Along with the development in the world, women have had the option to get rid of any unwanted pregnancy since quite some time, some did it legally and some illegally. Marie Stops UK, a website that helps men and women with their reproductive rights, defines abortion as the considered medical termination of an unwanted pregnancy. There are two methods to perform abortion, surgical which includes anesthetic with an operation to remove the tissue, and medical which involves taking two set of tablets. legalization of abortion has been one of the topics people disagreed about since along time. Religions, politics and health ministries all have their different opinions regarding the subject. Some people believe that abortion is morally wrong as they consider the fetus to be an individual human being. However, others believe that abortion is a basic human right and a woman have the right to make her choice of whether to terminate or continue with a pregnancy. The health aspect also played a role as many people argue that the procedure’s side effects outcome the result. The different views and arguments has not brought the two sides into one solid ground, the procedure is offered in some clinics in the US and other countries as well, while other countries ban the procedure and treat it as crime. The opposing sides also have their judgments and opinions about women who undergo the surgery. Religious people view them as sinners, pro-life protesters call them murderers, while other people see them to be brave since they overcame all these judgments and did what they believe is right for them. The idea that abortion gives women the choice of continuing their lives as they planned is agreed on upon all the sides. However, I believe that legalizing the procedure by governments comes with many downsides. The easy access adds more pressure on pregnant women to do the procedure without thinking about from all the angles, it also has variety of physical health risks along with psychological long-term side effects and the moral view of the procedure is highly questioned even if all the religious beliefs were to be ignored.

Legalizing abortion misleads women to project the procedure as the easier choice without thinking about the consequences thoroughly. In my opinion, pregnant women are victims of a pressure associated with future goals, society judgments along with lack of education in the subject, and the legalization of abortion which gives them easy access to the procedure. In high school, students usually start planning for their future jobs and what they want to do with their lives. Indeed, having a baby on the way is not a part of the plan, and when that happens girls get the pressure of thinking that their future is ruined, as it is the common belief associated with the situation. They start thinking that it’s not about what they want anymore, it’s about the needs of the upcoming child and that scares them. Society also looks at girls who get pregnant at a young age to be irresponsible adding more pressure to these girls. In addition, sex education is offered in most schools to teach young teens about the risks of unsafe sex and different methods associated with safe sex. However, teens are never taught about the action they should take if they get pregnant, and the different options they have including abortion. In her article “Why we need to teach our kids about abortion in sex education” published in scarymomy.com Kathi Vallie a freelance writer focusing on parenting, she writes that abortion must be discussed in schools and that if the topic is not discussed freely then teenagers won’t know where to go for help when they need it. The lack of education teenagers have regarding abortion and not being able to talk about, results in rush decisions especially with the easy access to abortion clinics. Laws are made to minimize the number of crimes committed by people, as anyone would think thoroughly about the sentences of their crime. Which means if any action that causes harm was to be legalized people would not think as much about committing it if it was illegal. The argument does not suggest that abortion should be treated as a crime, but it should not be easily accessed to everyone, especially not teenagers with lack of knowledge of what they are getting themselves into. Placing restrictions on abortion procedures would force women to gain more knowledge about the matter before heading to the clinic next door and terminate the pregnancy. Women are pressured by different factors when they’re pregnant, forcing them to think of all the negative options that come along with continuing the pregnancy. Much worst, sometimes the pressure goes far as families threatening their girls to be kicked out of the house, or their significant other threatening to leave. According to Georgette Forney in her article “The Reality of Abortion-Reflection of My Journey” coercion is found in 40%-60% of women testimonies. Friends also play a role in coercion as they tell their friend that pregnancy would wreck their lives and abortion is simply the answer. Life is not supposed to continue as we planned, and pregnancy in a young age might not be the ideal situation, yet it could be cause a dramatic positive change in the person’s life. It all circulates around the idea that pregnant teens get pressured by all the negative atmosphere around them that they do not think of the other possible choices they have with continuing the pregnancy. `

The risks associated with abortion procedures can be divided into two categories, physical health risks and psychological risks. Starting with the physical health risks, some of the risks are immediate which results after the procedure immediately and the others are long-run impacts which could affect possible future pregnancies. According to Ramah International website, the procedure might cause infections caused by the bacteria moving from the cervix into the uterus. The bacteria movement brings infection to in the pelvic region. The procedure could also cause blood clots in the uterus which produces sever cramping as well as a heavy bleeding. In some cases, the procedure is not completed, the fetus of placenta may not drain completely from uterus and that requires further medical attention. In the long-run, abortion could make complications to further pregnancies to either causing infertility or increase the risks associated with them. Some of these risks are vaginal bleeding during a pregnancy, preterm birth, low birth weight or retained placenta and many more. 

Abortion procedures also have different psychological affects that is different to each woman in spiritual, emotional and psychological level. When women go through abortion, before the surgery they are usually convinced that they are terminating a group of cells growing inside of them to ease the procedure on themselves. However, most of the times after the procedure is done the patient realizes that they terminated a baby. In a YouTube video uploaded by Sam Ellen titled “My miscarriage story”, she talks about her story with a medical abortion she had done when she was 19 years old. She talks about the whole process starting from discovering the pregnancy till after abortion. Through the whole video, Ellen never said the word my baby, she called it a heartbeat and a fetus, but after abortion she called the clot that came out of her “my baby”. She said she could recognize the baby in the clots of blood. Through the video, Ellen talks emotionally while she’s crying but she ended the video saying mistakes happen and she is a stronger person now. Georgette Forney also talks about her own experience with abortion along with other women’s experiences in the abortion recovery counselling. She says that she had an abortion when she was 16 and it was not a big deal. About six months later of her abortion, Forney says she found her year book in the basement and opened it to see herself at that time with the baby in her arms, the baby she aborted. Nineteen years later, as she felt her new baby presence in her arms, she felt the full impact of her abortion and started to cry which lead her later to join the abortion recovery clinic.  As seen in the story, the psychological effects of abortion could not be felt at the time but could extend to many years later. These affects vary to every woman, but most women experience psychological distresses. 

The most common reason that puts the two polar sides in argument is the moral view of the procedure. Many people believe that abortion is not the termination of pregnancy, it’s the termination of a human being. One of the questions in the same argument is why is it considered a crime to kill a baby when it’s born and yet, its ok to abort one before it’s to be delivered. On the other hand, abortion supporters believe that a fetus is not a baby, if it’s not brought to the world yet, then it’s ok to get rid of it. Whether if life begins at conception or at birth is the question that would end the argument if anyone knew the answer, but no one does. The moral aspect of the procedure is questioned as it terminates a future baby for the convince of the parents. However, isn’t it the same when someone kills a person for their own personal gain, and since the question of when life begins has no answer, wouldn’t it be cruel to allow the termination of a living human being that is still growing. If life starts at birth then it means the baby is growing to an older person with individual human rights. However, if life starts at conception, then the fetus is growing to a baby and it should be treated as person with individual human rights.

The abortion topic has many angles that needs to be discussed to gain full understanding of such a complicated subject. One of the most known arguments from abortion supporters revolves around women’s right. They believe that it’s the women right to decide of whether she wants to be a mother or not. There are many reasons behind placing abortion as a women’s right, one of them is motherhood. When a girl becomes a mother, it changes her whole life because it’s a responsibility over another human being. It comes with a burden of being selfless, dependable and any mistake could ruin that baby’s life. A mother carries the responsibility of raising another human being, providing all the needs of the child. Moreover, the needs also include a suitable financial situation. According to Brad Tuttle, a senior editor who specifies in personal finance, in a study published on businesstime.com, he states that raising a child till after college for a middle-class family could at least coast 1.1 million dollars. The study compared between raising a child and biggest purchase in America which is buying a house, it found that raising a child is almost the equivalent of buying six houses. Now, imagine a teenage girl in high school who got pregnant because she was too young to understand the consequence of having unsafe sex. Would it be fair for the child to be raised by an irresponsible young teen, or for a young teenage girl to carry the weight of another human being when she still needs someone to look out for her. In such cases, abortion is the exit to these girls, they deserve to continue with their lives, learn and grow until one day they are mature enough to become parents. Another argument is that a personhood begins at birth after the fetus becomes able to survive outside the womb. A fertilized egg and a fetus are not independent, self-serving human beings which is the opposite of a baby since it organs can function on their own. Abortion is not the termination of a baby it’s the end of a pregnancy. The age of a person is calculated from birth, not from conception which means that the pregnancy is not considered a part of the human’s life. Also abortion supporters claim that the fetus does not feel the pain of the procedure and that includes that there is no violent action taken towards another human being. According to a 2010 review conducted by Royal College of Obstetrician and Gynaecologists, a lot of neuroscientist believe that a cortex is necessary for pain sensitivity, and the cortex does function until the 26th week of a fetus. The study concludes that a fetus does not feel the pain of the procedure if t was done before the 26th week of pregnancy. 

The arguments presented by the opposing side are solid and understandable. However, I believe that each one has their own downsides and another angle that could be looked at. Starting with treating abortion as a basic women’s right. In most countries, the freedom of action and speech are given to everyone if it does not hurt other people. For example, cyberbullying is defined as the harassment of an individual by the comments written online by other people. Even thought people online write their own opinions which is a type of freedom, many cases have been known in which users were committed in jail for hurting others by their comments. These incidents prove that the freedom of a person ends where the freedom of others begin. The same concept could be argued in abortion, the rights of a person ends when the rights of another individual begins. People argue about women’s rights all the time, forgetting that they are taking the rights of an innocent unborn human being. In their latest addition of “The developing human: Clinically Oriented Embryology, professor Keith Moor, TVN Persaud, and Mark Torchia make a many statements regarding the begging of the human life. According to the authors, human life is a continuous process that starts from the fertilization. For every human being alive today, scientifically, they began their journey as a cell. If the first configuration of the cell perishes, the individual dies taking away the life a human being. In that case, each human being must be protected since the beginning of their journey without it being terminated for the benefits of another human being. Abortion supporters also argue that the fetus does not feel the pain of the procedure, which means it’s causing no harm to anyone. However, many drugs can be used to numb a person making them pain proof, but that still does not give the right to another person to kill them. The matter is not about the cruelty of the procedure and whether the fetus feels the pain or not, it’s about the ending of an innocent human life that deserves to live like any other human being. 

In conclusion, abortion gives women and teenagers an escape from carrying a responsibility that they probably are not ready for, or as parents, friends and women would tell themselves. The procedure needs more restriction from governments to do good to women, as they usually are pressured by all the negative atmosphere around them and lack of knowledge regarding the surgery. Women must be educated about all the health risks associated with the procedure and the long-term psychological affects they could have on the long run. Additionally, each human being goes through a journey of growing up and the process starts at conception. That means every human being have the right to live and women should be given their rights if it does not interfere with another human’s rights.  
