Index IntroductionBackground information (in the UK)Pro-life argumentPro-ChoiceIntroductionThere are many different reasons why people are both for and against the legality of abortion for every single woman, whether due to personal beliefs, religion, medical reasoning, or the fact that a woman became pregnant as a result of rape. This debate can become very complex since if abortion were legalized everywhere for every woman, some people might then argue what the upper limit for abortions should be (for example: 24 weeks or 18 weeks) since in some places abortion is legal. until the person's due date which then leads to ethical complications for many people as, although the baby is not yet born, it is still a fully functioning baby just inside the womb rather than out in the world. But then in some countries around the world, abortions are completely illegal or legal only for women who have been raped or if it is a medical necessity for the woman's health, which, again, causes problems, for example; if a young girl becomes pregnant and is not ready to be a mother and prefers to have a child later in life, when she is financially stable and able to care for a child, she should have the option of having an abortion, but if she lives in a area where this is not possible, she may have to travel to have an abortion or simply have the baby as there are no other options for her. In this paper we will use multiple different sources to support both the pro-life and pro-choice sides of the debate and will conduct a couple of interviews to get a first-hand perspective on abortions and the reasons why they are or are not agree with them and because they believe that people on the other side of the debate have their own opinions. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Basic Information (in the UK) Abortion laws in the UK have existed since the 13th century and the law stated that as long as abortion was performed before "acceleration" and this law remained in place for centuries until the Ellenborough Act came into force in 1803. This act made abortion after 16-20 weeks (depending on when the first movement of the fetus occurred, also known as quickening) illegal and women having abortions after this period they were punished with the death penalty. In the year 1861 the Offenses Against the Person Act was put in place after the revocation of the Ellenborough Act which was amended in 1837. This new law sentenced people to life imprisonment if they performed and aborted or attempted to abort themselves. Over 60 years later, the Infant Life Preservation Act made it illegal to abort a fetus after 28 weeks unless the woman's life was at risk (in which case it was legal to abort after 28 weeks). Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries there were many laws that limited access to legal abortions, and as a result, many women died or were permanently damaged by aborting themselves or going to abortionists of street - between the years 1923 to 1933. , 15% of maternal deaths were due to illegal abortions. Finally, in 1967, after many different laws and acts regarding abortion, the Abortion Act was passed, legalizing abortion, under certain conditions. There have been multiple challenges to this law, and it has been changed slightly in subsequent years, but now the UK has legalized abortions until a woman is 24 weeks pregnant, unless there are circumstances where an abortion after this point is absolutely necessary. The situation is very differentin other countries around the world, where abortions are illegal all together, or are illegal outside of certain circumstances, or at the other end of the scale, where abortions are legal until the baby is born.expiration date.Argument in favor of lifeMany pro-life advocates believe that life begins at conception and therefore abortion is murder, which is the key topic of the pro-life debate. In the United States of America, unborn children are considered human beings according to their government and therefore killing the fetus is unethical and is classified as murder (many American states are preparing to overturn the Roe versus Wade law, six states have abortions are already prohibited with what are called “trigger laws,” these laws state that abortion will automatically be made illegal if states are allowed to control the legality of abortions Another point made by pro-lifers is that during the abortion procedure, the fetus may feel pain and according to physician Bernard N. Nathanson, "We see [in an ultrasound image] the baby's mouth open in a silent scream... This is the silent scream of a child threatened with imminent extinction" (the (the ultrasound image was of a 12 week old fetus). For religious groups such as Catholics, abortion is the killing of a human being and therefore abortion means defying God (since one of the ten commandments is Thou shalt not kill) and God recognizes this. a child is a human being from conception. In addition to classifying abortion as murder, pro-life people in the debate note that abortions cause a lot of psychological harm to the women who undergo them, most likely depression. Not only can women be mentally affected by abortions, their partners can also experience feelings of regret, sadness and depression. Subsequently, a woman who miscarries is more likely to commit suicide than women who carry their pregnancy to term. According to a study published in the British Medical Journal, the average annual suicide rate among women who had abortions was 34.7 per 100,000, compared to an average rate of 11.3 per 100,000 in the general population of women. Abortions can also cause medical problems later in a woman's life, such as a miscarriage during pregnancy/subsequent pregnancies and can increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer at some point in her life and the greater the number of abortions a woman has undergone. , the more likely they are to develop breast cancer. Those who support the pro-life side of the debate point out that the more people who have abortions, the fewer children there are in the adoption system, so people who are unable to conceive are less likely to be able to adopt a child. Another weakness of abortions is that many people choose to abort their child if they have a genetic abnormality – such as Down syndrome – which is a form of discrimination since they are human beings like everyone else in the world and should not be. treated differently just because they have genetic anomalies. Furthermore, many people with disabilities are able to live normal/mostly “normal” lives and are capable of doing the same things as any “normal” person. Following this, women should not be able to use abortion as a form of contraception as it is highly immoral to kill an unborn child just because it is convenient for the woman and a woman who has previously had an abortion is more likely to contract. another abortion as they know the process and some people may see abortion as a last resort contraceptive/don't have to worry about using protection as they know they can just abort if they get pregnant. It is believed that womenthey should take responsibility for their actions and accept the consequences that come with sexual intercourse: even if you use contraception, none of these are 100% effective, so you always run the risk of getting pregnant even if protection is used. The unborn child should not be punished for the actions of the adults who created it and if women are not willing to care for the child themselves, it is believed that they should give it up for adoption rather than abort it. life sentences, the fact that abortions are legal promotes the fact that human lives are disposable. Many argue that if it is right and legal to kill an unborn child, then it is okay to kill any other living human being since, in the end, we are all the same no matter what the age, so what is the difference between killing a child not born yet? fetus and killing any other human being. Beyond that, abortion prevents any future contribution to society. This essentially means that any aborted unborn child could have been an amazing singer, scientist, or any other type of person who impacts society. Examples of this include; Steve Jobs, Cher, Justin Bieber and even Pope John Paul II, all these mothers were advised to abort for one reason or another, if they had aborted all the way, we wouldn't have any Apple products or we would never have listened to the hit songs that were released by those artists. Pro-Choice There are many points in the pro-choice argument that counter those made by the pro-life side of the debate. An example of this is very simple: women should be able to do whatever they want with their bodies and it's their choice. Additionally, there are many reasons why a woman may have an abortion, such as rape, not financially possible/not ready, medical complications with the mother or baby. There is also a difference between killing a fetus and killing a real human being and that difference is that you don't know what life is and you haven't learned any basic human skills whereas, as if you were to kill a human being, you have experience in life and have already had an impact on the world, so it's more of a loss. Regarding the fact that there are fewer children in the adoption system, this could be seen as a positive as there are already many children of all different ages in the adoption system, so those children should be given a chance in life before others children are unfairly placed in the system. the world – there is no guarantee that they will even be adopted. This isn't to say, however, that there shouldn't be a cutoff date for how far you can be before having an abortion. Aside from certain circumstances where it's medically necessary, the pro-choice argument essentially just wants every woman to have the option to have an abortion if they want it. Many people on the pro-choice side of the debate say that life begins at birth, not at conception since the fetus is not independent and cannot learn or do anything on its own, so only once born do they eat/drink/learn independently, their life has begun, furthermore fetuses are not included in any country's census, so technically they are not living yet. Subsequently, people's age begins from the day they are born and not from the day of their conception, which is another point that contradicts the idea that life begins at conception. Although it is believed that the fetus can feel pain during the abortion procedure, in most cases, the unborn baby cannot feel any pain at the time a woman can abort until before the point at which a fetus can feel pain, due to the stages of its development. The.