РефератыИностранный языкThThe Abortion Debate Essay Research Paper The

The Abortion Debate Essay Research Paper The

The Abortion Debate Essay, Research Paper


The Abortion Debate


Many have pondered upon the meaning of abortion. The argument


being that every child born should be wanted, and others who believe


that every child conceived should be born (Sass vii). This has been a


controversial topic for years. Many people want to be able to decide


the destiny of others. Everyone in the United States is covered under


the United States constitution, and under the 14th Amendment women


have been given the choice of abortion. In 1973, Harry A. Blackmun


wrote the majority opinion that it’s a women’s right to have an


abortion. Roe v. Wade legalized abortion. Even though these people


have been given the right, the case is not closed. Pro-life activists


carry a strong argument, and continue to push their beliefs. They


feel so strongly about these beliefs that violence has broken out in


some known instances. Pro-choice activists, on the other hand, also


carry very strong points. They believe that the child inside them is


their property and it’s life doesn’t be until birth. In 1973, the


United States Supreme Court decided that as long as the baby lived in


the womb, he or she would be the property of the mother. Because of


this decision almost every third baby conceived in America is killed


by abortion, over one and a half million babies a year (Willke vii).


Many countries have followed our decision on the abortion issue and


some of these include Canada, England, and France. Other countries


still believe abortion should be illegal, they include Germany,


Ireland, and New Zealand. Although many believe that abortion is a


women’s choice, abortion should be banned because its immoral and life


begins at conception.


Abortion is the choice of a women whether or not she want’s to


receive one. Under the 14th Amendment’s “personal liberty” women are


given the right to receive an abortion. The 14th Amendment’s concept


of “personal liberty” and restrictions on state action is enough to


allow a women’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.


The right to choose to have an abortion is so personal and essential


to women’s lives that without this right women cannot exercise other


fundamental rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution


(Paltrow 72). The state can’t interfere in the private lives of a


citizen. Without the right to choose an abortion the 14th Amendment’s


guarantee of liberty has little meaning for women. With the right to


choose abortion, women are able to enjoy, like men, the rights to


fully use the powers of their minds and bodies (Paltrow 73). A man


can withdraw from a relationship as soon as he finds out about a


pregnancy. There is no question of his involve t after that, he has


made his choice. It is only fair to say that women should be given the


same choice. If one doesn’t want to hold the responsibilities of a


child than she should be able to have the choice of abortion in her


options. ” Because contraceptives fail, and because they are not


always available or possible to use, abortion is necessary if people


are to be able to determine whether and when to “bear or beget a


child”(Paltrow 72). Couples choose the alternative of abortion so they


can start or expand their families when they feel most ready and able


to care for them. Women choose to have an abortion because pregnancy


and childbirth can prevent them from keeping their jobs, from feeding


their families, and from serving others in ways they consider


necessary and appropriate. Pregnancy and child birth may determine


whether a women ever gets to start or complete her education, which


will significantly influence her ability to support herself and her


family. The availability of abortion makes it possible for people not


only to choose the number of children they want, but also to create


the kind of family life they have always wanted for themselves, to


meet their responsibilities. If a women cannot choose to terminate an


unwanted pregnancy, she is denied the right to the “possession and


control” of her own body. One of the most sacred rights of common


law is to choose and if a women can’t do this than their most


important possession is taken away. Abortion isn’t only a women’s


right, it’s a women’s choice.


However, allowing abortion to be legal is immoral. A pre-born


child is given the status of a “product of pregnancy” and never seen


as the miracle only a women can create. Compassion for the small one


is drowned out under a demand for “rights”, but what about the rights


for the unborn. “A women has a right to her own body” is an idea more


and more women are realizing, but that idea ignores the unborn child’s


right to his or her body. Never, in modern times, has the state


granted to one citizen the right to have another killed in order to


solve their personal, social, or economic problems. the embryo is its


own being that should have it’s own rights to protect it. The zygote


is a unique genetic being (Zindler 27). If one was to abort an embryo


than that embryo, t

hat human life would never be duplicated. A


scientist that may have found the cure to A.I.D.S. would be killed.


There is a better way to solve our problems than by killing children.


A fertilized egg is the most beauti , most innocent being that we


could ever create, and can redeem even the worst of our mistakes. This


fertilized egg is not just a mass of tissue, for if it were than there


would be no debate. A fetus feels pain. Ultra sound, fetoscopy, study


of the fetal EKG (electrocardiogram) and fetal EEG


(electroencephalogram) have demonstrated the remarkable responsiveness


of the human fetus to pain, touch and sound (willke 64). The fetus


responds to light, heat, cold, and taste. Observations of the fetal


movements in saline abortions indicates that the fetus experiences


discomfort as it dies. One doctor who, the New York Times, wrote


“conscientiously performs” saline abortions stated, “when he injected


the saline, he often saw an increase in fetal movements” (Willke 64).


In another case, a film using mew sonographic techniques, shows the


outline of the child in the womb thrashing to resist the suction


device before it tears off the head. Then you see the dead child


dismembered child and the head crushed (Edwards 40). This is murder.


Nobody who sees this film will speak again of “painless” abortion.


After the doctor who performed this procedure saw this film, he never


performed another abortion again. But, many doctors still do perform


abortion, and in some instances a live child is killed. “About once a


day, somewhere in the United States, something goes wrong and an


abortion results in a live baby” (Willke 76). Forty five out of six


hundred and seven mid trimester abortions done in Connecticut in


1974-1976 resulted in live births (Willke 76). In these cases the


child was killed in cold blooded murder. It is immoral to kill,


therefore abortion is immoral.


Finally, abortion should be banned because life begins at


conception. The individual sex cell consists of 23 chromosomes. It is


only through combination, however, that the sex cells contain the full


complement of heredity units that defines a human being (Shettles 17).


This procedure of combination defines conception. After the merger of


the two sex cells 46 chromosomes are present. This is what makes a


human being. The merger is complete within twelve hours, at which time


the egg is fertilized and becomes known technically as the “zygote”.


The inherited characteristics of a unique human being has been


established, and in no circumstances will it change (Shettles 17).


Nothing from this time on, until death, will anything be added. The


definition of alive is that a being is growing, developing, maturing,


and replacing its own dying cells. It means not being dead. At the


very time conception begins the zygote is growing, developing,


maturing, and replacing its own dying cel It’s alive. The


single-celled fertilized ovum cannot by any stretch of the imagination


be considered part of a women’s body. This new living being has a


genetic set up unlike anyone else’s, totally different from the cells


of the mother’s body. It makes no difference to assume that human life


is more human post-born than pre-born. What is critical to figure out


is if it is or isn’t human life, and of coarse it is human life. At 18


days the heart is pumping through a closed circulatory system, with


blood whose type is different from that of the mother. At 40 days the


brain begins to function. In the 16th week motion has been detected.


At 6 and 1/2 weeks all twenty milk-teeth buds are present. During the


eighth week the baby’s stomach secretes gastric juice, and all it’s


body system is present. The baby dreams, thinks, and feels pain. This


is definitely a child, and no one on the face of this earth would be


here if they weren’t conceived.


In summary, abortion can be justified by a women’s right to


choose, but it should be banned because it’s immoral and life begins


at conception. Women have been given the right to have an abortion


under the United States Constitution, but this right is still being


protested by the people that fight for the unborn’s rights. Pro-life


activists claim that its immoral because it is simply defined as


murder. Life begins at conception is another strong point brought up


by pro-life activists. Before a child is born it is given all it’s


necessities to survive. Notice the operative word is before. Before


birth the childs heart beats, the gastric juices flow in the stomach,


and all its necessary organs have been made present. This is a child


that thinks, dreams, and feels pain. Yes, some women may look at


having an abortion to solve her personal problems, but in all, women


are abandoning the abortion because it weakens their great strengths:


creation, compassion and the ability to loo eneath the surface of


appearance of things. Maybe soon the abortion issue will reverse, and


people will see the rights of the unborn as greater importance than


that of a personal right.


32e

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