Abortion Essay, Research Paper

Introduction:

This piece of coursework is about the issue of abortion, the Catholic Churchs view point to abortion, the pro and anti abortionists and the implications it has on modern day society and individuals. The Catholic churchs view is that all human life is sacred and that includes the baby in the womb.

What is Abortion?

Abortion is ending the life of an unborn child or ?Foetus? before it has had the chance to live.

Abortion was legalised in Britain in 1967 (The Abortion Act).

In 1966, with the encouragement of ALRA, Liberal MP David Steel decided to sponsor an abortion law reform bill. Its passage through parliament was far from smooth. Religious groups, government ministers, doctors and medical organisations all had strong views on the subject and there were several influential bodies which opposed the bill. The bill was modified to reflect some objections but MPs could not ignore clear public support for legal abortion. On 27th October 1967 the Abortion Act became law in England, Scotland and Wales and took effect six months later on 27th April 1968.

Pro-Abortion

Some people are pro-abortion for a number of reasons. A lot of people think that abortion is ok in certain circumstances e.g when the women was raped or on the grounds of incest, but these types of circumstances only account for a very small percent of all abortions which are carried out. Some people believe that it is the womans right, her life, her body, her choice. Many people think that if abortion wasn?t legalised then it would force many women to go to ?underground? and get dangerous operations done by unqualified people.

Many young girls get abortions if they don?t feel that they are ready to be parents and that they have things like school to worry about. Many women get abortions simply because a baby is inconvenient or they might not have the money to support a baby.

The Catholic Churches view

The catholic church has always been against any form of contraception but I think it feels very strongly towards abortion. Its main view is that all human life is sacred, even the baby in the womb. The Catholic Church takes this view for a number of reasons. In Jeremiah 1:5, it says:

Before you were formed in the body of your mother I had knowledge of you, and before your birth I made you holy; I have given you the work of being a prophet to the nations.

This tells us that god had already made us before we are born and this backs up the theory that every human life is unique and that we are indeed killing a person by aborting it.

In genesis 1:27, we are told that god made man in his image which tells us that we don?t have the right to take away a life.

In Psalm 139 we are told that god knitted us together and that he saw us even before we were formed. This again backs up the opinion that we are all individual and unique from the moment of conception.

About 30 years ago Pope Paul VI issued ?Humanae Vitae? which upheld the Christian teaching that all artificial contraception was wrong.

Sources like these help us to understand where the catholic church gets its view from and how us as Christians should live and respect gods laws not only our own countries.

Conclusion

My conclusion to all this is based on my own personal opinion. I think that abortion could be right in certain cases like rape but I still think that there are lots of other options available to the mother like adoption or fostering. I believe that the law should be changed to prevent women from aborting just because they don?t feel like they want a baby or that it will be too inconvenient for them. I think that there should be far more information on other options when it comes to having a baby rather than abortion.