Should abortion be legal

Okay I agree that abortion is the ending of a life. But when a woman is raped, if abortion is illegal, that means she has to first deal with any possible complications during birth (which could kill her by the way) and even if the birth goes through fine, she then has to raise a child who will forever remind her of the time she was violently assaulted and sexually violated. Abortion in that context, saves the life of the woman both physically and emotionally. That's what I meant by a necessary evil, something bad that needs to be done for the greater good. It is comparable to Spock's "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few," idea. That's how two evils make a good. I concede that my second point is the weaker of the two. However, when I say that it is merciful to abort a child that will definitely be born deformed and disadvantaged, it is not a remark (to me at least) on the "utility" of that person. Machiavellian thought completely agrees with abortion, whereas I think that it should be regulated but available. It's merciful, because you and I both know that somebody born with Down's Syndrome, or Prenatal Alchohol Syndrome, or any other of a number of damaging conditions will have a lower quality of life than somebody who doesn't and because of this it should be legal for mothers to get a do-over. I know how bad that sounds. It's just that me personally, I wouldn't want to raise a child that was damned from birth. I'm not saying we purge these people from society. There are definitely people, arguably better people than myself, who would gladly bring these people into the world and raise them with love and patience. But I was never talking about the well-off, responsible, loving parents who decide they don't want another child. That's preposterous. I'm talking about victims of rape, teenage mothers, and babies that through no fault of their own, will live hard lives. The thing is, we are always talking about judging people based on things they can't help. Things they're born with. Hardships are hardships because they can be endured, overcome, bested to some degree. However being born with no eyesight, missing tissue, and degenerative brain conditions aren't hardships, that's the cruelty of nature's toss of the dice. And it's not something I would want to subject anybody to. This starts branching off into topics like the Death Penalty, Euthanasia, and Mercy Killing but I won't get into those now. Your question; Do all humans have an absolute right to life? Yes. A resounding yes, and I would go even further to say that they have the right to be born healthy and free of illness, and furthermore to be raised by caring, responsible, and capable parents. So should abortion be legal? I think yes, because these conditions aren't always present and the alternative is to see a generation of broken children grow into broken people and maybe (worst case scenario here) become broken parents. So as always, this is a grim topic. But I thank you for prompting me to have this debate and sharing your opinion. To be honest with you, I'm really, really on the fence with this. It's such a tricky issue. The big problem with abortion almost isn't the practice itself, but the controversy around it. Anyway, I hope to have more debates with you in the future, and best of luck! Cheers, Kalleth.