Argumentative Essay On Selective Abortion

Selective Abortion

Is it logical for a mother to determine the sex of the baby before the baby is born? Selective Abortion is where a fetus has some kind of undesirable characteristics or there are too many fetuses are in the uterus and the parent(s) have voluntarily chosen to dismantle that undesirable characteristic of the fetus before the baby is born. Selective Abortion is not common in North America; on the other hand, it is very common in other countries and various cultures. Selective Abortion is completely going against the right of actually having a child and knowing that God has given you this precious gift for a reason and there is no excuse on why one would need to mess that up.

Most people think that a regular abortion is just doing away with the fetus because it is unwanted. However, abortions can occur not only when the fetus is unwanted but also when the fetus might be defective and not live the normal life, the mother is too young to care for a son or daughter, the mother has to have an abortion to save her own life, and etc. Most abortions are performed within the first trimester of pregnancy. Warren Hern states that abortions are performed by a

specialized “machine or syringe and are used to create a vacuum, and the suction draws the contents of the uterus into an outside container. The physician then checks the inside of the uterus with a curette, a spoon-shaped device with a loop at the end and sharp edges to scrape the wall of the uterus” (Hern 4). However, Meghan Gourley and Teresa Odle justify that there is a more modernized way of having an abortion that causes less pain. They explain that “it is a simple procedure and can be performed on an outpatient basis. A needle is injected into the woman’s stomach or vagina and potassium chloride is injected into the fetus” causing the fetus to stop bringing in the nutrients from the mother” (Gourley 9). Hern also explains that the main goal of an abortion is “to interrupt the pregnancy so that the woman will not continue to term and deliver the baby” for whatever the reason may be (Hern 2). It blows my mind to think that women would want to terminate the pregnancy, but ultimately the mother has the final decision.
There are also other types of abortions, but the main one is selective abortion.

BBC News voices, in their article on Selective Abortions, that selective abortions “occur in those cases where a particular foetus is perceived as having undesirable characteristics. Selective abortion is also done when there are too many foetuses in a pregnancy” (BBC News). Selective abortion can be caused by many different reasons. One reason might be that the fetus might have a six fingers on one hand and the parent(s) are unhappy with the circumstances. They could choose to have a selective abortion because it’s not that the baby is unwanted, the reason is that they do not want their baby to grow up with a defective hand. BBC News also gives some reasons why some people might want to have a selective abortion such

as:
the unborn child is a girl, and the parents, for cultural or other reasons, want a boy
the fetus does not suit the parents in some way, shape, or form
the pregnancy is intended to produce a child with specific genetic properties, and this fetus does not have them
decrease health risks to the mother
Selective Abortions should be illegal not just because of the killing of the fetus, but it also puts the mother at great risk. There is an abundance of risks with selective abortions and just abortions alone. It can cause death, population decrease, difficulty with future pregnancies, and plenty more. For example, if there are two or more fetuses in the pregnancy, than selective reduction can cause a miscarriage with one or more of the fetuses that are left. Abortions can also cause a great deal of psychological harm too. After a woman has had an abortion, doctors strongly advise the woman to see a counselor, specifically dealing with mothers that have aborted. Another great challenge towards a mother and a child of a failed abortion is that the child has to live with the fact that his birth mother did not want him and he was not supposed to be here. It is also scary to think about the fact that scientists predict in the next twenty to thirty years “when abortion is both legal and widely available but is not the only means of an effective fertility control, about one-fourth of all pregnancies will end in an abortion. ...The principle effect of laws making abortion illegal appears to be to make abortion more dangerous but not less common” (Hern 5). Both the risks of selective abortions and regular abortions can happen to any woman. It does not matter the race or age. It is not worth putting yourself into harm's way just because you had sex and now you have a child growing inside your stomach that you do not want.
In some cultures abortions are part of their cultural lifestyles. In some countries abortions are illegal and in other other countries abortions are legal. In the United States abortions are frowned upon, yet they are not illegal. Most of the time abortions cause more harm than good in one’s life. I agree that the mother of the child has the ultimate decision, but I also think that we, people who are Pro-Life, can help change the percentage of abortions in the world. Abortions should not only be illegal in all countries, people all around need to see that any abortion is just morally wrong.