Abstract

When writing an Abortion Pros and Cons Essay, it is important to maintain a balanced perspective—which can be tricky because abortion is such a polarizing issue for many people.  This article shows how to maintain that balance, first by defining abortion, second by objectively identifying the reasons given by both sides of the issue—i.e., the pros and cons of abortion; third by identifying abortion laws, and fourth by examining abortion statistics.  A conclusion is then provided based on the material examined in the article.

Introduction

Abortion is an enormously controversial issue.  It is a topic that divides hundreds of millions of people all over the world.  In some respects, what makes it so polarizing is that it is often conflated with the concept of women’s rights—i.e., those who support abortion (or are “pro-choice”) do so for a variety of reasons:  (a) because they feel that every woman should have the right to choose, (b) because they feel that having a legal and regulated option for women who want to terminate their pregnancies is safer and better for the common good than banning such facilities and essentially forcing women to have unsafe, back alley terminations, or (c) because they feel that population control is something every nation should engage in.  Those who oppose abortion have their reasons as well:  (a) they view it as immoral; (b) they feel it hurts women rather than helps, or (c) they believe it undermines the fabric of society by serving as a direct assault on the family, the life-bearing process, and the future of the world.  This article identifies the pros and cons of abortion as seen through the eyes of these two sides.

Define Abortion

The Oxford English Dictionary provides the following definition of abortion:  “The deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy” (OED, 2018).

The U.S. National Library of Medicine (2018) provides this definition:  “An abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy. It uses medicine or surgery to remove the embryo or fetus and placenta from the uterus. The procedure is done by a licensed health care professional.”

The Library of Medicine adds that “the decision to end a pregnancy is very personal. If you are thinking of having an abortion, most health care providers advise counseling.”

What do these two definitions tell us?  Abortion is both defined as a deliberate act designed to end a human pregnancy and as a medical procedure to remove an unwanted embryo or fetus from the uterus.  The terms used to describe the act of abortion provide two different connotative meanings.  The first draws focus to the fact that abortion is the termination of a human life growing in the mother’s womb.  The second draws focus to the medical terminology—fetus, embryo—and thus distances the act from the idea that it involves a human life.  However, following the second definition, the Library of Medicine also notes that abortion is indeed an act in which a pregnancy is terminated and that if one is thinking of pursuing this option, one should seek counseling.  Abortion, therefore, is not something that the United States government believes should be taken lightly, although it asserts that every woman should have the legal right to procure an abortion.

Abortion Pros / Cons

Pros

According to those who are pro-choice, legalization of abortion makes it medically safer for women to terminate their pregnancies, as trained medical staff is available at facilities to assist in the termination of the pregnancy.  If abortion were outlawed, women who wanted an abortion would have to take measures into their own hands, which, according to this argument, could end up harming them both physically and psychologically.  According to Upadhyay et al. (2015) less than 0.25% of abortions conducted today lead to long-term major health problems for women. 

Another argument used to show the positive side of abortion legalization is that it gives women the right to choose—which they feel is especially important if an early check-up reveals that the baby will suffer from a debilitating disease or if there is any other reason for which the woman might want to terminate the pregnancy.  Having the option to choose is of utmost importance, according to this line of thinking.

A third argument posed by those who support the right to have an abortion is that it is a method of population control.  According to utilitarian professor Peter Singer, “abortion is justified…as a method for curbing overpopulation” (Horgan, 2012).  Utilitarianism is a philosophy which asserts that the greatest common good should be the main pursuit of any society.  According to such a philosophy, abortion would be justifiable if it could be shown that by limiting the number of births in a society the society would benefit.  China is one example of a country that has implemented strict rules regarding population control.

Other arguments for abortion include the notion that a baby who is unwanted should not be brought into the world, it helps to reduce costs associated with welfare, it can reduce the amount of poverty and crime within a community, and it is a fundamental right protected by the Constitution.

Cons

Those who oppose the legalization of abortion argue that it is immoral.  Regardless of whether one is terminating the pregnancy because the baby has a genetic condition (which make abortion in this case a type of discrimination, similar to what the racist eugenics movement of the early 20th century engaged in with its forced sterilization methods) or because the mother simply prefers to terminate as a last resort to having to shoulder the responsibility of raising a child, the argument or immorality rests upon the idea that deliberately terminating a pregnancy is essentially murder.

Another argument against abortion is that it does in fact hurt women and can cause long-term physical and psychological health issues.  Abortion can make it harder for... Wade was based on too liberal of an interpretation of the Constitution, abortions reduce the number of children who can be placed for adoption, and that doctors who engage in the practice of abortion violate their Hippocratic Oath which is an oath that all health care practitioners take and that is based on the idea that they will support life—not deliberately take steps to terminate life.

Abortion Laws

Abortion is legal to some degree or another in almost all parts of the world today.  Generally, throughout the West (the U.S., Canada, and most of Europe) as well as in Russia and China, abortion is legal upon request.  In states where a strong conservative or Christian culture still persists, the practice of abortion is still banned altogether.  These states include Nicaragua, Vatican City, Malta and the Dominican Republic.  Malta is the only EU member state to totally ban abortion.  The Constitution of the Dominican Republic states that the right to life is “inviolable from conception until death.”  In various other parts of the world, abortion is only legal under certain conditions, such as if the mother’s life is threatened should she carry the child to term, or if rape is the cause of conception.

Abortion laws in the U.S. were changed as a result of the Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade (1973), in which the Court ruled that abortion must be legalized nationwide.  The landmark ruling reversed the earlier bans that existed on the practice among many states.  It was also seen as a landmark development in the Women’s Movement, with the freedom of choice lauded as a victory for women’s rights.  According to the Guttmacher Institute (2018), the U.S. Supreme Court “has held that a state cannot ban abortion before viability (the point at which a fetus can survive outside the uterus), and that any restriction on abortion after viability must contain exceptions to protect the life and health of the woman.” 

However, just because the procurement of an abortion is now legal does not mean that the federal government is willing to pay for it.  On the contrary, the Hyde Amendment passed later on in the 1970s, “bans federal dollars from being used for abortion coverage for women insured by Medicaid, the nation’s main public health insurance program for low-income Americans” (Guttmacher Institute, 2018).  In other words, abortion may be legal but the federal government still feels conflicted enough about it to refuse footing the bill for poor women who cannot afford it on their own.  That does not mean, though, that state funds cannot be used—and indeed they are for women whose Medicaid pays for abortion services.

Ironically, Jane Roe, whose real name was Norma McCorvey ended up becoming a right-to-life advocate and joining the anti-abortion movement in the 1990s, some two decades after her suit made it possible for abortions to be legal everywhere in the U.S.  McCorvey has since filed to reopen her case and have it overturned.  Based on her experiences and the experiences of other women with whom she has met, McCorvey came to believe that abortion does much more harm than good and that many women were turning to abortion as a means of birth control rather than as a last-ditch effort for truly desperate or needy women.

Abortion laws are unlikely to change anytime soon as the subject is so controversial and polarizing that any political leader would risk political suicide by outlawing a practice that is supported by such a vocal portion of the population.  However, as more and more people become vocal critics of abortion and a culture shift occurs in states that have legalized abortion across the board, the possibility of legalized abortion being overturned may increase with time.  In Russia, for instance, the growing support for the Orthodox Church and its opposition to legalized abortion may result in the overturning of the law—though Putin, for his part, has indicated that at least for now legalized abortion should remain in order to reduce the risk of underground abortion culture rising.

Abortion Statistics

The Guttmacher Institute provides a look at abortion statistics from around the world:

Approximately 25 million abortions occur every year around the world.
4 in 10 pregnancies in the U.S. in 2011 ended with an abortion.
In 2014, nearly 20% of all pregnancies ended with an abortion.
Roughly 1 million abortions occurred in the U.S. in 2014.
Roughly half of all women who have an abortion also report having had one previously as well.
Roughly one out of every 20 women—or 5% of women—is likely to have an abortion by the time she is 20 years of age in the U.S.
Roughly one out of every 5 women—or 20% of women—is likely to have an abortion by she is 30 years of age.
Abortion rates are trending lower since the abortion was legalized in 1973 via Roe v. Wade in the U.S.
African-American women are more than 3x more likely to have an abortion in the U.S. than white women.
In 2015 in New York City, more African-American babies were aborted than were actually born.
In 2014, 59% of women having an abortion already had given birth previously to at least one child.
Three-quarters of all patients having an abortion in 2014 were from a low or poor socio-economic background.
The most commonly given reasons of women choosing to have an abortion are:

Fear of responsibility
Fear that the baby would interfere with…