Abortion - Moral or Immoral?

Abortion is one of the most controversial issues in our world today. Many women have to face a decision that may change their lives forever. The idea of killing a baby in the mother’s womb is said to be “immoral,” but is morality more important than the life of the mother and the future child? At the onset, I supported pro-life because I believed that it is murderous to kill a baby. The mother should take full responsibility for her actions; therefore, she should keep the baby. However, after researching on abortion, I gained a renewed knowledge of this topic. I realized that women everywhere should have their right to abortion. reason

In the constitution, it states that women have “’the right to be free from unwarranted government intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the decision whether to bear or beget a child’” (website). It clearly asserts that the government should not get in the way of a woman’s decision with her baby. Women have the ability to control their own body. In the past, President George Bush has imposed the “Global Gag Rule” which blocked funds to the United Nations Population Fund because the money might possibly go to clinics that make referrals for abortions. In April 2004, “more than a million people, representing a broad coalition of groups gathered in Washington D.C. in support of reproductive rights […]” (Disch 2006: 8). This action made by the government led to the largest women’s rights demonstration in the history.

Moreover, the fetus is completely dependent upon the mother for its life support. The fetus does not have the life of its own yet and if one gives the fetus superior rights than the mother, it contradicts the woman’s right to her body. People may say abortion is murder, but murder is “the taking of the life of another human being through the initiation of physical force” (website). The fetus is only a potential human being and does not have a life yet; therefore, people should not consider mothers who abort their fetus a murderer. Also, many people who follow a religious belief will have similar assertions. They strongly believe in pro-life and the morality of abortion. Although many people have morals, morality does not fall under the abortion issue. Even though it may seem inhumane to kill a fetus, but one must realize that the doctors are only conducting a medical procedure. This is similar to when someone is in a coma with no chance of surviving and the only option is to get the patient off life support. The patient is a fully developed person as opposed to a fetus.