Debate: Should abortion be made illegal?
Side: Pro Life

There are many issues in today’s United States government. Government workers from different political parties have trouble working together, the education system is poorly regulated, and taxes are steadily climbing. There is, however, an issue that is more important than the aforementioned. It is literally a matter of life or death. It’s called abortion. And it’s legal. I believe a better name for “abortion” is “convenient murder,” and I’m not the only one who thinks this. In the court decision of Roe v. Wade, the case responsible for abortion becoming legal, one of the judges noted that the court valued “the convenience of the pregnant mother more than the continued existence and development of the life or potential life that she carries.” That’s right. A judge in Roe v. Wade admitted that there is life at stake in a situation of abortion, and that most abortions are a choice of convenience over life. This is an obvious indication that the Supreme Court’s decision was flawed, and that pro-choice supporters’ way of thinking is flawed. But the flaws don’t end there. 18% of American women who have abortions are teenagers. One would think that, if a teenager was going to get an abortion, she would have to get parental consent or at least notify her parents. But in 14 different states, teenagers can get an abortion without doing either of these things. As of 2007, in every state that requires parental consent or notification, minors can go around their parents and try to obtain a court approval. If they do, then their parent’s or parents’ say becomes completely invalid. Because of these laws, over 200,000 teens get abortions every year. As staggering as that number is, it gets worse. 22% of all pregnancies, teen or otherwise, end in abortion. In 2008, 1.21 million abortions were performed. The year before, it was 1.31 million. Between the time that abortion was legalized in 1973 and the present, over 50 million abortions have occurred. To give you an idea of how significant that is, 50 million people is almost 7% of the current United States population. Abortion isn’t a small issue. It’s causing millions of lives to be lost through the years, thousands of lives to be lost daily. It needs to be stopped. This isn’t to say that abortion should be completely eradicated. If the mother’s life or health would be severely endangered if she carried her baby to term, she should be given the option of abortion. The issues of rape or incest should be considered when contemplating the outlaw of abortion, as well. This is a tricky objection. What if a twelve-year-old girl was forced to give birth to a child? A possible solution to this is making abortion illegal in cases of rape or incest after a certain age, perhaps 16. Pro-choicers also argue that a woman shouldn’t be forced to carry the child of her rapist. With the number of child care services available today, however, the mother is not necessarily required to care for her baby after it is born, so this argument is losing strength. Another common argument from pro-abortionists is that even if abortion was outlawed, illegal abortions would still take place. Out of the three arguments mentioned in this essay, this argument is the most ridiculous. Though stealing is outlawed, it still takes place. If abortion were illegalized, it would not cease entirely. The number of convenient murders, however, would decrease significantly. Now that the arguments for legal abortion have been dealt with, I will mention one of the strongest cases against abortion. This case is not one tried in a court, but one tried in the mind: abortion versus conscience. Despite slanted denials that abortion and negative mental conditions coincide, post-abortion trauma is real. In the words of an anonymous pro-life supporter, “Yes, abortion does traumatize women -- especially the females that are aborted. There are two victims in every abortion.”  In addition to unprofessional opinions, there are several studies done by doctors and universities in the recent past that support the correlation of abortion and poor mental health. In 2008, Dr. Priscilla Coleman, a professor of Human Development and Family Studies at Bowling Green State University, and her coworkers published a study in the Journal of Psychiatric Research. The results showed that induced abortions increase risks for a several mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, and substance abuse disorders. The research team also found that the number of cases of mental health issues rose by as much as 17% in women that had abortions compared to their abortion-abstaining counterparts, and the risks of each individual mental health problem rose as much as 145% for post-abortive women. For 80% of the negative mental health outcomes examined, a woman’s decision to have an abortion in the past resulted in an increased risk of experiencing one of those outcomes. In a study done outside of the United States, researchers at Otago University in New Zealand found that abortions increased the risk of extreme depression and anxiety in women by one-third. A third study, from a team at the University of Queensland and published in the December issue of the British Journal of Psychiatry, discovered that “women who have an abortion are three times more likely to experience a drug or alcohol problem during their lifetime.” There is yet more proof that abortion is wrong: in 1995, Norma L. McCorvey, who went by the alias Jane Roe in Roe v. Wade, stated that she became pro-life. She attempted to get the case retried, but though she failed, her opposition is notable. She published a novel on why she became pro-life, and continues to support anti-abortion.  In short, abortion is wrong. It is convenient murder, obtained by minors who do not have parental consent, and responsible for over 50 million deaths. Abortion can cause severe trauma, possibly haunting the almost-mother for the rest of her life. It is not something to be taken lightly. It is a severe issue in our society today. Please do not support abortion.