The Reasons Why Intentional Abortion Should Be Legal

The term 'abortion' refers to the extinction of a fetus by separating from its parent prior to its natural delivery. It was illegal in the past because people believed that surgery is dangerous and it would be unethical. According to the World Economic Forum, 26 countries in the world still completely ban termination of pregnancy without exceptional clear legal reasons, while another 37 countries which are include major economies such as Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Nigeria and the United Arab Emirates allowed abortions at least in situations when women's lives were threatened. In the United States, abortion is used most often to end an unplanned pregnancy. Pregnancy which is not planned happen when birth control is not used and failed to prevent. There are two main forms of abortion which are intentional abortion and natural abortion called miscarriage. This essay is going to deal with intentional abortion and is strongly believe that abortion should be legal because of several reasons. 

First of all, unintentional pregnancies and births bring serious health and social problems to women and their families. It can cause stress on pregnant women, which can sustain dangerous behavior such as alcohol and smoking, and can damage their health by failing to properly take care of their body after childbirth such as a folic acid intake. In addition, unintentional births further increase the risk of pre-conception and postpartum depression and badly affect the mother's health by affecting breastfeeding and adhesion. Also, unwanted births are being presented as a global social problem. children which is born to unwanted parents are not cared well by them. Therefore, due to inadequate parental care, infant mortality increases and leads to social problems such as children's developmental disorders, child abuse and child abandonment issues. Indeed, studies at one university had proven that children born of unintended pregnancies are worse in health and development than normal children. The reason is that they did not get postpartum care at the right time, and they said the relationship between parents and their children is likely to be bad. 

Secondly, women should be considered as people who have the right to live as women, not just for babies. Since pregnancy in itself affects women physically and mentally, they should have a right to choose about terminating the pregnancy. In other words, women have ownership of their bodies and pregnant women. These include the right to decide what happens to her body, the right to make her own decisions independently of anyone else, and the right to decide her future. Thus, since the fetus is inside her body, the woman can decide for herself what to do with the fetus. If she decides to terminate her pregnancy, it is her right and should be respected. America's Roe v Wade which is the central Supreme Court of the United States ruled by the 14th Amendment that women's right to abort pregnancy is under the freedom of individual choice in family affairs. Moreover, women's freedom and choice of life are limited by having children, and by stereotypes, social customs and the repressive duties that accompany it. In other words, women need free access to abortion to achieve full political, social and economic equality with men. In order to have the same freedom as men who do not have a baby, women need the right to abortion. Many see Roe v Wade's decision to give women the right to have abortions as a change in the status of women in the United States (BBC, 2014). 'The landmark decision not only protected the right to physical integrity and autonomy, but also enabled millions of women to participate in society in a complete and equal manner,' said Catherine Colbert (1992).

On the other hand, one of the main ethical arguments against abortion is that the fetus has a status as a person. Many people believe that fetus is a 'human' in its mother's belly and deserves to have a right as a human. Thus, Opponents of abortion argue that it is an unjust act of discrimination against fetus, and that such acts deprive them of access to a valuable future. Therefore, if an abortion is performed, one should have a sense of responsibility for killing a life. To illustrate, if you broke a table leg, nothing is wrong and they do not feel any guilt. Whereas, if you broke your dog's leg, it is definitely wrong and brings guilty feeling. Considering what kind of live a dog is and is not an inanimate, such as a table, there is an obligation for dog death. The same goes for abortion. Abortion is the action that killing fetus which is an organism and it is ethically problem. Furthermore, many women feel guilty and ashamed after having an abortion. As mentioned above, guilt is the deep emotion that appears when making mistakes and the most common negative emotional response to abortion. It can be seen as emotional, mental and physical damage to a woman with an abortion, especially mental damage is most common. Although abortion is the best option a woman can make under certain circumstances, she may still feel guilty.

Technically, however, the fetus which is an entity that has human DNA, is not the same entity that we should consider in it as the person receiving all rights, moral values, and protection. In short, there is a difference between a living human being and a cell level human. To illustrate, if a person scratches tan arm, millions of living human cells die. But no one would suggest that the dead cells need a funeral, even though the cells were clearly 'human' in terms of structure and makeup, and were apparently alive in terms of metabolism, growth and organic complexity. That is, there is certainly much more to being than alive in the technical and biological sense of human DNA. Because fetus is not human or human legally or scientifically, abortions cannot be equated with murder or loss of life. Also, fetus less than 12 weeks cannot feel pain. What we can say about the fetal nervous system is based on the best science we have, Davis said in an interview with Live Science, about neurons that transmit pain signals 'after three months of pregnancy, systems are developed.' Abortion is the removal of pregnancy tissue, products of fertilization, or fetus and placenta from the womb. The term fetus and placenta are commonly used after eight weeks of pregnancy, when pregnancy tissues and pregnancy products refer to tissues made eight weeks ago by the combination of eggs and sperm. In the study, researchers highlighted several key points of fetal development that are necessary for a fetus to recognize pain. One is that receptors on the skin that detect injuries should be developed. For example, skin receptors around the mouth develop in about 7.5 weeks, while skin receptors around the abdomen develop after about 15 weeks. Second, neurons in the spinal cord that transmit signals to the brain should be developed. Researchers who observed fetal tissue reported that the phenomenon took place around 19 weeks. Third, neurons extending from the spinal cord to the brain must reach the area of the brain where pain is detected. Studies show that this occurs between 23 and 24 weeks (Sara G, 2016). Therefore, abortion is not an ethical issue because it eliminates a single cell block, not a living organism, without causing pain.

Also, after abortions, women can experience a variety of emotions, but most importantly, that doesn't necessarily mean they made the wrong decision. Relief is the most common emotion to women after abortions. They may be relieved that they were able to make decisions and have abortions, that they did not have to be parents, that they can have a time for their goals, that they could focus on finishing school or university or taking care of children already taking care of. It is realistic that a woman feels relieved after overcoming the difficult times of her life and making up her mind. Women can start looking into the future with a desire for a better life because of their abortion experiences. Relief can also take time because women work gradually through abortion experiences. Indeed, according to the survey of 63 female students in the health care sector on abortion and post-abortion experiences, feelings and attitudes, 86 percent of them still thought abortion was a wise choice. Emotional sequels of abortion reported by these health professionals are consistent with those found in other studies, including some mild pain, such as guilt, depression and anxiety for three months after the abortion, and a subsequent return to relief and basic moods.

To sum up, supporters of abortion believe that unwanted pregnancies and births can have a bad effect on the child as well as on woman because of the mother's lack of knowledge of giving birth, and that abortion should be legalized because it violates the rights of women. However, opponents argue that abortion should not be ligalized because of the fact that fetus has a right to life and possibility to guilt feeling of mother. Nevertheless, proponents refute about that opinion, arguing that fetus cannot be considered human beings because they are organisms that cannot be considered human, and that the mother's feelings can share not only guilt, but also relief, and have future-oriented thoughts. Frankly, there is no clear solution to abortion. It would be a successful solution if only to reduce the negative consequences of children and mothers by encouraging selective abortions currently practiced in several countries. For example, if a sexual assault leads to pregnancy or the inability to take care of a disabled child, then legally abortions can be prevented from becoming a tragedy for the mother, child and country.