The issue of abortion: pro-choice or pro-life? The murder of innocents or a woman's right to choose; the Pro-Life/Pro-Choice debate, which side are you on? The issue of abortion has been a topic of interest not only in the medical world but also in the political and religious world. The pro-life argument states that at the moment of conception the fetus is a child and that interrupting it is equivalent to taking life. The pro-choice argument states that the unborn fetus, not the baby, is just a lump of tissue and that terminating a pregnancy is not a baby. Both sides of the argument will be discussed in this essay along with the opinions of the church, politicians, women who have had abortions, and even a woman who worked for Planned Parenthood. Statistics Abortion defined is the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo before viability. Each year, 1.6 million abortions are performed in the United States, 91% of which occur during the first trimester (under 12 weeks of gestation). There are also second trimester abortions (under 24 weeks of gestation), which occur in 9% of cumulative abortions per year in the United States. And about 100 abortions are performed in the third trimester (above 24 weeks of gestation), or about 0.01% of all abortions. Each year, 1.5 million U.S. women with unwanted pregnancies will choose abortion. Most of these women have jobs, the rest go to school, and most of them will choose to have children at some future point in their lives. 82% of women who have abortions are unmarried, single or separated. It has been proven that nearly half of American women will have an abortion at some point in their lives. There are about...half of the document...even pro-lifers believe that contraception is wrong and try to keep it even women will get it. There are even laws that protect pharmacists from punishment if they choose to refuse contraception to any woman. These laws also protect those who, like a pharmacist, refuse a man Viagra because she believes he might rape someone with it. (amplify, 2009) There is also the argument that women who are raped or victims of incest should be forced to carry a child. full term and then give the baby up for adoption. Statistics say that 1 in 3 women will be the victim of rape or a sexually violent act, but does this mean that 33% of women should also be forced to carry the rapist's child to term? It doesn't seem right that a woman would lose her sense of security and choice to say no and then also have to deal with an unwanted pregnancy., 2009)