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Abortion: Pro Choice
Many have pondered upon the meaning of abortion. The argument being
that every child born should be wanted, and others who believe that every
child conceived should be born (Sass vii). This has been a controversial
topic for years. Many people want to be able to decide the destiny of
others. Everyone in the United States is covered under the United States
constitution, and under the 14th Amendment women have been given the choice
of abortion. In 1973, Harry A. Blackmun wrote the majority opinion that
it's a women's right to have an abortion. Roe v. Wade legalized abortion.
Even though these people have been given the right, the case is not closed.
Pro-life activists carry a strong argument, and continue to push their
beliefs. They feel so strongly about these beliefs that violence has broken
out in some known instances. Pro-choice activists, on the other hand, also
carry very strong points. They believe that the child inside them is their
property and it's life doesn't be until birth. In 1973, the United States
Supreme Court decided that as long as the baby lived in the womb, he or she
would be the property of the mother. Because of this decision almost every
third baby conceived in America is killed by abortion, over one and a half
million babies a year (Willke vii). Many countries have followed our
decision on the abortion issue and some of these include Canada, England,
and France. Other countries still believe abortion should be illegal, they
include Germany, Ireland, and New Zealand. Although many believe that
abortion is a women's choice, abortion should be banned because its immoral
and life begins at conception. Abortion is the choice of a women whether or
not she want's to receive one. Under the 14th Amendment's "personal
liberty" women are given the right to receive an abortion. The 14th
Amendment's concept of "personal liberty" and restrictions on state action
is enough to allow a women's decision whether or not to terminate her
pregnancy. The right to choose to have an abortion is so personal and
essential to women's lives that without this right women cannot exercise
other fundamental rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution
(Paltrow 72). The state can't interfere in the private lives of a citizen.
Without the right to choose an abortion the 14th Amendment's guarantee of
liberty has little meaning for women. With the right to choose abortion,
women are able to enjoy, like men, the rights to fully use the powers of
their minds and bodies (Paltrow 73). A man can withdraw from a relationship
as soon as he finds out about a pregnancy. There is no question of his
involve t after that, he has made his choice. It is only fair to say that
women should be given the same choice. If one doesn't want to hold the
responsibilities of a child than she should be able to have the choice of
abortion in her options. " Because contraceptives fail, and because they
are not always available or possible to use, abortion is necessary if
people are to be able to determine whether and when to "bear or beget a
child"(Paltrow 72). Couples choose the alternative of abortion so they can
start or expand their families when they feel most ready and able to care
for them. Women choose to have an abortion because pregnancy and childbirth
can prevent them from keeping their jobs, from feeding their families, and
from serving others in ways they consider necessary and appropriate.
Pregnancy and child birth may determine whether a women ever gets to start
or complete her education, which will significantly influence her ability
to support herself and her family. The availabilit y of abortion makes it
possible for people not only to choose the number of children they want,
but also to create the kind of family life they have always wanted for
themselves, to meet their responsibilities. If a women cannot choose to
terminate an unwanted pregnancy, she is denied the right to the "possession
and control" of her own body. One of the most sacred rights of common law
is to choose and if a women can't do this than their most important
possession is taken away. Abortion isn't only a women's right, it's a
women's choice. However, allowing abortion to be legal is immoral. A pre-
born child is given the status of a "product of pregnancy" and never seen
as the miracle only a women can create. Compassion for the small one is
drowned out under a demand for "rights", but what about the rights for the
unborn. "A women has a right to her own body" is an idea more and more
women are realizing, but that idea ignores the unborn child's right to his
or her body. Never, in modern times, has the state granted to one citizen
the right to have another killed in order to solve their personal, social,
or economic problems. the embryo is its own being that should have it's own
rights to protect it. The zygote is a unique genetic being (Zindler 27). If
one was to abort an embryo than that embryo, that human life would never be
duplicated. A scientist that may have found the cure to A.I.D.S. would be
killed. There is a better way to solve our problems than by killing
children. A fertilized egg is the most beauti , most innocent being that we
could ever create, and can redeem even the worst of our mistakes. This
fertilized egg is not just a mass of tissue, for if it were than there
would be no debate. A fetus feels pain. Ultra sound, fetoscopy, study of
the fetal EKG (electrocardiogram) and fetal EEG (electroencephalogram) have
demonstrated the remarkable responsiveness of the human fetus to pain,
touch and sound (willke 64). The fetus responds to light, heat, cold, and
taste. Observations of the fetal movements in saline abortions indicates
that the fetus experiences discomfort as it dies. One doctor who, the New
York Times, wrote "conscientiously performs" saline abortions stated, "when
he injected the saline, he often saw an increase in fetal movements"
(Willke 64). In another case, a film using mew sonographic techniques,
shows the outline of the child in the womb thrashing to resist the suction
device before it tears off the head. Then you see the dead child
dismembered child and t he head crushed (Edwards 40). This is murder.
Nobody who sees this film will speak again of "painless" abortion. After
the doctor who performed this procedure saw this film, he never performed
another abortion again. But, many doctors still do perform abortion, and in
some instances a live child is killed. "About once a day, somewhere in the
United States, something goes wrong and an abortion results in a live baby"
(Willke 76). Forty five out of six hundred and seven mid trimester
abortions done in Connecticut in 1974-1976 resulted in live births (Willke
76). In these cases the child was killed in cold blooded murder. It is
immoral to kill, therefore abortion is immoral. Finally, abortion should be
banned because life begins at conception. The individual sex cell consists
of 23 chromosomes. It is only through combination, however, that the sex
cells contain the full complement of heredity units that defines a human
being (Shettles 17). This procedure of combination defines conception.
After the merger of the two sex cells 46 chromosomes are present. This is
what makes a human being. The merger is complete within twelve hours, at
which time the egg is fertilized and becomes known technically as the
"zygote". The inherited characteristics of a unique human being has been
established, and in no circumstances will it change (Shettles 17). Nothing
from this time on, until death, will anything be added. The definition of
alive is that a being is growing, developing, maturing, and replacing its
own dying cells. It means not being dead. At the very time conception
begins the zygote is growing, developing, maturing, and replacing its own
dying cel It's alive. The single-celled fertilized ovum cannot by any
stretch of the imagination be considered part of a women's body. This new
living being has a genetic set up unlike anyone else's, totally different
from the cells of the mother's body. It makes no difference to assume that
human life is more human post-born than pre-born. What is critical to
figure out is if it is or isn't human life, and of coarse it is human life.
At 18 days the heart is pumping through a closed circulatory system, with
blood whose type is different from that of the mother. At 40 days the brain
begins to function. In the 16th week motion has been detected. At 6 and 1/2
weeks all twenty milk-teeth buds are present. During the eighth week the
baby's stomach secretes gastric juice, and all it's body system is present.
The baby dreams, thinks, and feels pain. This is definitely a child, and no
one on the face of this earth would be here if they weren't conceived. In
summary, abortion can be justified by a women's right to choose, but it
should be banned because it's immoral and life begins at conception. Women
have been given the right to have an abortion under the United States
Constitution, but this right is still being protested by the people that
fight for the unborn's rights. Pro-life activists claim that its immoral
because it is simply defined as murder. Life begins at conception is
another strong point brought up by pro-life activists. Before a child is
born it is given all it's necessities to survive. Notice the operative word
is before. Before birth the childs heart beats, the gastric juices flow in
the stomach, and all its necessary organs have been made present. This is a
child that thinks, dreams, and feels pain. Yes, some women may look at
having an abortion to solve her personal problems, but in all, women are
abandoning the abortion because it weakens their great strengths: creation,
compassion and the ability to loo eneath the surface of appearance of
things. Maybe soon the abortion issue will reverse, and people will see the
rights of the unborn as greater importance than that of a personal right.
ADDITIONAL FEATURED ESSAYS
Decisions About Abortion
I am not really for or against abortion, all I have are opinions about the idea. I believe that it’s not right to have a
Abortion: Murder Of An Innocent Human Being
Every year hundred thousands of murders never reach the courtroom because they are completely legal. Abortion continues
Auguments About Abortion
Abortion is one of the most controversial issues around, and is an issue that will never be agreed upon. By bringing mor
Solutions To The Abortion Issue
Childbirth is one of the most wonderful experiences that will ever happen to a woman in her life. Majority of the women
Abortion A Moral Choice Or Leg
islative Decision Should it be a woman's constitutional right to have an abortion? Who ought to decide if abortions shou
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