There are only a few words that are powerful enough to suck the life out of a room and create a tense environment. Abortion is one of those words. It can break up couples, divide families, and split communities. Abortion is a hot topic right now because of the new president, Trump, and the fact that his more conservative government might restrict a women’s right to get an abortion. A reason this topic could be so heated is because religion, human rights, and morality are all parts of the problem. And since this problem involves religion and human rights it is meaningful to a large part of the population. This could also be the reason that this issue is so hard to discuss with others. One side calls themselves pro-life while the other side calls themselves pro-choice. The names are supposed to classify what they stand for, but instead they seem to divide the sides even more. If one believes in pro-choice then according to the other side they are against life, and if one is pro-life then they are against women’s choice, and women’s rights. There are few people who don’t have an opinion on this topic, and there are even fewer who can look at both sides and see their value. In order to know the true answer one must be able to view both sides of the issue to see their merits. 

The pro-life movement started after the passing of Roe V. Wade in 1973. The pro-life community is made up of people who generally are more religious and conservative. There arguments are based on morality and the principles in their religions. The pro-life argument starts with the concept that the unborn person is still a person. Many states have different laws on the time in which a woman can get an abortion, but it is the law that after the 24th week “the fetus is most likely able to survive outside the mother’s body at or around 24 weeks, so if an abortion is performed after this period it is considered “intent to murder”” (“When Is It Too Late to Get an Abortion?”). The pro-life side believes that an abortion is wrong at any stage because the unborn person is a person from conception. They argue that “since the preborn has human parents, she has to be human. And from the moment of conception, the being that begins as a single cell is biologically different from her mother. She is a unique combination of her mother and father who has never existed before,” and since the fetus is from a person and is its own unique person from conception “the moment of fertilization is the beginning of existence” for all persons (Peredo). Now this argument states that an unborn person is definitely a human life, but doesn’t answer the question if it is its own person. There is a difference in being a human and a person. It may be a human’s clump of cells, but without personal feelings and abilities it does not need the rights that an actual functioning person does. Yet the pro-life sympathizers also believe that the unborn human is a person. Pro-life advocates claim even “if one argues it is human, but not a person, then there has to be a moment in pregnancy or at birth when a being that is not a person becomes a person” (Peredo). Most would define an unborn human as a person at around 24 weeks is when a fetus can survive outside of the mother’s body. They say “there can be no magic moment when a non-person becomes a person because life is a continuum from conception until death” (Peredo). Pro-life maintains that since there is no magic moment a person is always a person from the time that they are conceived. But why does it matter that an unborn person is a person, and what does this mean for the pro-life argument? They use a moral argument to argue against abortion. They argue that it is wrong to kill anyone regardless of who or what state that they are in. Since a person is a person from the time they are conceived and killing a person is wrong, the pro-life side maintains that aborting an unborn baby is wrong (Peredo). All in all, the pro-life argument is based around the fact that killing innocent people is wrong. 

On the opposite side the pro-choice movement argument is based around the fact that since the baby is growing in the woman it is her choice on what to do with it. The pro-choice side also argues that abortion can actually help women. They back this up with facts like “that between 1970 and 1990, “the Pill accounted for nearly three quarters of the increase in the number of women who became doctors and lawyers” (Valenti, “Abortion Isn't about the Right to Privacy. It's about Women's Right to Equality”). It is irrefutable that if women are able to choose when they want to be a parent that they can successfully pursue careers and educations. Also “the right for women to get an abortion the right to an abortion is fundamental to women’s equality, not just [their] privacy” (Valenti, “Abortion Isn't about the Right to Privacy. It's about Women's Right to Equality”). In order for women to be able to be equal with men they need full rights to abortion. Women need to be able to receive an education and get a job without having to worry about raising children. A woman should only have to have children when she is ready rather than when an accidental pregnancy occurs. Abortion is good for women’s equality and their health. “Before Roe as many as 5,000 women a year died every year from unsafe abortions – restricted access to and public policy limiting abortion do the same” (Valenti, “There Is Absolutely No Reason to Restrict Women's Options for Abortion Access”). If abortion is restricted or made illegal, it could negatively affect the health of desperate women who need an abortion. “The consequences of criminalizing abortion will not be an explosion of healthy babies being born to happy mothers, but rather the death of fetuses and women at the hands of illegal abortion providers—indeed, almost half of abortions around the world take place in countries with restrictive abortion laws” (Mannien). Whether it is because they were raped, the baby has birth defects, or giving birth would negatively affect the mother there are many valid reasons to for women to be able to get abortions. Not only will abortion help women choose when they become mothers, but it will make them more effective mothers. It is known that planning and preparedness leads to success. Therefore, “Children should be born into a home where they are wanted and cared for, and to parents who are secure enough in their lives to provide for them materially and emotionally” (Mannien). Homes that are prepared to have children will raise them better than unprepared homes. 

After seeing the arguments for both sides it is very clear why the problem is so divided. It is hard to choose between the rights of the baby or the rights of the woman. If one is pro-choice then it seems that they are ok with the killing of babies, and if one if pro-life then they are restricting women and creating bad homes for children who were born to unready mothers. There is no clear answer and whatever side is picked seems to not cover all the problems. That is why common ground is needed. In order to find this common ground, people have to take the best points from both sides and combine them. Only when the best points from both sides are weighed against one another can it be decided which side is right. 

I grew up in a smaller Christian community in Charlotte, North Carolina. I had a Christian family, I went to a Christian school, and I had basically all religious or Christian friends. From the time I first entered school to the time that I left school I had bible classes, chapels, Church sermons, and family members all telling me what to believe. So since the Bible said murder was wrong, and all my teachers said abortion was murder I believed that abortion was wrong and considered myself pro-life like a good Christian should be. But there were certain things that I wasn’t sure of when I met a rare pro-choice advocate. They would ask me things like “what about rape?” Or “What happens to the kids when the mom can’t support the child?” Forcing the mother to raise a child of rape, or have children become orphans just didn’t seem right to me. I went to pro-life marches and shared pro-life articles on Facebook because ethically I thought pro-life was the better option. After I got to college and I got away from all my friends in my hometown who thought the same way, and I was able to really look at the problem. I began to think that it is not right to limit women’s rights and force the child to be born because of my ethics, so I became undecided on the topic. Until I really started researching I was never able to form an opinion. Yet as I began to research for this paper I found a book called Pro Life, Pro-Choice Shared Values in the Abortion Debate by Bertha Mannien that helped me figure out where I stand on the topic of abortion. Just like me she grew up in a Christian home and originally believed in pro-life, but she later transitioned because of the undeniable facts that went along with pro-choice. In her book she said that she “defends a pro-choice position and yet acknowledged[s] that there is still much more to the ethical debate than simply a question of rights” (Mannien). She was able to argue that the fetus isn’t just “a mere mass of cells”, and that women still have the right to get an abortion (Mannien). After I read this book I finally found a position that described what I felt. That is why now I am arguing that one can be moral and Christian and still believe in abortion because ultimately it is necessary for women. Ethically it is wrong to kill people no matter how small they are or what form they are in. As Dr. Seuss once said “a person’s a person, no matter how small” (“A Quote from Horton Hears a Who”). Even though doctor Seuss wasn’t talking about abortion, he got the gist of it in a simple rhyme. Yet women are equal members of society so all possible rights should be extended to them. It is possible to give women all of the rights they deserve, such as abortion, while still believing that an unborn person is a person. Taking these principles from both sides I try to stand in the middle and understand both sides. 

Now is it actually possible to believe that an unborn person is a person while still believing in abortion? The answer to that question seems like a no, because if an unborn person is a person then killing the unborn fetus would be like killing an infant. But that is not the case, for example, “in 1914, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that a physician cannot operate on a patient without her consent, even if the surgery is meant to benefit the patient.” in this case and another in 1978 where a man would not give up his bone marrow to help his cousin who needed it in order to live “it was concluded that that one human being is under no legal compulsion to give aid or to take action to save that human being or to rescue” (Mannien). In this 1978 case, McFall V. Shimp, the conclusion was not that the man who needed the bone marrow “lacked a right to life or that his life was otherwise worthless. Rather the conclusion was that no person’s right to life includes the right to forcibly use another’s body for sustenance” (Mannien). This decision is what makes it morally acceptable to abort a person from your body. The right of the mother to not let the fetus use her body for sustenance (Mannien). Therefore, you can believe that unborn person is a person and that abortion is still a viable option. But why is this argument important and why does it matter that an unborn person is still a person while maintain pro-choice? It matters that an unborn person is a person because it shows the gravity of an abortion. Abortion is not simply removing cells from their body, instead it removes an actual person. One cannot treat a fetus like it is a finger nail, or something growing on their body, because it is not. A fetus will become a living baby in only a few months, therefore, the decision to get an abortion is not an easy one. 

Since this is not an easy decision for the mother to make people need to begin to help instead of judge the mother. According to Aspen Baker in her TED talk about abortion “as much as abortion is hotly debated, it's still rare for us, whether as fellow women or even just as fellow people, to talk with one another about the abortions that we have” (“A Better Way to Talk About Abortion”). These mothers need to know that the situation that they are in is ok, and that others have been there before. Even though an abortion is a hard decision for the mother to make, her ability to choose whether to get an abortion or not is necessary for women’s rights. This choice helps women decide when they want to have a kid. They can finish getting an education, or secure a stable job if they don’t have to worry about an unexpected pregnancy interfering. Women being able to have kids when they want can finally bring them close to the equality that has been fought for many years to obtain. Taking this right away from women can actually be morally worse than aborting the unborn fetus. Restricting women and making them simply be baby incubators is worse than aborting the fetus. Forcing the woman to keep the child instead of getting an abortion can ruin the lives of and cause suffering for both the mother and her new child. If she cannot provide for the child then the child will grow up without many of the things it needs, or if the mother gives up the child for adoption it may grow up without parents at all. Now not all abortion situations can cause circumstances like these, but still an unexpected child is an 18-year roadblock for most women. An unborn person may still be a person, but the mother is a person too, she is a person who has rights as well. Since she is carrying and sustaining the fetus she should be able to do whatever she wants to with her body. That is why I believe that even though an unborn person is a person, women still should have the right to an abortion. 

In conclusion, Abortion is a very hot topic, but the answer is quite simple. No matter what you believe in every human deserves equal rights. Even though the fetus is more than just a clump of cells, the rights of the fetus should not determine the life of the mother. In order for women to progress and gain full equality abortion is needed. And just because you are religious does not mean you have to be against abortion. It says in John 15:12-13 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (“John 15:12-13”). If everyone loved a little more and cared for others, then abortion might not be such a heated topic.
