In today’s media, women’s rights are all over the news and abortion is among some of the most frequently debated topics. Whether you agree with pro-life or pro-choice arguments, there is no debating that the pain associated with abortion is one of the most difficult burdens to deal with for a mother and her loved ones.

“Women who get abortions can commonly be negatively affected both physically and emotionally,” pro-life advocate Hannah Gronberg said.

Abortion is defined by Merriam-Webster as “the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus”. This means that any case of abortion involves the death of a fetus or embryo, both of which are the beginnings of a human life.

As a counterpart to the many pro-choice arguments, it is imperative to acknowledge the views of the people who firmly believe them to be true, but also to critically evaluate those ideas from a secular standpoint.

According to the Family Research Council, it is undisputed by the scientific community that, from the very beginning of conception a human life was formed. A zygote, the first cell formed at conception, is known to have unique DNA that will guide the formation of physical attributes, as well as personality traits.

It has also been proven that the earliest human embryo contains the four things necessary to be considered “biologically alive”: metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli and reproduction. Thus disproving the argument that an embryo is merely a cell, and not a human life.

“I believe in pro-life because I believe right after conception, a baby is formed and that every human deserves a chance,” junior Erica Crosby said.

Many pro-choice arguments say that while a human embryo is technically alive, it is not yet a person. However, to argue this is something that does not at all rely on evidence, but rather on one’s own personal and moral beliefs.

A pro-life argument to refute this is that no matter when an embryo becomes a person, the fact is that once fertilized and implanted in the uterus, it is well on its way to becoming a fully functioning human with thoughts, emotions, humor, insight, talent and all the other elements that are unique to humans.

“The child is a separate person from its mother even if they are depending on her before being born and they have their own rights and have just as much value as any other person does,” Gronberg said.

Human development is in full force after fertilization. After just about 22 days, the baby’s heartbeat can be heard. After just six weeks, the child’s eyes, nose, mouth and tongue have been formed and electrical activity can be detected. Finally, after only ten weeks, the child can make full bodily movements. All of these milestones in formation occur before the current legal cutoff for abortion.

However, one of the most shocking statistics comes from Florida abortion records collected in 2015. In Florida, reasons for abortion are recorded every time the procedure is done. Out of 71,740 total abortions in Florida in 2015, 92.330 percent gave no reason for having an abortion. Coming in second place was the 6.268 percent of abortions that were because of social or economic reasons. Moreover, only 0.085 percent abortions were because the woman was raped, and 0.288 percent were because the woman’s physical health was in danger. The other 1.03 percent is made up of reasons such as an incestuous relationship, the woman’s life was in danger, her psychological health was in danger or there was a fetal abnormality.

If these statistics represent the abortion statistics across America, then abortion laws need to be much more stringent. There are arguments to be made about abortion for medical reasons or for rape, however it is inconceivable to abort a child for no reason. Not all pro-life arguments are so strict in a way that does not allow for any exceptions, but the laws of when a mother is allowed to abort need to be narrowed — especially since there are other options after childbirth if the mother is not able to take care of the baby herself.

“If a mother is having a difficult time imagining raising a baby at that time in her life, she can look to other alternatives once the child is born such as adoption. There are many couples who want children but are not able to have them, and they rely on adoption as their way to have their own family,” Gronberg said.

One other very important aspect of the many women’s rights campaigns going on around the country is Planned Parenthood. There is no doubt that Planned Parenthood offers many very useful services for women. However, the arguments against abortion are separate from the arguments to defund the organization. Planned Parenthood provides many services that should be protected, but the laws on abortion need to be changed in order to protect the human rights of the babies.