Final Paper

羅友君 (Elsa, 961002013)
English Composition IIA
Professor Liang
Final paper

Abortion: A Serious Challenge between Morality and Women’s right

Having an abortion is a common phenomenon which can be seen around the world. Women may decide to quit her pregnancy because of various reasons. Taking an example from our society, September is called as a month of abortion in Taiwan. Abortion is also a controversial issue when it comes to the election of president in America last year. There is a report of BBC radio website indicates that one in four UK women have had a termination and the number is on the rise. Therefore, the problem that how to make the choice between morality and women’s right comes to my mind. Personally, I approve that women have the right to perform the operation of abortion. No woman would make such decision casually, and we should respect women’s right of terminating or proceeding with the pregnancy.

Women should have the right of abortion because it is undeniable that women are the one who endure the torture during the pregnancy and the result of having abortion. My standpoints have in common with Obama, the President-elect in America, who thinks that abortion is about women’s right. According to the videos I found out from Youtube, Obama claimed that the law of limiting abortion would influence, even harm women’s rights. In another report of Yahoo news online, it mentioned that an Australian state, Victoria, is going to pass a bill which give women the sole choice of whether to have abortion or not. Currently, woman there can abort only when the doctor thinks pregnancy would harm the health of the mother. The bill progresses despite opposition. The information reflects the attitude of the administration toward the issue. Abortion becomes an issue which trigger the debate by governments, the perspective toward abortion even influence the relationship between people and governments.

Looking from the other points of view, the anti-abortion groups put emphasis on the human rights of the unborn babies. Pro-life activists hold a perspective that abortion is equal to murder. Pro-life refers to disagreement to abortion and support for fetus’ right. Fetus has the right to live, and should be treated as an independent human being even when they are still in mother’s womb. Through the opposite standpoints above, we can understand that the issue is really a dilemma for governments to deal with. The reason for them to be against to abortion is mainly by morality. However, do women have no rights to abort if she does not want to have a child? Does a woman who gets pregnant unexpectedly have to abort her baby covertly in illegal clinic?

To solve the problems, we should know the reason why women choose to have abortions at first. A news documentary on BBC radio website investigated the women who had chosen to have an abortion. One of the women who was interviewed said that “I don't regret what I did and I still don't regret not telling my parents as I know they would have taken control, 16 is too young to have a baby, you are still so young yourself, go out and enjoy yourself before settling down, I now have 2 children and have the maturity to enjoy them.” Besides, in a news report of BBC website discussed about the reasons for abortion. Women may decide to have abortion for social reasons such as poverty. The family can not afford to raise a child, or the mother is too young to keep a child. In addition, the child is the result of crimes such as rape and incest, the mother’s health problems which includes mental health, the serious physical handicaps of the children, the birth control policy of the government, and the parents’ gender selection. These are the general factors for women to choose abortions.

After understanding the reasons and motivations for a woman to have abortion, we can find out that it is really complicated for a woman to abort her child. We can not just define abortion as murder, because we do not know what difficulties the woman exactly goes through. If those pro-life activists consider about the unique situation of each woman, they would not put abortion in such way. To have abortions is never a simple choice for women. It is not just a question to give birth to the child or not. What women should face is the responsibility. Once you choose to give birth to the child, you are responsible to raise and educate him or her. A large amount of time and money are needed, the parents’ mental condition should be ready for have a child, too. If the woman’s economic situation does not allow her to keep her child, what can she do after her child come to the world? Abandon her baby or send her baby to an orphanage? There must be some obstacles for a mother to make the decision of aborting her baby. If the government restricts women’s abortion rights, it may result in the damage of women’s health, illegal abortion and abandoned babies would become an even larger problem to the society.

Misunderstanding often happens when people forget to think for each other. In a magazine named The Crisis has a report “March for women’s lives” which introduces the march about women who strives for their abortion rights. Women are struggling to get their rights of choosing whether they should abort or not by themselves. Actually, women are the protagonists of the problem, and they should have the dominance to make the decision.

In contrast to pro-life, pro-choice refers to a view that whether a woman wants to have an abortion or not, the fertility rights should be given without restriction. Pro- choice advocates insist on that a woman should have the complete control over the choice to terminate or continue the pregnancy. They emphasize on the point that having a child is a personal choice which would affect woman’s body and health. It would be better if the government allows women to have abortions. They put abortion as a kind of “individual liberty”, and every woman should have “reproductive rights” as well. Furthermore, pro-choice supporters also consider abortion as an issue of bodily autonomy. Since the embryo is a part of a woman’s body, the woman should have the right to control over it. It is necessary to respect individual woman’s choices.

To discuss about the part of the abortion right, here is a research about abortion law in different countries. According to the research paper “Developments in Laws on Induced Abortion: 1998-2007” in the journal of International Family Planning Perspectives, we can know the main trend of the legislation about abortion in different countries during 1998 to 2007. The research divides the countries into five categories according to their abortion laws. In the first category are countries whose laws permit abortion to save woman’s life. Nearly 26% of the world’s people live in the 68 countries in this category. The second category includes countries whose laws permit abortion to protect a woman’s physical health. Almost 10% of the world’s people live in the 35 countries in the category. Countries in the third category have laws that explicitly recognize threats to mental health as justification for abortion. Twenty-three countries, 4% of the world’s population have such laws. Countries in the fourth category take woman’s social and economic circumstances into account. Fourteen countries, about 20% of the world’s proportion are in the category. The last category contains countries that permit abortion without restriction. Fifty-six countries, representing almost 40% of the world’s people, have laws in this category. During the last ten years, sixteen countries have increased the number of grounds on which abortions may be legally performed. Even the countries have prohibited abortion by its laws allow a part of abortion when pregnancy would hurt the mother's health. Only two countries added restriction to their abortion laws.

It is obvious that liberalization of abortion laws is the main trend during the last ten years around the world. More countries have broadened the grounds of legal abortion. Banning abortion under all the conditions is impossible. Permitting abortion increases women's human rights, because a woman can be the master of her own body. Women would not be forced to accept the children who are not expected. Women are in the first place of this issue of abortion. To restrict abortions not only harm women’s human rights, but also make the secret and dangerous abortions increase. By the normal access to abortions can help women stay in a safer medical treatment. If the government liberalizes the laws and makes the aborted procedures more accessible, it can reduce women's maternal mortality or morbidity, the number of deaths and the after effects. Women do not have to worry about the danger of accepting a secret procedure. If a woman considers to aborting her child, the government should provide her enough information and the result of abortion, instead of limiting women’s rights to abortion. When a woman understand what abortion is, how the procedure be performed, and think about why she choose to abort her baby, she would make the most appropriate decision by herself.

It can be questioned that are those who opposed to abortion really caring about women’s circumstances? Have they ever stood in women’s position? In an article “The Female Nature: A Woman's Destiny?” in the Journal of Humanist takes partial-birth abortion for example. The Congress of United States prohibits partial-birth because they think that the procedure is inhumane. There is a Justice wrote about why abortion should be banned. “Whether to have an abortion requires a difficult and painful moral decision … it seems unexceptional to conclude some women come to regret their choice to about the infant life they once created and sustained.” They supposed that a woman would and should regret for having an abortion. Abortion violates a woman’s motherhood. Therefore, the government should prohibit abortion. Nevertheless, abortion is not an issue which concerns about a woman’s motherhood, but the individual liberty and bodily autonomy. When a woman decides to have an abortion, it does not mean she is a cruel person. It just indicates the woman faces some troubles so that she has to terminate her pregnancy. The other article “Abortion: we need compassion, not dogma” in the Journal of New Statesman mentions about the “pro-life” campaigners. Their aim is to stop abortion completely. Even when the limit time of abortion is cut from 24 to 20 weeks, their concern is not to save the babies who are terminated between 20 and 24 weeks, but to use a lower limit as a stepping stone to an outright ban. Most of them are motivated by religious or philosophical purpose. We can see that women’s thoughts are usually to be neglected. The government, humanists, and the clergies intend to limit women’s right to have abortions. Regardless of each woman’s unique situation, what a woman need is usually ignored. Why can they force woman to accept their arbitrary decision? When it comes to a woman’s set of circumstances, we should respect the necessity of women to make such choice in the first place. There is no denying that women are the roles who involve in the issue. Do those who oppose abortion really know what situation a woman goes through? Or they just limit women’s rights by the slogan of humanism?

Morality, dogma, and humanism is the main standpoints for those who oppose to abortion. The pro-life supporters care about the unborn baby more than the expectant mother. Nevertheless, the role mother plays is actually the most important one. The mother has to face all the problems when she decides to give birth to her baby. What women need is compassion, instead of the dogma and condemnation. Anti-abortion groups condemn women’s behavior of aborting the babies, but such condemnation is meaningless if they can not provide any way to solve the complicated condition of each woman and the problems each woman face.

In conclusion, the reasons for abortion are diverse when it comes to each woman’s particular circumstance. Nowadays, liberalizing abortion laws has become the tendency in the world. The government should make the information about abortion and the aborted procedures become more accessible. Respect for individual women is significant. Women can and must be trusted to make fundamental personal decisions in a free society. Every woman has the right to control her own body and to determine when or whether to bear a child.








References

JPickD provided. Barack Obama – Abortion (2008, January 4). Retrieved October 15, 2008, from Youtube Web site: http://tw.youtube.com/watch?v=TCifpbfQlOM

Australian abortion bill progresses despite opposition (2008, September 12) Retrieved September 24, 2008, from Yahoo news online Web site: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/afp/080912/health/australia_abortion_health

Abortion: A simple choice? (2008, May 20) Retrieved September 24,2008, from BBC Radio Web site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/tx/documentaries/abortion.shtml

Cassie M. Chew (2004, July/August). March for Women’s Lives. The Crisis, Vol. 83,
14-15. Retrieved October 15, 2008, from Academic Premier database.

Reasons for abortion. (2005, February 8). Retrieved October 20, 2008, from BBC Web site: http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/legal/when_1.shtml

Boland, Reed & Katzive, Laura (2008, September). Developments in Laws on Induced Abortion: 1998-2007. International Family Planning Perspectives, Vol. 34, 110-120. Retrieved November 13, 2008, from Academic Premier database.

Karen Frantz. (2007, July/August) The Female Nature: A Woman's Destiny? Journal of Humanist, Vol. 67, p4-6. Retrieved December 11,2008, from Academic Premier database.

Howard & Michael. (March 21,2005) Abortion: we need compassion, not dogma. Journal of New StatesmanVol. 134 Issue 4732, p6-6. Retrieved December 11, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database.