The Pros And Cons Of Abortion

Abortion is the deliberate termination of a pregnancy in order to prevent childbirth. Historically, the practice of abortion has existed since the Ancient Egyptians, and since then abortion in the Western world has been generally only considered a criminal offence if carried out after ‘quickening’ - the stage of pregnancy between 18 to 20 weeks where the foetus starts to move inside the womb. The Abortion Act of 1967 was introduced in Britain which allowed medical professionals to perform an abortion as long as continuing the pregnancy would result in severe physical or mental injuries for the pregnant woman, or if the child would be born with serious abnormalities which would greatly handicap them in later life. A subject of much contention for centuries, many socio-political and religious groups take great action on either side of the abortion debate - sects such as the ‘Pro-Life’ movement argue that abortion is murder and radically campaign for its prohibition, whilst ‘Pro-Choice’ groups believe that women deserve the right to a safe and legal abortion.

If a woman has been raped, she may feel like she has no choice but to have an abortion. Continuing with the pregnancy and giving birth to the child may be extremely emotionally traumatic for the mother, and can lead to the child growing up ‘unwanted’. This then has a lasting effect on the child themselves - for example, one study found that of the ~30,000 rape-related pregnancies which occur in the United States each year, in 5.9% of these cases the child was born and then placed for an adoption. As a result this child will not receive the same quality of life it deserves, and due to the fact there is no guarantee they will receive foster parents immediately, could spend many years in an