Morality And Legality Of Abortion Essay, Research Paper

Morality and Legality of Abortion

Somewhere amidst the abortion debates of the last quarter century, the

real issue has been lost. The focus has become too religious for a country that

has separated church and state. Therefore, I won’t argue the religious rights

and wrongs of abortion. No answers can be derived until we focus on what the

law and our citizens do value, because this is how laws are changed. American

laws hold sacred the value of human rights….but when do a woman’s end, and a

child’s begin?

The saving grace, and ultimately, the great flaw of the Constitution is

it’s variability. Our founding fathers created it as an open door, to allow

future generations to correct their mistakes, but also to make them, and to

contradict themselves ethically and morally, on the whim of a generation. As a

nation, we have always attempted a degree of morality in our laws, a shared

belief in what is right and wrong that is eforced by the law. We assert that to

ahrm another intentionally or otherwise is wrong and deserving of punishment.

Our laws condemn murderers and shun drunk drivers, charging involuntary

manslaughter in the case that he/she inadvertently kills another in an accident.

There are severe repercussions for rapists and assault of another person. We

also often assert that to harm oneself intentionally or in a way that could

have been prevented by our own precaution is wrong. These examples include the

seatbelt and helmet laws and the ingestion of harmful drugs. In keeping with our

common and lawful morality that is careful to protect human life, the legality

of abortion appears incongruent.

An important question of this issue is of the point at which the life

conceived inside a woman’s body is considered a life, rather than her personal

property. After conception, is there such a point htat “the right to choose”

can be exercised as an alternative to a condom or pill to prevent the said

conception? Prochoisce supporters wil continue to argue that a woman has a

right to do with her body as she chooses including termination of an unwanted

pregnancy. However, nature has decreed the bodies of the same women as

indispensible protection for a life too vulnerable to survive outside of this

sanctuary. Should this biological right create a parallel between the human

gestation period and a 1-month trial run?

Whether not abortion is morally acceptable, it is in many cases

replacing conventional birth contral and postponing women’s decisions as to

whether they desire a child. Factors such as invoncenience, financial stability,

and bad relationships have become grounds for abortion. These feelings should

be evaluated before a women begins to engage in the very act that promotes pro-

creation. The necessary precautions can then be taken to prevent the otherwise

inevitable, rather than trying to reverse a life already brought to existence.

Abortion was legalized at a time when women burned their bras and

demanded to be liberated, mainly from men. Somehow this movement shocked a

generally conservative government into giving these women what they wanted:

absolute freedom from men. Today, with their demands fulfilled, perhaps women

in the government alike have taken a moment to look at their handiwork and

wonder, “What have we done?”