A Woman's Right To Choose

Pregnancy is a defining event in most women's lives, and one aspect is that the woman's body generally undergoes permanent changes in order to accommodate, nurture and give birth to a baby. This is the primary justification for the, "my body, my choice" argument, and it does seem like a good starting place for developing policy. 

Fortunately, the majority of pregnancies and abortions for that matter are not the result of rape. So, just for the sake of this discussion, let us assume that we are only talking about pregnancies where rape or incest (another form of rape in my opinion) are not a factor.

In these cases, out of empathy for the impact of pregnancy on a woman's body, it is generally argued that the woman should have the right to make a choice as to what happens within/to her body. This is a very real and excellent point, and I would pose that there are at least two chronological points at which the woman HAS in fact made a choice before the pregnancy is established. 

First, our culture has made sex education a priority in our public school system, and any sexually mature female that is having sex should be aware that it comes with the possible consequence of getting pregnant. This means that a choice is being made.

One could argue that there are those that are nescient of sexual information, and I would agree. However, that portion of the population is either so statistically small that they should not define policy (exceptions could be made if necessary), or our sexual education programs are failing so dramatically that they need be scrapped and recreated. A topic for another discussion. 

Many people (hopefully) may be screaming at their screens as they read this, "The woman is not the only one making a choice! It takes two to tango!"

This too is a very valid point.  However, in today's political environment I see very few men making the argument that they should have complete and unlimited say in the choice of whether their child is aborted. Men may argue that no child should be aborted, but this still takes the power out of their hands.  Regardless, this article is not titled, "A Man's Right To Choose" and that is not the focus of this discussion. Let us just accept that the man clearly does make choices in the process, and by that fact alone it should be recognized that he plays a role in these decisions.

The second option for a woman to make a choice is related to birth control. There are many very effective forms of birth control available (often for free) and covered in those sex education classes I mentioned earlier. If a woman makes the choice to have sex and doesn't want to get pregnant, she should educate herself about and employ birth control (yes, this is the man's responsibility too).

"But no birth control is 100% effective, and if it fails, the woman may not know until the pregnancy is established!" you may very logically argue. Excellent point! Once educated about birth control, one learns this very fact and is, therefore, more capable to make appropriate choices. 

Interestingly enough, by doubling-up on birth control, one can reduce the chances of unwanted pregnancy to levels that would make Wilt Chamberlain comfortable. There are also alternate choices for sexual expression (manual/digital, oral or anal) that may or may not reduce pleasure, but have 0% chance of resulting in pregnancy. I won't even begin to cover the argument that the man refuses to use birth control because that creates some very obvious choice opportunities for the woman (again, we are not discussing rape here).

Alright, I believe I have made my point; in general, women have choices prior to getting pregnant. I still recognize that mistakes happen, and abortion can be a viable option to an unwanted pregnancy. Abortion is never going to be outlawed as long as the U.S.A. exists, so the real discussion needs to be regarding the establishment of parameters.

The problem with having no established parameters for this choice is that there will always be people who are willing to "push the envelope" and offer extreme options for late-term abortions. From a scientific perspective, it is simply asinine to try to argue that the unborn fetus' life begins magically as a child takes its first breath. This means that at some point during the pregnancy, the act of abortion changes from a medical procedure to stop a pregnancy to murder.

I would like to establish parameters for the abortion option, and I submit the following assertions as reasonable facts to employ in the definition of those parameters: 

A) At the moment of conception, the greatest burden and right to make the choice whether or not to abort falls to the woman. 

B) The father shares some right to have a say in the destiny of his child, but that right is never equal to the mother.

D) The unborn child starts out as a group of cells with no brain activity (what we might define as life) but will develop consciousness at some time during the pregnancy. At that point, the level of greatest burden and right falls to the child.

E) Simple human survival instinct dictates that the child would always choose not to be aborted.

So, here is what I propose. 

At the moment of conception, the choice regarding abortion falls 100% to the pregnant woman.  She can at that moment opt for the morning after pill without consulting ANYONE if she is aware of the chance of pregnancy. This complete authority continues through the entire first month of the pregnancy. 

Starting after the fourth week of the pregnancy, the woman begins to lose 6% of that choice each week. 2% of the choice transfers to the father, and 4% of the choice transfers to the child. By this action, the mother's autonomous right to abort the pregnancy continues through the 12th week. 

At 13 weeks into the pregnancy, the father and unborn child together have acquired 54% of the authority over the choice to abort (father with 18% and child with 36%). At this point, the two can override the mother's 46% authority to make the decision not to abort. This also means that the mother and father have combined authority to abort until week 16 of the pregnancy if the two agree.

Once an unborn child reaches 17 weeks, the choice has transitioned fully to that child, as they have acquired 52% of the right to choose their fate. 

At 17 weeks, an unborn baby is about 5 inches long and weighs about 5 ounces. They have developed their fingerprints, a functioning heart, and brain, and they independently move and yawn. From 17 weeks on, the child would be considered a human and would have the same rights as any other American citizen to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Let's discuss and hone this idea.