Abortion And Murder Essay, Research Paper

On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court, in two separate decisions, Roe v.

Wade and Doe v. Bolton, declared that Congress and the states had to adopt a

policy on abortion. Since then, abortion has been one of the most controversial

issues in our country today. Every time the subject of abortion is raised, the

same question always comes up: should people have the right to terminate an

unborn child? The answer is no. No person should have the right to terminate an

unborn child which has not yet had the chance to live, no matter what the reason

is. Abortion is the termination of an alive, unborn child, which can experience

pain through the process of an abortion. There is no need to have an abortion

when these children could be put up for adoption instead of being

aborted. Abortion is the termination of alive, unborn children.

How can a person decide just when an unborn fetus becomes a person with

constitutional rights. Many people disagree when a fetus becomes an actual

person, but the truth is that a fetus becomes a person at the time of

conception. An article entitled Pro-lofe and pro-choice? Yes

says that, From the moment of conception, the fetus is endowed with all

the genetic information that will enable its development into a full human

person (Church 108). Technology has advanced very much in the past

twenty years and now with the aid of medical technology and the science of

fetology, doctors can prove that a fetus is an actual person as early as

thirteen weeks of growth (Meyer 62-64). These facts only help to prove that a

fetus is an actual person, who deserves the chance to be born. Contrary to

belief, a fetus can actually feel pain. The observation of abortions on

ultrasound have been very disturbing. So disturbing, that many abortion doctors

who have seen the procedure, refuse to participate in abortions again (Meyer

62-64). An article entitled Fetal positions: Making Abortion

rare reports that, Bernard Nathanson, a former director of the

National Abortion Rights Action League, who performed thousands of abortions,

repudiated the practice in the early 1980’s after observing the apparent agony

of a fetus subjected to a suction-tip abortion (Meyer 62-64). Modern

neurology supports the claim that the fetus can experience pain, not just

reflex. Reflexive reactions stimulate only the spinal column, but the more

complex reactions that stimulate pain occur in the tiny portion of the brain

called the thalamus. Neurologists can detect the thalamus and the

central-nervous-system functions in the human fetus as early as the eighth week

of growth (Meyer 62-64). So, how can people justify abortion by saying that a

fetus is not a person until the time of birth? There are currently one million

five hundred thousand parents who are waiting to adopt a child. These parents

could give unwanted children love and a place in which to grow up. Every year,

nearly one million six hundred thousand unborn children are aborted. According

to the article Fetal positions: Making abortin rare,

Women wanting to rid themselves of viable infants can generally do so as

easily by delivering them and then turning them over to adoptive parents as by

aborting them (Meyer 62-64). These unwanted children would be given to

someone who would care for them as their own, and the mothers of these unborn

children would not have to worry about the responsibility of raising them.

Everyone would come out ahead, especially the unborn child. Abortionists claim

that unborn children are not human people. The article Pro-life and

pro-choice? Yes claims that, A potential human person is not yet

an actual human person. Thus abortion, if repellent, is not exactly

murder (Church 108). But on what possible justification can there be for

the termination of a seven month old unborn child, when heroic medical measures

are often taken to save an even younger childs life at a mothers

wish (Meyer 62-64). There is no way to say that an unborn fetus is not a human

person when there are plenty of facts to claim that it is. Once a child is

conceived, it is on its way to becoming a human person. There is no way to stop

the process of growth from happening, unless the fetus is aborted. Abortionists

also claim that it is the right of a woman to be able to choose if she wants to

have an abortion. Jessica Feierman, whose mother is an abortion doctor, says,

Im pro-choice because I believe that as women, we must be the

ones to make decisions about our bodies and we should have the right to be safe

with whatever choices we make (82). In the Roe v. Wade decision, the

Supreme Court declared that the rights of the fetus never eclipsed those of the

mother (Meyer 62-64). But what of the rights of the unborn child? An unborn

child is incapable of protecting itself and needs someone to protect it from

harm. This someone should be its mother, but sadly, it is usually the

mother that the unborn child needs protection from. There needs to be some sort

of law which protects these unborn children from needless death. There have been

a few court cases in which unborn children have been protected. In 1981, the

state of Georgia obtained the right to make a mother have a caesarean section,

against her will, to save her unborn childs life. More of these types of

cases should be enforced to save the needless deaths of unborn children.

Abortion is a subject throughout the world that desperately needs to be

addressed. The countless abolishing of unborn children needs to end. If people

would just look at all of the facts on abortion and realize that it is

senseless, then maybe some of these potential human lives could be saved.

Everyone deserves the right to be born, regardless of sex, color, or physical

handicaps. These unborn children deserve the right to grow up and become someone

in this world, not be terminated even before they get the chance to begin life.

Church, George J. Pro-life and pro-choice? Yes. Time 6 March

1995: 108. Feierman, Jessica. Stand by your mom. Seventeen

December 1994: 82. Larson, Edward J. Personhood: current legal

views. Second Opinion July 1990: 40. Meyer, Stephen C. Fetal

positions: Making abortion rare. National Review 20 March 1995: 62-64.