Arguments Against Abortion Essay

Abortion has been a heated debate in the United States for decades. Since before the ruling on Roe v. Wade, it is clear that this is an issue that is far from ever being decided upon. Between those who are pro-life and those who are pro-choice, scholars from both sides work on disproving the morality of the other side. With the evolution of abortion laws and regulation through the decades, it is difficult to imagine the United States without conflict pertaining to abortion. Despite pro-life and pro-choice agendas, the country is in ever-changing opinion when it comes to abortion.

When it comes to abortion, everyone has a slightly different view. Whether one believes that no one, or everyone, should be allowed to get an abortion, the same question comes into play: Is abortion ethical? In addition, when does a human life actually start? Without concrete facts, we can only do so much with those questions, which is why this is such a controversial topic. We need to consider all the facts and information available. For example, whether or not a fetus feels pain, how old the fetus is, and what condition the pregnant woman is in. The main argument comes down to pro-life versus pro-choice. After doing extensive research, I have come to agree with the side of pro-choice, meaning that

In the United States there are more than a billion abortions performed each year. Since the court case Roe vs Wade in 1973 more than 56 million babies have been murdered in the United States before they had the chance to take their first breath (Snyder, Michael). These statics along with many more show the huge injustice that is happening in the country I call home.

According to Webster Dictionary, abortion is “the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus”. There are two sides when it comes to abortion: pro-life and pro-choice. Pro-life supporters are usually religious individuals, individuals who believe it is a kind of murder, and/or people who believe in the sanctity of life. Pro-choice supporters are normally individuals who believe a woman has the right to her own body, it is not a form of murder, and some individuals believe that there are limits. The main point of disagreement between both of these sides is whether an embryo/ fetus is a human so should it be legal or illegal and is it immoral?

I think what I have trouble with is the age-old question of when life actually begins. Do they not think of the embryo as an actual baby? Medical and surgical abortion procedures are performed through the first trimester, or the first three months, or twelve weeks. Let's look at the development of the baby in the first twelve weeks. Six weeks into the pregnancy the embryo has a head, eyes, ears, and a heart with two chambers. Seven weeks the limb buds have grown into arms and legs. By eight weeks the eyes, ears, and head are growing and the face is developing. Fingers and toes can also be seen. Week nine see’s the external genitals appear and by week twelve they have fully differentiated to male or female genitals. So essentially by the end of the first trimester the embryo is fully formed. Dilation and curettage, (D&C), dilation and evacuation (D&E), and induction abortions are all performed through the first trimester or the first three months. All organs are fully developed at this time. Third term abortions are also referred to as late term abortions these are not legal in a number of states, mainly because there is a debate about when the fetus actually become viable to where it can live outside the mother's womb. The majority of medical professionals claim at 24 weeks the fetus is viable. Induction abortions and Dilation and Extraction (D&E) are the abortion

On the other hand, Marquis's believes that abortion is immoral. He argues that all cases of abortion is wrong and rarely will there be special circumstances to justify the killing of a human being. In Marquis's opinion, killing a fetus is equal to killing an innocent adult life. His whole argument is based off a major assumption.

According to the authors of a medical dictionary called; the free dictionary, online version, “abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy before the fetus is viable.” Viability for a fetus is usually greater than 500 grams, or prior to 20 weeks gestation as noted by those same authors. An abortion may be spontaneous, commonly referred to as a miscarriage, or induced which describes the deliberate interruption of a pregnancy. Those authors assert that it is the viability of the fetus that is the determinate criteria when deciding the legality and morality of induced abortion. Undoubtedly, there is no public consensus on the matter of abortions, not only in this country but worldwide. Declarations by those authors are that, there are those who believe that the fetus is a human being at the moment of conception and morally oppose on the grounds that destruction of a human body is tantamount to murder. On the other hand, others declare that a woman 's right to choose what happens to her body is of utmost significance. Before continuing on with the ethics of abortion I would like to briefly discuss the history of abortion in the United States.

     The main controversy when arguing abortion involves the actual life of the unborn baby. For many years, doctors and other specialists have tried to figure out the

Abortion is a serious ethical dilemma. The practice is not a recent one, there being evidence of the procedure dating back several millennia -- and neither is the controversy that comes with it, with records of laws regulating abortion appearing in texts and manuscripts from a range of civilizations throughout the years. There has been much debate over whether abortion is a morally sound practice, and the divisive nature of the issue has resulted in centuries of contention. Many notable figures and organizations have made use of numerous religious, legal, and ethical standpoints to develop positions for and against abortion. This essay will be taking a look at abortion through the lens of two normative ethical theories: Utilitarianism and Deontology, as understood through John Stuart Mill’s Utilitarianism and Immanuel Kant’s Groundwork of the Metaphysic of Morals respectively.

Abortion is defined in several ways all of which stop a pregnancy. There are different ways of abortion, which are spontaneous abortion, surgical abortion, and medical abortion. Abortion has been arguable topic for decades. One can neither believe abortion to be good nor bad. The idea of individuality and human life is not quite the same. Idea of human life has come from conception; simultaneously on the other hand, fertilizer eggs used for in vitro fertilization are also human lives but eggs unable to implant are routinely thrown away. Would you like to call it a murder and if not, then how is abortion a murder? Arizona is known as a state that is very much against abortion. In 2012; Arizona was named Americans United for Life’s “Pro-life All-Star.” Since 1995, center for Arizona policy has supported 30 bills that have been signed into law that promote pro-life.

Scientific theories are helpful to understand how the abortion-breast cancer could be true, but how is one to know whether what has been hypothesized has actually happened? How can one know whether ABC link is highly probable, rather than merely possible? To see the effects of abortion on breast cancer, one must move out of the realm of hypotheses and theories and into the realm of concrete data. Such is the case with the information presented in the book published by The de Veber Institute for Bioethics and Social Research; Complications: Abortion's Impact on Women. In it, the authors of the book conclusively state, “There are now 56 studies that show a positive association between abortion and breast cancer, of which 35 are statistically significant” (Lanfranchi et al. 121). Studying China in particular is a good illustration of the abortion-breast cancer link. After the one-child policy was enforced, there was a significant increase in abortions, and a corresponding substantial increase in breast cancer rates (Lanfranchi et al. 123). In 2012, a Chinese study found a dose-response association between abortion and breast cancer, with an increased 33 percent risk for one abortion, 76 percent increase for two abortions, and 165 percent increased risk for three or more abortions (Lanfranchi et al. 121). In addition, epidemiological studies concerning the ABC link meet the Bradford-Hill criteria for “classifying abortion as a causal risk for breast cancer” (Lanfranchi et al.

To begin, life starts at conception. In order for matter to be considered living, it must have the ability to grow, reproduce, have functional activity, and continual change until death. This definition is often used by pro-life affiliators to support one of their main arguments. Most abortions take place within the first trimester when the fetus is still attached to the mother by the placenta and umbilical cord. As such, the baby's health is dependent on the mother’s health, and cannot be regarded as a separate entity as it theoretically cannot exist outside her body. However, as demonstrated in a recent study, an embryo can exist outside a mother's womb.

In P. Gray, “Abortion, Infanticide, and the Social Rhetoric of the Apocalypse of Peter,” portrays the story of unborn infants punishing their parents by striking them with bolts of lighting (Gray, 319). This is just one of many stories that were created during the Medieval Period in Europe depicting the act of abortion in a negative way. A majority of these stories surround the idea of God and what is “morally right” in the Christian religious society. Therefore, most scholars analyze these short stories from a religious point of view, and how these were an advantage to the Christian church in the means of declining the act of abortion. However, the debate on why these stories of anti-abortion were created, lack in analyzing why these stories would be created from a non-religious point of view. Is is possible that these stories reveal other social concerns at the time? Therefore, how did non-religious aspects impact the act of abortion during 1200 to 1300’s Medieval Period in Europe?

Ecclesiastes 1:9 in the Bible states, "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun." (The Woman's Study Bible NIV, 2012). This is how the Bible relates to the recent advances in science and technology and the Bible outlines the ethical and unethical principles of life. The recent advances in science and technology are unethical for several reasons. Some recent unethical technologies include the use of fetal tissue for scientific studies, altering the genetics of humans, resurrecting extinct species, creating chimeras, and cloning.

Life does not begin at conception. A fetus is not worthy of our moral consideration. A two-week old embryo is not morally equivalent an adult. These are some of the controversial statements posed by the debates regarding the morality of fetuses that have perplexed and divided human beings since the beginning of recorded history. Attitudes towards the moral status of the fetus and abortion have been recorded in every civilization in human history. For example, the early Greeks believed that the soul was introduced after birth, thus believing that the fetus was not worthy of moral consideration. In the Christian Bible, there are various passages that refer to abortion as a loss of property rather than a loss of life. Morality of the fetus and abortion are topics that date back to even the earliest civilizations. However, thousands of years later in modern times, abortion is still a taboo subject around the world. Why is it that one of the most important decisions that a woman will ever make in her life must be kept in the shadows? Why are we scared to publicly state our opinion on whether we are pro-life or pro-choice? We fear being ostracized due to our beliefs and stances on what quite possibly might be one of the most important topics in the world.