Abortion is probably the most divisive issue in American politics. Unlike issues like immigration, the minimum wage, or taxes, there is little room for a middle position.

You either think it is a moral thing to do, or it is not. It has provoked a massive, divisive discourse in the country. Abortion has been legal nationwide since 1973, but statewide restrictions are allowed for the third trimester. Many states ban abortion in the third trimester or around a certain fetal viability point. The current state of affairs is still hotly contested, and President Trump and his Congress hopes to overturn the decision and make abortion almost illegal except for cases of rape and the health of the mother. The Democrats will fight against this, however, and it is likely that there will be no significant change in the status quo unless the Republicans maintain their dominance of Congress by 2020. My position is very ambivalent; I understand both sides and hope

Pro-life people view abortion as inherently wrong because they believe that life begins at conception, and that the fetus is a living thing entitled to the right to life. Because of that, they view abortion as murder, oftentimes as an egregious sin as well. They view fetuses as developing human beings, and they feel that women who don’t want children should take other precautions or not have sex in the first place. They often back up their assertions by showing graphic pictures of dead fetuses, which I must say do a great job to back up their position. Most of them are willing to make exceptions for cases of rape and the health of the mother.

Pro-choice people view abortion as the right of a woman. They feel that for the most part, a woman has the right to control their body and should be allowed to do whatever they want with it. Since the fetus is a part of their body and a pregnancy is essentially an incubation of a growing fetus, they should then have the right to terminate the pregnancy and remove the fetus if they want. They view abortion as a way for a woman to control her life and make decisions about when to have kids, instead of letting society make the decisions for them. They view that women should have the freedom to make sexual and reproductive decisions for themselves; they also argue that banning abortion would lead to women seeking to do it via illegal, unsafe methods.

So which side is right? I personally feel the right answer is a trimester based approach. It seems to be the case that as a fetus develops, it develops awareness and understanding of its situation. It reacts to pain and stimulus. Hence I feel that around the third trimester, a fetus has the right to life and should be protected. But before that, the right of a woman to get an abortion should take precedence. In general, I think that the government should promote adoption over abortion and subsidize more of the costs of childbearing in a hospital. The costs are often a reason women choose abortion over giving up the child for adoption. A higher fertility rate due to less abortions would make the economy better and help support our pension systems. It would also appease pro-life people who would prefer that as an option for women who are unable to take care of their child, as well as pro-choice folks.

In summation, there is a good middle ground to this highly controversial issue and it is this: pro-adoption.