ISALC, Lewis and Clark College

Abortion: Pros and Cons by Felix Ramli

Nowadays, in this world, there are a lot of problems that can make tremendous conflicts for human beings. They are very complicated and bring a lot of argument and nobody knows what the exact answer is. They also have pros and cons. One of the most complex problems is abortion. Abortion means premature expulsion of human fetus (naturally or artificially) (National Right to Life [1], 1999). The most common abortion at this time is artificially induced, which involve surgical and medical abortion (1999). Disagreement about medically induced abortion created two political groups, which have opposite way of thinking, "Pro-life" and "Pro-choice." Pro-life is a group of people who are against any kind of abortion whatever the reasons are. Pro-choice is another group that would allow abortion in most situations if the woman decides. Abortion is a controversial problem and very few people are neutral (don't have opinions) about it. This problem has always been serious and when the United States legalized it, the number of abortion increased, and now about 1.5 million abortions are done each year (National Right to Life [4], 1999).

Abortion is an alternative that a woman can take for several reasons, such as if she has a health problem with her fetus or even herself; she is not ready to become a parent and have the responsibility to take care of her child; she doesn't want to be a single parent (because her husband has died or moved to another place); she has been raped; or, for whatever reasons, her husband or her family encourages her to abort the pregnancy. Most women who have had abortions are under 25 years old and unmarried (Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., 1999).

In general, a woman aborts her fetus because she doesn't want that child; perhaps the unwanted child comes from a rape or an act of incest, but it may be just the woman does not want a child at that time. Pro-life group is against this; they believe if a woman aborts her pregnancy, she will have stress from the abortion, in addition to the physical stress because of the incident (if there were a rape or incest) (Wisconsin Right to Life, 1999).

Pro-life group believes that abortion would bring a lot of problems and negative effects, but Pro-choice people have a different perspective; they believe that abortion is safe and there is no serious after effect. "Psychological harm" is one of the effects of abortion, in the opinion of Pro-life people. They contend that women will get horrible nightmares of their children after they have abortion, and they will regret and feel guilty about their decisions (National Right to Life [3], 1999). Right-to-life materials claim that abortion is usually more painful than most doctors predict. They report that the pain is the same as cancer, but not as bad as amputation (National Right to Life [2], 1999). The physical effects from the abortion usually appear in the future, such as tubal pregnancy and sterility (1999). People from the pro-life group have evidence that abortion can cause breast cancer (1999). The worst physical effect is death; it's recorded that 200 women have died from legal abortion since 1973 (1999).

Pro-choice people have a completely different point of view. They believe that abortion is safer than childbirth (Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., 1999). Pro-choice is sure that abortion doesn't hurt too much; the most common effect is menstrual cramps, with almost no serious effect from the abortion, such as heavy bleeding, infection, and death. A woman can even work in her normal activities after she had the abortion the day before (Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., 1999). According to Pro-choice advocates, the patient who experiences emotional feelings after an abortion, such as regret or sadness, will recover soon (Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc., 1999).

Abortion is a significant issue in our life because it might happen to anybody, even to our relatives or spouse. We see in just one problem, abortion, there are a lot of conflicts. There is still no conclusion because we can see this problem from many perspectives. If you are one who supports Pro-life or Pro-choice group, you cannot judge objectively if the other group has a different way of thinking. People cannot judge Pro-life people as a people who have no respect for human feeling because they would not allow a woman who had been raped to have an abortion. On the other hand people cannot say that Pro-choice is a better group because they are more aware of human needs. People will never know the feelings of women who have had an abortion unless they are the ones that are facing the abortion decision. To face this problem, people need to spend their time to think cautiously and to weigh both sides to make the best decision

National Right to Life [1] (1999). Defining "abortion." [online] Available: http://nrlc.org/abortion/asmf3.html (1999 November 2).

National Right to Life [2] (1999). Is abortion safe? Physical complications. [online] Available: http://nrlc.org/abortion/asmf13.html (1999, November 2).

National Right to Life [3] (1999). is abortion safe? Psychological consequences. [online] Available: http://nrlc.org/abortion/asmf14.html (1999, November 2).

National Right to Life [4] (1999). Is the unborn baby a human being? [online] Available: http://nrlc.org/abortion/wdlb/wd. (1999, November 2).

Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Inc. (1999). Abortion and commonly asked questions. [online] Available http://plannedparenthood.org/abortion/abortquestions.html {[1999, October 25).

Wisconsin Right to Life (1999). Frequently asked questions. [online] Available: http://wrtl.org/faq.html (1999 November 2).

Created by: krauss@lclark.edu
Updated: 11/14/99