The Ethical Dilemma of Abortion

At some point in everyone’s life they have probably heard an argument or a commercial about the ethical dilemma of abortion. Since the historical 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, the discussion of a woman’s right to have an abortion has been one of the most contentious moral and political debates in America. The Court decided that a woman’s right to an abortion fell within the right to privacy, protected by the fourteenth amendment. The decision gave a woman total freedom and control of the pregnancy in the first trimester, and defined different levels of state interests for the second and third trimesters. The laws of 46 states were affected by the Court’s ruling. Despite this decision, the ethical and moral question still remains, when does a human life begin? Pro-choice advocates argue that an embryo has no rights because it is only a potential and not an actual person, and that it should not have rights that come before those of the pregnant woman. They also say that whether or not to go through with a pregnancy is an absolute personal choice, because it involves a woman’s body, personal health, and future. There are many reasons why women consider abortion. Over half of all women who have an abortion used a contraceptive method during the month they became pregnant. When these methods fail, it leads women to consider other options. The reasons most frequently cited were that having a child would interfere with education, work, or ability to care for dependants. That they could not afford a baby now, or they did not want to be a single mother who is having relationship problems. Other reasons are because they didn’t want to tell their parents and the negative affects it will have on their body. Some people who are pro-choice see abortion as a last resort for a number of situations where they feel abortion is a necessary option, like health reasons. There are many health reasons for which a woman would want to terminate a pregnancy. Women suffering from severe depression disorders may have to stop taking their medications, and this puts both the baby and the mother at risk. The thought of having to care for a child until adulthood could be too much of a burden, and cause a total mental breakdown. Cancer patients should deeply consider the risks of carrying a baby to term with a suppressed immune system, especially if having radiation or chemotherapy. Another substantial reason why a woman would seek an abortion is if she were an alcoholic. If she cannot stop drinking the baby is susceptible to Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. This severely inhibits the child’s brain development, and can lead to a loss of motor skills, speech defects, deafness, vision impairment and retardation. Discovery of the fact that the baby may be severely retarded and deformed with many genetic deformations is another reason for a woman to seek an abortion, along with a rape resulting in pregnancy. Of course there is another side to the issue, referred to as pro-life. There are very many people today who say abortion is wrong. They believe that medical and scientific research has long since proved that life begins at fertilization. Therefore, they cannot and do not deny that when you have an abortion you are killing a human being. Most also believe that abortion is against God’s will. If abortion is wrong, then both mother and baby should be protected, unless it is likely that the mother’s life will end from carrying the baby to term. Years ago scientists did not know if it is a “real baby” or a “blob of tissue”. Today we have ultrasounds and other methods that can show us an image of the unborn baby inside the mother’s womb. As early as the 21st day after conception the heart begins to beat. 7 to 10 days later arms and legs are present, and the face makes its first appearance. Blood also flows in the baby’s veins, but stays separate from the mother’s blood. At this stage you feel nothing, but your baby is kicking, clenching his fists, and fanning his toes, and is generally very active. This evidence may prove to some that what is inside you is very much alive.
Some pro-lifers use the surgery done by Joseph Bruner where he repairs a 21 week old unborn baby’s spina bifida as an argument that there is a living, growing, feeling human being long before birth. In this case the child inside the mother reached out through the incision and grabbed the surgeon’s finger. The procedure was completed and the baby was born healthy months later. Another argument is medical research done by Dr. H. M. Liley, the leading expert on the study of babies before birth. His findings indicate that unborn babies can feel pain. Through invading the mother’s womb he discovered that an unborn baby will react to pain in the same fashion that a child would.
The ultimate question still remains. Is abortion wrong or unethical? In my personal opinion, yes it is. 21 days after conception, although about the size of a keychain, there is a fully formed human being. The foundations of the brain, spinal cord and nervous system have been laid. It has arms, legs, a face and a heart that pumps blood through it completely separate from the mother’s heart and blood. I call that a life, and that’s only 21 days. I have to consider what other amazing things will develop in only 20 more. All within the time frame where killing it is perfectly “acceptable”. The only case I could even consider that merits brutally excising a life from a mother’s uterus with a tube that has a knife on the end of it is rape. But the truth is statistics show that rape pregnancy is very rare. Some reports show that conception as a result of rape occurs in less than one percent of cases and others show four percent. The fact that about half of abortions in the U.S. are repeat abortions is not new, but widely underscored. Abortion is not birth control, especially just because it is inconvenient for someone to have to raise a mentally retarded child, or it is simply unwanted. The fact that someone is only allowed to live based on how “wanted” they are is absurd and sort of frightening. There are many problems that can be solved by dispensing unwanted beings, but it is simply inhumane. The only place this concept fits is somewhere like Hitler’s Germany, but the majority of people would agree that solutions like that are not only unethical, but pure evil.

References http://www.oyez.org http://www.prochoiceamerica.org http://women.webmd.com http://www.ehow.com www.abortionfacts.com www.google.com

References: http://www.oyez.org http://www.prochoiceamerica.org http://women.webmd.com http://www.ehow.com www.abortionfacts.com www.google.com