Religion and Early Life By Rishi, Conrad and Max

DEFINITIONS Abortion – the deliberate termination of a pregnancy, most often performed during the first 24 weeks. Miscarriage – the spontaneous or unplanned removal of the foetus from the womb before it is able to survive independently. Pro-Life – arguments that disagree with abortion – usually in any circumstances. Pro-Choice – arguments that defend a woman’s right to choose what happens. It is her body and she decides what to do with it. Quality of Life – trying to judge what someone's life will be like; whether it is worth living because of such pain it will be in for the rest of their life. Fostering – you look after the baby – this might be for a while. The baby is still legally the biological mothers. Adoption – you become the legal parent of the baby.

RELIGIOUS QUOTES

“Human life begins at conception” Yes, from this point onwards the foetus has the potential for life therefore life must begin at this point. No it does not begin at conception, a human dies when it’s heart stops beating, therefore life should begin when the heart starts to beat and this is at 8 weeks into pregnancy. No, a human life begins at the moment of viability because at this point the baby can survive outside the womb by it self so before this point the foetus can’t be alive.

“Abortions should be legal” A woman should have the right to decide to have an abortion as it is her body and so is her decision. If abortions were made illegal it would not eliminate abortions, it would just make women have them in unsafe fashions illegally. Abortion is the murder of another human being, if murder is illegal and morally wrong why should abortion be legal? There are plenty of alternatives to abortion such as fostering and adoption or just keeping the baby meaning there is no need for abortions to be legal. A doctors job is to save lives not to destroy them.

“The quality of life argument is a valid reason for an abortion” It would be more cruel to bring a baby into this world with severe disabilities so much so that it would impinge or his/her life than it would be to have an abortion. If a mother has no job and no means of looking after her child then bringing the child into the world would be more cruel than an abortion due to it’s poor quality of life. There is no way we can decide what a babies quality of life will be like before it is born, as a result we can not make abortion decisions based on something we can not be certain of.

“Children are a blessing from God” Many couples can not have children due to infertility so a child is not a right it is a privilege and blessing from God he has allowed a couple to have a child. No they are not, human reproduction is a natural and inevitable part of life and its a basic human instinct to what to have children. Some babies grow up to be bad people and criminals, how can we still consider this to be a blessing to the family or our society?

“The father should have equal say in an abortion decision as the other” The baby is genetically half the mother and half the father so therefore the father should get equal say in the decision on the abortion as it is as much his child as the mothers. Often the father will be the one working, earning the money to support the baby, as a result he has an equal job in looking after the child as the mother meaning he should have an equal decision. It is the mothers body and hence her choice, her opinion should be more important than the fathers, as the father is not physically affected by having a baby.

“All children are a miracle” The fact that two cells, a sperm and an egg, can develop into a fully functioning human capable of incredible actions is truly miraculous. Children are just a natural part of life, it is natural for us to have children and is an everyday occurrence, what is miraculous about that?

“It is too easy to get an abortion” Yes, abortions are morally wrong as they are murder and there are plenty of alternatives to abortion so it should be hard to have an abortion and only reserved for people who truly need one, for example they will die if they have the child or they were raped. If abortions were to hard to get it would not prevent them it would just lead to them being done illegally and unsafely. It is a women's decision whether she wants an abortion or not, it is irrelevant how available or unavailable an abortion is.

“Abortions are always morally wrong” Yes, a human life is a human life and the murder of a human life is always considered illegal and immoral. What if the mother has been raped, having the child will cause serious psychological damage, surely abortion is morally right here? What if the mother and baby will die if the birth goes ahead, surely having an abortion to save one life is morally right then not having one and have two lives ended.