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SHOULD COUNTRIES LEGALISE ABORTION?
A country is an area of land that has its own government or region legally identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with sets of previously independent or differently associated peoples with distinct political characteristics.
Legalise means to allow something by law or to authorise. Abortion is defined as the intentional ending of a pregnancy, usually by a medical operation or the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a foetus or embryo prior to viability. Another source defines it as the removal of an embryo or foetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy.
Considering these sources I would define abortion as the termination of a pregnancy either intentionally or due to health or other reasons. Should countries legalise abortion? This question poses a lot of thoughts in my mind, what do governments think about abortion? It is an enemy or a friend? Does it concern us at all? Yes, it does. Abortion is one of the most important, widely discussed and highly contentious topics in our world today. Firstly we shall discuss why countries should legalise abortion and later on discuss why it should not. Countries should legalise because women should have the right to choose whether they want to keep the pregnancy or not. The birth of a child may ruin may a woman’s education, goals or aspirations so legalising abortion may help women fulfil their set goals and aspirations. Sarah Bosley a writer for The Guardian newspaper in her article “UN states told they must legalise abortion” (2011, October 24) describes how illegalising abortion infringes women’s rights. Her article on her blog found at http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/sarah-boseley-global-health/2011/oct/24/abortion-unitednations also puts to light what experts say about the legalisation of abortion. In countries where abortion is illegal women or couples are forced to keep pregnancies even though they do not have the resources to take care of the baby or not ready financially and emotionally to have a child. Abortion should be legalised because in countries where abortion is illegal like Namibia and there has been a rise in baby dumping and infanticide and these social ills affect the day to day activities of a society. Legalising abortion would reduce the number of disabilities as a considerable percentage of disabilities are caused by failed abortions. Most of these failed abortions are unsafe and mostly occur in countries where abortion is illegal. According to Cheng, M. (2012, January 20). Rate of abortion is highest in countries where practice is banned. The Independent, “About 47,000 women died from unsafe abortions in 2008, and another 8.5 million women had serious medical complications.” Abortion should be legalised because many women have died due to unsafe abortions popularly known as back-streets abortions where unorthodox and unsafe methods are used to terminate pregnancies. The graph below shows the number of women who have died due to the illegalisation of abortion over the years. The number has decreased due to better methods of aborting hence showing that it is safer to abort now than then.
Retrieved August 13, 2012, from http://www.abortionfacts.com/online_books/love_them_both/why_cant_we_love_them_both_27.asp#How%20many%20women%20died?
Besides these problems brought about by the illegalisation of abortion there are more problems brought about by this contentious law.
The perpetuation of poverty can also be reduced considerably as people will only be able to bear children they are able to support. Forcing a woman or a couple to have a child when in fact they are not ready or do not have the resources leads to more problems such as baby dumping and child neglect. The legalisation of abortion also reduces problems such as maintenance payment and parental rivalry due to unplanned pregnancies which have been on the rise in the past five years. According to Cheng, M. (2012, January 20). Rate of abortion is highest in countries where practice is banned. The Independent, “Abortion rates are higher in countries where the procedure is illegal and nearly half of all abortions worldwide are unsafe…” with this in mind more women die in countries that do not allow abortion than in those countries that allow abortion. The legalisation of abortion can to certain extent reduce single parenthood and the problems brought about by it. This problem usually affects women as they are the ones who usually take care of the children especially in the early stages of one’s life. This brings about issues of women abuse, maintenance payment problems. Some men do not even attempt to take care of their children they abandon their responsibilities leaving women with so many responsibilities. On the other hand countries should legalize because it causes a considerable number of deaths in women per year. A large percentage of women under the age of 25 are responsible for most abortions, hence countries are robbed of young, active women who can make a difference in the society. Abortion also causes psychological impairments such as regret, depression and emotional torture to the aborting women.
The women are left scarred for life many of them never recover from these ills. Legalising abortion may also ruin the women’s chances of bearing children in future. This may also lead to other problems such as health problems and marital problems. The termination of a pregnancy does not give the foetus in the stomach a chance to life. A number of religious institutions and ideologies have argued that abortion is murder as it kills innocent children though it may be a foetus it is a living being which given the chance will take its place on this earth. There are a number of contraceptives that one can take to prevent unwanted pregnancies. These include contraceptive pills, loops, Intra-uterine devices, condoms and injections, so if people are not ready and know they do not have the resources or the time to take care of a gift that is so precious as a child they should make use of these.
As always said “Prevention is better than cure,” better for one to prevent the pregnancy than to abort. The legalisation of abortion may also encourage or promote irresponsible behaviour especially amongst the youth. This may be one more reason to engage in premarital sex, unsafe sex and other related problems because one knows they have an escape goat which is abortion. This will trigger the spread of HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Infections. Having looked at the cons and pros of abortion and why countries should or should not legalise abortion, my stance is that countries should legalise abortion because this will reduce the number of women dying from abortion as it has been proven that more women die because of abortion in countries where abortion is illegal than in countries where it is legal. Considering that there has been a significant rise in baby dumping, child neglect and infanticide in my society legalising abortion would reduce these problems to a certain extent.
A number of women are suffering and struggling to take care of their children because the fathers have neglected them in the pursuit that they were not ready to be fathers or that they do not have the resources to take care of their children.
I also think that women should be given the platform to decide whether or not they want to terminate or to keep the pregnancy not to be forced by a constitution to do something reluctantly. My other reason is that those that perform abortion in countries where it is illegal usually perform it unsafely or charge exorbitant prices therefore countries should legalise it and charge women affordable for this life-changing procedure. In conclusion though abortion is seen as more of an enemy it may do a country more good than harm therefore countries should legalise Abortion.
REFERENCES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/abortion
Last accessed 11 August 2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/legalize
Last accessed 12 August 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/sarah-boseley-global-health/2011/oct/24/abortion-uni http://ph.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120222040117AAz3ng5tednations
Last accessed 13 August 2012