Abortion Essay, Research Paper

Dawn Attanasio

During the past quarter century, abortion has become one of the most debatable subjects of controversy in the United States. It discusses human interaction where ethics, emotions, and law come together. Abortion also poses a moral, social, and medical dilemma that forces individuals into a difficult decision. Either way, abortion shouldn?t be used as a means of birth control.

There are many points of view toward abortion but the only two fine distinctions are ?pro-life? and pro-choice.? 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, and therefore by eliminating the pregnancy one would be committing murder. The 1973 decision in Roe vs Wade made abortion legal and gave women the right of choice when it came to her body.

The legalization of abortion is controversal, yet it saves the lives of those who would turn to illegal abortion. It eliminates the back-alley abortions where there are no sterilization procedures and gives women who are victims of rape and incest the opportunity to free themselves. The pro-lifer argues that abortion causes many psychological side effects and can leave the woman with many strong feelings about her decision. Many times the mother feels ashamed and embarresed about her action. People close to the mother may be angry with her decision and make it difficult for her to deal with. Even years after the abortion women remember and feel regret for their decision.

An issue that the pro-lifer can?t forget is that many times women use abortion as a form of birth control. It seems simple enough to practice safe sex or abstinance, yet with the right of abortion it makes the situation of pregnancy seem less serious. The pro-choicer will argue that women should not be forced to have babies that they don?t want. They must be able to decide what happens to them and have a safe and legal way of doing so.

Even though the debate over abortion will never be ended it seems that if the pro-lifers have their way abortion will not disappear. There will always be countries that allow the practice and even underground abortions in the united states. The best solution between the war of the two groups seems comprimise. It could possibly be concluded by regarding abortion as a woman?s right, but ban it with exceptions because it does have many psychological sided dffects and there is an alternative.