Pros and Cons of Abortion

There are laws that make abortion legal at any point of time till birth in USA, Australia, Canada, Germany and as many as 30 other countries. Remaining countries either have partial restrictions on abortion like the first or second trimesters of pregnancy or complete ban unless it’s fatal for the mother.

What is abortion?
Abortion can be defined as pregnancy termination accidentally as in a miscarriage or by choice. Hereby we would be weighing the pros and cons of abortion (voluntary) ; and discussing whether the availability of abortion is an important right for women to have. Abortions caused by rape, incest and possible health concerns to mother/baby constitute just 7%. Social reasons are the cause for rest of the abortions.

Abortion Debate Facts

• Half the percentage of women obtaining abortions is below 25.
• Around 60% of abortions are performed on never married women.
• When a woman decides to go for an abortion, it’s not an impulsive decision, though the preceding act might be impetuous.
• Concluding whether to abort, keep the baby or give it up for adoption is really hard and may lead to post-abortion trauma.

Abortion Cons - Reasons Against Abortion

• The important con that should be considered is can we choose to kill unwanted pregnancies? One shouldn’t be so irresponsible to land up in a situation where they have to be unmerciful to the unborn.
• Most of unplanned pregnancies if extended to childbirth may prove to be wanted later.
• A growing embryo is considered human with the heartbeats initiating as early as 21st day of conception. So what if we cannot see the human form, it does have the potential to gain one.
• Choosing adoption as an alternative to abortion would give the baby its right to life.
• Should people opt for abortion as last-minute contraception when preaching their kids about the consequences of casual sex?
• Infection, sepsis, recurrent miscarriages and rarely death could be the complications of abortions.
• Abortions can cause serious psychological impairment to the woman in the form of depression and guilt.

Good Reasons for Abortion – Abortion Pros

• Though women have a hard time choosing abortion as an option for unwanted pregnancies, they have been making that choice since a long time.
• Ultimately she is the one who would be going through the actual "Labor" of continuing pregnancy, delivering a baby, bringing it up, parenting it well, in addition to other obligations she has to do in her daily life. To get it done with little or no help from the partner and families needs a well-balanced body and mind.
• There is nothing called pro-choice and pro life. Both ideologies meet at one common point i.e. Pro-Life - Life of the baby and Life of the mother. Life of the baby ultimately depends on mother’s health and its best to allow the mother to choose for her when she wants a baby.
• While we argue about the mental well being of a woman, how do others get to decide what would be more traumatic to the woman, abortion or childbirth and the unending list of duties waiting.
• An attempt to restrict the abortions would rise not only the percentage of illegal and unsafe abortions but also the expenses of the procedure. A new law would be needed to tackle the illegal abortions and further legal hassles would have no ends.

Legalize or not, abortions would always be a part of society.Deciding factor whether to abort or not would be different for different people. To one abortion can be traumatic, to the other forced childbirth can be equally traumatic. It’s impossible to decide a particular set of rules for all. It all depends on multifaceted approach of each person, her psychological strength, supportive circumstances in helping her decide and help her being convinced about her decisions.

Read on to know about Possible Effects of Abortion Post Abortion Trauma