Abortion or adoption?

Abortion is one of the contentious issues regarding women’s rights. The reasons behind it are many, not taking into account the obvious ones like rape and health concerns. Some women argue that they can’t cope to have a child because of the responsibility that entails, jeopardizing their freedom and also their budgets.

In societies where there is sexual freedom and where single mothers have become the norms, abortion is concerned with personal choice as abortion can be seen as synonym to contraception.

In traditional society, especially in Muslim countries, abortion is prohibited by religion as that is seen as ending a human life. But many pregnant unmarried women resort to abortion to avoid embarrassment in their surrounding. An unmarried woman with a child is seen as immoral and even as a mere prostitute. So the solution for her is to resort to abortion to escape social punishment and to ensure marriage. There have been incidents of abortions leading to death and infirmity as they are carried out in backstreet “clinics” and in secret, sometimes through the use of traditional methods.

Abortion remains problematic for the mothers. They have to choose between carrying it out and accepting the baby with all its consequences. One way to lessen the frequency of abortion is sexual education. When women know how to conduct themselves sexually there can be rare chances of them falling pregnant. Traditional societies should be more tolerant towards women falling in “the big sin.” Another possibility is to ease the adoption of unwanted children. It’s better for babies to enjoy life after their birth through adoption than to be killed when they’re still in the womb.

When there are two evils, we should choose the lesser. Between adoption and abortion, society should decide. Abortion shouldn’t after all become an automatic act. Each time a woman is pregnant, she can resort to abortion. There should be laws regulating it guaranteeing the rights of the child and the mother alike.