Abortion

Abortion has always been a controversial subject among everybody whether they are involved directly or indirectly, or whether they are for it or against it. It is nearly impossible to find someone who doesn't have an opinion about abortion. Both those who favor or oppose an abortion make good arguments to defend their beliefs and views. Personally I think every last person is entitled to his or her own opinions, beliefs, thoughts, and rights. And yes, women have rights too, and denying women the right to choose an abortion in the early stages is denying her rights as a US citizen and it is also discriminating against her. On the other hand, women should also use the common sense that we were given.

I think that abortion should be restricted to the first 20 weeks when most of the test can be taken to determine the health of the fetus. Anything after that would be wrong since the fetus can very well live outside the mother's womb. According to the National Right To Life web site "So-called "Partial-birth" abortion is performed in the second and third trimesters and entails such things as: delivering the legs, arms and torso only, puncturing the back of the skull with scissors, suctioning the contents of the skull so as to collapse it and completing the delivery"(1). A partial breech delivery is not considered a "birth" at common law.

Abortion should definitely not be used as a primary birth control, though. It should be determined based on the circumstances of the pregnancy. A woman should have the choice to have an abortion if she is raped, impregnated by a deranged man or by incest. It would be unfair to force a rape victim to bear an unwanted baby and give up all the dreams she ever had and be reminded of that rape for the rest of her life. I also think a woman's life should not be sacrificed or put at risk; a woman should be able to abort if there are any complications or a threat to her life and a threat to the baby's life. If the woman is not ready financially, emotionally and physically, she should have the choice every child should be wanted. After all, there are enough children out there that are either on welfare, foster care or just plain abused they might also feel rejected by society, by their parents who did not want them in the first place and might rebel later on in their teen years.

Pro-life advocates want abortion to become illegal; they think that it's murder. They say the baby is innocent, did nothing to deserve being killed, did not ask to be born and has the right to live. This is understandable and logical, but the fetus has no feelings or memories. Furthermore think about the outcome think about the future of that baby she or he does not deserve to live in misery, in poverty and abuse; she or he might be resented later on, might have a bad life with bad parents that do not care and can not afford raising him/her.

Pro-life advocates also wanted to pass "The Unborn Child Amendment" as early as 1984; declaring the unborn fetus to be a full person from the moment of conception (Stabile 1). Anti-abortionists often claim that the fetus is a human being and, although within and part of the mother, it has individual rights. A consistent application of this view essentially makes the act of abortion an act of murder (Parker 1). A woman's body