Should Abortion Be Illegal?

Should Abortion Be Illegal?

Abortion has always been a controversial topic among society. There are people who reject the idea of having the option to abort an unborn child and those who feel it may be necessary, under certain circumstances. It's a strong debate on whether it's the woman's choice or not. Any rate, people voice their own opinions all the time and many agree that abortion is wrong because it involves taking an innocent life. I believe abortion should be banned because the law shouldn't give women the right to terminate any life, even her own child's; every human being has rights, regardless of how developed the baby is, it is still a life.

The practice of abortion has been studied and performed for thousands of years and also was once illegal in some states. Between the years of 1967 and 1973, one-third of the states repealed their criminal abortion laws. Nonetheless, abortion rights in all states became available to women in 1973 when the Supreme Court struck down on the remaining state laws with the Roe v. Wade case. The case was between a 21-year old pregnant woman named Jane Roe (who represented all women who wanted abortions but could not get them legally and safely) and Henry Wade, a Texas Attorney General who protected the law that made abortions illegal. After issues of the case were discussed, the Supreme Court came to a ruling that Americans had the right to privacy. Those rights included the right of a woman to decide whether to carry out a pregnancy or not, and the right of a woman and her doctor to make that decision without the state interfering (National Abortion Federation). From there on out, more supporters of legal abortion began to express their opinions freely and strongly. To this day, the level of anti-abortion violence increases and many find that the debate on the matter has a lot of questions and facts to back up both sides of the argument.

A huge truth, in reality though, is the unborn fetus is still an actual human being. The sad predicament numerous women face every day is deciding whether to keep their child or not. Even though the fetus is in the mother's womb and still apart of her, the baby should still have a chance to be born. Although, some situations young women face, such as rape, can put them in difficult times, they should still respect the fact that that human being has rights just as any other human being does. It demeans the value of human life since women can so carelessly get rid of a living being simply because they're inconvenienced (Messerli). Women going through with an abortion can also suffer from physical and mental damage going through an abortion experience. The complications that go along with abortion can scar a woman for life. Researchers found that most woman experience temporary feelings of relief and are also "unable to express or even feel their own emotions" (Reardon). The actuality that they do not show any sign of concern for their unborn child's life is reason enough to say women shouldn't have rights over their child.