Legalizing Abortion?

Abortion is an extremely controversial issue that the government is constantly being pressed to deal with. Many people think that abortion should be legal because it is a purely religious issue. That is not true. Abortion has nothing to do with God or religion. The government should take it’s stance on abortion based on the answer to a scientific question: When does life begin? Let’s take a look at three common arguments in support of abortion.

1. A woman has the right to do what she wants with her body.

This is an absolutely true statement; women should be in control of their own bodies. But a child in a woman’s body is not part of her body. A fetus is an entirely separate human being. If they were the same body, they would have the same DNA. No baby has the same DNA as its mother. Also, a good half of fetuses are male. Can you honestly say that a male fetus is part of a female body?

2. A fetus is not viable until (insert age); it is not really a baby

Most people say that a fetus is not viable, or not really a life, until it is three months old. Let’s assume for a minute that this is true. So what happens at three months to make the fetus a life? Is there some major change in development? Does the doctor sprinkle fairy dust on it? No. Nothing happens. If a fetus is not really alive at conception, then when does it become alive? When it’s big enough to see easily? When it’s born? Some people point to a particular stage in development, like hearing a heartbeat or developing a spinal cord. But there is no greater stage in development than conception. At the moment of conception, an embryo has all the genetic material it will ever have in its entire life. As soon as an egg and sperm unite, the embryo’s hair color, eye color, and all other unique characteristics are decided and they will not change. If you choose to say that a fetus is not a baby, then what is it? At what point does it become a baby?

3. Don’t impose your morals on other people

When asked what they think about abortion, most people will say something along the lines of, “I don’t like abortions, but I’m not going to stop someone else from doing it.” While this sounds like a nice thing to say, really think about what it means. What if we replace the word ‘abortion’ with ‘murder?’ “I don’t like murder, but I’m not going to stop someone else from doing it.” What if we replace it with Stealing? Cheating? Drinking and driving? Now it just sounds irrational. We have laws because we all agree that there are things we should not do, namely, things that hurt other people. These are things we agree that no one should do, because they harm someone else. If abortion is in fact the taking of an innocent life, then it is wrong for me, and wrong for you, and wrong for everyone. If abortion is really murder, then there should be rules in place to keep it from happening.