Both Sides Of The Abortion Debate- Essay, Research Paper

Both Sides of the Abortion Debate-

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 of 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.