Are there ANY good arguments for abortion, at all?

Question

OK, I have been trying to think of ONE good argument for abortion, and keep coming up empty. Maybe someone here can help me out. Of course, all of the following arguments assume the woman was not raped, and that her life is not being threatened by having the baby. However, I have seen statistics showing that rape victims are only 1% of all abortions, so ending 99% of abortions would be OK with me.

1. A woman should be able to do what she wants with her body.
-Of COURSE she should! No one is telling her not to get plastic surgery, or a tattoo. However, once she decides to have sex, and get pregnant, she has ANOTHER body growing inside of her. It is no longer her body, it is her child’s body, and she should not be able to end its life any more than a mother can kill her 3 year old.

2. People are going to do it anyway, so we might as well make it legal, and safe.
-Well, people smoke crack, and it’s illegal. People rape, people murder, people steal, and those are all illegal. Should we legalize all of those, too?

3. These are new times. Making abortion illegal brings us back to a time where women had no rights.
-Wrong. Abortion gives a woman MORE rights than a man. She has the right to kill the child, whether the man agrees or not. In order for us to be equal, men should also be allowed to abort the baby, even if against the mother’s wishes. This, of course, is absurd, and so is the argument.

4. You can’t force them to be pregnant if they don’t want to be.
-Please. If you don’t want to get pregnant, don’t have sex. I think even animals have figured this one out, but yet humans just can’t slip their mind around it. Do women just think that a “baby fairy” makes them pregnant? I may not know everything, but I know it is VERY hard to get pregnant without having sex.

I’m not close-minded, and I have changed my mind on many subjects. I may even change my mind on this one, if I could ever hear a good argument. But none so far. So, are there ANY good arguments for abortion?

Answer 1

I am neither pro-life or pro choice. I think abortion is morally wrong, but support an exception for the mother's life, of course.

I find arguments that these babies will be unwanted anyway to be horrific. Many people in society are unwanted, and we don't advocate terminating them.

I say, if a fetus is viable, take it out and give it what it needs to live.

The only argument I can see for legalized abortion of non-viable fetuses is that our society is not prepared to do what would be necessary to fully enforce the law, and should not do so. What happens if a law is passed making abortion murder, and a woman announces that she will leave the state (or the country) to have an abortion? Wouldn't we have to lock her up in preventive detention so she doesn't do it? We wouldn't let any other prospective murderer out of our sight, or out of police custody, if they announced a specific plan to kill.

So I think we need to educate people and change minds, but I can't see how it can be illegal in all cases.

My logic may be flawed, but I took a shot.

PS The argument that a fertilized egg is not human is laughable on its face. A mere "clump of cells" will not grow into you or me. A fertilized egg has all the genetic information to make it a distinct human being. Modern science teaches this, even though the embryo looks nothing like a human - it's microscopic.

I get a chuckle out of many of the same folks making these ridiculous arguments saying that the religious right "ignores science."

Answer 2

With this question alone huge sects of people make a decision to vote for a candidate, or not. In fact it is such a focus the candidates agenda could be doubling taxes, or never helping the homeless, and they would know it. Republicans in general have voted against abortion, while the democrats support abortion. My answer is to focus for once on the reasons why abortions are needed, or and how can we stop the need for abortions. I have talked with women who have had, an abortion, and more than what is right or wrong, they wish they didn't have to answer the question. They could have been with the wrong person, or they were in school, and was not ready to have a baby, they with they were not pregnant. In most unwanted pregnancies you will find a woman with a decision to make, that she knows could regret the rest of their life. I would never want to make that decision. If I had to, I would regret the problem which I created, and feel a teamendous amount of guilty. My faith would take over, know that God will provide, and another part of my life was on the way.

Answer 3

Why ask the question if you don't really want anyone to respond.... but I will anyway-
Obviously I believe in abortion for what you mentioned, rape, incest, mother's health, etc....
but also because I believe outlawing abortion is not going to make that mother care about that baby- if you force woman to have babies that don't want them there are going to be more babies born with HIV, Neonatal Herpes, FAS (fetal alcohol syndrome), amongst other major diseases and viruses- more babies born drug addicted, more babies thrown in dumpsters, off bridges, thrown in the garbage, and where the mother actually kills the baby -I would 10x rather see a fetus aborted at 12 weeks than see a newborn baby brought into this world only to suffer, and possibly die. Not everybody in this world is sane, there are some crazy people in this world, and it's just a part of life, living people- all different types- not everybody is going to be good, not everybody is going to care- it's just a fact of life that there are evil people, people that don't think, people that don't care, people that obviously have mental issues, and unfortunately sometimes the lesser of the two evils is better- let someone abort a fetus or have a newborn baby come into this world only to suffer and die. I care more about the newborn baby

Answer 4

To a certain extent, I agree with you. But there are so many different reasons why a woman has an abortion that it is hard to make an across the board ruling. Maybe carrying a pregnancy to term might not kill her but would be extremely difficult or dangerous. Maybe she is in a situation where carrying the baby to term would put her in an impossible situation, either socially or employment wise. Maybe she can't afford to have another child but doesn't feel she can handle giving the baby up for adoption. Maybe she took all the precautions and still ended up pregnant.

It's a very difficult choice to have to make and I don't feel that other people should tell them what they have to do.

The main thing I object to is the use of abortion as birth control. I feel you can have one abortion, but if you have a second, you should be required to have your tubes tied.

Answer 5

First of all, the "child" you speak of is not; it's a fetus and therefore not constitutionally viable as a human being. It's more of a cluster of cells and, if you've seen a real picture of one (not from abortioninfo.net or any other biased site), you'd realize that it resembles a tadpole. But regardless of what it looks like, it is a parasite on its host. The host has a right to rid itself of a parasite, does it not? Especially one that isn't even viable?

Yes, women are going to do it anyway. And people are going to smoke crack anyway. They should both be legal (as should all drugs, but that's another story) and regulated for the safety of those who choose them. Since when does what another person does it impede on your life or your rights? And for the record, comparing rape and theft to abortion is unjust and shows how ignorant you are.

The whole "if you don't want to get pregnant, don't have sex" line is a crock. The world is an imperfect place; condoms break, the pill fails, and sometimes pregnancy happens. Why should someone who has been responsible and used birth control be forced to bare a child when they obviously didn't want on in the first place?

The argument for abortion is simply this: a women has a right to do what she wants with her body as long as it isn't hurting anyone. And before some pro-life idiot jumps on the whole "you're killing a baby!" routine, I'll field that one too: 88% of abortions are performed at 12-13 weeks. That is before the fetus has a brain let alone a nervous system let alone the ability to feel. It's (literally) a mindless creature that wouldn't survive on its own.

As long as people are having sex, there will be unwanted pregnancies and society needs to adequately help with this situation.

Answer 6

I'll preface this with the fact that I think abortion is a terrible idea for anybody. That said, I know it's not my place to determine what is ethical for a patient to ask of a doctor, nor do I trust the moral compass of congress. There comes a point where imposing my personal ethics on others is wrong. I think rudeness is wrong, but should the federal government arrest anyone whom I think is rude? No.

The morality and ethics of abortion should be determined solely by the medical community. If they can reconcile their hypocratic oath with abortion, then that's their determination. I know that I will never encourage anyone to get an abortion, but I also know that it's foolish to assume I know more about the morality of it than the AMA.

Answer 7

There are a few.

One interesting one is crime. Crime has been dropping since something around 15 or 20 years after Roe V Wade. That is, since the first generation that had to survive abortion to be born started coming of age. It may well be that unwanted kids do dispraportionately get drawn to crime, and that fewer unwanted kids means less crime.


Another, more philosophical argument is that carrying a baby to term represents a risk to the mother - even though it's not a large risk, it is a risk of her own life to bring life to another. While risking your life for someone else is a very postive, heroic thing, you can't legislate heroism. While that's not an argument for abortion (unlike the above) it is an argument for letting women choose rather or not to accept the risk of taking a pregnancy to term.

Answer 8

I am anti-abortion in most cases but there are 2 arguments when I understand the issue:

1. Life of the mother is at risk during pregnancy. If neither the baby nor the mom can survive, which does happen then I believe in the choice.

2. The baby is going to be born post natal with horrible disease. I am not talking about selective breeding where you pick only perfect babies. I'm talking about children who are going to be born with life spans of days or months or are going to be crippled/impaired beyond what science and medicine can help.

other than that I can't justify

Answer 9

I'm kind of curious as to why so many people on the "pro life" side of the issue are willing to make an exception in the case of rape. If, as they say, the fetus is a human life from conception then is it any less so because of the way it was conceived, is it any less innocent? They apparently understand that there are circumstances where the mother has to decide whether or not to continue the pregnancy. In that case the sanctity of life issue flies out the window and it becomes a matter of the pro life group simply dictating ahead of time the circumstances where a woman can have an abortion.

Answer 10

this is my favorite:

2. People are going to do it anyway, so we might as well make it legal, and safe.
-Well, people smoke crack, and it’s illegal. People rape, people murder, people steal, and those are all illegal. Should we legalize all of those, too?

[i agree 100%]

I think the only way i would sympathize with someone for having an abortion is if they were raped. That would be hard. But id tell you that if i was raped,

I'd go straight to the hospital report it and take a morning after pill. I wouldn't be quiet about it. I'd find that person and put their *** in jail.