Should Abortion Be Legal

Running Head: ABORTION
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Should Abortion Be Legal Cristina Gonzalez PHI 103 Informal Logic Anthony Biduck June 27, 2011
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Abortion is a tough decision, especially if you are a teenager or younger. There have been a lot of rapes where women or even children (girls) get pregnant. But also, there are a lot of teenagers or young ladies who wants to have fun and are not being responsible when they are having sex and because of this the consequences is getting pregnant. So in these cases, should abortion be legal?
Abortion is a big issue. For many people abortion is wrong without any questions and its consequences. Women have been raped or have been irresponsible for their actions. But either way, the situation is the same; women will just say “it is my body I can do anything I want with it.” It is the same reaction because I do not think the lady who has been raped, would like to have a baby of someone she does not even know. With her anger, she will not care if she is killing a child or not. A woman, who has not been responsible for her own actions, will not care having an abortion either. These ladies sometimes do not care and are more likely to say “it’s my body and I will do whatever I want with it.” It is sad, however, a woman has a right to her own body. All people have a right to do to their own bodies what they want. “The argument in favor of abortion on demand, or abortion for convenience sake, that a woman has a right to do as she wishes to her own body, is not applicable to the question of abortion, since the mother’s body’s different from that of her baby, or fetus,” (Pauline Rocco and Bob Johnson).
Many people think is okay to have an abortion, although, “he fetus is just part of the pregnant woman’s body, like her tonsils or appendix. You can’t seriously believe a frozen embryo is an actual person,” (Randy Alcorn). Randy Alcorn also claims if a child may die, a mother live or the mother may die and the child live, this proves that a child and the mother are two separate individuals. They also think the unborn child takes and active role in his developing. But the truth is who is feeding the unborn child?
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Abortion keeps being a bigger issue for medical reasons. For example, when a mother’s life is in jeopardy, who or what should decide? Should this be left to the discretion of the mother, family and/or doctor? It is true, the mother and the unborn baby are still two separate individuals/entities, but under these difficult circumstances, it is truly a personal decision for those directly involved,” (Pauline Rocco and Bob Johnson). In this situation a member of the family needs to decide between the mother and the unborn child. Regardless of the decision, one life will be lost and one saved. The issue of abortion in this situation is to kill the unborn baby for convenience, and choose the other life to be saved. Therefore, abortion should be treated the same in the case of a rape or medical reasons.
“The government has a legitimate interest in protecting the life of an embryo or fetus, but embryos and fetuses do not have rights themselves unless and until it can be determined that they are human persons,” (Tom Head). The government has a legitimate interest in protecting the potential right of the fetus, but the fetus itself does not have rights previous to the viability threshold. Women have the right to make the decision about their own bodies and fetuses do not have right. “Therefore, until the fetus is old enough to have the rights of its own, the woman’s decision to have an abortion takes precedence over the interests of the fetus” (Tom Head). Abortion can only be homicide if a fetus is known to be a person and fetuses are not known to be a person. Therefore, government may pass laws prohibiting death threats, and give the right to woman to terminate her pregnancy. Law also criminalizes the procedure generally apply to doctors and not to women. This means that even under state laws banning abortion as medical procedure, women would be able to terminate the pregnancies through other resources. Many women take pills also known as drugs to terminate their pregnancies but are intended for other purposes. “In Nicaragua, where abortion is illegal, the ulcer drug misoprostol is often used for this purpose,”
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(Tom Head). This drug is not expensive, and it is easy to transport and conceal. It also terminates the pregnancy in a manner that resembles a miscarriage. Illegally this is one of hundreds of options available to women who want to have an abortion.
On the other hand, many people also think embryos and fetuses are equally human. They claim “true followers of Christ do not share the conventional interpretation of those words given them by liberals, moderates nor conservatives, whether such people are religious or non-religious,” (Against Abortion). They also think that the words “...all men are created equal,” apply to every human embryo and fetus as well. And since they think they are humans at the earliest of conception, they are as equally human as everyone else who is rightly regarded as humans. For the ones who have had and perform abortions for any reason should be regarded by the government and the public as high criminals who should bare the just punishment of death. Human embryos and fetuses cannot secure their own rights to life. “It should not be left up to some special interest group to seek their protection, and the government should not allow any foolish deep-pocketed special interest group to petition and lobby it for removal of the rights of innocent human beings,” (Against Abortion). Therefore, it should be illegal for abortion-rights advocates to exist. They claim America’s government has become destructive to the right of the unborn. And it also refuses to protect the God-given rights of the most innocent and helpless on earth and refuses to condemn and punish abortion advocates.
Innocent human embryos and fetuses have no legal status as being human even though they are very much human. They have no status as citizens even though they are natives, no legal identification certificates, numbers or names. Their fathers have no legal claim on them as being their progeny and their relatives cannot legally claim them as their kin. Even though, they are very much alive, they are treated with fewer honors than the dead. Nobody mourns over them when
Should Abortion Be Legal? 5 they are actually murdered by their own mother or no funerals are held or not even a grave for them. This is sad but very true. Since abortion is legal, no charges can be done against their murders and no murders are punished. These people even think that the government themselves are their worst enemies. Many who have fought have blindly directed their energy and resources in the wrong directions. Other has insisted that inducing abortions should be illegal for some cases while keeping it legal for others. The fight against abortion must also be fought using the principles of truth, justice and righteousness. And their goal against abortion is for “America and the world to begin to legally recognize truths that are ‘self-evident’ which is the human embryos and fetuses and their legal innocence in the eyes of sane law and to give them their rightful status as legal citizen of the united states and the world community” (Against Abortion).
A small percentage of women have abortion because of rape or incest. Following with a bigger percentage, abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child. Almost 90 percent of all abortion occurs for social reasons, for example, the child is unwanted or inconvenient. If abortion is legal, there will be younger women having abortion at ages 15 – 19. Some reasons for women to choose abortion in the United States is:
• Wants to postpone childbearing: 25.5% • Wants no (more) children: 7.9% • Cannot afford a baby: 21.3& • Having a child will disrupt education or job: 10.8% • Has relationship problem or partner does not want pregnancy: 14.1% • Too young; parent(s) or other(s) object to pregnancy: 12.2%
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• • •
Risk to material health: 2.8% Risk to fetal health: 3.3% Other: 2.1%
(Abortion Statistics by United States)
Abortion in the United States has been legal in every state since the United States Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, in 1973. Before Roe v. Wade abortion was legal in several areas of the country. And abortion law in the United States prior to Roe v. Wade there was 30 illegal states, 1 legal state in case of rape, 2 legal states in case of danger to woman’s health, 13 legal states in case of danger to woman’s health, rape or incest, or likely damaged fetus, and 4 legal states on request. Colorado was the first state to legalize abortion in cases of rape and/or incest in 1967.
Abortion has been a huge issue in the world. Some people are against abortions and others are in favor. But in reality, why should we decide whether to kill or not an embryo or fetuses. This is a tough decision because rapists exist and girls who are irresponsible live everywhere. And should these girls have an abortion? Can there be an exception on the girl who has been raped? Should parents make their daughters have their babies for being immature and not an abortion? These are questions we all should have present before deciding whether to have the abortion or not.
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Reference 39ProchoiceArguments.RandyAlcorn. Retrievedfrom: http://lifestrategies.thingseternal.com/topics/abortion/prochoice-arguments.html Abortion Statistics by U. S. States, Race, Age and Worldwide Statistics. Retrieved from: http://www.abortiontv.com/misc/abortionstatics.htm Against Abortion. Retrieved from: http://www.tencommandments.org/against_abortion.html Should Abortion be Legal? Pauline Rocco and Bob Johnson. Retrieved from: http://www.deism.com/abortion.htm Why is Abortion Legal in the United States – Learn Why Abortion is Legal. Tom Head. Retrieved from:
http://civilliberty.about.com/od/abortion/f/abortion_legal.htm