Abortion Should Be Legal in Case of Rape or Incest
Introduction
Debates on whether the state should legalized abortion or not is in public with a lot of attention put on it from the various group of people. While a section of individual’s views abortion as an act of murder, there are a good number of humanities with the mentality that abortion should be legalized in cases of accidental or unplanned for pregnancies. However, to maintain the dignity of the victims of either incest or rape, there should be a major focus in pregnancies as a result of either incest or rape. In my view, abortion should be legalized for incest and pregnancies as a result of rape.
According to Grimes (2006), the rate of abortion is very high and every year, around 56 million abortions do occur. However, this has been reducing due to embracing the use of the use of family planning as a means of birth control method. Harding (1968) emphasize that most people use abortion as a birth control measure in scenarios where contraceptive failure is noted. In some cases, abortion is recommended by a doctor after natal exterminations confirm that the child may suffer from defects or is harmful to the life of the parent (Coalho 1993), similarly, the mother’s birth system maybe too weak to support carrying of the fetus for nine months.
As a result of the reasons mentioned above, Harding (1968) observed that debates whether to legalize abortion or not have dominated health sectors as well social life. Different reasons are given regarded to support or against the act. The reasons revolve around the probability of safe administration or the cultural perspective of the act Abramowitz (1995). According to Grime (2006), if abortion is locally administered, the life of the person is in balance with high chances of death. Mental health has always been associated with abortion. However, Coalho (1993) first timers, chances of mental illness as a result of abortion are very minimal as opposed to women carrying unwanted pregnancies though this one is challenged by some researchers arguing that this might be as a result of an undeveloped birth system.
Similarly, Abramowitz (1995) emphasize that unsafe abortion is so common in cases of abortion. In most cases, this leads to deformity in the fetus and at the end of the day may result to giving birth to a child with a deformity or even mental challenges. At the same time, the challenge is prone to the mother as well. Most of the mothers do succumb as a result. Grime (2006) observed that churches or society as well do not welcome the act of abortion and in most cases, they have been in front line condemning the act.
According to Harding (1968), pregnancy as a result of criminal or violence should not be allowed to develop and if possible, should be terminated the very moment it is noticed. Equally, a similar measure should be taken in pregnancies resulting from intercourse with relatives. Abramowitz (1995) argues that a woman pregnant as a result of either rape or incest should get protection from giving birth through abortion. As a result of the injustice coming along with the act, currying the baby for nine months may lead to server mental distress because the violence will remain in mind until the time of delivery because the mother’s mental health is bigger than the fetus, the pregnancy should be terminated (Coalho 1993).
It is also important to note Grimes (2006) stating that a woman should have freedom to do whatever she wants with the womb during the nine months mostly the ones acquired out of the law. Grimes (2006) added that it is close to impossibility for a woman to marry a relative or one who committed violence on her and, allowing such child to be born is preparing the child to be fatherless in advance. The same child according to Harding (1968) will face stigmatization as the child will be considered unwanted, and if the mother happens to be in marriage, the child will be the centre of conflict in the family because of the father’s mentality of fathering unwanted child born of a criminal.
In Coalho (1993) remarks, in the case of incest, it is regarded as a taboo in most of the communities and therefore, the human psychological mechanism dissuades the act and the idea are so upsetting to the people to extend the child gets a very negative regards in the community.
In summary, there should be a global crusade to loosen laws restricting administration of abortion specifically in cases where the fetus comes with consequences. in a scenario where the mother suffers conditions that threaten her life as a result of pregnancies, abortion is recommended to save the life of the mother. In fact, for the case of rape, the victim should be rushed to the hospital, and conception be terminated at the very initial stage. To control this, any operation should be done by medical expert to avoid any challenges as witness in traditional methods.
Reference
- Coelho, H. L. L., Teixeira, A. C., Santos, A. P., Forte, E. B., Morais, S. M., LaVecchia, C., … & Herxheimer, A. (1993). Misoprostol and illegal abortion in Fortaleza, Brazil. The Lancet, 341(8855), 1261-1263.
- Abramowitz, A. I. (1995). It’s abortion, stupid: Policy voting in the 1992 presidential election. The Journal of Politics, 57(01), 176-186.
- Grimes, D. A., Benson, J., Singh, S., Romero, M., Ganatra, B., Okonofua, F. E., & Shah, I. H. (2006). Unsafe abortion: the preventable pandemic. The Lancet, 368(9550), 1908-1919.
- Schwarz, S. D. (1990). The moral question of abortion. Loyola Pr. Hardin, G. (1968). Abortion. Or Compulsory Pregnancy?. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 246-251.
