Abortion

With “pregnancy advisory services” soon to be allowed to advertise on TV the issue of abortion and its morality has once been raised. It is feared by some that by advertising on TV abortions will look more like a method of birth control rather than a massive decision.
In a perfect world all pregnancy’s would be planned and all children would be born into happy families who would love and care for them. Sadly this is not the case and women do become pregnant who do not want to keep the child. If abortions were banned then mothers who didn’t want a child would be forced to give birth to and raise an unwanted child; is this fair for the child?
I can see why people disagree with abortions, it’s like you’ve created a life and then can casually get rid of it, this couldn’t be done as soon as the child is born because then it’s murder; it’s strange. I suppose it depends on how we view “human life,” and whether you believe it begins at conception, at birth or somewhere in between. Religions have many different views on this, some Roman Catholics think that ensoulment, when a foetus becomes a “person,” happens at conception, Pope John Paul 2 wrote a letter named “Evangelium Vitae” where he discussed the “scared value of human life from its very beginning.” Some Muslims believe that ensoulment occurs at conception whereas others believe that it takes anywhere from 40 to 120 days.
Although there is something that is often neglected when people talk about abortion, the fathers view. It is often accepted that it’s totally the mothers choice of whether to have an abortion or not, after all it is her body. Armin A. Brott said “A woman can legally deprive a man of his right to become a parent or force him to become one against his will.” And I guess that it’s true, no one seems to care about any issues that the father will have after the child is aborted, will he be scarred mentally after his child is aborted? I guess that the main worry of allowing men to have a say about abortions is that some would force women into having an abortion or would be allowed to force the woman into keeping the child. With this issue there is no straight forward answer.
Personally I agree that women should have the choice of having an abortion if they wish. This is probably because I don’t follow a religion and so am not influenced by religious views. I think that as long as it’s done within a certain amount of time during the pregnancy so that the foetus is not adequately formed it is okay. I think that many of the people who oppose abortions have never been in the situation where they have considered having one. In most cases the decision to have an abortion is not taken lightly and is done for reasons in the best interests of the child as well as the mother.

References
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7992482.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae_en.html
http://www.epigee.org/guide/islamic.html
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/legal/fathers.shtml