The Ethics of Abortion

An abortion is when a pregnancy is terminated and a fetus is eliminated from the uterus.

According to WHO, every year in the world an estimated 40-50 million women faced with an unplanned pregnancy decide to have an abortion. This corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day.

Why women or girl choose to abort their own child? Sometimes is unplanned pregnancy, sometimes is being raped, and sometimes is because the girl is under age.  Under age means a citizen that is below 18 years old according to Malaysia’s law.

Here I would like to talk about abortion if a girl was being raped. If you are the family members or her friends, will you encourage her to abort the child?

People don't know how to handle a person who is in that much pain. There is no quick fix. Many people think women are responsible for contributing to the rape itself. Then the rape victims feel self-blame and guilt. And even then a rape victim’s family members or close friends may reinforce negative feelings or words towards the victim.

According to David Reardon, for those victims who chose childbirth over abortion it can be a triumph. It can state that the victim is not going to let rape destroy her life. When the need of pregnant victims is closely examined, it can be shown that abortion is not the answer and is in fact only worsening the problem.

As a normal human with humanity, we should not ask a person to abort her child because it is unethical. I will explain why it is unethical.

1)      Right to Life

Fetus has the right to life because it is a 'potential human being'. From the day 22, the heartbeat of fetus is formed. Since there is the heartbeat, there is the life. Whether the baby is able to come to the world or not, it is not us to decide but God who gives life. I believe in all religions, got one (1) similarities which is baby is given from God and we shall not kill life.

2)      Abortion Cannot Help the Victim 

Abortion cannot help the victim because the problem is not because of the pregnancy, but it is because of the psychological aspect. The victim will think why she still carrying a baby that is not belongs to her and her loved one. Victim will feel as long as she carrying the baby, she can’t forget the traumatic incident that happened on her. Abortion is not the way to end the story, but it is the starting of another chapter of despair. After abortion, many victims began thinking there was something wrong with them and began to doubt themselves in situations that they would normally be sure of themselves.

3)      Help Others

There are so many girls was being raped every year. For those can overcome the trauma, she can help many unfortunate girl around the world to stand up and live meaningfully. This is because she understands how other victims feel.

There are few solutions I would like to suggest to prevent rape cases.

1.      Family and Friends

A supportive family and friends are very important to victim. Rather than find faults or blames in her, encouragement is very important. Encouragement will let the victim know that she is not alone to face the problem. When she knows many people are encouraging her, she will get comforted and continue to build up her life and continue to live. There are many cases that victim commit suicide because there is no support from family and friends.

2.      Society

Society should be aware that rape cases are getting more and more. Society needs to create a community to help the weakness and prevent such cases continue to happen. For example, community can teaches some protection skills to prevent criminal to kidnap and rape.  In Malaysia, there are a lot of organizations helping victims such as Women’s Aid Organization (WAO), World Health Organization (WHO) and Malaysian Family Physicians.

3.      Government

Government need to enforce the law and protects victim. Malaysia needs to increase law enforcement towards sexual crime. Under Malaysian law, a man who is said to commit rape shall be punished for a term which may extend to 20 years, and shall also be liable to whipping, if he has sexual intercourse with a woman against her will and without her consent. This law should always remind the citizens and the Government should apply more education about the consequences of rape.

In conclusion, when I preparing for this blog, I’m in a contradict position. If this happen to me, I also will don’t know how to choose. In logically, we should not abort the baby. In mentally and emotionally, the baby should not come to this world. So, here I would like to ask all girls to be careful everywhere you go and please inform someone if go out from the house.

Take care!

Here is a quote from Megan Clancy:

There are women who are raped and become pregnant; the problem is that they were raped, not that they are pregnant.

There are women who are starving who become pregnant; the problem is that they are starving, not that they are pregnant.

There are women in abusive relationships who become pregnant; the problem is that they are in abusive relationships, not that they are pregnant.