Half past midnight, a middle-aged woman leaves work on a cold, bitter night, promenading across the street with the broken lamp post, stumbling in the dark to find the correct path home. Startled by the unknown hand harshly grasping to cover the only passages allowing oxygen to enter her body, she wakes in utter confusion, with no recollection of the previous night. Awaking to a realization— her body no longer belongs to one individual; it will now nurse a fetus she had no conscious intention of obtaining. A woman is entitled to her body, with full consent, whether she has been taken advantage of through sexual assault/incest or is simply not prepared to raise a child. Situations regarding abortion find their way into the corner for a reason, and it is a woman’s right to have control over what takes place within the frame of the minuscule round of her stomach; the control is not given to a morally religious-based stranger with the belief that an unborn life has greater importance than the woman herself. The opposing viewpoint from pro-life perspectives claim the moral faults in discontinuing a pregnancy, but fail to provide solid reasoning that is not infested with religiously biased opinions. Allowing abortion to empower women consists of providing rights which allow their lives to reach success, rather than enforcing restrictive laws which lock them into the chains of an unwanted pregnancy. Decided by the Supreme Court in 1973, the court case, Roe v. Wade, made a woman’s
Those who support abortion often overuse the claim that every individual has the right to choose and it is unfair to restrict a women’s choice on abortion. Although this claim at first thought may seem to be able to uphold the abuse of abortion, we
One of the first moral issues addressed by both sides of the abortion debate concerns a pregnant woman’s so-called natural “right” to make “reproductive choices.” (“The Rights of Pregnant Women”) Anti-abortion advocacy groups claim that “the only way to actually protect the mother’s rights will be by enforcing laws that secure her child’s right to life,” (“Argument 2”) whereas pro-abortion groups contend that these laws “create a dangerous precedent for wide-ranging government intrusion into the lives of all women.” (“The Rights”) With two fundamentally contrasting viewpoints at odds with each other, it is apparent that one of the core issues concurrent with abortion is a woman’s rights versus the rights of her unborn fetus.
While parts of both may be true, both cannot stand side by side as completely true when discussing abortion. As they stand today, fetus rights and female rights are incompatible in arena of abortion. Even the “other side” agrees that the two cannot stand shoulder to shoulder. In a chapter entitled “Abortion Does Not Violate Human Rights”, Christian Beenfeldt quotes Brian McKinely when claiming that female rights have a higher precedence than fetus rights: “It’s actually quite simple. You cannot have two entities with equal rights occupying one body. One will automatically have veto power over the other.” So one question remains, which more important, fetus rights or female rights? The winner of this question can be decided by one simple factor: is the fetus to be considered a true, living human being at the point of conception, or does true human life not begin until after birth? A clarification should be made here, however. In this paper it will be assumed that everyone involved in this debate considers a newborn child to be a human being. That is, at the moment of birth, a child either becomes a human being or continues to be a human being; regardless of the fetus’s life state before birth, it will be assumed that all agree that birth “confirms”, so to speak, the life and human existence of the newborn.
Among the many landmark cases of the United States Supreme Court, Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), still is one of the most controversial and politically significant cases in U.S. Supreme Court history, greatly affecting political elections and decisions concerning women’s rights ever since.
The ongoing dispute of abortion has condemned the idea of women aborting their unborn child. Whether it be lack of support, critical physical or mental health, rape, or not being ready for such responsibility - all women have a reason for having an abortion. Therefore, women should have the free will to do what proves necessary and beneficial to themselves and their pregnancy.
Abortion is a hot topic in United States politics as of late, and rightly so. Though religion, costs, maternal psychological damage, and societal morality are often cited as reasons to oppose abortion, a woman’s right to make her own decisions should always prevail. Abortion should be nationally legalized during the first trimester of pregnancy because Roe V. Wade has declared abortion a “fundamental right” to women, fetuses are incapable of feeling pain during the period when most abortions take place, women should be given the right to choose what happens with their body, and access to legal abortions decreases the
There are several sub-categories within the moral justification for women having the right to choose whether to have an abortion or not. These are: the feminist quality of life argument, the general quality of life argument, the not-a-person argument, and finally the no-duty-to-sustain argument. Each one of these examines something that makes those who support a woman’s right to choose tick.
These specific cases only represent a combined 1.6% of total abortions in the United States each year. A staggering 98.3% of all abortions are elective. This means that this pro-choice argument is invalid and is only used to draw upon the emotions and cause empathy for victims of rape or cases of risk to maternal or fetal health. Rape is a very serious subject, and women have an extremely heavy burden while carrying the child, but the child’s life is valuable and still should not be
The United States has been divided now over the issue of abortion for thirty-three years since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade in 1973. As of today, over 45 million legal abortions have been performed in the United States. Pro-choice advocates hold these 45 million abortions as being 45 million times women have exercised their right to choose to get pregnant and to choose to control their own bodies. To pro-life, or anti-abortion, advocates these 45 million abortions constitute 45 million murders, a genocide of human life in the United States propagated by the court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade. The debate over abortion in the United States is thus a debate of two extremes. One side argues from the personal liberty of the mother. The
Abortion has been a controversial topic regarding the political, religious, spiritual, and economical views of many Americans throughout history. Understanding the difference between pursuing abortion or rejecting it at the end is an individuals option. Abortion refers to the voluntary termination of a pregnancy, resulting in the death of the fetus or embryo.(CITE) Therefore, throughout the entire life journey of Congress and legal rights, there has been a drift of thoughts towards abortion. It can be represented both parties that advocate for “pro-choice” or “pro-life” and there can be two sides presented with both arguments. After many debates and thoughts on this legal topic, one must consider if it fair and valid to legalize abortion
The right of a women to control her reproductive decision is highly debated in the US because of the idea that abortions, to some people, are considered murder. A woman’s ability to make reproductive choices is a fundamental right protected by the
Since technology has developed rapidly over the last several years, many endless controversies have broken out in America. One particular controversy that has become a continuous issue in America is abortion. Over the last decade the controversy over abortion has become a dividing conversation in America. The introduction to this paper is to discuss the controversy of abortion and its connection between individual rights and government control. Several people believe abortion is a version of murder while others view it as a right. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the pro-life and pro-choice sides of abortion and the blurred line between individual rights and government control. The paper consists of background information on abortion, both sides of the controversy, and how it politically affects America. Several Americans argue that abortion is a right and should not be a religious or government choice but a personal choice. Without this choice, women will find harmful, illegal ways to have an abortion that could cause more issues. People also argue that illegalizing abortions would violate women right to privacy. Others although believe abortion is murder and that life starts even before they come out of the womb and abortions are killing of an innocent child. They also believe it is unfair for couples who are waiting to adopt a child. Abortion as a whole has become a debate over individual rights and government control. In J.S Mills book On
In this article Jessica Valenti (2015) provides a supporting argument in a pro feminist direction, against the criminalization of women who seek out abortions within the US. As the author explains, women in desperate situations will do whatever they feel is necessary to end a pregnancy when they have decided that is what they want to do. It is necessary to provide support for these women, instead of alienating them further when they are in a vulnerable state.
However, the pro-choice or the activists for abortions, argue that if a family is in a state of financial trouble, then abortion should be a practical option. Otherwise, the child would be born into a life of suffering, and inadequate living conditions. The pro-choice believers, bases their beliefs, upon the fact that having an abortion is the inalienable right of women. They believe that by outlawing abortions, women aren’t allowed to practice their freedom of privacy. In a way, women are being denied their constitutional rights. Many pro-choice activists also state that abortion is justifiable, because at the time of fertilization the ensuing embryo is not yet a human being. It is not a human being, but a potential one. Therefore, its death does not constitute a murder. Pro-choice activists’
In 1973, the Supreme Court decision based on Roe v. Wade opened the door to