by Rosemary Redfern

Created on: July 11, 2010

There are some legitimate reasons for being allowed to choose to have an abortion.  It is not something any woman does lightly.

Having a baby is a dangerous activity.  The foetus is a parasite on the woman’s system, it takes precedence over the mother on nutrition and can create changes in the woman’s body chemistry such as causing the diabetes some women get while pregnant. Pregnancy puts women’s life and health at risk, yet most women are prepared to go through this process because they want their child. To cope with pregnancy and give birth to a live baby is a wondrous thing. 

The next issue is that having given birth to a child, the woman then has to raise it.  Bringing up a child is not a straightforward business.  Children are demanding because they need to be able to survive and they do not understand the effects that satisfying their needs can have on their adults. Even the most stable of parents will admit that there were times when they were desperate with frustration with a small child. As the child grows the issues change but difficult decisions are never far away. 

For a child who is wanted and loved, the parent does this willingly. To raise this demanding being when it was not wanted puts enormous strain on any individual. The result can be an emotionally damaged child who does not become a useful member of society. One of the big problems for our communities is the number of people who break the law and ensure misery for themselves and others, often because they have not learned the values many of us take for granted. 

For a young woman, pregnant as a result of rape or incest, the burden is intolerable. For someone who has been infected with a dangerous disease, this is cruelty to the baby. Why should a child be given life and a death sentence at the same time. When it is known that a genetic, debilitating disease is present this is worth considering as a reason for abortion.

Any species naturally limits its population according to available food, water and resources - except humans.  We have been overriding these controls for a long time.  The result is appalling poverty in large parts of the world, with children dying, horribly, at an alarming rate, from malnutrition and disease. In these places children as young as four or five have to earn their living. Where is childhood? 

The issues to be considered with abortion are the emotional ability of the woman to bear and raise the child.  This is no light undertaking. The financial situation of the woman needs consideration because women traditionally earn less than men and working full time to live, and caring for a demanding child, are almost impossible.  A woman needs support financially and emotionally to survive. If the woman already has a number of other children, she may be putting her life at further risk and draining delicate resources, and who will nurture her offspring and support them financially.

Abortion is an emotive subject because reproduction is a basic requirement of any species.  Because we are thinking beings it becomes enveloped in considerable emotional responses. 

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