Should abortion be legal?

Abortion has always been a rather controversial topic. Whereas some people believe that it should be banned, some others are in favour of its legalization. It is therefore interesting to look at the arguments to put foward to defend and to oppose abortion.
First of all, decriminalizing abortion would reduce the current death rate. If abortion were legal, there would not be so many cases of death because of backstreet abortions, since it would be carried out in public places, such as hospitals. Consequently, women would not run any risk at all.
Abortion should definitely be allowed in cases of rape. Lately, there have been many of them in which eleven or twelve-year-old adolescents were involved. It is in this situation that abortion should be granted because it is impossible for such young girls to bring up a baby. Apart from that, getting pregnant at that age may affect their state of mind for the rest of their lives. In the case of older women, they should have the freedom to choose whether they wanto to deliver this undesired baby.
As regards the arguments against abortion, some people claim that abortion may cause psychological pain and stress. A pattern of psychological problems known as Post- Abortion Syndrome (PAS) have been identified by researchers on the effect after abortion. It has been discovered that women suffering this syndrome may experience problems such as sexual dysfunction, repeated abortions, damage self- esteem and, in some cases, attempt to commit suicide.
Moreover, adults are supposed to take responsibility for their own actions. If a woman gets pregnant, the couple -or single mother- has the duty to deal with it in a more mature way. Furthermore, there are other options to solve the problem without resorting to having an abortion. One of these options is adoption. The couple or single mother can put the child up for adoption once it is born.
To conclude, this essay has attempted to put forward the main arguments for and against abortion. The former are the reduction of the rate death due to illegal abortions and the need of it in cases of rape; the latter are the psychological effects that it has on women and the couple's responsibility. Even though the two positions justify clearly what they support, people seem to be uncertain about which way to take. Consequently, abortion keeps on being a rather controversial issue.