Abortion is a human rights issue as well as a civil rights issue. Does our country not strive to make laws to protect human rights?
On Jan. 22, 1973, as a result of the court case Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion in all 50 states for the entire course of a woman's pregnancy. The primary argument of the majority of justices centered on the health risks and safety for the mother. However, the case says otherwise: "Maternity, or additional offspring, may force upon the woman a distressful life and future. Psychological harm may be imminent. Mental and physical health may be taxed by child care. There is also the distress, for all concerned, associated with the unwanted child, and there is the problem of bringing a child into a family already unable, psychologically or otherwise, to care for it. In other cases, as in this one, the additional difficulties and continuing stigma of unwed motherhood may be involved. All these are factors the woman and the responsible physician will consider in consultation."
These reasons include myriad social and economic problems.
Many people argue that abortion should be allowed for pregnant rape victims. Assault rape pregnancies are rare. According to a report published by the U.S. Department of Justice, about one or two pregnancies occur for every 1,000 cases of reported rape. We cannot return the violence of assault with the cruelty of killing an innocent baby.
There are many other options to turn to when faced with unplanned pregnancy. Abortion is not the only answer; rather, there is the widely used option of adoption. How do you know that that unborn child you killed could not have turned out to be the one who found the cure for AIDS? By following through with abortion, one is snatching away an innocent child's future, its dreams and hopes.
Does one really think we are freer if the government grants women a choice between birth and abortion? It is not, in any way, moral to choose to commit murder. As Mother Teresa notably said, "It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
