An Argument Against Abortion Essay

While it may have a heartbeat, and is a potential human being, a fetus does not have any consciousness. Don Smith, who is pro abortion, goes into detail about this claim: “What makes a person inherently precious, I think, is (dormant or active) consciousness: thoughts, feelings, memories, hopes, and awareness. Since consciousness depends on the development of the nervous system, and since it takes many months for the nervous system to mature, we can conclude that consciousness emerges gradually. Consequently, the inherent preciousness emerges gradually too. Granted, a sleeping or comatose person has no consciousness either. But a sleeping or comatose person's consciousness is dormant: if they wake up, they have memories, etc. For a fertilized egg, there is no consciousness and also no history of consciousness (unless you believe in reincarnation). Even though all the DNA is there, the fact that there's no higher brain activity strongly suggests that there's no consciousness. Nor does the later presence of a heartbeat and of primitive neural activity imply consciousness or preciousness. What's needed is higher brain activity and the consequent self-awareness” (Smith). Smith has a valid point in saying that consciousness is the difference between a living, breathing human being and a fetus. A fetus can't recall memories – they don't have any feelings, hopes, aspirations or fears. So, if a

Even though most people think the scientific terms, fetus or embryo, is talking about the cells or tissues, the terms really refer to the stages of development. This means that the fetus is not just a small piece of tissue, but a human life. “The beginning of a single human being from a biological viewpoint is a simple, straightforward matter—- the beginning is conception.” (Bowes).

Abortion is one of the most talked about topics. It has caused two sides to come up and create very controversial arguments. These arguments have caused the government to try to make a decision either to get rid of abortion or have it be left alone. The two sides that had come up for this argument are the pro-life and pro-choice supporters. The fight against each other has been very long and brutal. Abortion is something that should be gotten rid of.

Abortion is and always will be a very controversial subject. No matter which side of the subject you fall on people are very passionate about their choices. I read excerpts from Frederica Mathews-Green’s book, Real Choices: Listening To Women; Looking for Alternatives To Abortion. Ms. Mathews- Green told of how as a young woman in college she cheered for the outcome of Roe VS Wade and was all for abortion rights. Over the years as she learned about abortion, what it actually is and what it actually does to a women she had a change of mind.

Even the language of conception and gestation have been hijacked by politics and religious fundamentalists. All unborn are called “fetuses.” This clearly shows the ignorance of basic human biology. The newly fertilized egg is a zygote --- not a fetus and not a human being. It is a few cells with potential but no distinguishing characteristics and no ability to feel anything. A zygote becomes a blastocyst, which is a zygote that has reached a certain number of cells but has not yet stuck to the uterine walls. Five weeks after conception, snug in the uterine tissue it becomes an embryo. It does not become a fetus until it is ten weeks old and has ears and some facial features. Society laughs at people who call zebras “horses” and yet tolerates the word fetus for zygote, blastocyst and embryo. Getting the language right can help laypeople realize that a zygote or blastocyst is not a baby.

Abortion has been and continues to be a controversial topic in the United States. For many years there have been disputes whether abortion should be legal or not. Some people view it as someone not taking responsibility, others see it as a choice.

i. Explain- Within 22 days of conception, the baby has a heartbeat. Within six to seven weeks, the baby has detectable brain activity. According to most embryology books a zygote is the beginning of a new human being. An individual's body parts all share the same genetic code. If the unborn child were actually a part of the mother's body, the unborn's cells would have the same genetic code as the cells of the mother; however, this is not the case. The baby has it’s own genetic code. This baby has its own unique DNA, different than any other DNA in the world. The baby is a living person even in the

Development of a fertilized egg into a baby is a continuous process and any attempt pinpoint when the egg becomes a person is debatable and true evidence is hard to find (2012 Murnaghan, Ian). A human embryo is a human being but in its early stages in life, just as an infant is a human but in the stages of a baby. Although, the embryo doesn’t currently have the personality or the features of a human, it will soon become a person. For this reason, I believe it should be given the dignity and respect it deserves as a human

Every single human being body parts all share the same genetic code. If the mother and unborn child were not different people, the fetus’s cells would have the same genetic code as the mothers. If a man kills a pregnant woman, he is convicted on two counts of murder. It is illegal to execute a pregnant woman on death row because the child is a separate human being (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Article 6.5). As you can see, a Fetus is its own human Being.

Killing a fetus is the same as murdering a stranger on the street. Central to the morality debate is the issue of when life begins. However, our science is technologically advanced and proves that abortion is murder. According to ("lifesitnews.com"),”Unborn human beings are living, separate, and unique, from the moment of fertilization – better known as conception – a new human life is in existence.” You are not aborting your problems, you’re aborting a life. Once, again abortion can be considered either a simple medical procedure or the murder of an innocent life.

It is the existence of an individual being human or animal. If life begins at conception, is a fetus not considered a live human? A growing fetuses heart begins beating as early as eighteen days from the date of conception. That is a little over two weeks from the day the fetus was conceived. At this point, the fetus is smaller than a pea, however still a person, with a heart beat detectable on a monitor. Unborn babies are considered human beings by the United States government. According to the federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act, whose sole purpose is to protect unborn children from assault and murder, anybody intentionally killing or attempting to kill an unborn child should be punished, for intentionally killing or attempting to kill a human being.

Much of the discussion on abortion revolves around the issue of personhood. However more fundamental than that is the question of humanhood. If it can be shown that the unborn are human beings, then killing them would be morally wrong. The science of embryology is very clear on this matter. It tells us that the development of a human begins with fertilization, a process by which the spermatozoon and the oocyte unite to give rise to a new organism, the zygote (Sadler, T.W., 1995). So, assuming that this statement is true, and all humans by virtue have a right to life, it follows that since the foetuses are innocent human beings, then killing them without proper justification would be immoral. Some might point out the possible flaw here, only humans who are persons have a right to life. While this might seem plausible, there is nonetheless an erroneous assumption

Fetus is an unborn offspring of a mammal, but in this case its an unborn human baby more than eight weeks after conception. The fetal stage of development is taken as beginning at the gestational age of eleven weeks, nine weeks after fertilization. The term “fetus” implies that an embryo has developed to the point of being recognizable as a human being. The fetus is about 30 millimeter in length from crown to rump, and weighs about 8 grams. This point is usually taken to the ninth week after fertilization. A fetus is also identified by the existence of all the major body organs, they will not yet be fully matured and functional and

If a fetus is a person, it is a person in very special circumstances – it exists entirely within the body of another much larger person and usually cannot be the object of direct action by another person.

I am inclined to think that we shall probably have to agree that the fetus has already become a human person well before birth. Indeed it comes as a surprise when one-first learns how early in its life it begins to acquire human characteristics. By the tenth week, for example, it already has a face, arms, and legs, fingers and toes; it has internal organs, and brain activity is detectable.