Why Should Abortions be Legalized? Essay Sample

Did you know that 61% of Americans in a 2019 survey decided that abortions should be legal in all or at least in most cases? (Lipka, Gramlich). The topic of abortions have shown to be highly controversal nationwide in the political and social climate. The adversaries of pro-choice and pro-life go head to head, disputing which is more favorable. Pro-choice advocates believe that a woman should have the right to choose what to do with their own body; abortion or not. Pro-life advocates assert that abortions being prohibited in all and or at least most cases. Interesting enough, the decision on whether an abortion is morally objectionable or acceptable is completely dependant on different social groups and classes. With the many different circumstances regarding abortions, they should be legalized in order for women to have the right to choose, because of the abundance of children being born and raised in such unfavorable conditions. 

The world presently has been stuck in the opioid epidemic. The opioid epidemic is impacting large numbers of beings, and in the 2000s it was documented that “21.6% of pregnant women '' (Moore, Batemen, Patrick) filed for being under the influence of opioids. That same 21.6% faced the same burning questions as any other pregnant women would face. Should I keep the baby? Would I give the child it’s best chance? Am I even ready? Controversy then starts to come into play, regarding that if the fetus is born, is that really fair at giving it a life with such an unfavorable future ahead of them? No money, a constant burning addiction for opioids, and the child practically having to raise itself. The child has no say in it being born, and if anything happens to it’s legal guardian the child will be “bounced from one foster family to another or placed in a group home”(Howell). It has also been said that the percentage of young teen moms have proven an overwhelming score of their “negative maternal selection” (Aizer, Devererurx, Salvenes). This affects the child negatively, causing mental and physical health issues to be presented within the child in early stages of their development. Some might argue that it just depends on the parent, although it is unfair to bring a child into the world if the parent is far from being compliant, bringing it up in such unfavorable conditions. If the targeted group of teen moms, or NAS (Neonatal abstinence syndrome - mothers who were addicted to opioids while pregnant) knew that abortions were legalized, and didn’t have to be concerned on the issues that follow along with that decision, they wouldn’t have to bring up a child with such disinterest towards it, the child wouldn’t have to go through such hardships and the disappointments the ill-disposed life would offer. 

More and more women as time progresses involve themselves in the political and social viewpoints that are offered. Those same women were heavily influenced by those viewpoints which led to the increase of unwanted children to be put up for adoption rather than to be aborted. What the majority of the population fail to realize is “23,000 kids in the foster care system age out of the system every year. Many of those kids have no permanent placements lined up when they turn 18 and become homeless”(Francis). This goes to show that foster care systems are overflowing with children, and incompetent parents keep giving their children away, with the chance of growing up bouncing around the system until their eighteen with no support or idea of how to make a life for themselves. Speculation on the fairness to the child begins to occur. Children all over are being pushed into the system and forced to live a life filled with hardships. They didn’t ask to be born, they wonder why their parents would ever give them up, they themselves might even question their own lives. So why wouldn’t all these children's mothers consider an aboriton? Abortions are tough and life changing decions to make, but then again, so is giving a child a life that isn’t fair to them. From state to state across the U.S the battle of abortions becoming legalized has been up for discussion politically and socially. A graph created by Planned parenthood depicts all the states that are accessible to abortions all the way to the ban of abortions. It shows that the more central part of North America have completely banned abortions in those states. Leaving unfavorable mothers to be having no choice but to have their child, and thus give the child to the abundance of foster kids overflowing in the state. With the state banned restrictions on abortions and the already scared mothers, they wouldn’t even have the choice over their own bodies if they wanted to. Sure they could travel into a new state and seek out a facility there who will go through with the procedure, although “women could be held criminally responsible for seeking an abortion or even for having a miscarriage” (Panetta). No women should ever have to give a child a life that will only bring hardships to them, or risk being held criminally responsible for making the best fit choice, for themselves and the future of that child inside their own body. 

When it comes to the topic of religion and abortion, we see a lot of views that go back and forth. Besides the faith of Roman Catholics. Roman Catholics strictly believe that abortions should be illegal in all or in at least most cases. The fear of tampering with a fetus upon the moment of conception is taking away their “right-to-life”(Diocese). The idea that the child from the moment of conception has that right is complete nonsense because of the fact that that child has had no intention of choosing to live, it simply happened out of human nature. The child from the moment of conception has no awareness of the situation, and it is not fully developed enough to even be considered alive. The Roman Catholics believe in life or death, and when the fetus is created upon the moment of conception, there is life. Through and abortion that would be death, upon killing the child. What they fail to realize is that having the child would add to the overpopulation in foster care, the thousands of children stuck in the system with no love of a proper family. The ill-fitted lifestyle that child would have to go through. They fail to realise that the child isn’t considered alive until there is a heartbeat detected. The Catholics fail to realize that there is an abundance of children overflowing the foster system already, and ill-fitted mothers have no right to choose the best option regarding their own body and child anymore, because of the political and social aspects blocking them from making that decision. 

Overall there are many conditions to be considered when it comes to the fact of getting an abortion. Furthermore, debating on the heartbeat aspect of the fetus. However, abortions should be legalized in order for the mother of that child to make the decision herself, as this situation is in regards to her own body. Otherwise, the world will continue to have an abundance of children being brought into a world with such unfavorable conditions. With the opioid epidemic and unfit teen mothers conceiving more and more children, them not having the option to go through with the procedure and being forced to have the child in a world where they can’t provide, and don’t want them is just unethical. The religious aspects might believe in life or death, although will the child really have a comending life, if it’s stuck with the thousands of other children drowning in foster care?