Table of Contents
Over the past few decades, the level of maternal mortality rates has decreased across the world. Availability of medical abortion improved levels of health care, and increased access to safe abortion as well as post-abortion attention must have contributed to the above global scenario. However, scholars have argued it is difficult to evaluate the extent of the progress due to challenges of obtaining reliable and valid data as well as difficulties in interpreting the existing data on the topic. Further, reports showed that efforts to quantify the global causes of maternal deaths yielded divergent estimates regarding mortality arising from abortion. The discrepancies in the data analysis rose due to the lack of transparency in the collection of abortion data, lack of the acknowledgement of the limitation of data during its collection and finally the ability to contextualize the results.
Elsewhere, the debate over whether the government of the United States should legalize abortion has continued to raise concerns among the different opposing groups. The proponents argue that abortion should be treated as a fundamental human right that should be granted autonomously to all individuals. In their argument, the relayed that where the government does not recognize abortion as a fundamental right and give the citizens access to safe abortion, they tend to turn to unsafe, illegal abortions that increase the maternal mortality rates. On the other hand, the pro-life group contends that life begins immediately after fertilization and thus the universal value of human being should be respected. According to this group, abortion whether safe or unsafe is killing and immoral. The controversy in the issue continues to be a significant concern in contemporary society. Abortion should not be legalized under any circumstances due to the vices attached to the practice in the community.
Universal Value of Human Life
As stated earlier, the number of victims of abortion is unclear due to the discrepancies in the interpretation of the collected data. The pro-life group believes that it is the responsibility of the government to protect and uphold life regardless of the intent, quality of life concerns, and viability. Besides, the pro-life group holds that the right to life is dependent on the developmental milestone rather than the ideal membership into the human species in the physical world.
The Golden Rule of reciprocity is the universal principles that value human life. The law is upheld in nearly all realms of the society including the social, religion, and the secular through the expression of the notion that one should treat others as he/she would wish others to treat him/her.
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Other than the clear cases of suicidality which is often accompanied by instances of mental or physical illness, human life tends to sustain itself. Since human beings tend to preserve their own lives, the reciprocity principle holds that it is morally wrong to take away the life of another. In the context of abortion, human beings appreciate the need for living. Having not been aborted, it turns out to be wrong to terminate the life of an innocent soul through abortion. Holding on the reciprocity principle of living and the stages of human development, the legal standings of denying the fetus the right to life seems irrelevant.
The millions of American women who have had an abortion in their lifetime experience loss, pain, and suffer emotionally in an attempt to come to terms with what happened. Scientifically, life begins before birth. A zygote that is formed after the fusion of the male and the female gametes during fertilization contains the human DNA and other human molecules different and unique from that of the parents or any other organism that has ever existed. It is therefore irrefutable to argue that the blastocyst or the zygote formed after fertilization is just a cell like any other and that it does not have life in it. It is this genetic material in the new being that is responsible for the development processes.
Biologically, the human embryo is considered living if it is capable of experiencing the four fundamental life processes such as metabolism, reaction to stimuli, growth, and reproduction. Lastly, science defines an organism as a complex structure with interdependent elements that perpetuate life activities by functioning differently but whose organs are mutually dependent on one another. The human zygote meets all these definition criteria thus confirming that is alive. For the reciprocity principle, it can be argued that it wrong to take away the life of the unborn for whatever reason. Thus, the wrong of abortion rests on the aspect of robbing the fetus of its life regardless of its cognitive capabilities at the time of the procedure.
The Role Religious Organizations in the Anti-abortion Campaigns
Religious organizations have been instrumental in the fight for anti-abortion policies. Fight for equality is instrumental in ensuring that the critical decisions are created in the process of attaining the projected outcomes that are instrumental in ensuring that the necessary arrangements are put towards enhancing the anticipated results that are made towards seeking the required outcomes. It helps strengthen the processes that are aimed at improving the right credentials to the fight against the policy.
The needs for advocacy have been used in addressing the complex issues that are used in addressing the complex issues. Political players have been instrumental in ensuring that the significant effects that are discussed in providing that the required objectives are laid down in seeking the necessary outcomes. Such efforts are made towards addressing the critical elements that are made up to scrutinize the complex issues. Civic groups have been instrumental in drawing the crucial issues that are made towards providing an established analysis to the topic at hand. Efforts have been made by sponsoring candidates that can champion for the conservation of the socially accepted agenda.
The recent attempts to stop the widespread use of abortion in ending the life of the unborn children have been intensified in the recent past. It would make it possible for the prosecution of women that undergo the procedure of homicide. The steep odds of becoming law has affected the legislative process with a significant long-term effect. The proposed measures are intended to ensure that women become more personally responsible for making their decisions to become pregnant. Therefore, an important step was designed in guaranteeing the equal protection of life inside and outside of the womb.
Religious backers have been instrumental in ensuring that the legislation is passed.
The proposed changes in legislation were met with unique hurdles. Major antiabortion groups have been instrumental in opposing the severe changes to the state’s criminal laws. It seeks to bring together all the players that are concerned with the issue. It aims to bring together all the players that are involved with bring together all the stakeholders in the efforts to control abortion. The arising emotional showdown despite the strong Republican presence in the legislature highlights representation of the thoughts connecting the world communities. Abortion has gained significant national presence that has highlighted the issues that the communities have a handle in recent times. Other states are also dealing with the problem. Some have closed down the debate while the others are still debating about the performance of abortion in different stages. An exception of the threat to the life of the mother has been a significant point of exit in the long run.
Abortion is Associated with Negative Effects for Majority of the Women
Reports from the American Psychological Association (APA) revealed the majority of the women develop feelings of grief, loss, and sadness after terminating a pregnancy (Reardon, 2018). Under extreme circumstances, others often develop clinical health disorders such as anxiety and depression. According to the report released Task Force on Mental Health and Abortion (TFMHA), most of the women participants in the study dropped due to severe symptoms of abortion-specific post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The evaluation showed that the women participants displayed rising symptoms of depression, anxiety, and adverse reactions as well as reduced rates of positive responses, decision satisfaction, and relief with time.
Maladjustments in women after abortion have documented by counsellors from the pro-choice as well as the pro-life group. One of the psychiatrists revealed that in her clinical experience, she encountered a woman who developed mental health crisis after a miscarriage which she connected to previously unresolved issues of abortion. She attributed the miscarriage to the past instance of abortion and regretted bitterly to the extent of developing mental problems. Other than the adverse effects associated with abortion on women, research has shown a strong consensus of associated numerous risk factors in women’s psychological outcome following one or several abortions. The pro-choice group argues on the protective side of the mother and the free-will of choice without consideration of the aftermath of the procedure on the psychology of the individuals. Research should focus on identifying women who are at higher risk of showing adverse psychological outcomes after an abortion.
Currently, TFMHA has already identified risk factors that increase negative reactions among women who have had an abortion. Some of the factors identified by the agency include terminating a meaningful or wanted pregnancy, pressure from the community to terminate the pregnancy, perceived opposition of abortion by close relatives, exposure to anti-abortion picketing, and prior history of mental ill-health among others. The identification of the risk factors calls for the abortionists to screen the elements before the procedure to avoid affecting the woman in a much worse manner. From these risk factors, it is essential for clinicians and the government to advocate for alternative methods of saving the life of the mothers without necessarily affecting the life of the unborn child.
Abortion Hinder the Continuity of a Community
There are several reasons that people give for conducting an abortion. However, the most obvious reasons include saving the life of the mother and unwanted pregnancies arising from rape or incest. In such cases, the life of the mother is kept at the expense of the unborn child. If the federal government of the United States universally passes legislation making it legal for people to conduct abortion, then there is a possibility that the world population will be selectively affected. For instance, paving the way for selective sex abortion would result in a deficiency in one gender within a community.
With the current advancement in technology, expectant mothers are aware of the sex and the health status of the child before it is born. With the autonomy granted by the constitutions to women over their bodies, they may choose to allow the perpetuation of a particular gender and curtail the life of another through abortion. The procedure does not only introduce gender deficiency in the community, but also it inhibits its future. Children are responsible for propagating the community in the future. Where laws exist legalizing abortion, the future life of any neighbourhood within the jurisdiction may be at stake.
Weaknesses of the Proposed Change in the Law
The proposed bill points to a clear violation of the landmark decision that was made in the past. Observations of the pathological processes are tagged to the established theoretical applications touching on professional competence. The political interests surrounding the issue with a significant negative impact have clouded the legal procedures. Division among the political players has been a substantial driver of the change in political machinations that have been essential in the decision-making processes. A focus on the need to address the widespread cases of abortion highlights the different mechanisms that have been instrumental in addressing complex issues. Supporters of the bill want abortion to be treated as a capital felony but offering the offenders with an opportunity to prove the same. Such a structured legal approach will be instrumental in ensuring that the offender is offered a position to explain the reasons for their actions.
Faith-based groups have been categorical about the need to stop abortion. The group has been mainly instrumental in guiding political decisions. The voters’ perceptions are therefore helpful in guiding the stands of the leaders on the issues. Revenue is also another driver of the anti-abortion debate in Texas. Prevention of abortions would ensure that serve to increase the state’s population thus increasing the contribution to the public coffers. Professionals like business leaders and rights activists and legal experts have been raising questions about the proposed change of the laws.
Proving the constitutionality of the legal proposal is therefore instrumental in guiding the decision-making processes that have been identified to be central to the decision-making process. Such aspects have been identified to direct the change process that is essential in outlining the proper practices towards enhancing the change in life. The role of the professional bodies has been defined towards ensuring that the policy is passed. Medical practice regulators have a central role in ensuring that their members operate within the required landscapes. An absolute disregard to the recommended practice requirements is hurting the profession largely.
Refutation of the Pro-Choice Claims
Pro-choice group advocates for safe, lawful, and affordable abortion. They argue that the high maternal mortality rates are associated with unsafe and illegal abortion conducted by quarks. With the decision to legalize abortion, the government is likely to save the lives of those women who are victims of unsafe and unlawful abortion. Hundreds of thousands of pregnancies each year results from lack of contraceptives, rape, and incest. The cost of supporting the children may be too high for the mothers or continuing with the pregnancy may jeopardize the life of the mother. At such instances, safe and legal abortion is the only haven for such mothers.
However, putting the life and the rights of the mother before the life and freedoms of the infant is unethical and morally wrong. Besides, granting women full autonomy over their bodies may enhance immorality as the young are encouraged to engage in sexual misconduct since the solution to unwanted pregnancies is legal. The women may be advised to use contraceptives to avoid pregnancy which may ultimately result in abortion. That would save the need for the pro-life group having to be on the watch out of the abortion legislation.
Abortion is the act of granting women the right to decide when to have children based on their age, finances, and stability in a relationship. The question of whether abortion should be made legal or not has gained a hot debate for an extended period with proponents saying that it gives women a chance to get rid of unwanted pregnancies and bear children when the right time comes.
Those opposing, however, argue that abortion is evil and that it denies the aborted babies the right to life given that life begins once a woman conceives. This essay will endeavour to argue that abortion should be legalized and it will give various reasons as to why it should be so. The yearly unwanted pregnancies according to research are estimated to be above 70 million. There exist multiple reasons why women should be allowed to abort, which includes family relationships, economic challenges, the health of the women, and even the availability of medical care. These reasons are the ones that influence women to decide to abort or keep the baby.
As said earlier, the issue of abortion has been for a long time been discussed, but the supporters seem to win the motion based on the facts they unleash in their studies. The government should at all cost respect the health and reproductive life of women. It should be done by creating a conducive environment that allows women to make decisions regarding human rights. Considering the increased number of women who experience abortion, it is advised that women get the help of safe termination of pregnancy based on care accessibility set in place for this purpose. Abortion is a fundamental right, and so the government or society need not punish women when it comes for abortion.
Conclusion
The government together with Congress should not legalize abortion. For one, legalizing abortion goes against the reciprocity principle that governs life. The legislators should recognize the life of the unborn child and give it a chance to live too. Besides, for the more significant majority, abortion is associated with negative outcomes such as feelings of sadness, guilt, and loss. Such opinions may result in mental disorders such as depression and anxiety.
Also, the abortionists do not take time to scrutinize the risk factors that may occur following an abortion. They are only interested in affirming the validity of the procedure. Lastly, legalizing abortion may shut down the future of a community. Children are considered to propagate a community to the future. Curtailing the lives of such children before birth may mean that such a community does not have a future. Therefore, for the reasons mentioned above, the government and Congress should not legalize abortion.
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