When does a fetus become a person? From the first second it starts to grow? After three weeks? Maybe after ten days? How about five months? When. That is the question that riddles the debate about abortion. When. But the truth is that ‘when’ doesn’t matter. When is relative. Someone may say one day while others don’t classify the fetus as anything but a parasite until nine months have passed and it is born. The important question is not when it is to whom. To get pregnant is a choice, to be pregnant is a choice, to give birth is a choice. It is a choice that can change someone’s life. Depending on who is pregnant many obstacles or none at all can stand in the way of a safe pregnancy. People may argue that by having abortions the women are killing a living person, but in some eyes the fetus is not a person. Those people who think it is wrong need not change their minds about it, but they don’t need to impose their thoughts on a nation. Those against abortion can not change every mind. They are not the only ones out there, and they are not every girl who has ever gotten pregnant. Abortion should be legal in the United States because no one has a right to make someone give birth, some women and girls can die from giving birth, and by keeping it legal the U.S. is giving everyone a choice to do what they think is right.

Abortion should be legal in the United States because no one has the right to force someone to give birth. If abortion was illegal then women and girls would have to give birth to the child. If someone does not want to be pregnant and have a child who are we, as a nation, to make them? We are not the ones carrying the fetus as it grows and we are not the ones going through the pain of childbirth. No matter how we try to convince ourselves that we are saving a life or giving the world another great mind by letting the baby come into the world, all we are really doing is putting someone through unnecessary pain. It is not one group’s choice to make for these women and girls. By making abortion illegal we are making the choice for millions of women and girls, and forcing them to do something that they may not want to do. If abortion was legal in the United States women and girls could make the choice for themselves – they would have that freedom to make such a choice. And America is the land of the free.

Abortion should be legal in the United States because some women and girls can die from giving birth. There are 1,200 maternal deaths worldwide each day. It is estimated that about 70,000 teenage girls die each year from causes related to pregnancy, and that 1 million babies of teenage mothers die before their first birthday. Many complications exist that can cause maternal death. According to Women’s Health Weekly there are 17 maternal deaths for every 100,000 live births. Some things that cause maternal death are hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, hemorrhage and postpartum complications. Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy include pre-eclampsia, which has an unknown cause. It involves damage to the kidneys, liver, and maternal endothelium. Another disorder is chronic hypertensive disorder, which does not have a treatment. Postpartum complications include a high fever of about 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit, blood clots the size of a plum, nausea or vomiting and many more after giving birth. Maternal hemorrhaging is when a woman bleeds heavily during or after pregnancy. All of these things can kill a woman or girl, and while some are treatable, others are not. Something could also happen to the fetus while it is growing, something that can not be treated and therefore would kill both the mother and the fetus because doctors would not be allowed to perform an abortion to save the mother. If abortions were illegal both of them would die and these consequences could not only be from maternal death but from unsafe abortions as well. This could mean that the pregnant mother tries to perform the abortion herself, or someone unskilled tries to perform one. This is called back-alley abortion, and happened often after abortion became illegal in 1973. Some methods involved metal coat hangers or herbs. All of this could happen and more if abortions were made illegal in the United States.

The final reason of why abortion should be legal in the United States is that no one has the right to impose their thoughts, feelings, and “rightful” actions on anyone else. We are all free to believe what we do, and by keeping abortion legal we are doing just that. If abortion was illegal we would be taking away the right to believe in something and act upon that belief. If abortion is legal no one is saying that everyone must think it is right. No one would be forcing every woman to have an abortion; the woman could do whatever she thinks is right. Some say that women should not have the right to kill off another living human being, no matter if it is inside her body. The fact is she should have the right. A fetus is technically a parasite. It lives inside the body and feeds off of the body. If you took it out and put it in a different situation it would not survive, unless medical care and technology was provided. The classification of a parasite is this, according to a medical dictionary: “An organism that lives in or on and takes its nourishment from another organism. A parasite cannot live independently.” A fetus is an organism that is taking nourishment from the mother to survive. If abortion was made illegal people could still believe this, but would they be able to act upon their belief? No. If abortion is kept legal those who want abortions can get them, and those who believe they are wrong don’t have to. If abortions are legal no one is forcing anyone to do anything they do not want to do.

In conclusion, abortions should stay legal in the United States because no one has the right to force someone to give birth, women and girls can die from giving birth and imposing your views on a nation is wrong if not all share those views. Frederica Mathewes-Green said “No woman wants an abortion as she wants an ice cream cone or a Porsche. She wants an abortion as an animal caught in a trap wants to gnaw off its own leg.” Hardly anyone really wants to kill her fetus, but sometimes it can be the right thing to do, sometimes it is the only way out of a situation in which you can die. If the United States makes abortion illegal every woman and girl would be caught in this trap with no way out – that doesn’t sound like freedom to me.

All my essays here were written for my Debate class. Don't flame, please, just state your opinion if you'd like. Thanks.

Clarity