Essay on Abortion

Okay, so a few months ago my biology teacher asked me to write this essay on abortion. Man it took me a whole freakin Sunday to do it!! Of course I spent like 2/3 of it creeping around in Youtube, but it was tiring anyhow. As you can see, not many 'real' ideas are included actually - I just used the thesaurus to make it seem longer and more text-book like.


In today’s world of vast scientific development, abortion, or pregnancy termination, has become a prevalent method used by women. Typically, an abortion is conducted after the deliberation of the mother; if she feels physically or socially unable to continue her pregnancy, she chooses to bring an end to it. So why, with much confusion I wonder, is it a topic of such social controversy? Of course, the mother would have to face dire consequences for it, mostly mental traumas. However, I strongly oppose to banning abortion for two reasons; violation of the mother’s right to decide, and the predictable increase of illegal and unsafe abortions.

First of all, whether an abortion is detrimental to the woman or not, it is ultimately the mother herself who chooses to have it. And, as mentioned above, choosing to have an abortion is undoubtedly not an impulsive decision; she would have been through many ponderous self-debates. So why is it hard to conclude that she has made the best decision for herself? How do others get to decide for her? She is the one who would be going through the actual labor of continuing pregnancy, delivering a baby, bringing it up well, and other obligations unnecessary to mention. If she feels she’s not ready to carry on those things, it would only be fair to respect her decision. The government should not violate one’s right to decide nor be in control of her body.

Second, legal or not, abortions have been, and always will be a part of society. Therefore restricting it would only increase the rate of illegal, unsafe abortions, which could afflict the woman’s health more severely. A new law would be needed to tackle such illegal abortions and further legal hassles would be endless. If abolishing it is out of the option, why illegalize it and yield additional consequences, when legalizing it will provide safe and more reliable procedures? Banning abortion would only manifest the current government’s defects in implementing a new law, and be a futile waste of national finance.

Of course, when taking abortion as an option, a woman has to get past the possibility of some serious consequences. Infection, sepsis, recurrent miscarriages and rarely death could be the complications of abortions. Most of all, the woman would face major psychological damage from the experience, such as depression. However, as said above, the woman will probably take all of this into account while deliberating before deciding; it is her free will. In addition, banning it will rather increase the threat of such physical outcomes, as could be deduced from the increase of illegal, unsafe procedures. As for the psychological traumas, well, delivering the baby or carrying the burden of raising it could be equally as traumatic; we, as outsiders, never know.

All in all, I strongly suggest that abortion should not be banned. I repeatedly tout that aborting a baby is undeniably a choice of the mother herself, and abortions will continue to be conducted regardless of the government’s effort to annihilate it. It’s difficult to understand why abortion is causing such a dispute when there are countless numbers of children worldwide living in poverty, famine, and under environments where they could develop an attraction towards crime, warfare, etc. Wouldn't it be much more practical to support and help these kids instead of using up our valuable time to debate on such a meaningless matter?