Thirty eight states have laws currently that make feticide illegal, and in most cases the punishment for this crime is extreme (Fetal Homicide Laws). The majority of these states do not consider viability of the fetus when sentencing these criminals. It does not matter if the woman who was killed was eight months pregnant or nine days pregnant. No matter what the gestational age of the fetus, they are charged with double homicide. This shows that they do consider them to have life, but only when the murderer is not the mother? Yet in another recent case, a woman threatened to abort her baby unless one million dollars was raised in a period of three days (Michelle). She said that in her state there was a required waiting period of seventy two hours before you could have an abortion, and if the money was raised, she would have the child and give it up for adoption. This is the worst part because she realizes that adoption is a valid option, but will not make that choice unless she is given one million dollars. If the baby was alive, this would be considered a ransom, and if the woman was caught she would be taken to jail immediately. But since the baby was not born yet, it is totally legal? The idea of it being legal for the mother to kill her baby, but not someone else is completely contradictory. You cannot logically change the definition of …show more content…
Abortion is, in fact, a medical procedure and should never be denied to a woman with a medical problem. If the baby shows in the womb that it will not survive, then the mother should have that choice. If there are medical complications during the pregnancy that put the mother or the child at risk then the mother should have that choice. If the mother was raped, and really had no part of the decision to have sex, then she should have the choice, but only in cases of proven rape. But a woman having an abortion because she messed up or because she decided not to use birth control is unacceptable. There is free birth control provided by the Family Planning Benefit Program through Planned Parenthood (Free Birth Control). It is as simple as going to Planned Parenthood, filling out a few forms, and leaving with your birth control. The entire process only takes one to two hours at maximum. This is more cost and time effective, and much easier and safer to go through than the abortion process. A woman who argues that she cannot financially support a child should take this step anyways to save money and time, because birth control is free and abortions are often not. Considering that there is free and easily accessed birth control, parental irresponsibility should not be a valid reason to have an abortion. People need to be responsible, and if they are not, they need to put up with the consequences of their actions, not