Essay Sample: Abortions Need to Be Decriminalized and Socially Accepted

📌Category: Abortion, Social Issues
📌Words: 1031
📌Pages: 4
📌Published: 22 June 2021

Imagine existing as a woman, impregnated against their own will. They do not want to have the baby, as there are so many medical complications and they simply don’t want to be reminded of their life changing event that emotionally, mentally, and physically scarred them. But, the government refuses to allow them access to their own body. What do they do then? There are several underground clinics they know of that give illegal abortions, but the chance of getting hurt by this procedure is much higher than giving birth. These circumstances are why abortions cannot be outlawed by the government; women need to be protected medically and privately. Abortions are a medical procedure that should be available to all women as it is impossible to be fully aware of the circumstances of every pregnancy, male lawmakers should not have the power to make decisions over a body they do not inhabit, and the fetus cannot feel pain when it has not developed a nervous system or brain.

Historically, abortions have been part of many cultures. It is a universal phenomenon, happening at all levels of society. It being part of cultures and society does not mean it has been induced, glorified, or required. What really happened was that it was accepted, funded, and supported. The reasoning behind an abortion is completely private, and should not be required to be given for the person to receive medical help. In ancient India, priests delivered abortions to their civilians (“History of Abortion”). These were mostly non-surgical; they involved strenuous physical activity or consumption of specific herbs. The only instance that an abortion would be punished is if the woman were having the abortion done against the father’s will. Believed by the Stoics, a fetus is plantlike until the moment it finally breathes air; after birth. They therefore found abortion morally acceptable. Like ancient India, the Roman Republic punished abortion if it were done against the father’s will. Furthermore, the Roman republic based their attitudes towards abortion on Stoicism, where the fetus is not an animal until birth. This leads to abortion not being treated as homicide. Aristotle wrote “The line between lawful and unlawful abortion will be marked by the fact of having sensation and being alive”(“History of Abortion”). This leads to his belief that before the point at which the fetus has a soul, then abortion was not regarded as the killing of something human. These ancient civilations and societies prove that abortion has been morally accepted, since humanity began intelligent thinking. With medical advancements and further studies, surgical procedures became more common. There has been archaeological evidence that indicate early surgical attempts at the extraction of a fetus, but with complications such as not having the correct tools or medical knowledge, this was a very uncommon event. 

Male lawmakers should not be deciding the results of abortion laws. “The majority of US state laws banning or severely restricting access to abortion have been voted on by male politicians” (Prasad). Government bodies, more specifically the US’s government, do not police male bodies as much as it does female’s. Abortion impacts women intimately, and that fate is being decided mostly by men. In Alabama, where abortion is the most divisive topic, 51% of the population is female; yet, its lawmakers are 85% male (Prasad). This does not accurately or fairly represent the people of this state. When it comes to abortion, and a woman’s body, the only people who are deciding what happens to a woman’s body should only be determined by that woman and their partner. It is true that births and abortions also affect the male counterpart. They are part of the creation of a fetus, factually. These events in which mostly or all forms of abortions, no matter the reasoning, are illegal is not a problem about abortion or saving a life. It is about freedom and control over a population. No person can be free if they do not have control over their own body or healthcare or reproductive decisions. To go further in depth of why male lawmakers should not be deciding the freedom of a woman and what she does with her body - these men are not part of these women’s private lives. Yes, men are affected by abortions and they should be part of the decision of having an abortion or not. But if these abortions are outlawed, in some cases they already are, then this choice will not be available for the humans being affected. The problem is the choice of having an abortion is being completely taken away, and even more problems will arise as people seeking these procedures will find unsafe and life threatening methods to accomplish their desire. 

The counter argument to pro-choice is pro-life. This term is very misleading, as most who support pro-life are actually supporting anti-choice. Obviously, the opposite of pro-choice is anti-choice and the opposite of pro-life is anti-life. These are the literal terms. Technically speaking, the specifics and details of these theories are much more difficult. What is more prevalent in a pro-lifer’s argument is that the fetus never had a chance at having a future (“Abortion debate”). Killing these unborn clumps of cells are being compared to the killing of an adult human being. What is wrong with this argument is that it creates inequalities in the wrongness of killing: fetuses do not have the psychological connections--memory, belief, desire--as what adults do. Fetuses begin neurological development at 6 weeks, but do not have pain receptors until 22 weeks (Lindberg). Another argument made by the pro-life group is that if government bodies were to normalize and legalize abortion then it will lead to further killing, also known as the slippery slope argument (Derbyshire). Again, abortion is not desired by a woman but it is necessary if the pregnancy is health-threatening to the mother. Or if that person just wants an abortion because they know that they cannot physically, mentally, or financially support a child.

Abortion is not romanticized by women. It is not a desire, it is not someone’s life goal. This is a very intimate and serious event in someone’s life, that can be drastic and life-changing. Government bodies should not criminalize the right to a woman’s body just because of their religious or moral beliefs. History shows that abortion has been a part of cultures for millenia. Abortion effects all walks of life, but an outsider should not dictate how to feel or think about someone else’s life choices, let alone strip them of their choice and right to an abortion. I believe that as soon as one medical procedure is taken away, what is to stop lawmakers from removing other necessary procedures?

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