Abortions Should Remain Legal: Illegal Abortions Can Lead To Serious Problems

Making abortion illegal does not stop it from taking place, it only forces woman to resort to dangerous, risky and unsafe methods. Approximately 50,000 women die yearly due to complications during unsafe abortions performed illegally, millions more are injured. Feticide is illegal in over 50 countries, that’s about a fourth of countries in the world. Even in countries where it is legal, dangerous and self-induced terminations are being performed because there is many young teens or women from low income families who can’t afford it.

Illegal abortions can lead to serious health issues, poverty, unemployment and in worst cases death. Abortions are about allowing women the right to make the right choices and when they want to have children depending on their age, financial stability and if they are in a stable relationship. Women who attempt to have a foetus removed in countries where it is illegal, could end up spending a large amount of time in prison. For example, in El Salvador, a twenty year old woman is awaiting trial for the “attempted murder” of her baby, regardless of police officers finding the child alive and well. After being raped by her elderly stepfather Imelda Cortez was forced to give birth to their child. However, she is accused of trying to have an abortion, this could cause her to have to carry out a 20 year prison sentence under the country’s strict anti-abortion laws. The illegality of abortion only restricts their freedom of choice causing women to birth an unwanted child, this can be damaging towards the child as they will develop in a home where they are unwanted, a home without the love, care & support that a child requires. There is the argument that women are open to the choice of adoption; however, this does not promise the child will be adopted and have a family. There are roughly 400,000 children in the US foster care system, approximately 100,000 are waiting to be adopted and 30,000 of them age out every year and can no longer be adopted.

When it comes to abortion, the fathers rights and responsibilities are rarely debated. Not enough people are considering the effect pregnancy and abortions have on the father as it is argued that it is not his place to take action. This often leaves people to assume that it’s the woman’s choice as it is her body. In a large number of countries the father has no right to force the mother into aborting the foetus they conceived however, due to the legal systems in place, the father in unable to abandon responsibility for his child and is forced into paying to support that child; this applies even if the father had wanted the mother to go through the procedure of a termination. The situation is unjust, why should the father be obligated into the demanding task of raising a child? There should be a law enforced on the fathers part, allowing the father to escape the heavy burden if, he is entirely physically, emotionally and/or mentally unprepared to bring up a child.

In the UK the NHS pays for 97% of abortions. However since 2015, the average cost for legal termination in America has increased. The prices are restricting women, who don’t have the finances to have an abortion (let alone support a child), to abort their unwanted foetuses. People living in poverty and people with low income may have to rely on getting illegal abortions which is dangerous towards them as it can lead to serious injuries that could potentially affect their life later on or, in the worst case, lead to their death. If they don’t have enough money to get an abortion then they definitely won’t have enough money to bring up the child. Poverty-stricken women or young teens who have no one to support them, will have to resort to getting an abortion in an environment where basic medical standards are unavailable and/or performed by someone lacking the skills necessary to conduct the procedure. An illegal abortion could be self induced in unhygienic conditions or by someone who is unaware of appropriate post-abortion procedures. For young pregnant teenagers, the thought of being too young and knowing you’re going to have to raise a child can be too much for some people. At a young age you mainly rely on your parents or guardian to support you, but, what happens when they are no longer willing to assist the teenager. Pregnant at a young age without the aid, help and funding leaves the pregnant teens confused, scared and disoriented. The outcome could be severe, the amount of pressure on someone at a very vulnerable age could lead to their own death either self-inflicted or through the attempt to remove the foetus in an illegal abortion.

One of the main arguments against abortion is the one supporting the thought of ‘killing’ a ‘living human’ or preventing said potential human from pursuing a life. However, legally and scientifically, a fetus cannot be deemed a human therefore people have no right to declare that abortion is equal to taking a life. A fetus is equal to a a brain dead person who has no self-awareness or consciousness and, as morbid as it is and sounds, a foetus is not a living being. The other disagreement behind abortion is the thought of removing a Foetus which would of been a potential human being. However, if a women were to give birth to a child that she does not desire, surely that would lead to an unhealthy childhood. Growing up in an environment in which the child was unwanted would certainly have a negative physiological impact on the child and could potentially affect their entire outlook on life.

Abortions should undoubtedly remain legal throughout the world as they can prevent numerous deaths related to self-induced, dangerous and unsafe feticides. Laws should be put in place to make sure the responsibilities and rights of both parents are regarded and that the pressure should not fall onto one parent alone. Abortions should not be looked down upon and mocked, they should be understood for what they are and how they are effective and constructive they are to countless lives of young and in-need woman.