Abortion has been a major topic in all democracies in the world. Women have been demanding their rights and participation in choosing whether to abort or to keep the pregnancy to full term. The descriptive and prescriptive arguments help to expound on the topic.
Pro-Life Debate
Descriptive Argument
The discussion about abortion starts with the meaning of life. The first question is to establish when life begins (Acred, 2012). At conception, the development of the embryo means that there is already life. Killing is punitive by law. Traditional beliefs consider the conception of a child as a blessing. It is, therefore, against the law of nature to do an abortion at any stage of pregnancy. Being against abortion is defending the unborn that is not present to defend herself now (Whitten, 2013). The pro-life arguments also state that there would be no need to abort if there are good adoption policies that allow people to give their babies for adoption.
Prescriptive Argument
There are concerns that life is precious and that the parents should try their level best to protect it (Berlatsky, 2011). Religious beliefs do not condone abortion. There is a belief that it is common sense to carry the pregnancy to full term. If one carries out an abortion, she may never have other children at the time she needs them in the future. One becomes the laughing stock of the community if she commits abortion. Abortion denies society the probability of having good leaders and successful people in the future. The aborted baby may have become the president, the Chief Executive Officer, the engineer, and even the proprietor of great schools (Kaposy, 2010).
Pro-Abortion Debate
Descriptive Arguments
The ending of pregnancy has support from across the board. Some of the reasons for pro-abortion include the conception that happens as a result of rape. Whenever pregnancy occurs accidentally due to negligence, the mother has a right to abort. Sometimes the pregnancy may endanger the life of the pregnant mother. It can lead to the medical extraction of the fetus to save the life of the mother.
Doctors may advise that the development of the fetus has some defects, and may lead to complications during or after childbirth (Greenhouse & Siegel, 2010). Sometimes there could be problems like malnutrition and starvation. They are the reasons the mother may have grounds to allow the termination of the pregnancy. When the child is born out of wedlock, the parent may experience difficulties in raising it alone. It could also result in unwanted or unplanned difficulties for children.
Prescriptive Arguments
Abortion helps parents to have an upper hand in deciding the kind of children they can raise. It gives society the pre-determined type of people (Clack & Lledo-Weber, 2012). For instance, if one notices deformities in a fetus, termination of a pregnancy helps to save the planet from suffering of a child. Every family needs a plan. Abortion helps parents to have just the right kind of household that they desire. The government has provided enough mechanism to procure safe abortion techniques. Therefore, women should not fear it (Acred, 2012). There is nothing wrong with termination of unwanted and unplanned children so that one can plan a family.
Conclusion
Abortion will remain a major source of contention for many years to come. It is because the world has not yet discovered a definitive answer to abortion queries. The detailed arguments have held strong views about the same. The prescriptive arguments will continue to shape people’s views on the pro-life and pro-abortion supporters.
References
Acred, C. (2012). The abortion debate. Cambridge, UK: Independence Educational Publishers.
Berlatsky, N. (2011). Abortion. Detroit, MI: Greenhaven Press.
Clack, A. & Lledo-Weber, P. (2012). Ensuring that women have access to safe abortion is “pro-life”. BMJ, 345(1), 4391.
Greenhouse, L. & Siegel, R. (2010). Before roe v. wade. New York, NY: Kaplan Pub.
Kaposy, C. (2010). Two statements in the philosophical debate about abortion and why they cannot be resolved using analogical arguments. Bioethics, 26(2), 84-92.
Whitten, M. (2013). Feminism by other means: Reframing the abortion debate in Portugal. E-Cadernos CES, 50(04), 227.