Due to the recent anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion, I have had several discussions with people about their own views on the matter.
People who have any opinion on abortion tend to fall under two categories: those who label themselves pro-life, and those who refer to themselves as pro-choice. Thirty-seven years have passed since the Supreme Court decision was made and these two groups have repelled each other to extreme lengths. Pro-lifers insist on making abortions illegal and promoting abstinence. People who are pro-choice believe in keeping abortion legal because it is the right of women to do with their bodies as they sees fit.
After much contemplation on this issue I have come to several conclusions. The first is that these two views are in no way able to coincide with one another. The animosity that each group has for each other has escalated to the point where they cannot agree.
My second conclusion is this: I do not consider myself a member of either group. I do not believe that it is a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion, which is why I do not consider myself pro-choice. The truth is that we as a species have not come to an agreement on when life begins. There are those who believe it to be at conception or, alternatively, at the birth of the child. The law has decided that abortion becomes an illegitimate option somewhere around 24 weeks into the pregnancy. This chosen number of 24 weeks was defined in the 1970s when current medicinal practices were unable to save the life of a baby born prematurely before 24 weeks. This is no longer the case, as I know of children who are born at 22 weeks and end up leading normal lives. The British news source the Daily Mail reported on a girl born at 22 weeks in 2006. Baby Amilla Taylor weighed less than 10 ounces at birth, but doctors sent her home with high hopes at two months and four and a half pounds.
My point is that there is a grey area in which a human life begins. Our nation, for the most part, believes in the conventional wisdom that children are our most precious commodity. We have all heard that before, and yet, we who do not know when life begins are willing to risk killing a child because we believe we have the right to choose when they begin to live. The possibility of killing a human being should be enough to dissuade us from allowing abortions, but somehow, it doesn’t.
Those who consider themselves pro-life hold too archaic a view of the situation to propose an obtainable goal in protecting life, or even potential life. Because of this, I believe pro-lifers are also at fault. To think that one can actually convince a member of our society to refrain from participating in pre-marital sex, which our culture promotes in every magazine, television show and movie, is absurd.  There has been too much focus on abstinence and not enough on the scientifically proven methods to prevent unwanted pregnancies, which are the main cause for abortion. By making contraceptives as available as candy in a convenience store, people who are pro-life will not have to fear a young girl choosing abortion over birth because there will be no pregnancy to begin with.
By this point I have offended members of both groups, which is what I intended. These two groups, pro-life and pro-choice, have had 37 years to come to an agreement to protect the lives of both potential mothers and potential children, and still have not found that middle ground. The cause of abortion is unwanted pregnancy. By reducing unwanted pregnancies, abortions will, in turn, also diminish. In light of this inability to compromise, abortions will always remain an option for pregnant women, which is regrettable. However, with advances in medicinal technology, one can hope that contraceptives will eventually take precedence over abortions.