There has been much controversy surrounding abortion, or the act of prematurely terminating a pregnancy. Views on abortion are varied, ranging from pro-life to pro-choice. Pro-choice proponents argue that women should have the right to abort their pregnancies, while pro-life proponents are against the idea of killing unborn foetuses as they feel that abortion is tantamount to murder. The world's main religions are inclined towards pro-life ideology and are firmly against abortion.
Personally, I am against abortion, but in exceptional cases such as pregnancy of rape victims, it should be allowed. Abortion should not be used as a means of birth control. By not legalising abortion, couples will have to think twice before giving birth and make sure that they are financially capable of raising the child, instead of making impulsive decisions to have babies without careful thought and planning. Some couples do not want to have babies but do not have the habit of using contraceptives and use abortion as the easy way out. Making abortion illegal will force them to take precautions and use birth control methods, resulting in fewer necessary loss of lives.
While scientists have not been able to determine exaclty when does life begins, most of them agree on the 14 day cut-off point for embyro research. This can be taken to be tacit agreement that life starts form the 14th day of coneception onwards. Religious leaders adopt a more conservative stance in believing that life begins immediately at conception. Thus, this supports that abortion is equivalent to murder as the unborn foetus has the potential to fully develop into a sentinent being.
