Abortion Position Paper Example
The abortion debate has divided people into two categories, and one of them views abortion as a serious breach of human rights. In abortion position paper example essaythis topic will be discussed. For example in Malaysia, abortion is illegal except in cases when a physician says that continuing the pregnancy poses a threat to the mother's life, physical condition, and mental health. Abortion is still prohibited even if the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest, in cases of foetal impairment or for economic or social reasons. With that being said, I believe that abortion should be legalised without any restrictions.
First and foremost, abortion should be legalised to protect the rights of victims pregnant by rape by taking into account the psychological and mental trauma involved. Women who undergo the traumatic experience of rape should not have to go through another traumatic experience of carrying out an unwanted pregnancy and giving birth to an unwanted child. Abortion will help prevent the victims from constantly being reminded that they were raped and are carrying their rapists’ child. If a mother is forced to raise a child conceived in rape, she may have difficulty accepting it which could ultimately lead to child neglect. Not only that, the mother and the child could face ostracism in society. Thus, abortion laws need to be re-evaluated and legalized without restriction to protect victim’s rights.
Furthermore, access to legal and professionally-performed abortions will reduce the permanent injuries and deaths caused by unsafe and illegal abortions. According to the World Health Organisation, at least 22,800 women die annually as a result of complications of unsafe abortions and between two to seven million sustain long-term damage. They found that the law does not affect a woman’s decision to have an abortion but the legal status of abortion did significantly affect the risks involved. Hence, prohibiting abortions does not stop abortions; women would simply have abortions by illegal means, so it is better to provide women with safe and legal ways to do an abortion.
Besides that, abortion should be legalised as women have a moral right to decide what to do with their bodies. This argument should be a reminder that in this discussion, women should be viewed as a person and not just a carrier for the foetus. Therefore, great consideration should be given to the woman’s rights and needs just as much as for the foetus. Many people view the right to control one’s own body as a key moral right. If women are not permitted to abort an unwanted foetus, then they are deprived of this right. To put this into its simplest form, a woman has the right to decide what she can and cannot do with her body. The foetus exists inside a woman’s body and therefore she has the right to decide whether the foetus remains in her body.
Lastly, the argument against abortion is a moral argument which is subject to personal interpretation. Thus, it should not be legislated against. Individuals who see abortion as morally allowable should be provided with the means to do so and individuals who do not believe in abortion should have the choice to not have an abortion. Besides, the anti-abortion position is usually based on religious belief and religious ideology should not be the foundation for law. Allowing religion to affect laws limits people’s freedom. This is because religion is a belief held by certain people, not everyone, meaning that other people have no right to impose their religious beliefs on others. Therefore, abortion should be legalised to allow those who deem it morally allowable to have an abortion.
In conclusion, abortion should be legalised but discouraged. It should be legalised simply because it can protect a woman’s mental and physical health (in serious cases) and because it should be a woman’s bodily right. But discouraged because there are many other ways to prevent pregnancy such as contraception.
