abortion should be prohibited because without the body of the mother, the fetus cannot survive outside of the womb. Advances in medical technology to extend the viability of premature babies have only fueled this debate, as younger and younger babies survive after premature laborers of their (willing) mothers. Advocates argue that society has a responsibility to protect the health and the existences of its smallest viable members, for as long as possible. But again, to take this argument to its most logical extent -- merely because my body can sustain, for instance, the jeopardized life of another, if I grant him or her part of my kidney, does that mean that the state has the right to compel me to give of my physical self, to give an ailing individual one of my viable organs, even if it may prolong the life of another human being who is ill? Of course, it is commendable of me if I give my physical self and risk my medical life for the sake of another human being, as a woman does during pregnancy and labor. But even if one grants that a fetus is a human being, should the state have the right to compel a woman to use her body to sustain fetal life against the woman's will? Even if the fetus is the result of a voluntary act or an involuntary act, to condemn an innocent woman to a physical risk, simply because she is a female rather than a male who has engaged in an accidentally procreative risk of sexual congress, is to compel a woman to risk her life against her will. It is also an act of sexual discrimination, because the male in question does not have to risk his life, his physical health, his social status, or his standing in the community. He can tell no one, and suffers none of the same punishment as the female, except perhaps the financial task of providing for the child, should the woman decide to keep the baby she gives birth to at the end of her term? If she does not, the father has no such concerns for the infant put up for adoption, and even if she does decide to keep the baby, the financial drain upon the father is hardly comparable to that of the physical toll upon the woman's self and soul and sense of sexual well-being.