by Kayla Strickland

Created on: April 15, 2010

Is taking a life okay in certain circumstances? What if that life would be better having never lived? Is it okay then? In “We Do Abortions Here: A Nurse’s Story”, Sallie Tisdale states that while abortion is a gruesome procedure, it is sometimes necessary not only for the benefit of the mother, but the child itself. Abortion, in question, should always be left open for one to decide.

                When it comes to abortion, it can make some people tense up fighting to keep silent and others open their mouths and give their side immediately. There are plenty of stances on abortion and whether or not it should be performed. On one side, there are the pro-choice people who want abortion to be a choice that a woman makes for herself. Then on the other side, there are the pro-life people. The pro-life people are against abortion saying that it is immorally wrong because it means taking a life that never got the chance to live. A question one must ask is what about the quality of life for the child?

                To put it into scenario, say there is a teenage couple who is uneducated and financially unstable. They soon find themselves expecting a child within nine months. If that child is born into the teenage couple, how can it be expected to have a good childhood that every child deserves? That child is more than likely in store for a life full of verbal, mental, and maybe even physical abuse (not to mention financial instability). If abortion becomes illegal, then is the child in question sentenced to a life full of despair and misery just because there was no other option for the mother at that time?

                In Tisdale’s essay, she mentioned of a sixteen year old girl who was very uneducated and did not know one thing from the next. Clearly, she was not ready to be a mother. However, because she was raped, she found herself with a child in her womb. In instances like this where the parent(s) is not ready (either mentally or financially), then they should not be able to become parents. If that sixteen year old girl had had the baby, how successful can that child expect to be? She is, as Tisdale puts, a girl “with maternal benignity” (718). With abortion as an option, she mother can continue

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