I am personally vehemently opposed to abortion.
In high school we held a debate on the subject in my sociology class. One of the arguments I used was the classic example argument. Present a list of scenarios and ask your opponent if they would classify those situations as ones where abortion was an "acceptable" choice. Then list the people they would have killed. John Wesley, Ethel Waters, etc.
The reply was that those scenarios did not have the benefit of the science we have now. While true, I noted that this did not change the moral or ethical argument. However, I added a more recent scenario:
A young girl starts having unprotected sex with her boyfriend on her 15th birthday. She ends up getting pregnant. Barely over 6 months into her pregnancy, she is out riding horses and goes into premature labor. The doctors told her that the baby had to come out or be aborted. She was not in any real danger in either case, but those were the only choices. They told her that the baby would "not likely" survive. If the baby did survive, there was around a "50% chance" that the baby would have brain damage or other disability. The baby's lungs were underdeveloped and the baby would "almost certainly" suffer from chronic asthma or another debilitating breathing problem. The baby would also "almost certainly" suffer from sight and/or hearing problems, from either the very premature birth and/or the necessary exposure to high levels of oxygen in the incubation the baby would be in for at least a couple weeks if not a month or more.
I asked my opponent if that, along with the other examples, was an "acceptable" situation for abortion. The reply was yes. I thanked them for killing me. My biological mother had previously decided to put me up for adoption, and thankfully did not change her decision when given the choice.
I obviously survived. Even though I did spent a month in incubation I have no sight or hearing problems. While I did suffer from childhood asthma, I played soccer and football through most of high school. I also scored a 36 on my ACT, which was the highest score in my senior class and the classes above and below me. I missed one question and got a 35 in the English section which prevented me from having a perfect test. Some might argue, but I believe I missed out on the brain damage prognosis as well.
The point of my argument was that choosing abortion was taking the chance of life away from a baby who has no say in the matter. There are examples over examples of situations where abortion was an option, if not recommended, for the baby's sake when the child went on to live a productive life.
If you are a deist then abortion is taking away the opportunity for God (or whatever 'higher power' you believe in) to put his hand into the situation. If you're not, then the argument falls to simply taking the chance away for life to survive, and even thrive. There are still so many things we have, from a medical standpoint, very little true understanding of. All of these "medical miracles" you hear about are either the hand of God and/or life finding a way beyond our understanding.
As for the mother, I will agree that there may be situations where there is no chance for the baby to survive and attempting to keep it would likely kill the mother.
Those situations are very, very rare.
For one, abortion is much more likely to cause permanent damage to the mother than the birthing process.
Secondly, the most common reason for abortion is to avoid the consequences of a mistake or the also very rare situations where the pregnancy was a result of rape.
In many, if not most, cases the aftermath of the abortion is a much worse "punishment" than the baby would have ever been.
The verdict is this: abortion is taking away a life. You can dress it up and rationalize it away and call it any number of things besides murder but it is still taking away a life. Taking away a chance for life is the same thing as taking it away yourself. That baby (or fetus, to help distance you from the fact that it is a baby) has a beating heart, and abortion stops that heart from beating.
If there is absolutely no chance to save the baby that is one thing. If it is a choice between the mother surviving or the baby surviving then that is a choice the mother literally has to make. Both of those situations are very, very rare. Any other choice for abortion is simply a choice to take a life.
Yes, it is that simple. The situations may be complicated, difficult, and full of hard choices, but the bottom line is simple. Abortion is taking a life.
Sorry for the book, but this hits a little close to home.
