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Essay on Abortion
| Date: |
05-04-99 5:56pm |
| Subject: |
Social Issues |
| Word Count: |
1343 |
| Page Count: |
5.37 |
Abortion
During the past quarter century, abortion has joined race and war as one of the
most debatable subject of controversy in the United States. It discusses human
interaction where ethics, emotions and law come together. Abortion poses a
moral, social and medical dilemma that faces many individuals to create a
emotional and violent atmosphere. There are many points of view toward abortion
but the only two fine distinctions are "pro-choice" and
"pro-life". A pro-choicer would feel that the decision to abort a
pregnancy is that of the mothers and the state has no right to interfere. A
pro-lifer would hold that from the moment of conception, the embryo or fetus is
alive. This life imposes on us a moral obligation to preserve it and that
abortion is tantamount to murder (Kolner 5). In the United States about 1.6
million pregnancies end in abortion. Women with incomes under eleven thousand
are over three times more likely to abort than those with incomes above
twenty-five thousand. Unmarried women are four to five times more likely to
abort than married and the abortion rate has doubled for 18 and 19 year olds.
Recently the U.S. rate dropped 6 percent overall but the rate of abortion among
girls younger than 15 jumped 18 percent. The rate among minority teens climbed
from 186 per 1,000 to 189 per 1,000. The most popular procedure involved in
abortions is the vacuum aspiration which is done during the first trimester
(three months or less since the women has become pregnant). A tube is simply
inserted through the cervix and the contents of the uterus are vacuumed out. The
most commonly used type of second trimester abortion is called dilation and
evacuation. Since the fetus has bones, bulk and can move, second trimester is
not as simple. When as much of the fetus and placenta are vacuumed out then
tweezers are used to remove larger parts. After this, or the beginning of the
fifth month abortion is serious and actually induced as childbirth. That is, the
mother is given substances which puts her into labor and delivers the fetus as
she would a full-term baby. About 40 percent of Americans believe that abortion
should remain legal and 40 percent believe it should be banned except when the
pregnancy threatens the life of the mother or is the result of rape or incest.
Also 15 percent b eveit should be illegal in all cases. Although abortion is
regarded as a women's right, it should be banned with exceptions because it's
considered murder, has many psychological side effects and there is an
alternative. Abortion is a women's own right and choice. In 1973 the Roe v. Wade
decision proved this by recognizing abortion as a fundamental constitution right
and made it legal in all states. The law now permits abortion at the request of
the women without any restrictions in the first trimester and some restrictions
in the second trimester to protect the women's health. The National Abortion
Right Act League argues that without legal abortion women would be denied their
constitutional right of privacy and liberty. The women's right to her own body
subordinates those of the fetus and the U.S. Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade argued
that the women's "right to privacy" overruled the fetus's right to
life. If abortion was illegal it would force poor women to bear and raise
children they can't afford to bring up. There would be a number of unsafe
abortions in back allies. It would also force women to give up their dreams and
stay home to bring up babies. Worst of all, it would condemn victims o apeand
incest to carry and nurture the offspring of their rapist.(Kolner 5) Abortion is
necessary for women to have control over their own bodies and life. One activist
said, "If I hadn't had that abortion my life would have been a disaster. I
wouldn't have made it to medical school. I was married at that point to a very
ill man and it would have been terrible to have to have my baby. People who need
abortions are in some kind of turmoil and it's really a life-saving
thing."(Blender 4) To ignore the rights of others is selfish and injustice.
Women must have the right to control the functions of their own bodies. Revern
George Gardiner pastor of the college Hill United Methodist Church, told the
council that the ordnance would have done little good. "Young women need
the freedom to make choices for their reproductive life when their family can't
guarantee them parental support."(Lynn B6-7) Women should not be forced to
have babies they don't want. They must be able to decide what happe ns to them
and have a safe plus legal way of doing so. Women are in control of their own
bodies and lives. Legislators have no right to interfere. The practical
assertion that since pregnancy involves a women's body, the choice of continuing
that pregnancy must be hers alone. This was the first given buerful theoretical
articulation and defense by Judith Thomson.(meilander 3) However, abortion is
considered murder by half of all Americans. Pro-lifers believe that human life
begins at the moment of conception. When the merge of the egg and sperm is
complete, they are fertilized and known as the "zygote". The zygote
contains a full set of 46 chromosomes which is required to create a human life.
Scientists identify that at the moment of fertilization the ovum takes on a
entirely different destiny, life. About 15,000 genes from the sperm and ovum
form a unique combination. This is nothing less than a new human life at its
earlier stage of life. In the United States many infants will not make it to
puberty, old age or even their second birthday. Just because of their shortened
life, it doesn't mean that it never existed. Dr. Nathanson stopped preforming
abortions after becoming aware of the horrors he observed. "A woman has the
right to go to bed with who she wants, but she can not choose death for her
child. It's a direct violation of human rights." (Koval i grid c-7) Anthony
Simpson has a photo of a aborted fetus and believes that abortion is nothing
less but ruthless murder. In southern Kentucky, Robert Hollis brutally assaulted
his wife in effort to abort the fetus he suspected wasn't his. He successfully
did so and Caroll believed Hollis set out intentionally to kill that fetus and
that is in fact murder. Kristina Kleg a graduate from high school has recently
become pregnant and decided against abortion. She feels that it's an innocent
child inside of her. It has a brain and a heart therefore it also has a right to
life. "Abortion is the unnatural end of pregnancy. That child has a right
to life that is equal to the mothers right. One cannot kill another human being
just because they wished it wasn't around. Abortion is murder of the innocent
practiced on a national scale." (Abortion: The Personal, Medical and Social
Dilemma) Overall it has been proven that the fetus is a real person. It responds
to noise, has feeling and fears. To h ave an abortion it will destroy an
innocent life which is directly connected to murder. Scientific research has
successfully shown that abortion causes many psychological side effects. It
leaves the woman with many strong feelings about their desicion. They feel
sadness, wishing things could have been different and grief for a lost life.
Guilt arises because they know a fetus represents an independent life. Anger
builds up towards other people having to do with their desicion. Sometimes the
mother may feel that she has infact been abandoned. Most of all the mother feels
ashamed and embarrassed about her action. People close to the mother may be
angry at her for ending her pregnancy and make it difficult for her to deal
with. Even years after the abortion, women tent to remember the regretful
experience. They usually wonder what the baby would have looked like and its
birthday. Thirty-three year old Michelle Urbain of south Florida has had five
abortions so far. She realizes now that they all left emotional scares her that
are unbearable. "It wasn't just a mass of cell t was children I was
killing." (Kovaleski c-7) It maybe a month or a year but feelings do catch
up with the mother. Symptoms like nightmares, panic attacts and flashbacks are
signs of a recently discovered Post Abortion Syndrome (PAS). According to a
study published by Association for Interdisciplinary Research in Valves and
Social Change, one in five women studied had diagnosable stress disorders.
(Lyons d-11) Also two in five had sleep disorders and flashbacks following
abortion.
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