Abortion opponents try to block Abortion rights advocates at a rally on the steps of the Kansas Statehouse in Topeka, Kan. Tuesday. Much to the dismay of abortion-rights advocates, Kansas has been part of a wave in which states with Republican governors and GOP-controlled Legislatures enacted new restrictions
on abortion providers.
There are a few topics that will drive friends and family apart, where people feel that their personal view is the ‘right answer’ to a complex religious and moral dilemma. Abortion is something that many people can view as unfortunate and tragic, but a fierce debate rages between people of the pro-life and pro-choice communities. The two sides label each other as murderers or anti-women’s rights, but there is an alternative to the two extremes: one that eliminates the taboo on sex and, through better education about birth control and adoption, can make abortion obsolete.
The pro-life ideology aims to allow every child a chance at life— not only those who are planned or initially wanted. The movement derives from the idea that life begins at conception. There is an undertaking inside the pro-life community to call fetuses ‘preborn children’ and to try to classify the preborn children as legally recognized people resulting in the classification of abortion as murder. There is a religious component attached to the pro-life movement. This is not to say that every pro-life individual is religious, but some pro-life arguments state that Christians should do everything in their power to protect the unborn.
One pro-life website, abort73.com is filled with testimonies of women who regretted their abortion. One woman said she remembers the date of her abortion, but when she was a 19-year-old college student she couldn’t imagine raising a baby by herself. The pro-life movement tries to get women to keep their babies or give them up for adoption. From the pro-life point of view every baby, even those who are the result of rape or incest, are a blessing and should be legally recognized as people.
The pro-choice movement stems from the idea that women have the right to decide what they want to do with their own body. Women should have the right to choose if and when they get pregnant, and that means that the option of terminating a pregnancy should remain available. There are cases where women become pregnant due to rape or incest or where having a baby would lead to the death of the mother. Especially in those cases, pro-choice activists argue that abortion should be legal. They argue that women should be able to decide what happens to their bodies. They also argue that the pro-life movement stems from religion and due to separation of church and state the pro-life movement is unconstitutional.
Before Roe v. Wade women would turn to illegal abortions, often resulting in death. The pro-choice website Pro-Choice America.org also includes testimonies of women who had their baby die in the womb and having an abortion saved their life. Many of them were able to have children later in life thanks to a life-saving abortion.
The pro-choice movement agrees with the pro-life movement that abortion is a difficult decision and one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. The testimonies from both the pro-life site abort73.com and the pro-choice American.org show that abortion is a life changing experience and for many women it leads to heartbreak and shame.
In an ideal world every baby would be planned, wanted and have two loving parents, but biology makes reproduction easy. Sex is a natural human desire and treating sex as something shameful only leads to more misunderstandings and unwanted pregnancies.
The only way to combat unwanted pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases is to have better sexual education. Education focused solely on abstinence creates a fear culture where sex before marriage is viewed as shameful and young women are scared to talk about their options. This is not to say that America needs to follow the European model and have naked people on billboards, but educating people about options such as condoms, birth control or the morning after pill could make it so abortion is no longer needed.
There are alternatives to abortion. Most college campuses give out free condoms and cheap birth control pills. Condoms are easy to use and help prevent the spread of STDs. The pill is also easy to use and allows women the freedom to choose if and when they want to become pregnant. The morning after pill can be used if protection is initially forgotten.
Adoption is also a great option because many couples can’t have biological children. A woman who decides she cannot take care of a child can give it to someone who can. Adoption gives children a chance at life and also helps give people who may not have had the chance to have kids of their own a child.
There is no shame in using protection or giving up a child for adoption. By improving the system of sexual education into one that demystifies sex and promotes healthy sexual relationships, abortion can become a thing of the past.
Please visit http://www.uwbrandingiron.com/abortionwhatdoyouthin/ to take the poll and write a letter to the editor about where you stand on the abortion debate.
