I want to put forth a disclaimer before I discuss abortion, however. My position on abortion is analogous to my position on the death penalty; we should legislate to the exception. What I mean by this is that, in the case of the death penalty, I believe in it only when there is 100% insurance that the executed are guilty, and that no one is ever wrongly sentenced to death. Since our penal system tacitly accepts error through such mechanisms as judicial review and appellate courts, and subjective opinion-based legal decisions, the death penalty is not currently a safe mechanism. In much the same way, even if 99% of the women who get abortions do so (in my opinion) in a frivolous manner or for poor reasons, the hypothetical 1% of women who get abortions after a rape or incest case still deserve that right.

In fact, I believe the numbers are far less one-sided than those. Rape and incest are indisputable justifications for abortion in my eyes, but they are not the only legitimate ones. Let us turn to a more commonplace, and less upsetting, possibility—that of a single, professional woman who does not want to raise a child alone and does not want a relationship as serious as a parental partnership with any of the men she is seeing.

To some, this may sound frivolous, or uncaring. Many would say that this woman could consider having less sex, or being more careful about using contraceptives. If sex-ed taught me nothing else, though, it taught me that contraceptives do not work 100% of the time. Furthermore, as we all know, sex can be thoroughly enjoyable. Yes, if a woman does not want to get pregnant, having no sex is a great way to do that. However, to her, that is only one possible outcome (not a given, but a possibility) and plenty of people have sex without wanting to have children. If a pregnancy is an unwanted outcome of sex, then it could be viewed as similar to a sexually transmitted disease: sure, she doesn’t want to get it, but it’s just one of the risks we all take when we have sex. No one wants an STD, but that does not mean we all stop having sex.

Finally, let us consider the unborn child’s perspective. If abortion is not legal, or is only legal in extreme cases such as rape, then some mothers (such as the example outlined above) will have children they did not really want in the first place. Not all, of course, but some. If we again consider legislating to the exception, we should not consider that lots of children would still be born into happy homes, but the fact that those who are not will have unhappy childhoods. Let me ask you, the reader: would you rather be born to parents that planned and hoped for you, or for a parent who is raising you because they did not have a choice and who had their arm twisted into keeping you?

Abortion, as difficult as it is, cannot be illegal, or even considered immoral. Life happens, and sometimes it happens at exactly the wrong time or the worst possible place. I am not willing to condemn numerous children to unhappy, unwanted childhoods because I believe no one will ever have more influence over the outcome of a person’s life than that person’s parents.

Related posts:

1. Abortion is Only Rarely Acceptable