Is Abortion Murder or a Life-Saver?

Late one night a young woman was walking home from work when a man approached her then raped her. Soon after, she discovered that he impregnated her. She felt that abortion was the only choice because living with the constant reminder of what had happened to her was too much to handle. Also she knew that she wouldn’t be able to love or treat it the way it should be loved or treated. Physician Felicia H. Stewart and economist James Trussell estimated that 333,000 assaults and rapes reported in the US in 1998 caused about 25,000 pregnancies. (Wikipedia) People come up with all kinds of excuses when their lives become more difficult so that they can take the easier way out. Unfortunately with abortion there is no easy way out. No matter what decisions are made someone is going to get hurt; may be the mother, the father or perhaps it’s the baby that will have to pay for its parents stupidities. Abortion should only be a last resort in cases like rape or being too sick to actually give birth. If the child will be mistreated or unloved, adoption is always an option. It’s the mother’s decision since it is her body and her life. Even in some of these cases abortion is not okay because adoption is always available if you cannot handle a child. Everyone has their own opinions and mine is that I’m “Pro-Choice”. Meaning that I’m not fully against abortion, but I’m not fully for it. I believe that it’s your own decision what happens to your child.
According to State Health Facts.org, 17% of people in the United States that have had an abortion have been under the age of nineteen. Often times people at this young age feel that they are not quite ready to give birth to and take care of a whole other human being. Other times parents get involved, not allowing their children to have abortions and allowing their children to have abortions and decide to raise the child as their own which causes them unnecessary stress that may reflect on the child’s upbringing. Every so often a child is consumed because of an unfortunate event where a woman has been raped. “The national rape-related pregnancy rate is 5% per rape among victims of reproductive age (12 to 45); among adult women an estimated 32,101 pregnancies result from rape each year.” This is why I believe that in certain cases the circumstances vary and should be taken into serious consideration. It is in fact murder, but sometimes abortion can be the better option.
When a child that is unwanted is born, occasionally it will end up being mistreated, unloved or abused. A child that is neglected by its parents won’t be able to grow up and become a healthy, happy adult. “Every year over three million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving nearly six million children.”(Childhelp) Neglect causes 78.3 % of all child abuse. Just the feeling of being unloved can cause that child to make choices that could hurt themselves or others around them. This is why I’m pro-choice. I’m not totally against abortion (pro-life), but I am also not fully for abortion. I believe that it all depends on the kind of environment the child will be born into.
Often times some women who are pregnant abort their child so that they don’t “look bad”. Many women decide that they do not want to have a child because of all the side effects and difficulties that go along with child birth. Other women have abortions because they are sick or unhealthy and don’t want to pass it down to the child. Being pro-choice in this case makes me think that these women are making this choice with haste and not thinking about the long term consequences. Being pro-choice also makes me think that they are making the right choice for their own lives by thinking about what’s best for them over what’s best for them over what’s best for the child.
Some women feel that if they don’t have an abortion the child may have to be put in an orphanage because she can’t afford to take care of them. Over five hundred thousand children were in the U.S. foster care system on September 30th, 2005. (Foster Care Alumni) These children could have been adopted and always wonder if they weren’t good enough or will stay in the orphanage, unloved and unwanted; neither of these options all appealing to young parents. The thought of not being able to provide for their child scares them and causes them to feel that abortion is a better answer. This feeling isn’t unusual, many women feel this way. They think about the up sides to giving their child up for adoption instead of abortion such as getting the chance to watch them grow up and having a good life.
People make decisions based on what they believe will be the easiest but abortion is not a matter to be taken lightly. It takes time to decide what is best for everyone that it will affect. Often times women aren’t ready to have and to provide for a child so they abort it. Many women have abortions because of an unwanted child cause by rape, but even in terrible cases like rape if you cannot handle keeping the child adoption is always a better option than abortion. On the other hand, a child that will be unwanted, unloved, mistreated or abused should be placed in a safe environment whether that means it’s actually born or not. Some people might call it selfish but it’s the mother’s choice since it is her life, her body and her unborn child. Perhaps a woman is too sick for a child birth and will die unless she has an abortion. 25% of women who have abortions do it because they are homeless and can’t afford children. In some cases I believe abortion is wrong but in other cases I think it’s the better choice. This is why I’m pro-choice, meaning I’m not fully against abortion and I’m also not fully for it. I believe it’s your life therefor, your choices.

Is abortion murder or a life-saver?

Jacqueline Paziuk

Bibliography: http://www.fostercarealumni.org/resources/foster_care_facts_and_statistics.htm http://www.ncregister.com/blog/danielle-bean/mom_so_sick_she_chooses_abortion http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/23/news/la-pn-statistics-on-rape-and-pregnancy-are-complicated-20120822 http://www.policyalmanac.org/culture/archive/abortion_statistics.shtml http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparemaptable.jsp?typ=2&ind=464&cat=10&sub=111&sortc=1&o=a http://www.ncregister.com/blog/danielle-bean/mom_so_sick_she_chooses_abortion http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3711005.html http://www.nationalchildrensalliance.com/nca/pubs/2003/Children_in_Care_March_2003.pdf https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/foster.cfm http://www.gargaro.com/healthproblems.html

Bibliography: http://www.fostercarealumni.org/resources/foster_care_facts_and_statistics.htm http://www.ncregister.com/blog/danielle-bean/mom_so_sick_she_chooses_abortion http://articles.latimes.com/2012/aug/23/news/la-pn-statistics-on-rape-and-pregnancy-are-complicated-20120822 http://www.policyalmanac.org/culture/archive/abortion_statistics.shtml http://www.statehealthfacts.org/comparemaptable.jsp?typ=2&ind=464&cat=10&sub=111&sortc=1&o=a http://www.ncregister.com/blog/danielle-bean/mom_so_sick_she_chooses_abortion http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3711005.html http://www.nationalchildrensalliance.com/nca/pubs/2003/Children_in_Care_March_2003.pdf https://www.childwelfare.gov/pubs/factsheets/foster.cfm http://www.gargaro.com/healthproblems.html