There are a few things of course that stem a lot of controversy, two things off the top of my head would be gay marriage and abortion. I am pro-choice, so there may be a little bias, but these are some of my opinions-

Do not try to use pictures as shock value to get people on the pro-life side. A lot of websites I have seen use bloody pictures of fetuses, however, some of them are miscarriages, which are natural abortions that can't be prevented. That, and most abortions these days look like this: [link] Not really all that heart-wrenching, is it? Here's another source about photos- [link]

Do not tell someone that abortion should be outlawed and go into detail about how the fetus has arms and limbs torn out- that is a partial birth abortion which is already outlawed in the US, except when it is necessary to save the mother's life.

Never assume that a mother should martyr herself for her child. If there is a chance a women would die from giving birth, chances are the baby wouldn't either. Also keep in mind the women who get abortions to save their lives actually wanted the baby they had to begin with. They didn't just “throw it away” irresponsibly, they probably thought it over for a good while. When faced with the fact that you can die from something it's a bit hard to want to go through with it.

Do not assume that abortion is done on a whim, or that clinics try to coerce women into abortion. If a woman is feeling ambivalent about getting one most of the time they won't give it to her unless she can make up her mind. The clinics are not preying upon women for profit. Also, before one can get an abortion the woman needs counseling from a psychiatrist. Many women who went to get abortions probably put a lot of thought into it and decided it was what was best for them.

Not every abortion is being used as a casual contraceptive. It's both dangerous and expensive to be done that way.

“Women should keep their legs closed” is not a very good excuse to be against abortion. One, that is implying that the pregnancy should be like a punishment for them having sex, secondly, that leaves out the cases of rape. And even if the statistics of rape-related abortions are low, it shouldn't be denied. I know someone really close to me who was raped, and she had an abortion. I could never go to her face and call her a murderer, since she carried through with 4 pregnancies, each her CHOICE to have. All pregnancies should be a choice, no one should have to pregnant if they don't want to be. Also, young girls who are pregnant hold a high risk giving birth.

Just because it may seem selfish to want to terminate a pregnancy doesn't mean it is “evil”. Humans are an altruistic species, self-preservation is a number one priority. It shouldn't be considered selfish to want control over your own body, and if that is selfish then maybe you should go give everything but the shirt on your backs to people because it's selfish to want to keep a home, car, etc and not give it away. Also, as mentioned before some people who terminate their pregnancy wanted to keep their baby but couldn't due to the circumstance of having to save their life.

Pregnancy is not perfect, and sometimes strange things can happen to the fetus! There have been cases of organs developing on the outside of the body, spines not closing right and organs too small for the child to survive. Sure, one can argue that “miracles” can happen, but if the baby has its brains on the outside of its head, do you really think it's going to survive?

Do not use your religion to argue abortion and why it should be outlawed. This is not a theocracy, religion should be separate from law.

Saying that all women who went through an abortion had come to regret it is wrong. Some studies suggest that most women feel relieved after having an abortion, and some who do feel depression usually do some from a variety of factors that tie in with her life.

If you argue “the only moral abortion is my abortion” then just shut the hell up. What makes you think that you are any better than other people that your abortion is justified? That is beyond selfish to believe that you can control other people's choices and then do what you tried to deny someone else. [link]

Abortion leading to breast cancer is a hypothesis! It hasn't been proven completely, and there is no significant association between abortion and breast cancer.


Ah well, there's more I could list off but I felt these were a lot of the prime arguments that are used against abortion.