my opinion:
the problem with abortion is that people abuse it. people who choose to screw around choose to take the risk, and unfortunately, many decide to deal with the consequences later on instead of taking preventive measures to begin with. mature adults who unexpectedly find themselves expecting a baby are better equipped to deal with a pregnancy, and the more mature the parents are, the more likely they will keep it. for those who CAN keep the baby but choose not to, abortion is a sign of weakness. it is unfortunate that many people regard it as a form of birth control, a way to fix their mistakes.
i know nothing about abortion rates in other countries, but i wouldn't be surprised if the rates in the US were higher than other places. on the whole, the US is a rather irresponsible country, and i know many people that choose to take the quick fix instead of shouldering the burden of their actions.
i do not like the concept of abortion. if one decides to take the risk of having sex, they better know what may lie ahead. and it makes me sad to think that the world may never see what an aborted child could have been.
i don't, however, think abortion should be outlawed. i am all for it in instances of rape, because the woman should have the right to rid herself of as much memory of the rape as she can. or perhaps the rape victim is too young to have a baby. if she didn't have the option to abort, she could run into some serious physical and psychological problems later in life.
the world is a big place, and it'll never be possible to prevent people from using it as birth control. but if a couple is totally unable to have a child--whether it be for financial reasons, or they simply cannot have a child at the time--i think they should be entitled to have the option open to them. for some of these people, having an abortion is just as tough a decision as deciding to keep the baby. an abortion has fewer long-term effects than a pregnancy (like babies...that's about as long-term as you can get), but the process itself is no picnic. does the concept of having your insides scraped out sound like fun to you?
i am less concerned with the life of the baby than i am with the decisions of the parents. i would rather see a couple put a child up for adoption than abort it, but if they choose to abort, it's not my business to make them feel guilty for "murdering" a fetus. the same thing happens with miscarriages...a pregnancy is terminated, and a baby never lives to see the world. both are unfortunate and tragic: miscarriages are the work of nature, and abortions are the work of human nature. and sometimes neither can be helped.
insisting that abortion is murder isn't going to make a difference to some people...they'll abort if they want to. but then some people want to classify it as murder for legal reasons, so they can make laws against abortion. i think abortion is too complicated a matter to be regulated by law. not only is it difficult to mark exactly when the fetus becomes enough like a person to be murderable (conception? 1 week? 3 weeks? 1 month? 2 months?), but if abortion is legally considered murder, does that make a 12-year-old rape victim a murderer if she has an abortion? there are too many gray areas.
bottom line: abortion is a privilege, not a right. it should not be abused, but should be available to those in certain circumstances. |