by PracticalPhilosophy

Created on: October 18, 2010   Last Updated: October 19, 2010

Should women have the right to abortion?

The common arguments would be between pro-life and pro-choice, which seem to give the impression that both cannot be reconciled. While pro-life and pro-choice seem to be antithetical, one can actually have regards to sanctity of life while having the right to abort an unborn child. Here are 3 simple reasons why:

1. A “right” should not be confused with an “encouragement” to do something. Whether someone should have the right to abort an unborn child has nothing to do with whether someone should resort to it. In other words, a right is a description of someone’s “capacity”, not a prescription to a moral standard. With that in mind, anyone who thinks that we should not have a right to abort an unborn child by referring to religious teachings is missing a point. Take Christianity for example. The sanctity of life cannot be seen separate from the freedom of choice. In fact, God gave us the “right” and allowed us to sin, not because He condoned it, but because it is one of the most important moral aspects of His way. If life is seen separately as the ultimate yardstick to morality, then He would’ve stopped us all from sinning. It is through our personal choice that makes us appreciate our faith. Likewise, it is through the right or choice to abort that one could appreciate life by exercising it voluntarily.

2. If the right to abortion is not given, would people stop doing it? Without going into much statistics, the general answer is “no”. People still abort whether they are given the right to do so or not. In fact, they would probably go through illegal means to do so. What is important to note here is that, if people are given the legal right to abort, government will have more control over the procedures of abortion. Government can even facilitate that before the abortion procedure takes place, the mother will have to go through a compulsory counseling session, just like how some countries impose on a procedural marriage counseling if one wants to get a divorce. If the mother still insists on abortion, knowing full well of the moral and health consequences of the act, then it is only moral to not deprive her of the right to do so, just like how God treat us all as free and responsible agents of ourselves.

3. This leads us to the next common argument that the unborn child has a “right” to live too, and that no one has the right

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