Abortion: Pros and Cons In a pluralistic culture of unwanted pregnancies, a contradiction exists between a relative sense of morality and the democratic ideal of free choice. Aristotle provided the first written evidence of this unresolvable contradiction in his book Politics, saying: "When couples have excess children, let abortion be done before meaning and life begin; what may or may not be lawfully done in these cases it depends on the question of life and sensations." (1) The controversy has always been divided into two sides: the "Pro-Lifers", who believe that abortion is morally wrong and should not be allowed, and the "Pro-Choicers", who support a woman's right to choose the outcome of your pregnancy in all cases. There is also a large group of people who fall in the middle, believing that abortion should only be allowed under certain circumstances. To this day, abortion continues to be a topic of controversy, with each side offering many of the same arguments that have been offered for several millennia. Those concerned about the issue saw this play out recently in the presidential election, a very close race in which abortion was a key factor in many citizens' votes. Pro-life arguments* Religion – Pro-lifers often argue that God is on their side (i.e. the Pope says abortion is wrong, so it must be that way).* Fetus as a living entity – They look at the fetus and see a tiny human, rapidly developing human feet, hands, and other appendages, as well as rudimentary forms of all the systems you find in a fully developed human. Not to mention the fact that the fetus is capable of movement. Clearly this little being must be “alive”. Perhaps the most compelling testimony to this theory is the rare ca...... middle of paper ......ch appeals to both pro-lifers and pro-choicers alike. Instead, we should simply accept the decisions made by whoever holds political power at any given time. After all, these people are elected, so their opinions should, in theory, coincide with those of the majority of the population. By recognizing the fact that a compromise will never be reached, we will be able to move on to issues that can actually be resolved. If, however, we are unable to accept some sort of abortion policy addressing deeper issues, we will continue to face an alarming incidence of unwanted pregnancies (about half of all pregnancies in 1996 were unwanted), which , in turn, will continue to generate controversy about how to deal with these pregnancies.(1) Aristotle. Politics (B. Jowett, trans.).>