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by Krissy The present state of technology never ceases to amaze me. That we can send men to the moon, save lives once thought to be beyond salvation, even clone a living creature attest to the greatness of our species' scientific advances. Over the last 50 years, with the aide of our advanced technology, humanity has been able to create numerous products that have proved to be indispensable to our cause. Personal computers, microwave ovens, cellular phones, and even the atomic bomb have all proved rather useful in their own context, right? In just the past few months science has produced for us yet another product which may prove useful in its specific context, a drug which will bring both accessibility and privacy to one of the most controversial functions in America - RU-486, more commonly known as the abortion pill. Introduced in France in 1988, RU-486's primary function is to abort a human fetus in its early stages of development by blocking a hormone necessary to sustain life. To be effective the drug must be taken within at least the first seven weeks of pregnancy - if done correctly it is 92 to 95 percent effective in aborting one's pregnancy. One would think that since such a drug has been available all over Europe for the past twelve years, that it would be available in America as well. After all, we American's pride ourselves as being an open-minded nation geared towards the future. The truth is that up until just recently, the abortion pill has been banned from the US. It's only been in this past year that the drug has successfully passed all necessary requirements posed by the Food and Drug Administration to make it onto the consumer market, despite the argument that it has been on the European market for more than a decade. Why all the opposition to the introduction of a measly pill on the US market? The answer to that is simple - the subject of abortion in its most general form brings about thousands of questions concerning the morality of the procedure. There are people out there who believe that abortion is murder, that by terminating the gestation of a human fetus you are indeed terminating a human life. They shriek and rail for congress not only to ban the abortion pill, but also to ban abortion as a practice all together. However, the practice of abortion has been legal since 1973 so those who are violently opposing the practice are just going to have to face reality. Abortion is a reality, and in this battle over the abortion pill, it's not so much the issue of right versus wrong, but rather the issue of a woman's rights. You can not legislate morality - morality is a subjective concept measurable only in the heart of the individual. If a woman chooses to abort the fetus that she is carrying inside her womb she should have full legal right to do so. The fact a woman has chosen to have an abortion should be her business, not the government's business - she shouldn't have to deal with people she doesn't even known questioning her moral fiber. Despite all arguments and debates the abortion pill will be made available on the US market in the near future. It should be embraced as a wonder of science, a drug that can actually put a stop to a woman's pregnancy, truly a marvel. Instead the idea is balked at and those who have lead the "good fight" swear they shall continue. That's all fine and dandy, after all, they've been fighting the practice of abortion for how long? Wasting their energy on fighting a procedure that was legalized twenty-seven years ago seems somewhat futile to me. Perhaps these crusaders should focus on a more worthy cause maybe worry about where our tax money is going, or who's going to lead our country, instead of worrying about how many fetuses their neighbor's sister is tossing into the dumpster. |
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