ATTENTION: This is a very sensitive topic that many people take personally. If you cannot handle this topic or even read my take on this first, please leave now.
Okay. Now that we've gotten the hard part out of the way, let me give some background:
I am only writing this because I feel like I need to say something that hasn't been said. Here's my list of reasons why I think both sides aren't approaching the issue right.
(1.) Both sides have chosen names to influence the way you think
The way something is worded is highly influential on what you think. I remember how some years ago people were more supportive of homosexual marriage than they were gay marriage. Both are the same thing, but one has been worded differently and creates different attitudes.
The debate on abortion is no different. There are two sides: Pro-Life and Pro-Choice. Notice these words I have emphasized. The name Pro-Life implies that you are for human life, which makes sense because that's something people naturally support. The Name Pro-Choice implies that you are for the freedom of choice, which also makes sense because that's something people naturally support.
The naming both sides use is purposely trying to guilt trip your opinion. If you support choice than you aren't supporting human life, and if you're supporting human life you aren't supporting the freedom of choice. Saying, "For or against the legality of abortion" does not create the same knee-jerk emotional reaction as "Pro-Life" and "Pro-choice" do, which both sides depend on for support.
(2.) Most Americans are in the middle ground, as usual with politics, yet the only two camps are heavily polarized
The Problem with Pro-Life and Pro-Choice definitions is that you are almost forced into either accepting all or none of that side's ideas. Abortion is either 100% totally illegal or it's 100% totally legal, and most normal people don't think either of those are right.
In fact, most people think that rape, incest, or medical based abortions, especially within the 1st trimester, should be allowed. Most also tolerate by choice abortions made within the 1st trimester as well. If you're one of those people, which side should you support?
The answer isn't simple. Technically pro-choice means you should allow abortions for non-rape, non-medical, etc reasons and past the 1st trimester too. Technically pro-life means you grant no exceptions for abortions despite the reason or time frame. This is why it's so hard to get anything regarding this topic done. Most people want to be somewhere in the middle but the media and politicians take the extremes. What should the voter and citizen think and do, then?
(3.) This is made out to be a woman's issue, when really it's EVERYONE'S issue, it's a HUMAN issue
I've heard the argument before that if you don't have a uterus, aka if you aren't a woman, you don't have the right to give an opinion or vote on abortion. It's none of your concern, go home.
This is probably one of the dumbest things I've heard from either side regarding this. Pregnancies don't just appear in women's wombs out of thin air. Assuming consent, both the woman and her partner have equally contributed to not only the pregnancy happening, but also equally contributed to the DNA of the new fetus. Sure, the fetus is growing inside her body, but that doesn't automatically nullify the other half's input. The world would be an awful place if people just ignored those that didn't share the same power as them. Things like civil rights wouldn't exist then, since only the ones who owned property, aka the elitists, would be making the decisions for everyone.
At the end of the day it's her decision overall, but there's more than just the beginning and end in life, what happens along the way is important. For the man, it's still half his, even if he isn't the one making the final decision, his input matters, because either way he has no choice. If she wants it and he doesn't, too bad, he now is legally forced to pay some of his income to take care of it. If he wants it and she doesn't, too bad, she can remove it anyways. Both of these actions have major consequences on his life and saying he has no say, when he is 50% as involved, is plain wrong.
This isn't an issue for just women to worry about. Men are just as involved. And while I will get to this in my next point, human rights apply to the fetus as well, but we can't decide on when a fetus becomes a human because.....
(4.) The lines between what is a human life and what is not are too blurry
This is easily one of the most opinionated and arguable things on the planet, and it all depends on your perspective. When does a human life begin? Is it at conception, where the circle of life begins? Is it when the heart first starts to beat? After all, we die when our heart stops to beat. Is it when we first start to look like humans? Is it only the moment we are born and not a second before?
These are all big questions with tons of debate and no clear answer, all opinions are both right and wrong at the same time.
This is why we can't just write laws about this without thought. Which stage in pregnancy you choose as the starting point of a human life means a lot, it means that's when you see that fetus as EQUAL to the value of YOUR life. Someone who thinks life starts at conception legitimately thinks someone is murdered during an abortion. If that isn't someone's viewpoint it's easy to dismiss the others as crazy, but think about that for a second, watching a person getting killed has to be one of the most traumatizing and worst things on the planet.
A person who thinks life starts at that point is watching what they see as fellow humans being killed all around them, all the time, without anything to stop it. That's a big deal. If a child is scared because they think a killer is hiding within the closet to come get them, you as an adult can easily scoff at this stupid because you see things differently than them. But it doesn't change the fact the child still thinks they are about to be murdered and they are terrified. We can't just ignore someone's viewpoint because we think their reasons are flawed. Maybe there actually is a killer in the closet that snuck in when you went to get some groceries...
Point is, we as people don't actually know what's in that closet. We are only giving our best guess. We are unable to open it because we aren't omnipotent beings that know everything in our world. If we did this debate wouldn't be issue, but it is because right now this ambiguity is leading to double standards with our laws. There is no set definition law wise where life begins.
So if a drunk driver hits a pregnant woman, killing her and the fetus, should he/she be charged for 1 or 2 murders? Something like a pregnant woman being killed tears at our emotions. It's an awful thing to think about, and something most will react strongly too. Unlike abortion, me just saying, Well it depends on where she was at with the pregnancy, will not satisfy many people at all.
This is why this issue on the start of life, although highly debatable, needs to be resolved.
(5.) Whatever side you're on, the big issue is there are TOO MANY abortions happening
For a rough estimate, there are about 700,000 legal abortions per year within the United States, and over 50 million so far since 1970. That's way too much, and something needs to be done. Why?
Remember how I said most people think abortions should be allowed for cases of rape, incest, and health complications? If each one of those was related to the reasons I said above, we'd have a serious problem folks. However, a good portion are done because of an accidental pregnancy. This is outrageous, because there should BARELY be any accidental pregnancies in today's world.
We have condoms for both men and women. We have cheap and effective birth control pills for women. There is the Copper IUD now. All of these methods, when used properly, should work 99% of the time. So why are there so many accidental pregnancies? Two things: Lack of education and Lack of responsibility.
Lack of education:
-Many states still practice abstinence only education. Abstinence is a great control method, as it's 100% effective all the time. However, telling a bunch of horny teenagers that their ONLY option is just to not have sex is about as useful as a blind service dog. Teens need to be aware what their options are, where they can get contraceptives (HINT: Public schools provide them for free!), and how to use said contraceptives. Knowledge is certainly power in this case. Heck, I didn't even know the copper IUD existed until like a year ago.
Their should also be reinforcement that waiting until you're with someone you really trust, care about, and could care for a baby with (if it happened) is more important than just waiting until marriage.
Lack of responsibility:
-The education is only so useful, however. At the end of the day nobody can force others to use contraceptives. There are many men and women that refuse to do so. There are also many that sleep around with whoever and whenever without thinking first. While casual sex isn't bad, it isn't the smartest move if your life cannot allow you to get an STD or have an unplanned pregnancy, so you need to be cautious and use contraceptives (preferably condoms) no matter what. And people in relationships should still use caution as well, but hopefully STD's are less of a worry. We also need to teach people the importance of having sex responsibly, because like driving, sex is a big deal.
If we could resolve these issues, the number of abortions would decrease dramatically, which I think both sides would be happy with.
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