About abortion

Most people don't think abortion is desirable. Fundamentalists insist that abortion should be banned. (Gorge. W. Bush tried to act a bill to ban abortion. ) However some people are reluctant to support a ban, partly because of their emotion, partly because of their fear to be guilty, partly because of peer pressure. What makes this problem difficult? I would like to focus on justification problem and law problem.(I should have written about religious problems in Japanese. However, because it is too difficult to describe in English.)

¡¡ ­¡ In what kind of case is abortion justified?
¡¦¡¡ I don't think abortion itself is desirable. But I know I have to be tolerant with it in some cases. I explain show my opinion by three examples.
x) Up to 23 weeks after conception
Physiology shows that after 23 weeks, a fetus could grow as normal. It is the earliest record for human beings now. We recognize fetus before 23 weeks are parts of mothers bodies. That¡Çs why abortion before 23 weeks is not homicide but self-injury. Of course, motivation is the most important factor. Ethical problems will arise, but under this standard, they aren¡Çt so serious for me.
y) Beyond 23 weeks after conception
On the other hand, abortion after 23 weeks is considered to be homicide as a rule, because fetus after 23 weeks are recognized as lives. But abortion isn¡Çt always homicide in this standard. There are some exceptions.
z) difficult cases
It is too strict to say that abortion after 23 weeks is always homicide. We need to pay attention to a fetus¡Ç status. For instance, if fetus is out of the uterus, the chance for life is low and is too short. Furthermore they will endanger mothers¡Ç lives. I think the rights of a mother outweigh those of the fetus in such cases. But mothers must try hard to avoid abortion after 23 weeks.


­¢ Law problems
¡¦ I believe abortion itself is unethical. But it doesn¡Çt mean that it is wrong in law. The levels of ethics and laws are different. Many laws have their standards. I would like to focus on criminal law and civil law here.
In terms of criminal law, babies can be human when their parts of bodies come out of mothers. (Generally speaking, the part of body means ¡Èhead¡É, but some babies lie vice versa. So, I described¡Èpart¡É.) Because we can injure them without injuring mothers. Under this standard, we can¡Çt only commit homicide but also injury to babies in mothers. (Guilt is an illegal abortion punishment.) It is absurd that abortion cannot be homicide. This standard is needed to be amended by physiology. Babies are lives after 23 weeks. It is sure that they can¡Çt live as human yet, but they have personhood at least. I think abortions after 23 weeks should be homicide under law.
In terms of civil law, babies can be human when all of their bodies come out from mothers. They have rights to inherit parents¡Ç fortune during fetus, but these are temporal. After birth, they are guaranteed the rights. So, they have rights after birth in this sense. If abortion before 23 weeks is committed, it is not a crime to the life but to the rights to inherit its fortune. You are innocent under criminal law, but are guilty under civil law.


­£¡¡Conclusion
¡¦ Abortion is itself unethical but isn¡Çt always so. In emergency cases like fetus out of uterus we need to permit them. We have to think which merit is important in each case.
In addition to that, we have to weigh the merits of each case. Criminal law is not so strict compared to ethics because it rules that a fetus before birth is not a life. I¡Çm afraid that this standard will be used badly. Irresponsible pregnancy is increasing, so punishment should be reinforced.
Under the standard of civil law, babies before birth have temporal inheritance rights which will be guaranteed after birth. But it is difficult to use civil law to accuse pregnant women of abortion. Civil law is related to money affairs not justice, so it can¡Çt be strict enough to punish them compared to criminal law. We need reinforce punishment for dirty abortion as criminal law.
Standards have been changing because of the development of physiology. In ten years, earliest record will be broken and the standard will be shorter. Future pregnant women will feel that it is unfair to be regulated by stricter standard. Unfortunately, some pregnant women will face the change of standards. But this volatility is the very deterrent to irresponsible pregnancy.