Pro-choice is a movement that aims but is not limited to a woman's right to have an abortion when she deems it necessary. This particular topic is very urgent, as millions of women around the world are denied the right to have an abortion and carry on with their lives. It is especially difficult for the pro-choice movement to have widespread international impact because of its rival movement, Pro-life. The pro-life fight for the rights of the fetus is fueled primarily by religious beliefs. The topic will always be debated but it is a woman's concrete right that if she decides not to have children she should not come into conflict with the law. The debate over whether having an abortion is an ethical decision has been going on for as long as abortions came into being, some even say that abortions are as old as pregnancy, so the debate is as old as human life itself. The first documented abortion dates back 4,000 years; herbalists would use concoctions containing pennyroyal to terminate pregnancy. Now, with the knowledge that this is such an old medical procedure, it begs the question: why are abortions so controversial? Some argue that it is not a human right to terminate a pregnancy, that ending a life is not their choice, but there is also debate as to whether it is even a life from the beginning (EFC). A wide variety of factors come into play when asking what truly makes a human being. Unwanted pregnancies are the most common reason why a woman decides to have an abortion and the factors that make the pregnancy unwanted can range from how she got pregnant, to age, to socioeconomic reasons, the list goes on. In any case, every reason is undoubtedly based on the individual and every reason should undoubtedly be taken into consideration. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay There are a multitude of countries that have legalized abortion in cases of rape (a shocking amount from third world countries), because the law recognizes that survivors of sexual violence should not carry a pregnancy that it was almost entirely out of their control. Often, the requirements for an abortion in such situations include a medical examination that looks for signs of trauma and psychological testing. The most recent dispute involving this particular topic has to do with Ecuador: one of the very few Latin American countries that has not yet decriminalized abortion following rape. José Miguel Vivanco, US director of Human Rights Watch, is one of the activists seeking to pass the law allowing abortion in such circumstances. Vivanco states that "Denying rape survivors the right to decide whether to continue a pregnancy is cruel, and Ecuador should ensure that no woman or girl should continue a forced pregnancy against her will remain with her biological parents. Most teenage pregnancies are unintentional, as the innocent child is left to be raised by immature and unprepared parents. Children of teenage parents are more likely to have very low birth weights, grow up in low-income families, achieve lower academic scores, and, unfortunately, become teenage parents themselves, repeating the vicious cycle. Sure, growing up a low-income family is reserved not only for children of young parents Adult adults who have already had children may find themselves in the dilemma of whether they can afford another child; and if they make a conscious decision to terminate the pregnancy, the law does not enter into the decision of adults who want what is best for the children they already have. The children comingfrom low-income families have worse health, cognitive abilities and social skills than those from slightly wealthier families. The reasoning behind a woman's choice to have an abortion is based on each individual's case, and if the laws that deny all women this right are not eliminated, they should at least be more flexible towards the cases of women who truly have no choice. at hand. It is unfortunate that developed countries such as Andorra, San Marino and even Malta are three of the twenty-six countries that do not allow abortion at any cost. There are a wide variety of possible complications that could occur during a pregnancy, resulting in harm or possible death to the mother, the fetus, or both. An ectopic pregnancy is a good example of why countries should at least allow abortion when the mother's life is at risk; in the case of an ectopic pregnancy the egg is fertilized in the mother's fallopian tube (which is approximately 0.5-1.2 cm wide) - if the fallopian tube ruptures, the fetus will have no chance of surviving and the mother he will suffer a lethal hemorrhage. In these cases there is no real solution, and countries that do not allow abortion under any conditions would not be sparing one life, but rather killing two. 83% of women who choose to have an abortion are unmarried. It was only until September 2018 that India annulled the law declaring adultery to be a criminal offence. Other countries are still behind on this, with Saudi Arabia being known worldwide for stoning women to death to this day, take the 2015 case of the unnamed Sri Lankan maid accused of adultery. Of course, not all punishments are as gruesome as stoning for unmarried pregnant women in less developed countries, simply shunning the woman and denying her respect are tactics adopted by other societies. A child's disabilities are almost never superficial, and if they are able to be detected when the child has not even left the womb, then they are destined to live a hard life. In addition to the 26 countries that do not allow abortion at all costs, another 74 do not allow it unless the woman's life or physical health is at risk, but maintaining mental health is equally important, and raising a child unexpectedly disabled can be equally taxing. At the thirty-first week of pregnancy, Erika Christensen discovered that her baby was not viable (it would not survive outside the womb) and was furious to discover that the law in the region where she lived did not allow abortions in her state. Erika then flew to Colorado to make what she knew was the right decision. Autonomy, as defined by the Cambridge English Dictionary, is “the ability to make one's own decisions without being controlled by someone else,” in other words: self-government. Women's regaining of their autonomy has been one of the greatest movements of the last hundred years. Giving women the opportunity to decide what they want for their bodies is vital to gender equality and enabling women to reach their full potential. Pro-choice women activists do not follow a cavalier attitude towards the fetus, on the contrary, women are well aware of the responsibility that comes with abortion, but find it the best among a number of inappropriate actions that they could do instead. After all, the fetus is part of the woman's body and autonomy is driven primarily by women regaining their own bodies (BBC). In the words of Margaret Sanger: “No woman can define herself unless she controls her body.” Murder, as defined in Merriam Webster, is “the unlawful killing of oneperson especially with malicious afterthought". Abortion is not illegal and therefore does not count as murder. Furthermore, the egg is not fertilized until the third week and does not have a heartbeat until the fourth, sometimes seventh week. This indicates that i Fundamental traits of existence do not manifest themselves immediately, and the values ​​that truly make a human being do not appear until after the child is born. Consciousness plays a key role here; language, intelligence, foresight, and the culture of mind reading morality are all factors that go into creating a human being, elements that are not all present in a fertilized egg. There is an unspoken assumption that telling women they cannot have an abortion will cause them not to have an abortion women who died from illegal abortions before Roe v. Wade (the 1973 law that guaranteed women access to safe, legal abortions) are proof enough. The infamous case of Elizabeth Zack Staley describes the desperation women faced to have abortions, the lengths they would go to, and the people harmed in the process. Keeping abortions legal isn't about giving women a choice; it means protecting women from choices that would cause irreversible damage. An ancient argument used by pro-lifers states that a woman would ultimately regret the choice she made. A study conducted in 2008-2010 counters this statement head-on; taking 667 women who had abortions and asking them whether or not they regretted it, a surprising number said they did not regret the decision. The researchers behind the study continued to interview these women over a three-year period, looking for signs of "post-abortion trauma syndrome." Surprisingly, 95% of women's opinions on their decision had not changed and they did not regret it. The reasoning behind their lack of regret was their understanding of the reality that having a child at the stage they were at in their life was simply not plausible and an abortion was the mature and overall healthier thing to do. Abortion and adoption are two different things. possible "solutions" for a mother who is not ready to raise a child, but the latter is not always the best path to take. Adoptions are long and often complicated; they may also carry emotional baggage for the birth mother, adoptive parents, and adoptee. Abuse of trust, insecurity, changes of mind, pressure and instability are just some of the problems faced by all three parties which greatly affect their well-being and mental health. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay To conclude, stigmas based on abortion can be easily eliminated if the person having an abortion is aware of their decision. Approaching abortion as a case of mortality versus life is a black and white image of what actually involves much more color. Frederica Mathewes-Green once said, “No woman wants an abortion any more than she wants an ice cream cone or a Porsche. She wants to abort like a trapped animal wants to gnaw its leg." Allowing women to legitimately escape the feeling of utter hopelessness would mean that the human race would take a step in a more humane direction. Bibliography Klabusich, Katie. “Abortion is as old as pregnancy: 4,000 years of reproductive rights history.” Truthout, Truthout, October 22, 2018, Truthout.org/articles/abortion-is-as-old-as-pregnancy-4-000-years-of-reproductive-rights-history/. efcAdmin22. “Why is abortion so controversial?” EFC, EFC, 5 July 2018,/.