Dear Editor,

Pro-choice activists want us to believe that their radical view on abortion is about advancing women’s rights and liberty, while pro-life fundamentalists want us to believe that they are protecting the child’s life by disregarding the life of the woman, but they are not.

They’re both using the baby as a weapon in their war for control.

Women have been suppressed for centuries by ignorant and insecure patriarchs; therefore, in trying to reclaim their rightful place in society some of them have forgotten the need for balance.

It is wrong to suggest that a baby shouldn’t be recognised as a human being until birth. Pro-lifers argue that the foetus cannot defend itself in court, thus it shouldn’t be given rights. However, this is why the Government needs to be involved to defend the foetus. Moreover, it is the Government’s responsibility to ensure that the rights and lives of its citizens are protected and ensure the survival of society.

At fertilisation, the genes and sex of the child are determined; the heart starts beating at day 22 and at week five the nervous system, liver, kidney, and intestines are already formed, while the legs, eyes, and hands are in development by the time.

Religious pundits believe that God created women as men’s property — to bear his children and that she must do so by enduring the pain of childbirth as her punishment for allowing sin into the world. No rational human being should believe this mendacity, because men and women are both created/evolved equally and, therefore, the survival of the human species depends on their continued partnership.

In an effort to combat their oppressors, feminists have taken a radical approach to reality, most times ignoring their humanity and rationality and becoming the polar opposite of their oppressors. this isn’t necessarily a bad thing; however, the question is: Do you want equality or revenge?

The argument that men shouldn’t be involved in the debate is ludicrous. If you disagree, however, you’re labelled as misogynist – a term used so loosely it has become a cliché’. You don’t have to be a man or a woman to observe a moral code and understand the importance of preserving life.

In this war, both the life of the child and the mother need to be taken into consideration. Therefore, there needs to be a compromise to satisfy both sides. This means that the pro-choice and pro-life advocates will have to give up something. Hence, sections 72 and 73 of the Offences Against the Person Act need to be amended to allow regulated abortions in instances where the life, mental and physical health of the mother are at stake. In any of these cases, the mother’s life and her decision should be most important. However, women shouldn’t be allowed an abortion simply because “it’s their body”, because the life inside of her is not her body; it depends on her body to survive, for now.

Human life should not be dispensable when it becomes too costly, inconvenient, or reminds us of a bad experience.

Centrist