Diana Brown

About the author: Diana Brown is the former chairman of the London-based organization Population Concern. She also represents the International Humanist and Ethical Union at the United Nations in Geneva.

Abortion is a public health issue because if legal abortion is unavailable, women will risk injury, infection, and death from medically unsafe abortions to end an undesired pregnancy. Abortion should be legal because the rights of the mother supercede the rights of the fetus, especially because the fetus shows no sign of self-awareness until well into the second trimester. Recently, the United States has made attempts to safeguard the rights of the fetus, but this practice draws arbitrary lines that determine when the fetus is viable. If anti-choice advocates want to eliminate abortion, they should support strategies to reduce unwanted pregnancy, such as sex education and...