When people hear the word “Pro-Choice”, there is a negative stigma attached to it. Many people fail to realize what Pro-Choice is really about. Pro-Choice does NOT mean Pro-Abortion. Pro –Choice defends women’s rights to have control over their bodies and their lives. In this paper, I will be addressing controversial questions, and the effects of limiting women’s right.
What is a fetus?
A fetus is subjectively defined by a person(1). Many women, who find themselves pregnant sometimes would name the fetus, talk to it, sing to it, etc. However, to many women its significants is equivalent to an organ her in body. This subjective identification brings up the question, is the fetus a human being?
Is the fetus a human being?
It is important to understand that there is a difference between “human” and “human being”. Of course the fetus is human. It is made up of human tissue and human DNA. However that could be equivalent to a strand of hair or a piece of skin. To be considered a human being, one must be a separate individual, exhibiting human-like qualities such as anger, joy, or hatred. A fetus can not be thought of as a human being due to the fact that their soul base of survival is ONLY on the woman carrying the child. Unlike an infant that could be cared for my nearly anyone, a fetus can only be nurtured by the pregnant woman. Also displaying human- like qualities such as anger, joy, or hatred, can only be developed due to social interaction with others. This issue then brings us to the question; does the fetus have a “right to like”?
Does the fetus have a “right to life”?
I had read an article about this written by Joyce Arthur, an online article writer for Pro-Choice Action Network. Arthur stated that “Even if a fetus can be said to have a right to life, this does not include the right to use the body of another human being. For example, the state cannot force people to donate organs or blood, even to save someone's life. We are not obligated by law to risk our lives jumping into a river to save a drowning victim, noble as that might be. Therefore, even if a fetus has a right to life, a pregnant woman is not required to save it by loaning out her body for nine months against her will. (In response, anti-choicers( Pro-Life) say that being pregnant is not the same as being a Good Samaritan, because the woman chose to have sex, voluntarily accepting the risk of pregnancy. But sex is not a contract for pregnancy—people have a right to non-procreative sex. Their argument is also sexist and puritanical because it punishes women, not men, for their sexual behaviour.)”(1).
The Consequences of Limiting Women’s Rights
Will making abortion illegal, will women stop having abortion? NO! Women who are desperate enough will look for it and find it! Women will find unsafe abortions or try to self abort which could leave a woman mutilated or dead. According to a U.S Department of Labor study entitled, “Maternal Mortality in Fifteen States”, Deaths due to illegal abortion approached 50 percent of the nations maternal mortality(2). In other countries were abortion is illegal, 25-50 percent of women die from an illegal abortion (2). How can preventing safe sterile procedures benefit anyone?
The Other Side
What many people fail to realize (Pro-Lifers), is by making abortion illegal it won’t stop anything. Sex will still happen, rape will still happen and if a woman is desperate enough she will find away to terminate the pregnancy. What good will it due to eliminate safe procedures? Many women would die due to infections or bleeding. Pro-Life advocates fight for life but the questions to ask are; what about the life of the woman? Is her life not worth fighting for? What about her right to life? What about her rights?
Conclusion
In conclusion, I leave you with this thought. By making abortion less accessible, it opens up a flood gate. What will be taken away next? The morning-after pill? Birth control? Condoms? Where will it stop? It is up to the woman, not men in an office putting restrictions on women’s bodies!
Work Cited
1. Personhood: Is a Fetus a Human Being?, by Joyce Arthur
http://www.prochoiceactionnetwork-canada.org/articles/fetusperson.shtml#1
2. Criminalizing abortion will have disastrous consequences, by Leslie J. Reagan
http://www.progressive.org/media_mpreagan030106
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