A person who identifies as a Pro-Choice individual is someone who probably also identifies with the criticism that comes along with the label. The critiques come from individuals who are typically Pro-Life and consist of unreasonable name calling, selfish accusations and uneducated viewpoints.
An abortion is a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy. Someone who is Pro-Choice is someone who advocates for legalized abortion, while someone who is Pro-Life is someone who does not.
Some of the unreasonable names a Pro-Choice person has been called before are “murder lover” or “selfish bigot.” Those names seemingly come hand in hand with the multiple occasions a Pro-Lifer tells a Pro-Choicer that they disagree with their side of the controversial issue, mostly because they see the actions of a Pro-Choice parent as selfish for murdering the life that was inside of them. Here is why they are wrong, in my opinion.
Biologically and scientifically speaking, I agree with a Pro-Life person’s perspective that life at conception, conceiving a zygote after sexual intercourse, would make someone a parent and responsible for someone else’s life. However, socially and culturally, what classifies someone as a parent is subjective from person to person. I feel as if a parent is defined by the different experiences a person has with their own parent. When a Pro-Life person negatively insinuates that people who support or have had abortions are all parents who love to murder their fetuses, I find it very unlikely that someone who supports abortion is a lover of murder, unless they are either sadistic or masochistic. Also, some consider this procedure murder, while others do not.
Murder is classified as the killing of another human being under law. However, under the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973 and U.S. law, abortion is legally a woman’s decision. That means if someone believes the existence and fetal viability of the fetus within their body is in danger, they have the option and choice to either abort or continue the pregnancy. Therefore, abortion is not legally murder.
Some might go as far to say that aborting a fetus is similar to a mother cat killing their young in the circumstance that they feel their kitten is not fit to survive or any human taking a loved one off of life support. Senior Daisy Grant said, “If someone is on life support and their social support deems the situation too strenuous in all perspectives for the individual to continue living, they typically take them off of life support.” being the lifeline to a fetus in their womb is essentially synonymous with taking someone off of life support. It’s questionable when one is deemed moral and the other is tossed around with the term murder.
According to The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), a fetus does not have the capability of sensing pain due to the fact that their neural development has not yet matured enough for a connection between the cerebral cortex and thalamus to allow the fetus an acknowledgement of pain. Many JAMA scientists agreed, saying that “While the presence of thalamocortical fibers is necessary for pain perception, their mere presence is insufficient—this pathway must also be functional.” Although thalamocrtical fibers have been found to be present as early as 23 weeks of gestation, they have not been reported as active until as early as 29 weeks. Since week 27 deems the beginning of the third trimester, in which Roe v. Wade has made abortion illegal at that point, that means a fetus does not sense pain until the third trimester, in which it is already legally unacceptable to abort the pregnancy. Therefore, aborting a fetus prior to the third trimester prevents both physical or psychological pain to the fetus and is completely legal.
However, my biggest point is that this traumatic event is not an easy decision to make by far. Women who abort their pregnancies statistically are more likely to suffer than ones who deliver. Resources, such as After Abortion, say, “Women who delivered an unplanned pregnancy were significantly less likely to have mental health problems than similar women who aborted unplanned pregnancies. Women with a history of abortion were 55 percent more likely to have mental health problems than women who did not abort an unplanned pregnancy.”
To say people who support or who have had abortions are “selfish bigots” is inexcusable. They put themselves at higher risks of health problems and still continue to go through with the procedure. To say these people are bigots, is ironic and toxic. Whatever their reasoning may be, a Pro-Choice person just wants the choice. Whatever the reasoning may be, a Pro-Life person does not want anyone to have the choice.
