Abortion Decision and Abortion Access
When a woman decides after consulting with her physician and perhaps her spiritual counselor, determines that an abortion is the least-worst option available to her, she has every right to have access to a safe legal medical procedure.
Does government have the right limit her access to abortion and in some cases, veto the woman’s decision?
There are two main questions that a woman must answer for her herself before she decides to have an abortion.
Before a woman chooses to have an abortion she must first exam her values concerning her specific situation. She has to consider her religious beliefs, her age, marital status, health, economic status, available support systems, and her genetic makeup.
Once a woman has consulted with her physician and maybe her spiritual adviser and decides to seek an abortion, does the government have the right to veto her decisions?
When a woman decides to have an abortion it is a very personal decision, whether or not the government can intervene generates intense levels of debate and occasional violence, especially in the U.S.
Pro-choicers believe that the government should not interfere with the woman’s decision, a woman should always have access to a safe legal medical procedure if she so chooses.
Most pro-choicers base their stance on the belief that human life becomes a human person at some time after conception -- perhaps when the embryo's heart starts beating, or when the fetus first looks human, or it becomes sentient, or it has half emerged from its mother's body, or is born, or is severed from its mother and is functioning independently. They feel that a woman should not be forced to go through a pregnancy and childbirth if she does not choose to do so. She should be allowed to have an abortion if it is done before her embryo or fetus attains person hood.
The pro-choice movement generally teaches that the fetus becomes a human person at various stages later in gestation, when:Most pro-choicers base their stance on the belief that human life becomes a human person at some time after conception -- perhaps when the embryo's heart starts beating, or when the fetus first looks human, or it becomes sentient, or it has half emerged from its mother's body, or is born, or is severed from its mother and is functioning independently. They feel that a woman should not be forced to go through a pregnancy and childbirth if she does not choose to do so. She should be allowed to have an abortion if it is done before her embryo or fetus attains person hood.
- It loses its neck structures which resemble gill slits, or
- It loses its tail, or
- It begins to look human, or
- It becomes sentient. That is, its brain's higher functions first turn on and the fetus is able to sense its environment, generate thoughts, has memories, etc. or
- Its lungs develop to the point that it becomes viable and can survive outside the womb, or
- It is born, or
- Some other transition point occurs between conception and birth.
From this viewpoint, a woman's access to a safe and affordable early abortion is viewed as a fundamental human right. Many pro-choicers advocate that a woman should be able to choose abortion at any stage of gestation for any reason that she feels is valid.
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