Legalizing Abortion

When can you really determine at what stage is it legal to abort a fetus or decide what is an acceptable reason? Abortion has been a controversial subject for plenty of years. Pro- Life groups have stood outside of clinics to picket and try and stop women in non-threatening ways. Although some extremist have gone as far as "engaging in a campaign of intimidation and terror aimed at women seeking abortions and health professionals who work at family-planning clinics." If it was legalized then there wouldn't be any self induced or "back-alley abortions" which could potentially create more health problems or the risk of death.

I read in the Cecil Whig about Dr. Kermit Gosnell who was charged with eight counts of murder, one of which was an adult and seven unborn babies. "Gosnell himself was never certified in obstetrics and gynecology, only family practice. Fetal remains were kept in jars and freezers, and dirty medical equipment was operated by unlicensed, often untrained and unsupervised employees." The article stated that one of the patients was overdosed on anesthesia because they had no way of knowing how much to give her or had the proper medical equipment to monitor. One of the babies was still breathing for twenty minutes and an associate played with it before cutting its throat. If abortion was legalized then at least there would be trained professionals and a sterile safe environment for the procedure.

For a while I have been on the fence about this topic since there are points from both sides that I agree with. I think that it should be a last resort but ultimately the decision should be decided by a woman or couple who initially conceived. As rare as it is, becoming pregnant after the trauma of rape and/or incest can cause much added stress on top of the act itself. There is the option of adoption but some may not be able to cope with the situation. "Also for tens of thousands of women with heart disease, kidney disease, severe hypertension, sickle-cell anemia and severe diabetes and other illnesses that can be life-threatening, the availability of legal abortion has helped avert serious medical complications that could have resulted from childbirth. Before legal abortion, such women's choices were limited to dangerous illegal abortion or dangerous childbirth." I don not however believe that abortion should be used as contraception just so people can act careless and not take responsibility. "Legal abortion is critical to sustaining women's freedom."