Abortion: Are You for or Against?

Abortion: Are you for or against?

Abortion is a major topic in the United States and all over the world. It is legal in the United States and some people would even say it is safe. There are many factors that go along with having an abortion.

One of the first factors to consider would be to ask is it safe? According to research published in the most recent issue of the Southern Medical Journal women who abort their babies are significantly more likely to die afterward then a woman who delivers. Researchers at the Elliot Institute in Springfield, Illinois, analyzed the death and medical records of 173,000 low-income California women, comparing those who had an abortion to those who had babies. The women who had abortions were nearly twice as likely to die within two years of having an abortion, and their risk stayed elevated for at least the eight years the study was continued. The women who had abortions were seven times more likely to commit suicide and are at a very high risk for depression.

Another factor to be concerned about would be your morals. What you believe in and how you were brought up should also persuade how you think. A girl I know from high school got pregnant when she

Jaime Brubaker

was only sixteen. She denied being pregnant to everyone. We all knew that she was, but she wouldn't admit it. She carried the baby to a full term, and instead of telling someone so she could get help she had the baby in her bathroom at her home while her parents were at work. The baby died before anyone could get to the house to help. This doesn't sound right at all. As Stephen L. Carter said in the essay The Rules about the Rules, "if we happen to do something wrong, we would just as soon have nobody point it out. If she had admitted she was pregnant she would not have been in that predicament. Now she has to live with this on her conscious for the rest of her life.

Personally I am not for having an abortion. It is our own choice to decide what is best for us. There are situations that to some extent could be understandable. I know there are teenagers who get pregnant on accident and they think they are too young and not responsible enough to have a baby. If they are old enough and responsible enough to have sex, then they are very capable of taking care of a baby. Are you for or against?