Pros and Cons Abortion Essay

Abortion remains a political issue, in spite of the fact the Supreme Court decision in 1973 that ensured the rights of women to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Roe v. Wade reflects core Constitutional principles, ranging from the right to privacy invoked by the Supreme Court justices in the decision, to the tradition of separating matters of Church and State in American politics.

When it comes to abortion, there are essentially no real pros and cons; the debate mainly centers on whether or not abortion should be legal or not. Abortion is not something that women look forward to, but it is a procedure that ensures that unwanted children are not brought into the world unnecessarily. Abortion rights are essentially the rights of an individual to not carry an unwanted child to term. No one is "pro" abortion, but someone may be "pro" choice.

An abortion is a procedure to terminate an unwanted pregnancy; on that basic level there should be no moral or ethical debate. Anti-abortion activists usually claim that abortion is a form of homicide based on the assumption that the fetus is a human being with rights. This claim is based on intuition, emotion, and religious doctrine, rather than on fact.

Pro

There are far more factors, and facts, that favor abortion being a legal procedure. Legal abortion means safe abortions. Women who do not want to carry a child to term for whatever reason will opt for unsafe methods of terminating pregnancy. In a report published by the World Health Organization (WHO), Ahman & Shah (2007) show that mortality rates and health consequences are severe in countries with restrictive abortion laws. When abortion is legal, it also needs to be available and affordable to women in rural regions to ensure equal rights. As Cockrill & Weitz (2010) point out, one of the pros of abortion being legal is that women in regions without access to health care like rural regions are legally entitled to the same services that would be available in urban centers.Therefore, one of the main pros of abortion is that it maintains public health and health equity. Donohue & Levitt (2001) go so far as to correlate legal abortion with crime reduction. States with greater access to abortion had correspondingly higher rates of abortion, and also had the greatest rate of crime reduction (Donohue & Levitt, 2001). Of course, the results are correlational but could be significant. Perhaps because abortion prevents overpopulation and alleviates the burden of too many children on poor women, there is less strain in the community.

A key pro-in favor of legalized abortion is based on basic rights and liberties. The fact is that the woman is singularly responsible for carrying the child to term, even if she was not singularly responsible for the pregnancy. Banning abortion is basically forcing a woman to carry a child to term. The reasons for the pregnancy -- whether it was a broken condom or a missed pill -- are irrelevant. This is why the Roe v. Wade decision hinged on the constitutional right to privacy more than any other right (Balkin, 2007). Moreover, abortion rights reflect the rights of Americans to live in a society that values quality of life over religious fundamentalism.

Finally, a pro-of abortion is that it prevents misery and promotes a high quality of life. Children who are brought into the world unwanted are disadvantaged. If the mother keeps the child, she may be poor or emotionally incapable of caring. If the child is placed for adoption, there is no guarantee that child will lead a good life. There are already too many people on the planet, and abortion prevents overpopulation from becoming worse than it already is.

Con

More sensible voices from the con perspective discuss issues….....