Is Fetus Life Matter?

All of this started with a woman that wanted to abort her daughter, which she was not aborted she was born on September 22, 1947. According to this website (Encyclopedia) The case

Abortion, the “early ending of a pregnancy” (“Abortion - Topic Overview” 1), was and remains a controversial topic all across the world. Most states, such as Texas, had made abortions illegal. However, Norma L. McCorvey was a Texas resident with an unwanted pregnancy. “At the time, Texas law only allowed for abortion in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother” (“On This Day” 1). With this, McCorvey was forced to give birth to a child she truthfully did not want; she could not afford to travel to a state where abortion was legal. Therefore, McCorvey, using the alias Jane Roe, sued a man named Henry Wade, a Dallas County State Attorney, who enforced the law of abortion.

They also stated that the fetus wasn’t a life until the first trimester of pregnancy. Due to this case and the ruling of it all states have legalized abortion.

In this paragraph I’m going to explain what the Judicial Branch thinks about a mother aborting her child that hasn’t been born yet. The court has ruled that a woman can terminate her pregnancy whenever she feels like it’s necessary. Some may disagree with many of the women today that choose to abort a child, but when it comes to what the mother wants, the mother has the main decision over keeping her child or not. In the late 1900’s the Supreme Court

A decision announced in 1973 by the United States Supreme Court is still debated today. That decision is known as Roe vs Wade. The Court decided that a pregnant woman can have an abortion (during and up to the first trimester of the pregnancy) without any laws made by the state in which she resides. The woman, Norma McCovey became pregnant while living in Texas. Ms. McCovey had other children she was raising as a single mother. She could not legally have an abortion in Texas and got a lawyer to sure the state under the name of Jane Roe. This landmark case, Roe vs Wade, became the law of the land two years after her case was filed. The child she carried was put up for adoption. The Court, in a length ruling, said, in affect that the law concerning abortion was unconstitutional and void.

In 1970, a woman named Norma McCorvey, who had been fired from her for being pregnant; wished to terminate the pregnancy. But in the state of Texas abortions were illegal expect in cases were the health and/or safety of the mother were at risk. Two woman lawyers; Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington, who at the time were looking to overturn the restrictions on abortion laws in Texas recruited Ms. McCorvey, and filed suit

Science tells us that from the moment of fertilization, a fetus is a human. Despite this, however, there is a swarm of controversy surrounding question, when does a fetus become a human? Many people believe that once a baby is conceived, it is considered a living human being. Many of these people believe that whether or not a fetus is a human is chiefly a scientific question. “The question as to when a human being begins is strictly a scientific question, and should be answered by human embryologists - not by philosophers, bioethicists, theologians, politicians, x-ray technicians, movie stars or obstetricians and gynecologists” (Irving). While Irving has a valid point in saying that whether or not a fetus is a human is a question mainly for

Science can work only in the testable world and not say what rights humans should be given. People in the medical field always talk about how the baby, while still in the mother’s womb is considered a potential life. Some doctors call it “potential” to make it seem that it not yet a human life, and not a unique person. We tell ourselves this so that we do not have to live with the guilt of murdering another human being. Many people talk about the rights of the women, but what about the right of a child to a full life. Is Personhood is determined by man’s ability to bestow it, or are we separating humanity from the person? Many studies have estimated since the legalization of abortion in Roe vs. Wade case of 1973, that over fifty-five million babies have been killed.

Since Roe v Wade, there have been major advancements in the maternal-fetal world of medicine. Advanced technology and science have shown us that there is “life” to a fetus before the last trimester, leading to many regulations and laws to prohibit abortion for the life the fetus. Discussed in this paper are the policies, court cases, and executive decisions affecting legal abortion in the US and the ethical implications that debate them.

human from usually two months after conception to birth. It defines an embryo as a human or

One of the most debated arguments in discussing abortion is the question of when life begins. It is an argument that is not entirely clear even through science as some people believe life begins at conception, fertilization of the egg, development of the fetus, or birth of a child. Determined separately by each state, the gestational limits set the number of weeks at which an abortion is no longer legal as the fetus would be viable outside of the womb. For most states in the US this is an average between twenty to twenty four weeks. Determined by the famous 1973 case of Roe vs. Wade, Justice Harry Blackmun concluded that the word “person” as used in the Fourteenth Amendment did not include the unborn, thus making abortion legal. This case is still relevant as abortion is still legal today within certain gestational limits which attempt to determine when life begins and when a fetus can begin to feel. Some argue that the states “held unborn children to be persons under the property, tort, and criminal law of the several states at the time Roe was decided,” and because of this, “the text of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment compels federal protection of unborn persons” (RODEN). Those who are in opposition to abortion have a goal to set gestational limits sooner than those in place now and to one day eliminate the option of abortion entirely. Organizations such as Planned Parenthood which offer access to abortion in addition to birth control and other

In the state of Oklahoma, a life begins and feticide is considered viability; which is described as “end of the second trimester when the fetus can live outside the womb; usually at 28 weeks of pregnancy. “(pg.325) However, Oklahoma statute writes, “Okla. Stat. Ann. tit. 21 § 691 (2006) defines unborn child as a human being. Homicide does not include legal abortion or instances of death during normal medical, therapeutic or diagnostic testing. A mother shall not be prosecuted for the death of an unborn child unless the death was a result of criminal behavior.” Likewise, Oklahoma is also very specific when considering the fetus in cases such as assault. For example, an individual that knowingly assaults a pregnant woman commits a misdemeanor; however,

The two lawyers created a false story that Norma was raped and that is how she had gotten pregnant (Ertelt, 2013). Years later Norma has come forth and admitted it was a scam story to help her case. Norma appealed the case to the Supreme Court, where the court would rule in her favor on 1973. The court recognized that the constitution does not explicitly mention a right to abortion but said that a right was part of the "right to privacy". The court also determined that a fetus is not a person for reasons of the constitution and therefore does not have a constitutional right to a life. In a 7-2 decision the court came to the decision that the Texas ruling was unconstitutional and violated her "right to privacy" (OBOS, 2014). State

The “Baby vs. Mom” case was about Angela Carter, who suffered a bad childhood. When she was 13 years old, she was diagnosed with bone cancer. From cancer, she went through multiple surgeries and received a bunch of different treatments. When she was 27 years old, she was pregnant while in a 3 year remission period for the bone cancer. When she went to a routine check up, the physician discovered a tumor in her lungs and was admitted to George Washington Hospital. Even against Angela and her family’s, and the physician’s opposition, the hospital decided to try to save the child. During the court case against the hospital, the physician stated that “despite the feet that the fetus was only twenty-six weeks old, there was a fifty to sixty

Based on the view that the fetus is already a small baby, some extreme anti-abortionists would maintain that abortion is impermissible even to save the mothers life. The rationale behind this view would be that the child is innocent, and killing the child would be active, on the other hand, letting the mother die would be passive. This introduces two new concepts, the first being the mother’s rights in competition to those of the fetus and the second being the question of innocence and how we would define this (Langley).