Aborting Old Ideas
Jeffrey Brandt
Prof. John Mammen
ENGL-1301
March 29, 2013
Aborting Old Ideas
What is abortion? Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus (Websters). So the issue at hand is abortion, while not everyone agrees on abortion, certainly people can agree on reducing the amount of unwanted pregnancies.
Okay so I’ll be discussing pro-life first. Personhood begins at conception. I’ll start by taking a look at some pro-life beliefs to the abortion argument (should abortion be legalized or considered a crime?). The religious aspect, The Sixth Commandment of the Bible 's Old Testament (Exodus 20:13) is "Thou shalt not kill." Abortion involves killing a human being and defies a commandment from God.
From a moral standpoint, unborn babies are innocent human beings from the moment of conception. They have a fundamental right to life, which must be protected. Physically, Fetuses feel pain during an abortion according to Kanwaljeet J. S. Anand, MBBS, DPhil, Professor of Pediatrics, Anesthesiology and Neurobiology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. “If the fetus is beyond 20 weeks of gestation, I would assume that there will be pain caused to the fetus. And I believe it will be severe and excruciating pain” (Legal).
The original text of the Hippocratic Oath (The oath that doctors traditionally take when swearing to practice medicine ethically) forbids abortions. One section of the oath reads: “I will not give a woman a pessary (a device inserted into the vagina) to cause an abortion.” The modern version of the Hippocratic Oath written in 1964 by Luis Lasagna also forbids abortion in its line, “Above all, I must not play at God.” (Hippocratic).
From a psychological standpoint, a 2002 peer-reviewed study published by the Southern Medical Journal of more than 173,000 American women found that women who aborted were 154% more likely to commit suicide than women
Prof. John Mammen
ENGL-1301
March 29, 2013
Aborting Old Ideas
What is abortion? Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus (Websters). So the issue at hand is abortion, while not everyone agrees on abortion, certainly people can agree on reducing the amount of unwanted pregnancies.
Okay so I’ll be discussing pro-life first. Personhood begins at conception. I’ll start by taking a look at some pro-life beliefs to the abortion argument (should abortion be legalized or considered a crime?). The religious aspect, The Sixth Commandment of the Bible 's Old Testament (Exodus 20:13) is "Thou shalt not kill." Abortion involves killing a human being and defies a commandment from God.
From a moral standpoint, unborn babies are innocent human beings from the moment of conception. They have a fundamental right to life, which must be protected. Physically, Fetuses feel pain during an abortion according to Kanwaljeet J. S. Anand, MBBS, DPhil, Professor of Pediatrics, Anesthesiology and Neurobiology at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. “If the fetus is beyond 20 weeks of gestation, I would assume that there will be pain caused to the fetus. And I believe it will be severe and excruciating pain” (Legal).
The original text of the Hippocratic Oath (The oath that doctors traditionally take when swearing to practice medicine ethically) forbids abortions. One section of the oath reads: “I will not give a woman a pessary (a device inserted into the vagina) to cause an abortion.” The modern version of the Hippocratic Oath written in 1964 by Luis Lasagna also forbids abortion in its line, “Above all, I must not play at God.” (Hippocratic).
From a psychological standpoint, a 2002 peer-reviewed study published by the Southern Medical Journal of more than 173,000 American women found that women who aborted were 154% more likely to commit suicide than women
Cited: Abort73.com. “Abortion for Profit”. Web. Oct. 15, 2009. David A Grimes, MD, et al. “Unsafe Abortion: The Preventable Pandemic” Lancet. Oct. 2006 David Henry E. Sigerist. The Hippocratic Oath: Text, Translation, and Interpretation. 1996. http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abortion. Definitions of Abortion. Merriam-Webster. Web. March 24, 2013. Lawrence B Priscilla Coleman, PhD, and Eileen S. Nelson, EdD. “The Quality of Abortion Decisions and College Students ' Reports of Post-Abortion Emotional Sequelae and Abortion Attitudes” Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, Apr. 1998. Stuart W. G. Derbyshire, PhD. “Can Fetuses Feel Pain”. British Medical Journal. Apr. 29, 2006. Susan Dudley, PhD. www.prochoice.org "Economics of Abortion,", 2003 www.acog.org www.amnesty.org. Amnesty International. “Deadly Delivery: The Maternal Health Care Crisis in the USA”. Web. 2010. www.NIRHealth.org. National Institute for Reproductive Health. “Quick Sheet: Uninsured Women’s Access to Care”. Web. May 6, 2009.