Abortion, which entails the killing of the unborn, raises so many issues about whether it should be legalized or made illegal. By the use of the right to life of a human being, it is clear that committing murder is illegal, but does that apply to the unborn? This becomes a challenge when it comes to the question of at what age does the human rights apply, is it at birth or conception? Considering the unborn, it can be viewed as part of the mother, and thus the rights only apply to the mother and not the unborn.
The issue of population crisis has raised an issue on birth control to ensure that there is a balance between the needs and the supply. This is not easy because there are no structures that are against it. It is thus done in hospitals or by doctors to those who need it. This can therefore overlook the human rights of freedom of choice concerning reproduction. Despite all these, they strive to maintain strict laws against abortion by the use of books to deny women and physicians the right of choice against bearing unwanted pregnancies, yet abortion was still the most reliable method in the control of fertility (Pilpel 1). When Japan liberalized its abortion laws the population growth dropped by almost half within ten years.
This does not mean that abortion is a suitable method of birth control, but it is a fact that it is the best in reducing the population growth. Thus, it is recommended that safe and easy access to abortion be provided to develop other family limitations. This is only meant for those who have no access to the other control methods and those whose contraceptives do not work well. Also, contraceptives are not perfect in controlling pregnancies and if they were the only methods being used, then there would be so many unwanted pregnancies. To ensure full birth control, abortion should be available legally to women who request it, without any law against it (Pilpel 1).
This resulted in the erosion of anti-abortion laws but it experienced some rejection by some of the vocal groups who were trying to do other things in controlling excess population, they preferred sterilization and contraception rather than abortion as a way of controlling population growth. This resulted in chaos as the legalizing of abortion made it so easy for women to carry out abortions and this became the major way being used.
Abortion was only recommended in the case where one is trying to save the life of the mother where the risk was greater if the pregnancy was to be carried out for the whole gestation period. With an increase in technology, abortion became safer than childbirth because of the improved hospital conditions. Although the population experts have fully defended their request of legalizing abortion, some other issue has arisen in some states to legalize abortion in cases where the pregnant mother is not able to take care of the baby maybe because of some health issues or when she is raped, incest and to avoid the birth of the defective child (Pilpel 2).
The issue of legalizing abortion has raised so many debates and it is still a challenge to so many countries. Abortion should remain illegal unless only in the case of saving a life when the only remedy is to carry out an abortion. Human rights begin on the conception of the child and the mother has no right to choose whether to keep the baby or abort because of her reasons. The child can be of great importance to the country and thus there must be laws that protect these children from being aborted.
Works Cited
Pilpel, Harriet. “Rights of Abortion.” The Atlantic Magazine. Web.