Discussion About Abortion: a Right to Choose, Or a Right to Kill

In recent years, abortion has been the most controversial and politically charged subject in the United States. Abortion can be defined as the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy. The two main sides of the debate are “pro-choice” and “pro-life”. A pro-choicer would strongly believe that the decision to abort her baby is between her and her doctor, and the state has no right to interfere. A pro-lifer would argue that from the moment of conception the embryo is alive. A statistic from the Guttmacher Institute says, 42 million abortions occurred around the world in 2018, making it the leading cause of death on Earth. Unless of the case of rape, incest, or the life of the mother at risk abortion should be illegal because human life starts are conception, everyone has the right to life, and no child should die from the parent's irresponsibleness.

To begin, individual human life begins at fertilization and therefore, abortion is the immoral killing of a human being. For instance, Dr. Keith Moore writes, “Human life begins at fertilization, the process during which a male gamete or sperm unites with a female gamete to form a single cell called a zygote. This highly specialized cell marked the beginning of each of us as a unique individual. A zygote is the beginning of a new human being”. From the moment of conception, unique DNA is created that no one has. Genetic DNA is unrepeatable, not another human being will have anything like it. Also, 'Every time a sperm cell and ovum unite a new being is created which is alive and will continue to live unless its death is brought about by some specific condition.' Life starts at conception and if that fertilized egg was found on mars, we would agree it is acceptable to say there is life on Mars. Science is evident that a fetus is not just a “cluster of cells”, it is a human being in the beginning stage of development.

Secondly, the life inside the womb is innocent and valuable and nothing should trump the independent rights of that life. In article 2 of the Human Rights Act, it states, “nobody, including the Government, can try to end your life. The government should take appropriate measures to safeguard life by making laws to protect it”. What is the most important right an individual living in the United States has? The most important right that the government can protect is the right to live. The government should be there to protect the vulnerable children in the womb from having their life then from them. Abortion takes away from the unborn the inalienable right to life that the Founding Fathers intended for all human beings (Interactive Constitution). The life inside is precious and valuable, it is innocent, and it is worth protecting.

Lastly, a vast majority of abortions are not due to the mother's health, rape or incest, it is about lifestyle inconvenience. As claimed by the Guttmacher Institute, “1% of abortions obtained by women were because of rape, less than .05% because of incest, and 3% because the life of the mother was at risk”. With the knowledge of these statistics, the preponderance of women is fully capable of following through with the pregnancy but choosing to get an abortion because the child is inconvenient. Being inconvenient or being a burden on someone is not a justification to kill a child in the womb. Many people engage in irresponsible sexually risky behavior without consequence and now millions of children die due to irresponsibleness. This common trend we see today is referred to as the “throwaway culture,” which alludes to human beings being disposable. 'When we tell one another that abortion is okay, we reinforce the idea that human lives are disposable, that we can throw away anything or anyone that inconveniences us'.

However, the opposition claims that abortion lowers crime, kids in adoption are miserable, and the woman should get to choose what happens with her body. An article from Harvard University writes, “Women who have abortions are those most at risk to give birth to children who would engage in criminal activity. And women who had control over the timing of childbearing were more likely to raise children in optimal environments, crime is reduced when there is access to legal abortion” (Barro). On the other hand, the number one thing that will predict if a child is a criminal is being born into a single-mother household. No matter how bad the home environment is there is no 100% guarantee that a child will become a criminal, and because of that you cannot say their life is invalid. It is true, “As of 2017, there were 442,995 children in foster care”. The opposing view claims that there are way too many children in foster care already and they all live terrible lives. So, because there is an orphanage system and there is a foster care problem, we should just kill the child early in the womb? Putting your child up for adoption is free. There are very filled waiting lists of couples that want your baby. Also, a common slogan said by pro-choice advocates is “My body, my choice.” Despite that, your preborn child’s body growing inside your body, is not your body. Otherwise, a pregnant mother with a baby could be said to have two hearts, four eyes, and eight limbs. Abortion’s legality does not make it moral or safe; it is never safe for the babies it destroys.

To conclude, abortion should be illegal because life starts at the moment of conception, the child in the womb has the right to life, and individuals need to accept the responsibility that comes with producing a child. With abortion, we have a separate life-giving aspect of sex with the pleasurable aspect of sex. And what that does is encourages people to engage in sexually risky and irresponsible behavior because they know at the end of the day, they can just get an abortion. Now if you take abortion out then progressively people are going to be encouraged to be more responsible in their sex life. Over time it would strengthen the family and be better for our society. Abortion is the direct killing of an innocent child and nothing but in the instance of rape, incest, and the health of the mother should forfeit the validity of the child's life.