Now, I know this is an extremely controversial issue, and as I've said in my previous notes, I had been trying to stay away from extremely controversial issues, but I have pretty much passed that point at this point anyway. I feel like this is a blog to be completely honest and offer up explicit ideas and explain explicit concepts, so that people might get a better understanding of other people's perspectives, even if they still end up disagreeing with them. I realize I can't change anyone's view on such issues, but at least I can offer up every party's different opinions on the matter, so that everyone, on every side of the issue, may be able to understand the other side's perspective just a little better. I feel like this creates more respect and tolerance among groups of people who disagree on such issues. So that is my goal here.
Now I'll just jump right in and say it. Abortion. Lots of people are against it, because they say life begins at contraception, and babies should have human rights just as much as anyone else should, so they should not be "killed" in the womb and should be allowed the right to live. That is a very legitimate argument. That is why, I think, the war over abortion is so extremely controversial - because both sides makes sense. It's all about where you stand on whether or not a fetus is a human being with rights. I mean, how can anyone really know? Different doctors say different things about when babies develop brains and hearts and thoughts. So at what point in a pregnancy do we deem it wrong to get rid of the fetus? From contraception? After one month? Two?
The other side of this argument is that fetuses are not human beings until a certain point in their development, and before that point in their development, abortion should be legal. The reason people argue so much over this is because women should have a right to their own bodies. Pregnancy disfigures the body, and going through a pregnancy is extremely taxing physically. This is especially true in teen pregnancies. Children who have children are highly susceptible to disease and even death - even more so than fully developed women who give birth. Pregnancy and childbirth are painful, and taking care of a child for its entire life is very difficult, especially for teens and people who are not ready to have kids yet. People on the opposite side of this argument tell women in this situation to just put the baby up for adoption. But that is extremely difficult in this day and age, and once the baby is born, it can be extremely difficult to give that baby to another family, even if it's the best thing for the baby.
Some people teeter in the middle of this argument. Some people pick and choose when it should be ok to have an abortion - like when the woman becomes pregnant after being raped. However, that is very difficult to prove and control. So should the lines to abortion laws be clear cut - favor either one side or the other? Probably so.
Now, my research had taken me pretty far prior to reading a really interesting article (which I'll talk about in a minute, since it furthered my argument.) So my research had led me to these conclusions about abortion:
1. Forcing women to have children when they are too young, not mentally stable, or not financially stable causes lots of psychological damage to the children, among many other problems, and thus contributes to high crime rates and low education in certain groups of people. Furthermore, it's simply not fair to put a child or a mother through something like that.
2. It contributes to the huge population growth problem we currently have here in the United States. You can read about that in my note, "Dodger Logic #17: Seven Billion and Counting."
3. As I previously said, children who have children are even more highly susceptible to disease and even death. And even women who are fully developed face the battle of disease and death when they decide to give birth to a child.
4. Lots of men don't seem to think about things like the fact that lots of women have children, and then the father leaves, and then the woman is stuck taking care of the child all on her own. It's not as easy or as common for a woman to leave her baby and the father to stay. And you can play the "take him to court" card all you want, but sometimes that's not possible. Sometimes even the mother doesn't know where he is, let alone how costly and time-consuming that would be.
5. One tiny mistake, such as a condom breaking or not using a condom, should not define the rest of someone's life. People's lives can be ruined and thrown away by bringing into the world a baby when they are not ready for it. It can even ruin the baby's life.
6. It does not only affect the pregnant woman, her boyfriend, and her baby. It also affects the parents of the impregnated. If a 16-year-old girl has a baby, who do you think will end up being the ones who have to take care of the baby? The teen mom is not in any kind of mindset to raise a child, as she is a child herself. And the teen mom's parents should definitely not be forcibly punished by law for their daughter's mistake.
Now, that's just to show you some views on why it might be a good idea to at least consider the legalization of abortion. But Michelle Goldberg gives an even more enlightening perspective in favor of the legalization of abortion in her article "Introduction: The Global Battle For Reproductive Rights." She says that whether a woman has a child too young or at the right time in her life and how many children she has can determine whether or not she gets her education, is able to secure a decent job, and is able to contribute to society as more than just a mother. This means that forcing women to have children is a way of controlling society and forcing women into gender roles. American policies on abortion are essentially forcing women to stay at home and be mothers, rather than contribute in the workforce, simply because they accidentally got pregnant at a young age. Let's remember that this fact does not affect men so much. They do not, generally speaking, stay at home with the baby. This pushes them into their gender roles as well, as they usually go to work. Goldberg states that "reproductive rights are the place where many of the crucial forces shaping and changing women's lives - religious authority, globalization, patriarchal tradition, demographics, American foreign policy, international law, environmentalism, and feminism - intersect. They are the ground on which major battles about women's status are being fought. And a woman's right to control her own body, to make her own decisions about childbearing, is closely bound up with other rights in myriad ways." Goldberg's examples in favor of abortion rights in other countries, especially third world countries, are also interesting and convincing, so you should definitely read the article! I'm going to just keep it simple and give you her examples about abortion rights for the United States.
So make sure to research all of the issues and ideas about reproductive rights before you make your opinion. Now that I've given you tons of facts and ideas on this issue, you should be at least close to able to form your own opinion on abortion! So go for it!
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