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Our stance on Abortion
Abortion is the termination of a female pregnancy by killing the fetus. The legality of abortions is one of the most debated social subject in the United States today. Currently, any women living in the United States is legally allowed to have an abortion without any punishment.
Opinion 1
Not only is abortion one of the most controversial issues in our times, but it is also the social issue that I am personally most passionate about.
As a Catholic I hold on to my belief that human life begins at the moment of conception, something science agrees with, and that human life is the most precious gift that God gives us. However these reasons alone are not the only reason that I am very passionate about the issue, but because I know of two instances within my family that are instances that way too many times end in the death of a baby.
The first is the instance of a teenage girl becoming pregnant, but having to raise the child by herself. This is the case for my mother. She became pregnant when she was a teenager and she had to be a single mom. She decided to keep her baby, which is my older sister. Being a single mom for her was no easy task whatsoever and the prospect of the tough life of being a single mom is why many women choose to abort. Many teenage girls think that once they have the baby, their lives are ruined. Although hard, it is not impossible to be a single mother. My mom was in college so she had to be a single mother while getting her degree. Many would see this to be impossible but it is possible. At the end of the day, my mom came through and all is good, and I cannot imagine my life without my sister. She is truly the best sister I could ever ask for is like my second mom. I am truly grateful to my mom for keeping sister and raising her to be the great person she is. (I get teary eyed every time I think about this). The second is the horrible instance when a women gets raped. However in the process she becomes pregnant. This is the story of my grandmother. Again many times women choose to abort in this situation, and it is hard to talk about because rape is such a heinous and horrible action. My grandmother, with the help of my grandfather, chose to keep the child and to take care of it. To the day of her death my grandmother was scarred from that incident, but an abortion would not have healed that wound at all. Instead she took that horrible incident and chose to come out with some good. My aunt was born and she became my Godmother. She has played a very influential role in my life and again, I cannot imagine life without her. She went on to become very successful in the education field and is going to receive her third doctorate.
Ultimately what I am trying to stress is that life is sacred, and the practice of terminating one should be illegal. I believe that abortion should be illegal under the terms that everyone is created equal, with the certain inalienable right of life. The only time that I would be ok with abortion is with the life of the mother being in danger because at that point its a life for a life. We need to be loving to those teenage mothers that find themselves in that situation and comfort them and be there for them. We need to stress that keeping the baby will no doubt be the best decision they ever made.
Opinion 2
This will probably be an opinion less decisive than you might want it to be. The problem with my opinion is that I'm almost half and half when it comes to abortion.
For example, when it comes to the abortion of a child who:
1. Would not cause any harm to the mother in the carriage of the baby or birth
2. Would be born to mother or family that can afford the pregnancy and birth and
3. Would be born to a woman not viewed ready for raising a child (girls with teen at the end of their age),
I am against it. But there are cases that I am for it:
1. Pregnancy or delivery might be fatal for the mother
2. Born to a family or mother so poor that in some case the pregnancy and delivery would be more expensive than to abort.
3. Victims of rape
Although many pro-life people argue that when a man and a woman have unprotected sex they should face the consequences, that's a terrible thing to say to some people. To me, the whole situation should be handled differently. First, as long as pro-life supporters and regular people keep antagonizing young girls who have babies, calling them names like "slut" or whore," there will be abortions. The pressure will be too much for 16 year old girls who made a bad mistake, but mistakes can never be wished back. So for one, lay off the poor girls. They themselves know well enough the error they made, they don't need people, maybe even their own friends, rubbing it in because that probably will tip the iceberg to one side when deciding on keeping the baby.
Secondly, seeing that it's not a point made a lot, it is probably a faulty one but what about adoption? If you don't want the baby that much to a point where you would want to kill it, give him/her away (I'm not going to get into the argument of when a baby should be considered a baby because there is never a clear winner). The problems I might see with it is that maybe this could create an incredible over crowding in foster homes. There is also the argument on how the child will feel being raised as an adopted son. I have a friend who was adopted and I have heard his story, it is a sad one. The child will always have a voice in the back of his/her head telling him/her "you weren't good enough'' and 'you're parents never loved you." It's a terrible voice to have in your head. As a non-adopted person though, I believe that the child would appreciated being let to live and adopted than death before birth. But that's a non-adopted person, one truly cannot understand the demons another deals with personally unless they have dealt with them before. Sometimes those demons are so strong they cause a person to take their own life. Then it turns into an argument of which is worse, abortion or possible suicide. That is an argument though that I would never feel comfortable participating in.
So where is the line drawn? Where do we decide that it is right or wrong to have an abortion? Could we ever have halfway abortion law in this country? I don't know, that's why this opinion isn't as bold and decisive as most.
