by Jyri Jokinen
This is never an easy question to answer.
The best I can say is: it depends.
Abortion is never good, but it is sometimes better than the alternative.
From a moral perspective it makes sense to ask, which option causes less suffering.
There are many reasons for terminating a pregnancy: maybe the mother’s life is in danger, maybe the baby itself has no chance of survival, maybe there are social circumstances that make it difficult or even impossible for the parents to offer the baby a safe home.
Or maybe the abortion is just seen as a form of birth control.
I guess we all agree that every child has a right to be born healthy into a stable, safe and loving family.
But the reality is: Not all are!
At which point is it just better for the child not to be born at all?
Is it morally right to have a child born into a family where the mother is a drug addict, father is unknown and the baby would be starving to death in a matter of days?
What if the parents are under-aged and rather than going to college they would have to take a low paying job, becoming bitter and hating the child?
Also, is it morally right to force somebody to have a baby, but after that not caring for either the parents or the child?
This is not a black and white question.
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Quote by John Irving:
“These same people who tell us we must defend the lives of the unborn — they are the same people who seem not so interested in defending anyone but themselves after the accident of birth is complete! These same people who profess their love of the unborn’s soul-they don’t care to make much of a contribution to the poor, they don’t care to offer much assistance to the unwanted or the oppressed! How do they justify such a concern for the fetus and such a lack of concern for unwanted and abused children? They condemn others for the accident of conception; they condemn the poor-as if the poor can help being poor. One way the poor could help themselves would be to be in control of the size of their families. I thought that freedom of choice was obviously democratic-was obviously American!”
