The argument of abortion has been raging since the Supreme Court case, Roe vs. Wade, in 1973. This court case has divided the country into two factions: pro-choice and pro-life. Pro-life advocates argue that abortions are murder and extreme levels of child abuse. While pro-choice advocates believe abortions are a justifiable means to end pregnancies. The pro-choice argument is that the fetus is not yet a human being and its rights should not override that of the mother's. An importance on what defines a human is very important. Is a human the result of sperm fertilizing an egg? At this point of fertilization the human is composed of a single cell with a unique DNA structure. Killing this unique cell would be wrong, however does …show more content…
Many people claim that the mother should have a right to choose what happens to her own body, but this does not take into account that she is also choosing what happens to another person's body, even if it is not yet fully formed. On the other hand, the fetus is within her body and she produced it, she should have the right to terminate it as she does to remove any other part of her body. The case of Roe vs. Wade made the option of abortions legal to women across the nation. The struggle still remains on the moral ethics behind it. Is abortion the murder of an unborn child? Many argue that the rights of the mother exceed the rights of the fetus, and that while the fetus is a living organism it does not constitute for a human being. With these aspects in mind the concept of abortion is justifiable. Bibliography Kellough, Gail. Aborting Law: An Exploration of the Politics of Motherhood and Medicine. Buffalo: University of Toronto Press, 1996. Kessler, Gary E. Voices of Wisdom. California: California State University, 2001. http://hometown.aol.com/abtrbng/index.htm 11/20/01. Langley, Sharon. "Pro-Choice and Proud" http://www.irish-times.com/irish%2Dtimes/paper/1997/0512/fea1.html 11/20/01. Shrage, Laurie. Moral Dilemmas of Feminism : Prostitution, Adultery, and Abortion. New York : Routledge,
Thomson brings up the standard anti-abortion argument. Every person has a right to life. A fetus is a person. Which means a fetus has a right to life. Therefore abortion is wrong. Thomson does not understand the jump from a fetus having a right to life to abortion being wrong. She believes that the fetus being a person or not is irrelevant to the argument. And abortion is based more on the rights of the woman, fetus, and who has more of the right of ownership of the woman’s body (Thomson 47-48).
Since the Supreme court ruled in the court case Roe v. Wade in 1973, abortion has been a hot topic throughout the country. Americans disagree strongly about when an embryo or fetus becomes a person and consequently whether abortion is murder. People who are pro-life think that abortion is wrong because it is a procedure to kill a fetus while the pro-choice believe that a woman has the right to choose. Roe v. Wade was a case with three groups challenging a Texas abortion law which said that abortions were illegal unless they were to save the life of the mother. The first plaintiff was Jane Roe, an unmarried pregnant woman who wanted an abortion. Jane Roe’s doctor also challenged the law. He argued that the law was not specific enough and therefore limited his constitutional right to
My second argument against abortion is due to the physical health issues having an abortion can cause for women. There are minor complications such as: minor infections, bleeding, fevers, abdominal pain, gastro disturbances, and vomiting that can occur as a result of having an abortion. Approximately 10% of women undergoing induced abortion suffer from immediate complications, of which one-fifth (2%) were considered major. Major complications that occur include: major infections, excessive bleeding, embolism, perforation of the uterus, anesthesia complications, convulsions, hemorrhage, cervical injury and endotoxic shock. Aside from the potential dangers of the abortion methods in general, abortion increases a woman’s chances of having miscarriages in later pregnancies; this is especially true for younger girls who have had an abortion. Also, repeated abortions increase the level of danger (Thiroux and Krasemann). I personally know several women who have had an abortion at some point. I conducted a very short interview with three individuals asking them the following questions:
The purpose of this essay is to set out an argument that abortion is wrong. Some claim that only in “rare” instances, such as rape or within a few days of contraception, abortion is acceptable. I will agree that there are certain circumstances that abortion is more “acceptable” than other times, albeit however few and far between these instances arise. Instances that make abortion more “okay” are rape, and once it is discovered that the mother's life is in danger if she were to carry the baby the full term of the pregnancy. The basis for my argument comes from reading two opposing essays on abortion , in regards to whether it is “right” or wrong, “A defense of Abortion” by Judith
Many people argue that abortion should stay legal because a women should have a right to her body. Which I totally agree with, a women should have a right to HER body. However, the fetus is not her body, it is inside her body. The fetus has a different body of its
In our society, everyone has their own opinion about everything. This topic just so happens to be one of those. Abortion is a very touchy subject to some people. Some people are pro-choice, others are pro-life. Some are caught in the middle. Some people think depending on the situation, it should be okay. People base their opinions on their religion, race, culture, political views, and how they were raised. I was raised pro-life depending on the situation. Pro-choice means it is the mother’s choice to get an abortion. Pro-life means they are completely against abortion. Is it a living person? Should it be illegal? Is it okay depending on the situation? Everyone has a different opinion. Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy. Abortions
In this life, as an individual everyone single person has a choice. The constitution states that we have plenty of rights. A major right, is the right to privacy. That being said, what we choose to do with our lives, is our choice. Granted, everyone will have an opinion on anything you do in your lifetime. People will judge you for what you do and even what you do not do. I say this to relate back to abortion of babies. This is a huge controversy going on in the world, actually worldwide.
“Sperm and ova are life forms even if they never meet. The embryo is a different proposition from either sperm or ova. The developing fetus has significant new attributes. It would be difficult to deny the existence of life before birth” (Kastenbaum, p. 295). In other words, from the moment of conception, a fetus is alive and has its own unique human DNA, this make the fetus a person. People should be aware that from the day a woman missed her period the heart of the baby start beatings. Furthermore, many people do not want to see a fetus as a person because they do not want to feel guiltier than how they feel for choosing not to have the baby. I know that we
Though having the option to abort the fetus may be justified as a woman’s right, we have to ask ourselves who’s right is it really? Is it the woman’s right, or is it the child’s right? The right to life for another person should always outweigh the right of an individual to control their own body. Some think that fertilization marks the emergence of a human life or a “human being” with rights. Others do not agree that fertilization or even later stages of biological development create a human entity with rights (Virginia Law Review, Vol. 76, No. 3, pp. 444). A woman has the right to choose whether or not she will become pregnant, and
The article reviews that some Jews are pro-choice, it is fully permitted under a number of circumstances to have an abortion. The Torah explains that “the human being is created in God’s image”, meaning even before conception occurs. Jews protect a women’s right to have an abortion only in certain situations, abortion is allowed if the fetus would mean harming the mother or in case of rape. In some cases abortions are just done without a cause. Judaism considers it is a personal choice, each women must be able to decide whether or not to continue a pregnancy based on what is best for the mother. Like any other debate there are two sides to this issue, there is a legal and moral concern. Anyways, in the Jews law you can harm the unborn but
The debate over abortion has been going on for almost 50 years, and is still a controversial topic for most American families today. The two opposing sides are often referred to as
Does a women’s right to choose to have an abortion outweigh a baby’s right to be born? The controversy at hand is whether the rights of a women outweigh the rights of a baby, and whether a mother should be given the rights to pursue a procedure like an abortion. To clarify an abortion is a medical procedure that ends a pregnancy in which a doctor uses a vacuum and suction to suck out a fetus from the uterus. The issue is whether the fetus who has the potential to be a rational, productive human being has the unequivocal rights of any other human being and whether he or she should be protected from, in every sense of the word, murder. The argument made by abortionfacts.com a nonprofit Christian pro-life education organization, is that
The issue of abortion has been around for awhile. There is differing opinions between the democrats and and the republicans. Though they both have valid views as to why they think abortion should or shouldn't be allowed, there will never be one simple answer to the complex situation. Democrats will argue it violates our freedom of speech and republicans claim it will violate our ethics of humanity.
All in all, the approach towards abortion has always been and still is extremely notorious. It has, conversely, distorted during the history of civilization: for example, it was frequently established in the times of ancient Greece and Rome. On the other hand, the mainstreams of men were in opposition to abortion as they felt they were permitted to have a baby. There are few references to abortion in an old Testament, where fetus was supposed moderately than an item, not a organism. In other expressions, there was a rule, that if a human being causes a miscarriage, he must be punished for that. There are no references to this subject in the New Testament. (charmaine Gonzaga in april 5, 2013) said that abortion is done when the women find out she is pregnant in unplanned way. Soon after, abortion in the western world was not measured a transgression if completed earlier than a certain era, typically before 18-20 weeks. It was a widespread performs in the colonial America, but was regularly kept in furtive, as sexual activity before marriage was disapproved by the social order. The (Abortion Act of 1967 in England)fully allowed abortion, but under certain circumstances. It states that a doctor has the right to execute an abortion if other two doctors have the same opinion that this is done for the benefit of the woman. For example, doctors are convinced that 50% of giving birth to a infant will cause corporeal or cerebral harm to a woman. Should
Thompson’s conclusion is that abortion is permissible regarding consensual sex, both when preventative measures are used and when they are not. Her argument is centered around her definition of the right to life. In her argument, she starts by trying to prove that the right to life in neither a positive or a negative right.