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

1. According to the World Health Organisation, 19-20 million abortions are performed illegally, that is to say by those without the necessary medical training. Approximately 68,000 women per year die as a result of illegal abortion, with many more injured. [1] Of this number, 97% are performed in LEDCs-- in which it remains one of the top five causes of maternal death-- in which access to safe, legal abortion is rare. A good case study would be in Turkey, in which restrictive abortion laws have led to an increased incidence of unsafe abortion over other countries with a similar level of development, particularly in rural areas. [3]. Furthermore, according to Cates (1982), the increase prevalence of legal abortion in the United States led to a decline in deaths due to illegal abortion, as well as several other benefits to women's health. [4]. It can thus be seen that keeping abortion legal will prevent deaths from illegal abortion in almost all cases.2. A 2005 study, Fetal Pain: A Systematic Multidisciplinary Review of the Evidence, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), has indicated that the possibility of fetal pain is unlikely prior to the third trimester, due to a lack of thalamocortical connections in the fetal brain; said connections are only formed after 23 weeks in the womb. [5] A study by Dr. Stuart Derbyshire confirmed that an intact cortical system was necessary for pain: such a system only appears intact at 23 weeks, and the full system of pain reception is most likely not formed until 26 weeks. [6] It is interesting to note that 26 weeks is above the minimum abortion age in the UK. [7] This suggests that many laws restricting access to abortion are not grounded in biological fact.3. Contrary to what some politicians have said, there are many conditions which can kill or permanently maim a woman during pregnancy and which cannot be cured using current technology. [8]. An example of such a condition is an ectopic pregnancy, which affects up to 1 out of 50 pregnancies. Such pregnancies occur when the egg implants itself outside of the uterus, usually inside one of the Fallopian tubes, and are rarely if ever viable and in most cases must be aborted [9]. Another example of such a condition is severe preeclampsia, which causes high blood pressure in pregnancy and which can lead to a stroke [10]; milder forms of this condition can occur in 6% of pregnancies [8]. As we have established in point number 2, it is more moral from a scientific point of view to abort the fetus rather than to allow the mother to die. In addition to the point above, there exist many conditions which can leave a child permanently and profoundly mentally disabled, and in some cases such a situation would justify an abortion.4. Finally, I will talk about maybe the most controversial aspects of this debate: abortion and rape. According to the NCBI, 5% of rape victims are likely to become pregnant, with rape making up about 32,000 pregnancies a year in the US; the majority of these cases occur amongst adolescents. Of these women, 50% chose to voluntarily abort. [11]. Furthermore, 44% of rape victims in the US are under 18, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN). [12]. Teenage pregnancy can lead to an increased risk of preeclampsia, as well as postpartum depression, and it also increases the likelihood of having a unhealthily light baby [13] As a result of this and other medical concerns, abortion should be available in cases of rape to prevent the health risks that come with it, as well as to address the attendant moral issues.Footnotes:1. http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/unsafe abortion/articleunsafe_abortion.pdf2. http://bmb.oxfordjournals.org/content/67/1/99.full 3. http://bjgp.org/content/58/550/370.full4. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/215/4540/1586.full.pdf 5. http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=201429 6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1440624/ 7. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1967/87 8. http://www.livescience.com/24127-fact-check-walsh-pregnancy-can-kill.html 9. http://www.webmd.com/baby/guide/pregnancy-ectopic-pregnancy?page=2 10. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/10/19/abortion-mother-life-walsh/1644839/ 11. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8765248 12. http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-victims 13. http://www.webmd.com/baby/guide/teen-pregnancy-medical-risks-and-realities