Five Reasons to Have an Abortion

A PDF tri-fold pamphlet version of this article is available here.

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Are you pregnant and deciding between abortion, adoption, and raising the child? You have probably heard the arguments against abortion; here are five reasons why abortion is the right choice for everyone involved.

1. For Your Own Good

You will be happier and healthier if you abort.

• Even a normal pregnancy inevitably results in disfigurement, including stretch marks, scarring, loose stomach skin, and obesity.
  
• Carrying a pregnancy to term is much riskier than having an abortion. Death, injury, and life-threatening illness (such as gestational diabetes) are all more likely to occur with full-term pregnancy than with abortion. (Source: Centers for Disease Control)
  
• Incontinence is also a frequent result of pregnancy; one-third of American women experience pelvic floor disorder in their lifetimes, resulting in vaginal prolapse and urinary or anal incontinence.
  
• The risk of mental health problems after abortion is the same or less than that for a full-term pregnancy. (Source: American Psychological Association)

2. For the Good of the Father

Think of the child's other parent.

• The father has no choice whether to have a baby, like you have.
  
• All of a sudden, he will be financially and socially responsible for a child he didn't want or plan for.
  
• He may feel his life is ruined.
  
• Many fathers of unwanted children commit suicide.
  
• You have the power to prevent this. At some point, you cared for him enough to have sex with him; now show you really care by not drastically changing his life without his consent.
  

3. For the Good of the World

Your child will need food and energy, and will get it from a world that already doesn’t have enough to go around – for wildlife or people.

• About a billion people in the world are hungry.
  
• All over the world, habitats have been decimated and species threatened or destroyed because a growing human population demands food and energy.
  
• A child from a wealthy country like the United States will use vastly more resources in its lifetime than a child from a poor country.
  
• The birth of a child is, in many ways, an ecological disaster.

4. For the Good of Other Children

Giving a child up for adoption means there will be one less loving home for some other needy child.

• Even if you are able to find a loving home for your child, giving up a child for adoption deprives another child, somewhere out there, of that very loving home.
  
• Some child who would have found a great home will merely get an okay home.
  
• And some child who would have gotten an okay home will be left with none.
  
• This is particularly true for older or disabled children, who will not be able to compete with your newborn, presumably healthy infant.

5. For the Good of the Child

Life is NOT a precious gift.

• A child who is never born can never suffer pain, fear, or loneliness.
  
• A child who is never born can never experience death.
  
• By having a child, you ensure that it will suffer during its lifetime, and that it will die.
  
• A study published in the American Journal of Sociology found that 30% of children wish they'd never been born.

Carrying a pregnancy to term is NOT the morally right thing to do. Abortion is not only the less dangerous choice for the mother, it's the morally responsible choice for everyone.

If you think abortion is wrong, how about New Abortion?

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Lest anyone downplay the seriousness of the physical aspects mentioned in the first section above, here is a quotation from a woman struggling with the physical consequences of pregnancy:

So I use to be hopeful. I use to think I could change my body back to semi-normal or at least into something I could accept. I know differently now. Now I know that with out surgery I will be miserable forever…. Ok maybe that’s a tad bit dramatic. What I know is that I’m currently about 40 lbs heavier than I was when I posted last. . . . I hate my body more than I ever have in my life. I don’t look at other women and think “oh she looks awful” for some reason I can totally see beauty in others but in myself? Not at all. Everyday is a challenge. As dramatic as it sounds I sometimes think about dying over it. I wouldn’t take my own life (I couldn’t do that to my children) but sometimes it seems like dying would be a nice way out… An easy way out. [Sic throughout. Emphasis mine.]