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human
CMV: Abortion is a necessary ‘low moral’ within society that, even despite it being sad, is essential to prevent poverty and should not be impeded upon (in addition, abortions should not occur after 24 weeks)

From my upbringing, I have been placed in the ‘no-man’s land’ (if you will) of the two camps between the issue of abortion. I tend to think little of the abortion topic as compared to other issues because I have not particularly been compelled to think of family planning and matters like that quite yet. However, I am approaching an age that I begin thinking about that quite often now and I feel it appropriate to have a definitive view on it rather than play the fence as I have been. So let me begin:

Some people in my family, especially my mother, view abortion as a necessary thing in society that should not be impeded upon because women should have the right to bodily autonomy just as men, having sex when, where, and however much they want. Much of the debate around pro-life circles also centres quite prominently on religious scripture, and although I am a Danish Lutheran by birth, I cannot particularly say I am _very devout_ and prefer to take a relationship to God as a personal one that doesn’t necessarily need to be in ‘his House’ every Sunday. As such, my sympathy with those type of pro-lifers in their logic is minimal and it makes me turn off from going towards them with how fundamentalist that some of the pro-lifers I know are.

On the other hand, I also fall a little into the pro-life category as a result of some other people around me, like my father. He is probably less connected to religion than I am, but when I would ask him about it, he would always tell me that “it really makes me sad when that option is made; that’s still a potential life inside the mother”. When I would meditate upon that notion, it made me sad too. I imagined how many of those who were aborted could have grown up to be great men or women that could have propelled our understanding of the world, invented something extraordinary, or been a great leader to help society as a whole. Or simply, someone could have been born that was less renowned, but helpful nonetheless, giving back to their communities or the like. But once the abortion happens, you cannot undo it. That life is done before it even started, and thinking all that really depressed me.

But at the same time, once they come into the world, and a baby born that would have been aborted is here, where do they go? Orphanages and foster homes? Many places, like the United States and Canada, the United Kingdom, and even Scandinavia have often unfit conditions of foster care to raise children with the most important aspect they could be given: love and belonging. Many homes that open their doors for foster care are subpar, with many using it as a way to generate government money to supplement income and not having the best intentions when looking out for children; almost every person I know who went through foster care were from the above places and said nearly the same thing. They likely become the rough youth that turn into criminals and fill up prisons and rehabilitation programmes. They may become the youth that are enticed into sex as an escape of their miserable situation and they have children in turn that they probably never wanted either. What about keeping the child and raising it? There’s now another mouth to feed that most women who would go for an abortion in the first place cannot provide for without taking long hours at one job, two jobs, even three. Barely seeing a parental figure around will lead to seeking out another to fill the gap of belonging, and if they don’t choose right (on a decision they never should choose from just being born, may I add), they can be led into crime and other poor decisions. In a life like that, handed barely anything from being born from an interaction that should have never happened, is it really life or existence?

I have a pro-life (also very very secular) friend in my life who I care very much for and respect immensely, so I listen to what he has to say and seriously consider it. In his opinion as he told me: “women shouldn't get into positions where it occurs unless they choose it...if some kid doesn't wrap it, we shouldn’t let them off”, which I agree with to a point. I disagree that women and men need to be fundamentally different in their social wants and needs because one produces a child and one provides the seed for the child to be born, but it also is the case that a lot of abortions are from unprotected sex from populations that shouldn’t have it, like teenagers and financially-unstable young adults. Sometimes it is the case that condoms fail, sure, but I do see the idea behind it as substantially accurate.

In the same conversation, my friend and I were in total agreement that if the mother was raped by the biological father and/or if the mother is in mortal danger, it would be acceptable to abort for reasons that you obviously aren’t choosing to get raped or know that the baby inside you can kill you.

Later on though in the conversation, we talked about what “a life” is, where the line is drawn on what constitutes a life and what really doesn’t. I voiced that, from my opinion, a baby should be able to survive as an independent entity without growth from within the womb for it to constitute a separate ‘life’, which from what I have gathered in quick glances on stories of survived premature births, can be as potentially soon as 20-24 weeks. That is 5-6 months, almost, if not, a half a year. That seems like plenty of time to decide if a baby is allowable under your circumstances.

All in all, I have dedicated my thoughts on the subject that: **Abortion is a necessary sadness in society to prevent strain on it, allow sexual freedom to women, and to save a more than likely guaranteed shitty life for thousands of people for the future. However, I do see a sense of merit in the other side that babies beyond a period of 24 weeks should not be allowed to be aborted because they have potential to survive out of the womb or at the least are on the threshold of it.**

I’m tired of feeling so indecisive about this topic and I want that to change. Thanks in advance!
gpt
In the US, 1.5% of terminations occur after 24 weeks.  The majority of those (1% of all) are performed because a defect has been found in the fetus that will not allow it to survive outside the mother.  The remainder are overwhelmingly because the mother was unable to access a nearby abortion clinic, and had to arrange travel.

Your concerns are addressed to a very small percentage of abortions, and better clinic access would resolve a large portion of them.

As well, please remember that the vast majority of people, pro-life or pro-choice, consider an abortion to be a bad thing.  It's just that pro-choice people feel that it is sometimes a necessary thing.