There should be no law that fully prohibits abortion because government and religion should be kept entirely separate. Government speaks for the people and chooses what is right for the people as a whole. Religion focuses on a group of people coming together sharing common beliefs. Religion cannot speak for one group when the nation is made up of a combination of different groups.
The fertilized egg, called a zygote, contains the DNA to become an independent organism and may technically be considered a potential person, it does not give the zygote full human rights. A single-cell amoeba contains DNA which allows it to grow and multiply. Learning from Biology, DNA is the “everything” that tells cells how to run or what to do. This amoeba and the zygote are extremely alike except the amoeba is not a potential person. You could still argue that if the zygote has DNA, then it must be a person. But that is incorrect. The inside of your cheek and the very tips of your hair have DNA; your own DNA that you got at conception. Just because the zygote has DNA does not qualify it to have full human rights.
Many opponents argue that abortion is murder. This is where the whole consciousness and dependence argument comes into play. The consciousness and dependence argument is what defines what rights the zygote gets.
The consciousness argument says that the zygote/embryo/fetus/baby is conscious. It starts to be conscious between the 24th and 28th week (at this time it would be considered one month until a fetus, according to scientificamerican.com.) But we already have an abortion law. It’s called the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 that president Bush implanted. This does not allow abortion at the second trimester of pregnancy and on; this is when it is an embryo.
There are two different types of dependence, physical and social. We all know that small children and under depend on some adult or older person to survive. Dependence that requires some adult or older person to take care of them is called social dependence.
The developing zygote is depending on the mother for nutrients until birth. This is called physical dependence. Physical dependence takes a huge impact on the mother. In the United States and Canada, women who are pregnant are 13 times more likely to die from pregnancy than abortion according to the World Health Organization. Physical dependence theory was described by Judith Jarvis Thompson.
This dependence argument relates to adoption. Pro-life supporters believe that you could put the baby in an adoption facility or it become a ward of the state. However, many don’t realize the emotional and physical effects of adoption. Some children feel completely abandoned and this feeling can cause depression and depression can lead to suicide and other harm. They also can experience guilt, like the child thought he/she did something terrible and the parent doesn’t want him/her around.
Even more so, some foster parents only do it for the money and physically and sexually abuse the children.
To summarize, we already have a abortion law. We don’t need one that bans it completely. The current abortion law should be enough since that abortion law protects embryos. It should not protect zygotes because it’s just a potential human. And if it was made illegal, people would still do it. Before Roe v. Wade, (abortion court case that resulted in the legalization of abortion) women were getting abortions in the most unsafe and most unclean places. More women died from illegal abortions when abortions were illegal. If it’s illegal, it doesn’t mean people will stop doing it.
I find it very unfair that government is forcing their own opinions because we all should have equal rights. I think it’s outrageously unfair that they can tell a woman what to do with her own body. It’s her body and if she doesn’t want a baby within the first trimester, she has the unreserved right to abort it. There is absolutely no correct answer to abortion. There are so many scenarios and endless possibilities when it comes to this. For example, would you want abortion to be illegal if your 12-year-old daughter was raped?