Outline This research paper is an argumentative piece of work. It seeks to establish the legalities of carrying out abortion by looking at both sides of the discussion while supporting one side. It starts with a brief description of abortion followed by a discussion on whether mental and physical defects can be used as the basis for abortion. Then follows the part on whether children born out of unwanted pregnancies can lead happy lives. The discussion on the abortion rights of women prisoners looks at the injustices they face when pregnant and incarcerated. The last part is a conclusion, to sum up, the debate on abortion. Abortion In a broad definition, abortion is used in reference to the act of terminating a pregnancy by ejecting a fetus leading to its death or as a result of its death. The ejection of the fetus may occur naturally in a spontaneous manner due to health complications or can occur by means of artificial induction. When abortion is induced, the consent of the woman carrying the pregnancy is sought after first. The debate surrounding the question of whether it should be legalized elicits a lot of heated arguments in many countries. Some countries have gone into details of breaking down the circumstances in which the induction of abortion should be allowed while others, like the US have legalized it since 1973. Though legal in the US, individuals have had varying views on whether it is fit to abort, or in which circumstances abortion may be considered unavoidable. This led to the emergence of such groupings as pro-life, who advocate for the consideration of abortion as murder, and pro-choice who are of the view that women should have the right of choice of whether to or not terminate the pregnancy. One such debate that has elicited mixed feelings is the question of whether mental or physical defects are enough reasons for carrying out an abortion, a concept called therapeutic abortion. They base their reason that the concern should be on the patient (be it the mother or the fetus) as opposed to their comfort in the social circles as a reason for aborting. Arguments in support of this categorization have supported their view with several justifications (Barbara 76). If the doctor’s examination supposes that the continuation of the pregnancy is bound to cause physical harm to the mother, then abortion has been recommended. The point here is to save the mother’s life by terminating the fetus’s life since the mother can always give birth to another child without forgetting the fact that chances are that the mother is likely to have other kids who are already depending on her. Termination of pregnancy has also been suggested where the woman suffers a physical or mental complication that is likely to be transferred to the infant. The idea here is to prevent the illness from being passed on to the unborn child. Induced abortions have also been advocated for if the doctors indicate that the fetus seems to be severely disabled. The fetus is therefore gotten rid of to escape the agony of having to rear a disabled kid or risking having a child who would eventually not survive. Concerning the issue of mental health, it is said that women who are mentally disabled should undergo abortions or be forced to. It is also recommended that mentally ill women should be forced to submit to sterilization for paternalistic reasons.