Abortion and Why it should not be Illegal

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Abortion and Why it should not be Illegal

The concept of abortion has been one of the primary and controversial matters as it has been the leading cause of substantial debates for a long time. It is with no doubt that people have distinct points of view on whether abortion should be illegal or not. These distinct perspectives have further complicated the topic of abortion, given the fact that those who are against legalizing abortion are more concerned about new life. On the other hand, individuals who support legalization of abortion are more concerned about the welfare of the woman who is pregnant, and under different circumstances, she is not mentally, physically, or emotionally ready to care for a baby. There are different perspectives on why abortion should not be illegal. The primary central populations of concerns are rape victims and individuals who are victims of unplanned pregnancies. These two populations are more likely to be affected by different angles if abortion is illegal. Abortion should be legal to rape victims and women with unwanted pregnancies to ensure their mental well-being, minimize the number of unsafe abortions, and reduce the likelihood of these women falling under the poverty line and becoming drug addicts.

Abortion should be made legal for rape victims and individuals with unwanted pregnancies to ensure their mental well-being. First, it is highly critical to acknowledge the fact that women who get raped are victims in their circumstance. Rape is not only physical abuse but also a mental abuse situation. A majority of rape victims frequently undergo psychological issues such as depression. Therefore, it would be morally wrong to force a rape victim to keep a pregnancy that resulted from her rape. Pregnancy will only elevate their anxiety and depression since it will be a burden that reminds them of the sexual assault that they went through. In some cases, pregnant rape victims end up committing suicide if denied the chance to have an abortion. Therefore, it is only reasonable that rape victims are allowed to have an abortion as this would ensure that they recover both physically, and mentally.

Second, in most cases, unplanned pregnancies are a result of failed pregnancy prevention methods such as condoms which are not 100% effective. When a woman states that she has an unplanned pregnancy, it does not necessarily mean that she simply does not want the baby. These women might not be ready emotionally, mentally, or financially to take care of a baby. Forcing these women to keep their pregnancies to term will only assert pressure on their mental health, and this might result in depression. Henceforth, to ensure a healthy mental well-being for rape victims and women with unwanted pregnancies, abortion should not be illegal (Bridges, 2013).

Illegalizing abortion does not stop abortion, and it only forces rape victims and women with unwanted pregnancies to resort to unsafe abortions from unqualified medical personnel. Unsafe abortion is dangerous as it has adverse effects. A majority of rape victims and women with unwanted pregnancies will go out of their way to ensure that they have an unsafe abortion. Unfortunately, there are some unqualified medical personnel who will take advantage of these women’s vulnerability by promising them that they will take them through the process if they get paid. The dire need for unsafe abortion of these rape victims and women with unwanted pregnancies eventually forces them to procure an unsafe abortion regardless of the safety and consequences.

Unsafe abortions have a wide range of adverse effects as they reduce the life quality, well-being of those affected, and in some cases, these women might experience life-threatening complications. The difficulties could be infections, hemorrhage, and injuries to internal body organs. Other critical complications include incomplete abortions that require further treatment, uterine perforation. These complications could lead to disabilities and even deaths (Shahbazi, 2012). As a result, the affected women, families, and health system spend a lot of finances to treat the complications that result from unsafe abortions. The government spends millions of dollars on treating complications that arise from unsafe abortions (Vlassoff, Shearer, Walker & Lucas, 2008). Therefore, making abortion illegal will socially and economically affect this population.

Denying abortion to rape victims and women with unwanted pregnancies results in increased poverty levels as these women are more likely to fall under the poverty line. Unintended pregnancies are known to prevent these women from completing their education and building successful careers, given the fact that denial to abortion results in psychological conditions such as depression. These mental conditions prevent these women from securing stable employment opportunities, and most of them live from paycheck to paycheck as they are unemployed (Foster et al., 2018).

The poverty levels and depression potentially force these women to seek solace elsewhere by becoming drug users. Drug addiction and poverty are yet other critical issues that result when rape victims and women with unwanted pregnancies are denied abortions. As a result, unwanted children become victims as they end up lacking a stable support family system, a good education, and generally a successful future. These children are more likely to become drug addicts and criminals in the future based on the kind of environment that they are raised in (Roberts, Rocca & Foster, 2014). Denying these women abortions prevents them from completing their education or build their careers; henceforth a majority of them end up below the poverty line, and this forces them to become drug addicts. It is therefore evident that making abortion illegal not only affects rape victims and women with unwanted pregnancies but also the society as a whole.

Individuals who oppose the legalization of abortion have presented some alternatives to help minimize abortion and unwanted pregnancies. Based on their arguments, abortions could be reduced by minimizing the rates at which women get unwanted pregnancies. It is with no doubt that approximately half of all pregnancies are usually unintended and half of these unintended pregnancies result into abortion. The first way that could reduce abortions by preventing unwanted pregnancies is through the introduction of comprehensive sexual education in schools and to the community. This comprehensive sexual education is meant to provide individuals with critical information regarding the use of contraception and abstinence. With regards to the use of contraception, these opponents claim that easy access to contraceptives and pregnancy prevention procedures will reduce unwanted pregnancies, and this will minimize the need for abortions.

Also, women are encouraged to practice safe sex with the use of condoms to prevent themselves from being in situations where they have unintended pregnancies. Another way of reducing abortions is to establish financial organizations that could play a significant role in the lives of rape victims and women with unwanted pregnancies. These organizations could ensure that these women are financially capable of carrying their pregnancies to term and be financially capable of taking care of the baby after birth and through its childhood (Thomas, 2012). In other words, these individuals who support the illegalization of abortion believe that the use of contraceptives and other pregnancy prevention methods are practical solutions to unwanted pregnancies and abortions.

Despite the presented current solutions to abortion and unwanted pregnancies, the methods suggested are not thoroughly practical and effective. First and foremost, unintended pregnancies cannot be eliminated using the proposed prevention methods given the fact that just like human beings, these methods of birth control such as the use of contraceptives and condoms are fallible. These unintended pregnancy prevention methods are not 100% fully effective and practical; henceforth, they cannot guarantee the prevention of unwanted pregnancies.

In addition to that, the establishment of financial organizations for pregnant and rape victims does not cater to women who are neither mentally nor emotionally ready to carry their pregnancy to term. Financial constraints are not the only reasons as to why women decide to have abortions, and sometimes, they are not emotionally prepared to have a baby. Therefore forcing these emotionally unprepared women to have babies will result in resentment and neglect of the babies.

Also, the proposed solutions to abortion and unwanted pregnancies are not inclusive to rape victims. Rape is an unfortunate incident that could happen to any woman at any time regardless of the age, place, or situation. Being raped is already traumatic for any woman; therefore, there is not a justifiable reason to why rape victims should be denied abortions. Henceforth, the current solutions to abortion and unwanted pregnancies because they are inevitable. The proposed methods do not cater to women who are neither mentally nor emotionally ready to carry their pregnancy to term, and they do not consider the emotional state of rape victims.

The current solutions to abortion and unwanted pregnancies; however, there are better solutions that could play a significant role in the controversial issue of abortion and unwanted pregnancies. To begin with, in the case of rape victims, the first way to prevent unwanted pregnancies would be the encouragement of rape victims to seek immediate medical attention after their assault incident. This immediate medical attention is a critical element in minimizing the chances of pregnancy.

In cases where the rape victims end up getting pregnant, they should be allowed to undergo an abortion. An abortion by rape victims is justifiable as it protects both their physical and mental wee-being. Legalizing abortion would also give these rape victims a chance to heal emotionally as they will not be burdened with a pregnancy that constantly reminds them of their sexual assault. Through this, these rape victims would have solutions to their problem as they would not unwillingly carry their pregnancy to term (Franz, 2013).

As mentioned earlier, unwanted pregnancies cannot be, given the fact that the prevention methods are not utterly effective. Women with unwanted pregnancies should be consulted on whether or not they would like to carry their pregnancies to term. Not every woman with an unwanted pregnancy wants an abortion, and some are willing to carry the pregnancy to term and give the baby up for adoption. This consultation should be inclusive of advice on the other options that they could have if they decided to keep the pregnancy. The primary option for an unwanted baby is giving up the baby for adoption. After this counseling, if the pregnant woman does not want to keep the pregnancy, she should be allowed to have an abortion (Simmonds & Likis, 2011).

Henceforth, legalizing abortions would provide women with unwanted pregnancies with an option to maintain healthy mental well-being, and a chance to finish school or pursue a career for a better future. This method is inclusive and would cater to women who are financially or emotionally not ready for a baby. Allowing these women to have an abortion would also reduce the risk of them being involved in substance abuse and child neglect.

In conclusion, it is evident that making abortion illegal has a variety of consequences as it results in psychological conditions such as depression, increases the number of unsafe abortions, and elevates the likelihood of rape victims and women with unwanted pregnancies from falling under the poverty line and becoming drug addicts. Other than that, forcing women to have unwanted babies also endangered the lives of the children as they will live in poverty, engage in substance abuse, and get involved in criminal activities. It is perceptible that making abortion illegal not only affects rape victims and women with unwanted pregnancies but also society as a whole. Henceforth, legalizing abortion would have an overall benefit as it would protect society from different perspectives. Legalizing abortion would protect rape victims, women with unwanted pregnancies, children that result from rape or unwanted pregnancies, and community. Therefore, legalizing abortion id more beneficial as compared to making it illegal.

References

Bridges, K. M. (2013). When pregnancy is an injury: rape, law, and culture. Stan. L. Rev., 65, 457.

Franz, W. (2013). The Psychology of Rape. Association for Interdisciplinary Research in Values and Social Change, 25(2).

Foster, D. G., Biggs, M. A., Ralph, L., Gerdts, C., Roberts, S., & Glymour, M. M. (2018). Socioeconomic outcomes of women who receive and women who are denied wanted abortions in the United States. American journal of public health, 108(3), 407-413.

Roberts, S. C., Rocca, C. H., & Foster, D. G. (2014). Receiving versus being denied an abortion and subsequent drug use. Drug and alcohol dependence, 134, 63-70.

Shahbazi, S. (2012). The consequences of unsafe abortion: a qualitative study. Journal of advanced nursing, 68(6), 1247-1255.

Simmonds, K., & Likis, F. E. (2011). Caring for women with unintended pregnancies. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing, 40(6), 794-807.

Thomas, A. (2012). Policy solutions for preventing unplanned pregnancy. Center on Children and Families Brief, 47.

Vlassoff, M., Shearer, J., Walker, D., & Lucas, H. (2008). Economic impact of unsafe abortion-related morbidity and mortality: evidence and estimation challenges (Vol. 59). Brighton, UK: Institute of Development Studies.