The Debate On Abortion And Abortion

The issue of Abortions has been a controversy for years now. There are two main groups for this problem, Pro-Life, and Pro-Choice. Pro-Life supports the human rights of life should be embraced, by religion and ethics. Pro-choice is when someone wants to make this choice without no remorse of human life, but because someone wants no part of it raising one.

Abortion’s legalization through Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade, has allowed for one in three pregnancies to end in abortion. This means that 1.5 million abortions are performed in the United States each year (Flanders 3). It ranks among the most complex and controversial issues, arousing heated legal, political, and ethical debates. The modern debate over abortion is a conflict of competing moral ideas and of fundamental human rights: to life, to privacy, to control over one's own body. Trying to come to a compromise has proven that it one cannot please all of the people on each side of the debate.

Throughout this semester, our class has discussed the morality of abortion. We have examined different philosophers’ positions on abortion and debated the pros and cons of each article. For my argument, I defined abortion as the deliberate removal of a fetus from the mother’s womb to result in the death of the fetus. My position on abortion was that it is morally permissible depending on if it’s what the mother wants, the child’s future wellbeing, and the circumstances of the pregnancy. After careful thought and consideration, I have changed some parts of my argument and kept others the same.

With recent developments in Northern Irish legislation for ‘on demand abortions’, the debate between pro-life and pro-choice has been thrown back into the media and the morality of abortion scrutinized under the eye of third wave feminism, which has reclaimed the 1970’s slogan of ‘The Right to Choose’. The following essay intends to discuss how abortion is always an option and never a morally wrong act, as it is the mother’s choice to do with her body what she wishes and such the fetus has no right to leech off the mother when the host is not willing. In this discussion one shall, as Thomson did in ‘A Defence of Abortion’(1971), accept the stance that a fetus is a person from conception, to avoid that issue all together.

Many people throughout history have fought to have the choice to have an abortion if they like. For example cases such as: Roe v. Wade and Parenthood v. Casey, which made a big impact in the system.

Abortion: the controversy-packed topic that can provoke the most vicious altercations between the two opposing sides. The views of abortion divide into two main categories: pro-choice and pro-life. These groups can go at eachother’s throats with no end, constantly throwing new arguments at each other. Many people feel very strongly one way on the topic, and are some individuals too stubborn to consider anything other opinion. The two opposite views seem to boil down to many as either the undeveloped fetus is innocent or the mother has the right to chose what to do with her own body.

Abortion is a controversial topic that has led to many arguments. Many people believe that abortion is permissible and others believe that it is impermissible. The anti-abortionists argue that the fetus is a person so it is immoral to kill an innocent person. On the other hand, the pro-choicer argue that the fetus is not considered as a person. In the article, “Why Abortion is Immoral” Don Marquis argues why abortion is wrong.

To begin with, there has always been a huge issue with the topic of abortion, why? Well, it’s a tough subject and can get extremely emotional and very defensive. Honestly, people just need to open up their eye’s and understand that it's murder and not just a choice. It is murder because two can create a blessing and the choice of aborting it, is more like a sacrifice for the reason a mother can’t carry a baby for nine months. Whether a person is a teen, young adult, or an adult and is in a horrible situation that believes they cannot proceed with the pregnancy, they should know there are other options. Teens aborting an unborn baby is not a choice and should be banned because it is wrong without parental consent, the rights of a child, and

Among all the issues that have been fought for or against in the United States, abortion may be one of the most popular issues that Americans are passionate about. Abortion is defined as the removal of the embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy. Thousands of abortions take place every single day, and yet public opinion remains at a standstill as to whether or not abortion is ethical. Everyone holds different opinions on abortion. The proponents believe that it is the women’s private right to determine the future of the baby in her body. On the other hand, the opponents think a woman does not have the right to decide whether the person that she gives birth should live or die. They believe that life begins at conception. In fact, a person’s stance on the issue is often determined by how he views the fetus: a part of the mother’s body or as a human being. I am an opponent, and I believe abortion is murder. Also, abortion should not be legal because it harms women’s health, affects intimate relationship, and women do not have the right to decide the baby’s right to live or die.

Even though the controversial conversation of abortion somewhat prohibits the open talk of there being other reasons that would make abortion essential and sometimes critical to the health of the mother. There are several reasons women are seeking and have sought abortions and were denied or otherwise restricted to laws and/or regulations. Rebecca Traister, senior editor of New Republic magazine, wrote in an editorial about her pregnancy and in her twenty fourth week (which in New York is the point of no return if you weren’t considering keeping the baby) she had thoughts of concern that if there were medical, fiscal or some other event that would cause more damage to not abort. This was a worry of hers, not only for herself but for other women who never had a chance, or choice, at all.

American suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton once said, “When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we see fit” (Jenson). The pro-life vs. pro-choice abortion debate has always been a controversial topic in politics as well as the field of women’s health care. Many on the pro-choice side of the issue cite a woman’s right to make decisions for her own body as justification to continue the practice of abortion. The pro-life argument is that a woman and her child are separate entities and should be treated as such. Although legally and socially accepted in the United States, abortion asserts that a mother’s right to terminate

“One in three U.S. women will have an abortion in her lifetime. In America two percent of women between 15-44 will get an abortion each year.”(Sharples) Abortion is the act of stopping a pregnancy intentionally, so that the child is not born. Abortion is controversial due to it being a morally and ethically gray area. The most important question is whether or not abortion is morally wrong. If morality wasn’t enough, we then have to ask ethical questions. There are two main groups in this debate: pro-life and pro-choice Pro-life believes that intentional abortion is wrong, while the pro-choice side believes that intentional abortion is acceptable in some circumstances. Due to this controversy abortion has become a popular topic in the debates of the masses.

The debate over abortion has divided Americans into polarized sides since the Supreme Court’s 7-2 decision in Roe v. Wade on January 22, 1973, where the Court deemed abortion a fundamental right under the United States Constitution. The lawsuit began when Norma McCorvey became pregnant with her third child in 1969 and could not get a legal abortion in Texas. With her attorneys, they filed a lawsuit. Roe v. Wade reached Supreme Court appeal in 1970 (Rovner). At this time, there were a few related court cases whose decisions directly affected McCorvey’s case. Griswold v. Connecticut decided that there is a right to privacy in the Constitution. Younger v. Harris decided that federal courts could not hear civil right cases by a person currently being prosecuted for a matter arising from that claim. In U.S. v. Vuitch, the court ruled to criminalize abortion with the exception if the mother’s life was endangered and it also labeled abortion as an emergency medical procedure (Masci). These cases laid out a foundation for McCorvey’s attorneys as the rulings were then applied to her case, benefitting their arguments tremendously.

The legalization of abortion has been a long debate since 1865 and is still being debated today. An abortion is a procedure to end a pregnancy. Many people believe that abortions should not be legalized because it is essentially killing a human being. Others believe that it is the right of the woman to choose whether or not to have an abortion and say abortions should be legal. Since an abortion involves the termination of a potential human life, it has been illegal through most of the U.S history. However, abortion continues to be legal today although it still generates raging debates over its legal and ethical viability.

Our society is filled with numerous ethical dilemmas. We are consistently bombarded with ethical issues daily. At times, these ethical dilemmas are virtually impossible to unravel. I believe the topic of abortion is one of the most difficult and controversial issues in today’s society. It is also the one people are most passionate about as it continues to be scrutinized by two groups, holding fast to different perspectives; Pro-Life versus Pro-Choice.