During the past quarter century, abortion has joined race and waras one of the most debatable subjects of controversy in the UnitedStates. It discusses human interaction where ethics, emotions and laware combined. Abortion poses a moral, social and medical dilemmasthat focus many individuals to create an emotional and violentatmosphere. There are many points of view toward abortion but the only twofine distinctions are “pro-choice” and “pro-life”.
A pro-choiceperson would feel that the decision to abort a pregnancy is that ofthe mothers and the state should have no right to interfere. A pro-life person would hold that from the moment of conception, that theembryo or fetus is alive. This life imposes on us a moral obligationto preserve it and that abortion is the same as murder. In the UnitedStates about 1.
6 million pregnancies end in abortion. Women withincomes under eleven thousand are over three times more likely tohave an abortion, than women with incomes above twenty-five thousand. Unmarried women are four to five times more likely to abort thanmarried. In the past years the abortion rate has doubled among18 and 19 year olds. Recently the U. S.
rate has dropped 6 percentoverall but the rate of abortion among girls younger than 15 hasjumped up to18 percent and the rate among minorities climbed from 186per 1,000 to 189 per 1,000. The most popular procedure involved in abortions is the vacuumaspiration, which is done during the first trimester (three months orless since the woman has become pregnant). A tube is simply insertedthrough the cervix and the contents of the uterus are vacuumed out. The most commonly used type of second trimester abortion is calleddilation and evacuation. At this point the fetus has bones, bulk andcan is able to move, the second trimester abortions are not assimple.
When as much of the fetus and placenta are vacuumed out then thetweezers are used to remove the larger parts. The beginning of thefifth month abortion is the serious and actually induced aschildbirth. That is, the mother is given substances, which puts herinto labor and delivers the fetus, as she would do with a full-termbaby. About 40 percent of Americans believe that abortion should remainlegal and 40 percent believe it should be banned except when thepregnancy threatens the life of the mother or the result of rape orincest. 15 percent believe it should be illegal in all cases. Although abortion is regarded as a woman’s right, it should be bannedwith exceptions because its considered murder has many psychologicalside effects.
Young teens say that when they see a baby it remindsthem of their own that they could have had. Abortion is a woman’s own right and choice. In 1973 the Roe v. Wade decision proved this by recognizing abortion as a fundamentalconstitutional right and made it legal in all states. The law nowpermits abortion at the request of the women without any restrictionsin the first trimester and some restrictions in the second trimesterto protect the women’s health.
The National Abortion Right Act Leagueargues that without legal abortion women would be denied theirconstitutional right of privacy and liberty. The women’s right to herown body subordinates those of the fetus and the U. S. Supreme Courtin Roe v. Wade argued that the women’s “right to privacy” overruledthe fetus’s right to life.
If abortion were illegal it would forcepoor women to bear and raise children they can’t afford to bring up. It would force young women to raise children when they are stillchildren themselves and would cause many deformities when incest isin involved. There would be a number of unsafe abortions in back allies. Itwould also force women to give up their dreams and stay home to bringup babies.
Worst of all, it would condemn victims of incest to carryand nurture the offspring of their rapist. Abortion is necessary forwomen to have control over their own bodies and life. One activistsaid, “If I hadn’t had that abortion my life would have been adisaster. I wouldn’t have made it to medical school. I was married atthat point to a very ill man and it would have been terrible to haveto have my baby.
People who need abortions are in some kind ofturmoil and it’s really a life-saving thing. ” Anonymous “I am glad Ihad my abortion because it gave me another chance to relive my lifeand my dreams. It also gave me another chance of my life and gave meback part of the pride that a person stole. “To ignore the rights of others is selfish. Women must have theright to control the functions of their own bodies.
Sammy Garciatold the council that the ordinance would have done littlegood. “Young women need the freedom to make choices for theirreproductive life when their family can’t guarantee them parentalsupport. ” Women should not be forced to have babies they don’t want. They must have the right to decide what happens to them and have asafe and legal way of doing so.
Women are in control of their ownbodies and their lives. Legislators have no right to interfere withtheir own choices. The practical assertion that since pregnancyinvolves a woman’s body, the choice of continuing that pregnancy mustbe hers alone. Although abortion is considered murder by half of all Americans,Pro-lifers believe that human life begins at the moment ofconception.
When the merge of the egg and sperm is complete, they arefertilized and known as the “zygote”. The zygote contains a full setof 46 chromosomes, which is required to create a human life. Scientists identify that at the moment of fertilization the ovumtakes on an entirely different destiny, life. About 15,000 genes fromthe spermand ovum form a unique combination. This is nothing lessthan a new human life at its earlier stage of life.
In the UnitedStates many infants will not make it to puberty, old age or eventheir second birthday. Just because of their shortened life, itdoesn’t mean that it never existed. Dr. Nate Anderson stopped performing abortions after becomingaware of the horrors that he observed. “A woman has the right to goto bed with who she wants, but she can not choose death for herchild.
It’s a direct violation of human rights. ” Anthony Simpson hasa photo of an aborted fetus and believes that abortion is nothing buta ruthless murder. In southern Kentucky, Robert Hollis brutallyassaulted his wife in effort to abort the fetus he suspected wasn’this. He successfully did so and Carroll believed Hollis set outintentionally to kill that fetus and that is in fact murder. Afriend, Christina a graduate from high school has recently becomepregnant and decided against abortion. She feels that it’s aninnocent 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 rightto life that is equal to the mother’s right. One cannot kill anotherhuman being just because they wished it wasn’t around. Abortion ismurder of the innocent practiced on a national scale. Overall it hasbeen proven that the fetus is a real person and it responds to noise,has feeling and fears.
To have an abortion will destroy an innocentlife, which is directly connected to murder. It also kills aconsequence that some one made and now not willing to take it. Scientific research has successfully shown that abortion causesmany psychological side effects. It leaves the woman with many strongfeelings about her decision.
She may feel sadness, wishing thingscould have been different and grief for a lost life. Guilt arisesbecause she knows a fetus represents an independent life. Anonymous “I feel that god will punish me when I want a baby he won’tgive me one, because it killed my first one. ” Anger builds uptowards other people having to do with their decision. Sometimes themother may feel that she has in fact been abandoned.
Most of themothers feel ashamed and embarrassed about their actions. Peopleclose to the mother may be angry with her for ending her pregnancyand make it difficult for her to deal with. Anonymous’ mother ” Atfirst I said that I disowned her but because I was embarrassed of herbut then I realized that she needs my help. ” Even years after theabortion, women tend to remember the regretful experience. Theusually wonders of what the baby would have looked like acted likeand when its birthday is. Thirty-three years old, Angela has had five abortions so far.
Sherealizes now that they all left emotional scars her that areunbearable. “It wasn’t just a mass of cell it was children I waskilling. ” It may have been a month or a year but feelings do catch upwith the mother. Symptoms such as nightmares, panic attacks andflashbacks are signs of a recently discovered Post Abortion Syndrome,also know as PAS. According to a study published by Association forInterdisciplinary Research in Valves and Social Change, one in fivewomen studied had diagnosable stress disorders. Also two in five hadsleep disorders and flashbacks following abortion.
Abortion is theright of the mothers and should be up to them if they choose to ornot. No one should help or force the mother to do what they want.No matter what politicians, the bible and families say, women need totake control.
