When is Abortion Justified?

Despite all possible forms of contraception that people can use nowadays, women still manage to find a way to get pregnant when they do not want to. Whether it is just out of ignorance or contraceptives really failed, the result is the same: one scared woman, not ready to be a mother and has no idea what to do about her pregnancy. To abort or to have the baby? Perhaps give it up for adoption?

Firstly I must state I am pro-choice. Before all you pro-life people turn away, because you think this article is about to turn into rambling about abortion being good and justified in every case, I dare you to read it through. It is not that simple. I am not for abortion, I do not think abortion is the right answer for every woman, I simply think all women must have the right to choose without any moral or religious or any other view being forced on them. However, when we talk about justifiable abortion, it is not just enough to say that a woman does not want a baby. Yes, she should have the right to terminate pregnancy in any case (denying her this right if she does not list good reasons for abortion would defeat the whole purpose of choice), but when we debate about justifiability, this mere fact cannot be enough. The problem occurs because of various interpretations of what is actually considered justifiable, but there are still a few examples where this decision is at least a bit easier.

Let us start with rape as the cause of the pregnancy. Although only small percentage of women conceive as a result of this extremely violent and immoral act, abortion in this case causes even the most conservative and anti-abortion advocates to think twice about its justifiability. In my opinion, pregnancy as a result of rape calls for a definite conclusion: a woman has every right to abort. A horrible act of violence, one that society should condemn even more, has been done upon her, and to force her to go through pregnancy, whether by denying her the right to have an abortion or by forcing her with some moral statements that she is killing her baby, is just another violent act. Just imagine e.g. a fourteen year old girl going through entire pregnancy, because the environment she lives in would not allow her to terminate. Imagine all the pain, the anger, helplessness that this poor girl has to endure when forced to carry the baby to full term.