The Controversial Issue Of Abortion

Abortion is considered a controversial issue worldwide. It is important to almost all women on earth. It is looked at from various beliefs, religions, medical and moral ethics. This essay will look at the different beliefs of abortion, when is abortion acceptable and the push for abortion legalisation.

Religions play a strong role in the issue of abortion. In Islam for example, abortion is considered totally illegal “ haram”. It is regarded as wrong but in some cases can be acceptable if performed within 120 days of fertilization. In the light of Quran, there are certain matters in which abortion can be allowed. The general principle in Islam is ‘ choosing the lesser of evil” so it is acceptable to abort in cases of rape, incest or adultery.

2nd: when the fetus is a person but we don’t recognise it.

3rd: when the fetus is not a person but we don’t know it.

4th: when the fetus is not a person but we definitely know it.

In the first case, abortion is simply the act of killing an innocent person, which is completely unacceptable in humanity and laws. Abortion in the second case is killing a person accidentally and the doer must be punished. However in the third case, abortion qualifies as unlawful negligence. In the last case, when a fetus is not a human and it is known that, abortion is completely permissible. Therefore, proving a fetus’s personhood is the hardest debate in legalizing

As a result of population distribution, bigger numbers of abortions occur in developing countries. The main reason behind the high rates of maternal mortality and morbidity in the world is the lack of the abortion regulations. Two thirds of unsafe abortions happen among women who are 15-30 years old in developing countries. On the contrary, abortion is lawful in most developed countries but the number of unsafe abortions is underestimated. In Ireland, abortion has always been a divisive and political issue. The Irish government was criticised for their failure in protecting the women’s right to abort. A consequence of those legislations, women had to travel seeking for legal abortion. In 1992, a case of 14-year-old girl who committed suicide after becoming pregnant as a result of rape was taken to the Irish Supreme Court. After that incident women now have the right to abort in Ireland if their health is dangerously affected. Lower rates of unsafe abortion were reported in countries where access to safe abortion is easy such as countries like Switzerland, Germany Netherlands and Belgium with rates varying from 7 to 9 cases among 1000 women. On the opposite, higher rates of unsafe abortions and deaths occurred in countries where abortion regulations were highly restrictive. For instance, unsafe abortion rates were 27, 29, and 46 per 1000 women in the Philippines, Pakistan and Kenya