A woman is pregnant. She already has seven children: three are deaf, two are blind and one is severely disabled. She is poor and suffers from syphilis. Would you recommend and abortion? Yes? You just killed Beethoven.

Whether the facts of this joke are correct is irrelevant, the point is true. The aborted foetus could have been a genius of some sort. The joke displays the different factors that affect a person’s opinion about abortion.

The legality of abortion is a very controversial issue in today’s society. The definition of abortion, as written in the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary is: the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or foetus. The topic is controversial as it has opposing opinions and extreme and definite sides to the argument. Reasons for the choosing to be “pro choice” (legalising abortion) or “pro life” (prohibiting abortion) include: religion, background, experiences, circumstances, culture and education. (more…)