Abortion Issue Analysis

Issue Analysis Paper

2

The issue that will be analyzed throughout the paper will be the controversial issue of abortion. For starters my view point is going to be arguing that abortion should be legal. Many people do not understand what abortion really is. Therefore I will begin by discussing what an abortion is and what it actually means creating a better understanding for others on the topic.
Both viewpoints to the argument will be discussed. Points of why abortion should be legal and why others believe abortion should be illegal will both be made. In the end I will discuss why I ultimately believe abortion should remain to be legal and be the right for women to choose.
What is abortion? According to Opposing viewpoints (2014) abortion is a medical
procedure that ends a pregnancy.
There are a few different options of abortion one being an in­clinic abortion procedure and the other being an abortion pill. The procedure given is determined on how far along a women is in pregnancy. In the first trimester of a pregnancy there are a few options of abortion. One being mifepristone and misoprostol an abortion pill used up to the first seven and nine weeks of pregnancy. Another option would be the mva the machine vacuum aspiration which is used as early as three­12 weeks. This procedure is a hollow tube that is attached by tubing to a bottle and a pump, that provides a gentle suction. The cannula is passed into the uterus, the pump is turned on, and the tissue is gently removed from the uterus. In the second trimester a method of abortion used is the d&c dilation and curettage procedure. Which is done up to 16 weeks. It is a brief surgical procedure in which the cervix is dilated and a special

Issue analysis paper
3

instrument is used to scrape the uterine lining. This procedure is also used during and after a miscarriage. In the third trimester abortion is typically banned due to the Partial Birth Abortion
Ban Act of 1995. This is because in the late term a baby is considered viable and able to live on its own outside of the womb. In the first and second trimester a baby is not viable and considered to be tissue.
Like I said before I believe abortion should remain legal. That women should have the right to choose. There are multiple reasons that I believe this to be true. In 2012 49% of pregnancies were unplanned. Pregnancies increased among poor women and decreased for financial stabel women. One main reason abortion should be legal is that so many people do not plan for a child. There are many situations where a women is not planning to have a child and in the end the environment is not fit for them to have one, whether it be that they are in there teens, already have too many children, they are not financially stable in life, health problems it also could be that they are substance abuser. People might say “well if they were not planning to have a child, they should have used protection.” Protection does not always work. Over half the women obtaining abortions used a contraceptive. Another situation I believe abortion should remain legal is in cases of rape. Rape is a very traumatic experience for a women. They should not have to bear any more grief than they already have. A women should have the choice to become pregnant and if that choice has been taken from her she should have the choice to terminate it. I previously touched on the fact of substance abuse. If a women in using alchol/

Issue analysis paper

4

drugs and has become addicted it can be a very long and torturous experience to stop. This environment would not be a safe place for a child to grow up in. Not to mention that fact that if they continue the drug abuse during the pregnancy that a child can come out addicted to the same substance. This can create pain upon an infant, long term health and mental effects and in some cases death. In this situation a woman should have the right to choose not just for herself but for the child.
Many people argue that abortion is immoral but not everything that is immoral is necessarily illegal. The main argument that abortion is immoral is that women should not be allowed to kill an innocent person (fetus). Like I said at the beginning of my paper abortion is banned after the third trimester when the fetus is considered viable and able to live on its own.
Up until that point the fetus is only cells growing and developing to become viable. Therefor a women receiving an abortion operation is not killing a living, innocent human being. What might you ask entitles a women the right of wanting abortion. First off the right of ownership of one 's own body. If she does not want to bear a child she has the rights over her own body.
Secondly she has the right to be treated equally and men can not get pregnant. Lastly she has the right of self­determination. A women has the right to decide her own future and can not be forced into pregnancy. An argument that may arise for why abortion should be illegal is what rights do the father have? Mother are the ones to actually give birth, fathers don’t. Society usually places primary responsibility on the mother also in some cases fathers don’t even
always know they are fathers; mothers always know. (Stevon Schwartz 2012)

Issue Analysis paper

5

In the end I believe it should be the woman 's right to choose. From all the articles I have read the main points that stick out to me for why it should be the woman 's choice is; for starters, the rights people have over themselves and bodys. Secondly the points made about the circumstances not being ideal for a child. In any case of substance abuse I do not believe that a child should have to deal with life long effects of a substance abuser mother. An abortion in this case would not only help the mother out, who obviously can not take care of a child at this point in her life but it will save a child from having to deal with such hard life situations. Again in rape situations I strongly believe that a women should not have to bare a child of a man that forced himself upon her. Not only did she not plan for a child but she did not plan for the intercourse to even occur therefore she should not have her right to choose whether she can or can not have an abortion taken from her. She has already had enough choices/ decisions stripped from her. Over all I was not here to argue with you whether abortion was moral or immoral. I simply stated the facts and reasons of why abortion should remain a woman 's choice.
The controversial argument that I analyzed throughout my paper about abortion was written to hopefully help you better understand what abortion really is, see the points of why it should remain legal and a woman 's choice and lastly to see where my feelings and points on this subject were coming from.

Issue analysis paper

6

References
Stevon Shwartz (2012) The moral question of abortion Retrieved from ethics.sandiego.edu "Abortion." Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection. Detroit: Gale, 2014. Opposing Viewpoints

in Context. Web. 25 Nov. 2014. Jones, Carolyn. (2013) "Women Seeking Abortions Should Not Be Forced to Undergo an Ultrasound." Are Abortion Rights Threatened? Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Bader, Eleanor J. (2014) "Roe v. Wade Has Not Removed the Challenges to Obtaining an
Abortion." Abortion. Ed. Noël Merino. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2014. Liss­Schultz, Nina. (2013) "Parental Involvement Laws Threaten the Safety of Minors."Abortion.
Ed. Noël Merino. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2014.

Running head: ISSUE ANALYSIS PAPER

1

Issue Analysis paper
Molly Viehweg
Northcentral Technical College