by Sophie Escott
(image by Maria Oswalt (Unsplashed)
This article is about the
ethical issue of Pro Choice versus Pro Life. Pro choice means for abortion, the
members of this party believe that a women is entitled to have an abortion
whenever she wants. Pro life however, believes that it is against god’s
beliefs, or human rights to kill an innocent living thing
History of abortion
The idea of abortion started in the Ancient Greek and Rome period, and was accepted. They were not concerned about the well-being of the foetus, they only objected when the father did not give his consent. A philosopher of that time named Aristotle wrote “when couples have children in excess, let abortion be procured before sense and life has begun; what may or may not be lawfully done in these cases depends on the question of life and sensation” This statement means that he agreed with abortion to some extent. Aristotle thought that female embryos developed slower than male, he came to this conclusion when he studied miscarried foetuses, so for a period of time, a female embryo could be terminated after a male could be.
The Old Testament makes several legal passes to abortion, in one of the chapters it says that it is not the loss of life to be sad about, it’s the loss of property, stating that if you have an abortion you will not go to hell, but you will be judged poorly by god. But later on it states if the woman has a miscarriage caused by someone, then the person who made her miscarry must pay a fine to the husband. The New Testament does not really make reference to abortion.
However, the England Statue Law made abortion illegal in 1803, if you terminated the baby after ‘quickening’, meaning the first time the foetus moves or kicks, which happens 17-20 weeks into the pregnancy. There was a death sentence put in place, meaning that if you were to have an abortion after that period of time, you were to be killed. Then in 1837, the death sentence was removed and abolished the significance of quickening. Then in the 1920s, they added a ‘get-out clause’ meaning if you were raped, or had a baby underage, you could terminate it. Other than those circumstances, it was illegal.
Important law-changing events
In 1923, a lady already had 3 children and got impregnated with a fourth. She knew it would negatively affect her mental health, but was denied an abortion. So instead she used a knitting needle to abort the child herself , and then ended up dying from septicemia. Lots of women tried this in the late nineteen twenties and early thirties. Abortion then was more accepted, as what they were doing was loosing more lives than necessary. In 1936, abortion was less hard to get, to end this awful ‘trend’.
In 1937, a 14 year-old girl was brutally gang raped, ending up suicidal. She went to the courts asking for a termination, and the courts told her that she could have an abortion, as they felt like her mental health would have suffered extremely if she were to give birth. This was one of the first steps to making abortion legal, as there was a new rule put in place saying that if the mother were to give birth and it would negatively effect her mental health, then she could have an abortion.
In 1938, Dr Alex Bourne was accused of preforming an illegal abortion. He believed that a abortion should be available in certain circumstances, and tried to make it legal.
In 1952, people began to protest, asking to legalize abortion. After hundreds of protests, and 15 years of begging, the British government decided to legalize abortion, and had it offered at local hospitals run by the NHS. The idea was given by David Steel, and backed by the government. The rules were that if you were to have an abortion, you would have to have it before gestation, which is 28 weeks. After a year's debate, all this was put into practice on the 27th of April, 1968.
Is abortion really okay in severe circumstances?
Rape, as we all know, is a truly disgusting thing. But if you were to get impregnated, should you abort the foetus? After all, it is a living thing…
A lady a few years ago was raped, and got pregnant. After thinking about her choices, she decided to keep the baby. Looking back, she does not regret her decision, as a horrible experience has provided her with a blessing. Yes, sometimes when she looks at the child, she sees the rapist and gets overcome with the fear and pain she felt that day. But she knows that her child loves her dearly, and would never do such a thing. So, should you abort the child if you were raped?
The statistics
Ever since the abortion act was introduced approximately 207,384 abortions were conducted in England. In 2019, we had the highest abortion rate ever since 1968, which meant that 18 out of 1,000 women on average would have an abortion. This means that more people are coming round to the idea of abortion, and beginning to accept it more. In 2009, 17 out of 1,000 under 18’s would have an abortion, but now it’s only 8.2. This means that more teenagers are educated about the use and effects of birth control, and are not terminating the baby. However in 2009 only 7 in 1,000 over 35s would have an abortion, but in the past five years it has risen to 9.7. This means that the generation which were raised by most likely pro-life supporters are getting more and more abortions.
Conclusion
I, as most of you know, rather loudly support pro choice. I believe that it is a woman's body, so it is her choice what to do with it. I do not believe that getting rid of a few cells is murder, I believe that it is a choice made by the woman, who does not wish for a child. More people having abortions, which is a great thing as it shows that people are starting to accept it, and it is soon to be normalized. Thank you for listening.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_Act_1967 http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/legal/history https://abortionrights.org.uk/history-of-abortion-law-in-the-uk/
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