Abortion

Abortion is a difficult choice that women should have available. 

Women should have the right to make decisions about their bodies and their lives. Abortion during the first ten weeks should be accepted as a reasonable period of time. During those ten weeks, we need to fully support the abortion option, since lack of support results in delays. Abortions after ten weeks should occur, for unusual circumstances, taking into consideration the health of the mother or child.

People often say we shouldn’t play god, yet we do it all the time. We frequently have births by cesarean section, possibly saving the lives of the mother and the baby. We have blood transfusions that save millions of lives. Doctors perform organ transplants that save thousands of lives every year. For religious fundamentalist, these may be difficult issues to deal with. For most people, these are well-accepted daily occurrences (see Religion).

Who is the biggest abortionist? The answer is God, for there are thousands of miscarriages every hour (see God). A miscarriage is a termination of a pregnancy, just as an abortion is a termination of a pregnancy. 

I mention this, to try to remove religion from the question about abortion. The debate should really center on the life of the mother and of the future child. Even though many thirteen-year old girls could have babies, almost all of us would agree that it would not be a desirable thing. In the same way, girls who are 16, 18, 21, or even older, may get pregnant by mistake or by rape and do not want a child yet. A mistake of a few minutes, under the influence of a drug (see Sex), should not force that woman and child to live the rest of their lives paying for that mistake.

Those that say the woman should put the baby up for adoption must not realize how emotionally and psychologically difficult that would be after the woman carries a fetus through full term. The mother is certainly going to form an attachment to that child, to love that child, which makes giving up the baby a tremendously difficult decision. After the child is born, giving the baby up for adoption is a little like its death (see Death). An early abortion is a little like having a tooth removed, a small sacrifice that you might remember. Giving a baby up for adoption is a little like giving up a kidney or an arm, a large sacrifice that will shadow you over the years (see Love). 

Certainly, abstinence or safe sex using contraceptives is the best choice. We need to encourage and support these options. But if a woman should become pregnant and does not want a child (by a particular man), or is not prepared to raise a child (for a variety of reasons), it would not be intelligent to have one yet. That is why we must support a woman’s right to choose.