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Abortion

2022-02-02T12:47:14.86-05:00

Today in America those supporting and opposing abortion engage in very heated debates. I am for abortion for many reasons that I strongly believe in. Without legal abortion many women in this country would be killing or mutilating themselves. We would also have unwanted children, which leads to huge problems for families and society. Also I believe that the outlawing of abortion violates the separation of church and state. The choice to have an abortion or not, should be left up to the woman bearing the child instead of the government. Most women who want to have abortions will not be stopped by a law. Pro-lifers say that the women that desire abortions should opt for adoption instead. These women are usually young girls who are uneducated, frightened, vulnerable, and embarrassed of their situation. They are not ready to publicly recognize their pregnancy to their parents or families to go through their entire term and then give the child up for adoption. 74% of girls who had sex before age fourteen, and 60% who had sex before age fifteen, report that it occurred involuntarily . A probability sample of women at least eighteen years old showed 84% of rape victims did not report the offense to the police. Although in both of these incidences the young woman is not consensual, they feel that they are responsible for these acts of sexual abuse. Therefore they are reluctant and ashamed to continue their pregnancy. If laws exist prohibiting abortion, many of these young girls will secretly find other ways to rid themselves of this child. These other options are either performing the abortions on one or going to an unlicensed, unregulated, abortionist. Often this leads to death or mutilation of the woman’s body. If a woman decides to have the child and become a mother many problems may result. If the mother is a teen, she is 50% more likely to deliver a baby with a low birth weight than non-teens. If the baby survives birth that may not be the end of the dilemmas. Many times when a teen mother does not have an abortion, she will feel as though the child is a burden to her resulting in child abuse or throwing the child into the care of someone who is irresponsible or untrained. Every day in the U.S. between three and five children are murdered by a parent or caretaker. Not

2005-07-11T20:51:24-04:00

Abortion

2005-01-31T22:25:50-05:00

Ronald Reagan once said “I have noticed that everybody that is for abortion has already been born.” This quote sums up exactly how I personally feel about abortion. Everyone should have the right to life as they have been given it themselves. However abortion is a very controversial subject and there are many arguments both for Pro-life and Pro-choice, which I will discuss throughout this essay. The first issue I would like to raise is that a baby is a human being from the point of conception, which has been scientifically proven. This should mean that the baby has basic human rights for example, the right to live! Another human being should not have the right to take away another person’s life. The baby is innocent and like everyone else, deserves a chance at life. A defenceless life should not be taken away under any circumstances, after all the pregnancy is only temporary! The woman would only have to carry the baby for 9 months and then if she couldn’t cope she could give it up for adoption, however the baby has a full life time ahead of it, so shouldn’t the woman allow another human being to have a chance in life, the same way as her mother did for her? If her mother had aborted her then she wouldn’t even be here to make the decision of abortion, so why should this new born baby have fewer rights than this woman herself? On the contrary, Pro-choicers argue their case that a woman should have control over her own body. I agree that this right is important, but is it important enough to override the fundamental right to human life? As much as I believe a woman should have control over her own body it is to a certain extent. For example, I am sure no one would agree that a woman has the right to beat someone to death simply because she used her fists which are part of her body. This shows an example of a case where a person’s right to life outweighs a woman’s right to control over her own body. It illustrates that this right is not absolute and is dependant entirely on what she is doing with her body. Another reason why Pro-choicers are for abortion is that the baby may be a result of rape and therefore the woman should not have to

Maritzap

2004-03-30T04:42:10-04:00

Kant and Mill’s Theories In July of 1994, Paul J. Hill, a former Presbyterian minister and later a pro-life activist, was prosecuted for killing Dr. John Britton, an abortion performing doctor, and James Barrett, a volunteer, outside a clinic in Pensacola, Florida. Prior to this, Hill commented on the murder of Dr. David Gunn, another abortion performing doctor, stating that it was a “biblically justified homicide (P. 215).” This statement shows how strong Hill’s beliefs were and leads one to assume that he did not regret killing Britton and Barrett. This paper will address the Hill case and determine the ethical parameter in which Paul Hill should have acted. The two philosophical approaches that will be examined and contrasted are the Kantian and Utilitarian perspectives. Kant and Mill’s point of view on the actions of Paul J. Hill will be presented based on their theories. Lastly, I will explain why I believe that Kant’s theory provides a more plausible account of morality. Kantianism and Utilitarianism are two theories that attempt to answer the moral nature of human beings. Immanuel Kant’s moral system is based on a belief that reason is the final authority for morality. John Stuart Mill’s moral system is based on the theory known as utilitarianism, which is based upon utility, or doing what produces the greatest happiness. One of Kant’s lasting contributions to moral philosophy was his emphasis on the notion of respect for persons. He considers respect for persons (a.k.a the Kantian respect) to be the fundamental moral principle of ethical philosophy. His Kantianism premise is a deontological moral theory which claims that the right action in any given situation is determined by the categorical imperative, which he calls the Supreme Principle. This imperative is a command that applies to all rational beings independent of their desires. It is a command that reason tells us to follow no matter what (P.31).” Kant considers this an objective law of reason and because it applies to all of us, he calls it a universal practical law for all rational beings. The hypothetical imperative, on the contrary, is a conditional command, which “we have reason to follow if (it) serve(s) some desire of ours (P.31).” For example, if you want X, then you will do Y, whereas with the categorical

Abortion and what the Bible Says

2002-11-08T13:00:00-05:00

What is the question?: There are really two, different, very active abortion questions: 1. If a woman finds herself pregnant, what it the best (or least worst) solution for her and the potential newborn that she is carrying? 1) To do nothing, have the baby and raise it herself (hopefully with help from others).2) To do nothing, have the baby and give it up for adoption.3) To have an abortion and end the pregnancy. 2. If a woman finds herself pregnant, discusses her options with her physician or counselor, and decides to have an abortion, should the state override her decision and prevent her from having an abortion? Life and personhood are two very different matters. The human ovum (egg) is already clearly alive when it enters the fallopian tubes, many hours or days before it has the opportunity to be fertilized. Women release one about each month between puberty and menopause - a few hundred in a lifetime. Almost all of these are destined to die and be ejected from the body. Unless a couple is having difficulty conceiving, very little thought is given to these hundreds of deaths. Although the ovum is a form of life, there is a consensus that it is not a human person. Hundreds of millions of male sperm are liberated during a typical sexual encounter -- a sufficient number to theoretically double the earth's human population in a week or two if each were used to fertilize a separate ovum. Sperm are also clearly alive. Viewing them under a microscope reveals them to be energetic swimmers. Essentially all of these will die within days. Again, unless infertility is a problem, little attention is given to these deaths. An average man produces thousands of sperm a second. At most, a very few during his lifetime will contribute to the formation of a baby. The rest will die. Few men are consciously aware of the loss. Although sperm are very much alive and kicking, there is a consensus that they are not human persons. Among women without an IUD, about 50% of fertilized ovum develop into a baby which is born some nine months later. Some of the rest are aborted. Others, because of genetic imperfections or other reasons, are lost by a miscarriage. A consensus exists that an infant is the most precious form of life on earth, and needs to be protected under law.

Abortion : Just Another Name for Murder

2002-10-30T13:00:00-04:00

When people talk about fear, most of them think of death. Like getting eaten by a shark, or dieing in a car accident, or drowning, not me, my worst fear is to lose the love that I have, not only from lovers, but family and friends too. Many people may have fears like me but don’t share them as people may think their strange, but in all honest truth, nearly every human being is afraid to be alone and not experiencing love. To me, love is compassion, passion, it is too be able to tell that person anything that has happened and knowing that no matter how bad that thing was they would understand, the feeling inside you when you miss them so much and see them for the first time, in a long time, and most importantly, love is trust. When you’re in love everything you do feels better and easier because there is someone there with you and for you. To love someone is to have such strong feelings, so deeply felt that your life would not be complete or the same without them. No need to state the obvious ; everyone knows what abortion is. Then why do so many people push the issue aside as if it were a piece of food? We live in a world ; a society so corrupt that to kill the innocent, the unborn, is just another part of the day. The media portrays sexual intercourse as a right of passage for teenagers and do not say it does not. Any person in the United States can tell you that as soon as you turn your TV on, you are almost bound to find something containing some sort of sexuality. And yet, it is also depicted as being no big deal. As long as you use a condom, it's ok. Is this the new motto of America? As more and more teens are inclined by peers and the media to have sex, the tendency to actully have sex also inclines. Commercials for condums and other contraceptives are all over the place. But what if the condum rips or doesn't work? BOOM! Someone's girlfriend gets pregnant. What does she do? Nowadays, a seems that the typical decision would be to have an abortion ; either partial birth or full term. America and society in general has deemed this inhumane act to be OK. What

Abortion - taking a life

2002-04-22T14:00:00-04:00

What is abortion? Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy before birth. Early in a pregnancy, the fertilized egg that grows and develops is called the embryo. After three months of development, it is usually called a fetus. An abortion causes the embryo or fetus to die. Abortion is a very inhumane thing to do I could never think of giving up a baby even when it is not an actual humane, when it is in the lady it is still considered a person to me no matter what. I have five nephews and nieces and I don’t know what I would have done if one of my sisters would have got an abortion. Arguments against abortion are based on the belief that an abortion is the unjustified killing of an unborn shild. When people are thinking about abortion I think that they need to look into a childs eyes and think about it little bit harder and think if they could see that child dead, because that is how there child would be. Most people who oppose abortion believe that the human life begins as soon as the sperm fertalizes the womans egg. Some believe that human embryos and fetuses have a legal right and that abortion is an actual form of murder. The main purpose of abortion being immoral is how they are so viciously done Everyday, innocent, harmless fetuses are destroyed that some day could be a child laughing and playing. The procedures are so brutal that I couldn’t think of ever doing that to an unborn child. Many people that are for abortion argue that it is the womans decisive a womans to have an abortion, that it is there life and there body so they can do what they want. Many people would allow abortion under certain circumstances. Some approve of abortion if a womans life or health is endangered by her pregnancy. Others find abortion ok if medical tests show that the child will have mental or health problems. Some people would permit abortion if the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest. But if you really think about it, it is the same thing as murdering a child that has been born and had a life, even though the shild has not been born it is still a person.I don’t think that there is any reason for a person to have an abortion it

Abortion is Murder

2002-03-17T13:00:00-04:00

This is a very big moral issue. I wonder is people realize that they are killing an innocent baby? Yes it is a fetus, but it is in the process of becoming a whole innocent, beautiful baby. God is just in the process of creating. Every baby deserves a chance at life. You did. No matter how hard that life might be. It sickens me that there are people having abortions just because they made a mistake, and could just not say no. Some woman use abortion as a form of birth control. I don’t know why helpless little babies should die due to someone else’s mistake. Isaiah 44:2 says, “Thus saith the Lord that made thee, and formed thee from the womb...” This just proves the fact that as soon as conception, God starts creating. This is something He does very well. I believe that Abortion is murder. The definition of murder is: the unlawful and malicious or premeditated killing of one human being to another. The definition of abortion is: any deliberate procedure that removes, or induces the expulsion of a living or dead embryo or fetus. The definitions use the words malicious, premeditated, and deliberate. These are all synonyms. Why is it that if a person gets into an accident with a pregnant woman, and the woman and the baby die, the person is charged with two counts of man slaughter? In that case the baby is considered as a living baby. In the case of abortion though the baby is only considered a fetus. Did you know that a Doctor can make an abortion, to kill the baby at 5 months of conception, without any problem. However, if the same doctor gives a medicine to the mother at 2 weeks or 5 months of conception, and the baby is born with a birth defect, that Doctor will be sued for more than a million dollars. That doesn’t make since to me. The Doctor can kill the baby deliberately, but he can not damage the baby by accident? Here are some statistics on abortion: There is 54 million abortions per year worldwide, 1 million abortions per week, and 3 abortions per minute. In 1999, there were 1,500,000 abortions in the US. Did you know that 18 days after conception, an EKG of the baby can be record a human heart. 40 days after conception, measurable waves of

Abortion: the cause and effect

2001-11-05T13:00:00-05:00

The Aftermath of an Abortion To have abortion or not is a very difficult choice to make. The final choice comes from religious and ethical beliefs. However, to have an abortion means to participate in a horrendous crime against humanity, God, and oneself. Abortion can also have deleterious effects on the mother’s health and well being. Many of the couples, mainly the mothers, that have an abortion tend to go into a state of depression known as Post-abortion syndrome. Negative effects on the mother’s body can also stem from using abortion methods, such as the use of RU 486, a controversial abortion pill; increased risk of breast cancer is another effect of abortions. Other side effects of abortion, from emotional scars to a detachment from God and religion can also result. The choice to have an abortion is not only immoral and murder, but it can lead to negative effects on the mothers psychological, physical, and spiritual well being. The health of the mother, should be the main concern governing an abortion. Many of the pregnant women that have an abortion, tend to regret their decision later on; this regret and state of desolation, as well as depression is known as Post-abortion Syndrome. The Post-Abortion Syndrome, is better classified as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Speckhard, Rue). The symptoms of this syndrome can be characterized as depression, substance abuse, sleep disorders and suicidal thoughts (Speckhard, Rue). Many of the symptoms usually arise after the abortion has been performed. Many of these symptoms, such as suicide can be a threat to the mother’s health (Roleff 165-69). If the mother decides to commit suicide then that would defeat the whole idea of having an abortion in order to save the mother’s life. Many of the pregnant women that have an abortion justify the action upon unwanted conditions, such rape or congenital defects. In cases pertaining to rape, the pregnant women justify having an abortion as a means to erase the tragic event from consciousness. However, by having an abortion, she is giving up the most important tool to help her in the recovery process (Roleff 130-132) . The unborn child can evoke a sense of loneliness in the mother after the abortion, as well as other conditions of the Post-abortion Syndrome. One symptom, may be exaggerated response to memories of the abortion experience, meaning she will be more careful about her social activities and will probably

Abortion: compare and contrast

2001-11-05T13:00:00-05:00

The Abortion Controversy The controversy within the biomedical ethics topic, abortion, has two main proponents. The first, is the view against abortion, also known as pro-life. The other view, is rooted upon the belief of being pro-choice, or basically for abortions. These two different views are like two mathematical principles, in that although these two views have many differences, they also have larger similarities in the background. For example, when pro-choice activists support abortions due to unwanted pregnancies, the activists are not rallying behind the idea of sexual incompetency (pregnancies due to lack of birth control). Rather, they are supporting the idea that women have the right to choose what to do with their own bodies. In order to understand these opposing views, justifications and condemnations, on abortion, it can basically be divided into three categories. These categories are based upon the reasons for which abortions are carried out, and include congenital defects, rape, and economics. Congenital defects, is when deformities within the baby are detected during an early stage of a pregnancy (Nelson 36-37). These defects, such as Down’s syndrome, are detected through an amniocentesis test. The second justification for abortion is from criminal cases, such as rape (Nelson 38). A final reason for an abortion, is due to economics, the financial condition, of a family (Nelson 32). Economics can also include cases such as teen pregnancies. The anti-abortionists have numerous reasons for their beliefs, and many of them are attached to their religion ideals. Religious ideals, range from having an abortion before 120 days after the pregnancy, as in Islam, to considering it a sin to have an abortion, as in Christianity (Siegel et al. 3-4). However, the anti-abortionists’ reasons also come from the belief that a human being is born after conception, and that the death of that embryo or fetus resembles the murder of an innocent human being (Roleff 17). They believe that no one has the power to take command of another’s life, mainly an infant, that is dependent on others for survival during the initial stages of life. In addition, to the fact that abortions kill innocent human beings, anti-abortionists believe that they also damage the mental, as well as physical condition of the mother. Since, after an abortion a mother is more susceptible to breast cancer, and to periods of depression (Roleff 141-165). In the case of congenital defects, the pro-life activists argue that

Abortion: narrative

2001-11-05T13:00:00-05:00

The Power of Independence The right to choose, what one desires to do with their own life is what the American society is based upon. However, in certain cases in biomedical ethics, such as abortion, the question of whom has the right to choose the fate of another is still questionable. I learned about the power that one has over others, in doing a term paper about abortion for a Biology AP class, in high school. The power that I learned I possessed but never knew about its detrimental effects on others was similar to the power that Tobias Wolff revealed in his shot essay, On Being A Real Westerner. The term paper on abortion was a random subject chosen out of an old-fashioned hat. At first I was thrilled to have the topic because it was a trivial subject in which there has been a long history of debate and controversy. The teacher, Mrs. Kuhn, then told us in a mysterious and deceitful tone to write down our views of the subject, wether we were against it or for it. During that time I was not familiar with the cases dealing with abortions, except that it was beneficial for pregnant teenagers to have them so that they didn’t jeopardize their future. Obviously, I was thinking in context with my social group, and it would be easy to say why one should have an abortion as opposed to not having one. After the opinions, which were written down on paper, were collected she revealed that she wanted us to go against our own views, to take on the opposite views. I was in a state of shock for a while, because it was as if she was asking me to change my religion, my beliefs, from one thing to another. I can’t understand why I felt that way because it was just a method to see how the opposition felt. However, I felt weaker as if she had stripped me of my right to be independent, and that she was trying to force beliefs upon me which was blasphemous. Eventually, I gave in because the term paper was an important part of the grade. The research into my newly nomianl belief was difficult at first, but once I found certain information on the net and in books the search seemed less sadistic. The websites I visited contained mostly support for pro-life beliefs based

Is abortion wrong or right?

2001-05-24T14:00:00-04:00

Abortion, in my opinion, is wrong, but, as it is obvious, it is not wrong in to other people. To make this fair, I have gotten a few people to make a statement about whether they were pro-life, or pro-choice and why. "Pro-choice. As a man, I don't believe that it is my choice to make as to whether a woman decides to keep her child or not. I do not believe that it is my place to pass judgement on all of womanhood when it comes to having an abortion or not. If the circumstances were different, say if the child was mine, then I believe that I have a say, but not for women that I have never, nor will ever meet." Jeff, 20, S.C. "Pro-choice, because women have the choice no matter what. That doesn't mean I'm for abortion though either, just the right to choose." Adrian, 18, Pennsylvania "I'm both. If someone gets raped and doesn't want to have a baby, and it's not their fault that it happened, they should be able to have an abortion because they should be free to live their life. but if someone knew about what would happen if they had sex and they weren't careful, and got pregnant, then they should deal with the consiquences." Lauren, 13, New York. "Pro-life.I think that abortion is morally wrong and it is scientifically proven that the baby is its own person with its own DNA and fingerprints. No one has the right to take a life but Christ. The baby is not part of the mothers body-she can't kill it;it is murder." Drea, 17, Texas. "When asked whether to choose sides on the issue of abortion, I am faced with an unusual quandry. In Michigan, only women have bearing on the baby/fetus while it is still in the womb. All paternal rights come after birth, not after conception. So if a man wants an aborition, but the woman doesn't, the baby is kept. But the converse occurs also; if a man wishes to keep it but the woman doesn't, the fetus is aborted. In my eyes men's paternal rights are beign trampled on because half of that baby/fetus' makeup is from the sperm. I dont side with either and in my eyes, all men should do the same in order to get a voice in raising our families." Matt, 20, Michigan. Abortion is one of the

Abortion: a Freedom of Choice

2001-05-12T14:00:00-04:00

During the last twenty-five years, abortion has been one of the most heated topics being debated in the United States and Canada. The only topics that equal the abortion debate are race and war. Abortion is a discussion of human interaction where ethics, emotions, and law come together. There are people that have different views of abortion but no matter what their view is they fall under a thin line. There is the pro-choice and the pro-life. These are the only two categories that people’s views fall into. A pro-choice person would feel that the decision to abort a pregnancy is that of the mothers and the government has no right to interfere. A pro-lifer would hold that from the moment of conception, the embryo or fetus is alive. Since this embryo or fetus is alive and is a person you have no moral right to abort a life. If you aborted the life (person) you would be committing murder. The word “murder” is mainly used by pro-lifers to describe what happens when you abort an embryo/fetus. Murder means deliberate and unjustified killing of another person containing intent. How can anyone tell a woman that they can’t abort an embryo/fetus to interrupt a pregnancy if it is a result of rape or incest? A women cannot bear the thought of having a child that would be a constant reminder of what happened on such and such a day, such and such number of years ago. The mother doesn’t want to kill a baby; she wants to interrupt the growth of an embryo so that it will not become a baby. The mother interrupts potential life. If the mother aborts the embryo at a very early stage it’s not even recognizable as human and that’s why potential life is just that, potential. My personal belief is that each woman has the right to decide whether she wants to abort an unwanted pregnancy. Remember the termination of the pregnancy might have to do with the health of the mother herself, maybe the mother is unable to attend to the child’s needs after its born, resulting in child abuse and mental disease. In these situations abortion is a must in my opinion. Most abortions occur because contraception fails, because of a rape or because of a serious medical condition of the mother, which could lead to her death. In these situations abortion is often

Is Abortion Ever Justfied?

2001-03-18T13:00:00-04:00

Is abortion ever justified? If not, why? If it depends, then on what? It is not unreasonable to suggest that the vast majority of people consider it morally wrong to kill other persons. There may be examples of situations where the killing of a person may be justifiable, although they are by no means universally consented to, such as killing in self defence or as a form of capital punishment, but taken in isolation it is generally accepted that to kill is wrong. Therefore in the debate between pro and anti abortionists must centre around two essential questions: whether a foetus is a person, and if so when a foetus becomes a person; and whether abortion can be said to be self defence. Possibly the deepest dilemma for an anti abortionist concerns the stage at which a foetus can be said to be alive, in the sense in which we would refer to a child after it is born. It seems absurd to think that in the relatively short time which the birth takes, the baby’s status will be so radically altered yet an almost mystical store is set by birth as for the first time we can distinguish a distinct personality, and directly interact with the infant . However, it is a largely unfounded significance in ethical terms as birth is often governed by contingent factors and the time of birth can be manipulated. Also to be considered is the fact that if the baby is ready to emerge from the womb, then surely it possesses enough properties for us to consider it in some sense a person. For example, if not than an eight month old foetus would not have the same claim to personhood as a two-month-old baby born prematurely at six months even though they are of similar developmental stages. Thus other stages of pregnancy are more commonly cited as the point in which personhood begins. John Grigg adopts the stance that there is a life that comes into existence as soon as conception occurs: “To my mind life begins at the moment of conception… Conception is the magic moment.” (John Grigg, in the Guardian, 29 October 1973) This view may be problematic if we consider that life does not necessarily imply personhood. We may claim that the foetus is a human being but this merely implies that it is a member of our species, and not that

Abortion, A Freedom of Choice

2001-01-24T13:00:00-05:00

Abortion - a freedom of choice

2000-12-03T13:00:00-05:00

Abortion : Just Another Name for Murder

2000-10-25T14:00:00-04:00

No need to state the obvious ; everyone knows what abortion is. Then why do so many people push the issue aside as if it were a piece of food? We live in a world ; a society so corrupt that to kill the innocent, the unborn, is just another part of the day. The media portrays sexual intercourse as a right of passage for teenagers and do not say it does not. Any person in the United States can tell you that as soon as you turn your TV on, you are almost bound to find something containing some sort of sexuality. And yet, it is also depicted as being no big deal. As long as you use a condom, it's ok. Is this the new motto of America? As more and more teens are inclined by peers and the media to have sex, the tendency to actully have sex also inclines. Commercials for condums and other contraceptives are all over the place. But what if the condum rips or doesn't work? BOOM! Someone's girlfriend gets pregnant. What does she do? Nowadays, a seems that the typical decision would be to have an abortion ; either partial birth or full term. America and society in general has deemed this inhumane act to be OK. What people don't seem to realize is that they are killing an INNOCENT human being. Yes ; no matter what you believe, no matter what you'd like to say what that woman is holding in her womb, it is a human being. But what if the girl is raped you say? There are many positions on this section of abortion. Just because the girl is raped does not mean she should kill the child. No, she probably did not wish to become pregant, and no she definitly did not want to be raped but it's murder. She's killing her own child whether she wants to admit it or not. Sadly, many people do not seem to comprehend the seriousness of this epidemic. Abortion is truly just another name for murder. Why doesn't America see it as such? Because no gun or knife is used. In partial birth abortion, the woman is forced into labor and once the baby is out, it is stabbed in the back of the head with scissors. It's brains are then sucks out from the back of it's head. And yes,

Abortion

2000-10-20T14:00:00-04:00

Years ago when a women would get pregnant she would have a baby. Today accidental pregnancies are solved by a method called abortion. With this method the newly formed fetus is basically removed from the mother’s body and destroyed. Although the whole process of having an abortion seems not especially pleasant, they seem to be popular. Many people argue that abortion is plain and simple murder. They reason that if a woman feels responsible enough to have sex, she needs to be responsible enough to deal with the consequences. No matter what the circumstances may be. The fourteenth amendment states that no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without a good reason and a fair trial. Pro-life supporters use the fact that in the United States constitution it clearly states that no one can kill anyone else without due process to fight against abortions. They reason that we must follow all of the other amendments so why do we not fully follow the fourteenth? The unborn baby has a constitutional right to life unless due process of the law is put into effect. But how can due process be in effect when the baby can not even speak for itself? Basically pro-life supporters argue that the baby can not be killed because it has the constitutional right to life. Non-abortions advocates also argue that abortions get used too regularly as a form of birth control. They believe that abortions are put into the same category as the “pill” and the Depo-Provera shot. They also believe that while abortions are legal and so available, people do not see unprotected sex as serious as they should. Women may consent to un-protected sex because if they become pregnant they figure they can always just go get an abortion. Pro-life supporters believe that abortions are a simple way out of a very complicated problem. However, the illegalization of abortion may bring on many consequences. If someone falls victim of rape and becomes pregnant it is not fair to make them keep the child. The mother would of course love the child, but with that would come a form of hate. It is true that one should take responsibility for their actions, but rape is no action of their own. Rape is an act of violence and no women should have to have a baby out of it. As a women I agree that I,

The Aborted Contract

2000-09-11T14:00:00-04:00

Sam Vaknin's Psychology, Philosophy, Economics and Foreign Affairs Web Sites The issue of abortion is emotionally loaded and this often makes for poor, not thoroughly thought out arguments. The questions: "Is abortion immoral" and "Is abortion a murder" are often confused. The pregnancy (and the resulting foetus) are discussed in terms normally reserved to natural catastrophes (force majeure, in legal lingo). At times, the embryo is compared to cancer: after all, they are both growths, clusters of cells. The difference, of course, is that no one contracts cancer willingly (except, to some extent, smokers --but, then they gamble, not contract). When a woman engages in voluntary sex, does not use contraceptives and gets pregnant - one can say that she signed a contract with her foetus. A contract entails the demonstrated existence of a reasonably (and reasonable) free will. If the fulfilment of the obligations in a contract could be life-threatening - it is fair and safe to assume that no rational free will was involved. No reasonable person would sign or enter such a contract. Judith Jarvis Thomson argued convincingly ("A Defence of Abortion") that pregnancies that are the result of forced sex (rape being a special case) or which are life threatening should or could, morally, be terminated. Using the transactional language : the contract was not entered to willingly or reasonably and, therefore, is null and void. Any actions which are intended to terminate it and to annul its consequences should be legally and morally permissible. The same goes for a contract which was entered into against the express will of one of the parties and despite all the reasonable measures that the unwilling party adopted to prevent its crystallization. If a mother uses contraceptives in a manner intended to prevent pregnancy, it is as good as saying: I do not want to sign this contract, I am doing my reasonable best not to sign it, if it is signed - it is contrary to my express will. There is little legal (or moral) doubt that such a contract should be voided. Much more serious problems arise when we study the other party to these implicit agreements: the embryo. To start with, it lacks consciousness (in the sense that is needed for signing an enforceable and valid contract). Can a contract be validated even if one of the "signatories" lacked this sine qua non trait? In the absence

Abortion

2000-07-06T14:00:00-04:00

The word abortion by definition means, naturally or especially induced expulsion of a fetus from the womb before it is able to survive independently, according to the American Century Dictionary. This is one subject that, when mentioned, completely polarizes individuals. Abortion poses a moral, social and medical dilemma that faces many individuals to create a emotional and sometimes violent atmosphere. There are many points of view toward abortion but the only two fine distinctions are "pro-choice" and "pro-life". A person that is pro-choice would feel that the decision to abort a pregnancy is that of the mothers and that the state has no right to interfere. A person that is pro-life would say that from the moment of conception, the fetus is alive. This life imposes on us a moral obligation to preserve it and that abortion is tantamount to murder (Kolner 5)This is important because part of our society would have to carry the guilt of terminating a human life. This would be severe and almost unbelievable for a society as educated as ours to make this big of a mistake. How could the country that leads in individual rights be so ignorant? We are America where everyone is created equal and deserves a chance to pursue happiness. What if this fetus is not a human life, is this a question that we can really answer? These are questions that haunt our nations soul.Early in our nations history they had no means of measuring or telling if a fetus was alive in the womb. The colonies inherited English Common Law and operated under it until well into the 19th century. Abortion was illegal according to English Common Law. Abortion prior to quickening (feeling life) was a misdemeanor. Abortion after quickening was a felony. This type of punishment was inherited from earlier ecclesiastic laws. In the early 1800s it was discovered that human life did not begin when she "felt life," but rather at fertilization. As a direct result of this, the British Parliament in 1869 passed the "Offenses Against the Persons Act," eliminating misdemeanor charge and dropping the felony punishment back to fertilization. One by one, across the middle years of the 19th century, every then present state passed its own law against abortion. By 1860, 85% of the population lived in states that had prohibited abortion with new laws. These laws, preceding and following the British example, moved

Abortion Clinics Should Not be Closed in the U.S.

2000-04-25T14:00:00-04:00

In 1973, the Supreme Court’s decision made it possible for women to get safe, legal abortions from well-trained medical surgeons, and therefore led to dramatic decreases in pregnancy-related injury and death ("abortion"). Now there is a new proposal to close abortion clinics. This proposal takes away the privacy rights of American women that are guaranteed by our Constitution. By closing abortion clinics the government is not only taking away women’s rights, but is also punishing those whom want to exercise their right of a pro-choice woman. Abortion clinics allow thousands of women every year to have abortions. Having the abortion should be woman’s personal choice. By closing these clinics, there will be no providers to perform the operation, so the choice has already been made for them. Closing the clinics will increase the barriers of having an abortion. When there are too many obstacles, the right to make their own choice is taken away from them. In 1973 the American Supreme Court ruled that Americans’ right to privacy included: "the right of a woman to decide whether to have children, and the right of a woman and her doctor to make that decision without state interference" ("abortion"). The Constitution says we have a right to privacy, so taking away a woman’s chance to make decisions about her own body violates that right. The American Civil Liberties Union defends the Constitution and peoples’ rights. ACLU has protected the rights of abortion for women, and in recent years has argued mayor cases opposing restrictions that deny woman access to reproductive health care ("ACLU"). Policy 263 states: "The ACLU holds that every woman, as a matter of her right to the enjoyment of life, liberty, and privacy, should be free to determine whether and when to bear children."(The American Civil Liberties Union) The closure of abortion clinics will be done with the purpose to reduce the number of abortions. This raises the question whether this will be an effective method or not. Before 1973 abortions were illegal yet the number of women who sought abortions did not decrease ("abortion"). Before 1973 many thousands of women died or suffered serious medical problems after attempting to perform their own abortions, or going to untrained doctors who performed cheap abortions with uncivilized methods or in unsanitary conditions (The Abortion Law Homepage.). If clinics are closed, women will still continue to attempt, and succeed, in ending unwanted pregnancies just

Abortion Clinics Should Not Be Closed

2000-04-03T14:00:00-04:00

In 1973, the Supreme Court’s decision made it possible for women to get safe, legal abortions from well-trained medical surgeons, and therefore led to dramatic decreases in pregnancy-related injury and death ("abortion"). Now there is a new proposal to close abortion clinics. This proposal takes away the privacy rights of American women that are guaranteed by our Constitution. By closing abortion clinics the government is not only taking away women’s rights, but is also punishing those whom want to exercise their right of a pro-choice woman. Abortion clinics allow thousands of women every year to have abortions. Having the abortion should be woman’s personal choice. By closing these clinics, there will be no providers to perform the operation, so the choice has already been made for them. Closing the clinics will increase the barriers of having an abortion. When there are too many obstacles, the right to make their own choice is taken away from them. In 1973 the American Supreme Court ruled that Americans’ right to privacy included: "the right of a woman to decide whether to have children, and the right of a woman and her doctor to make that decision without state interference" ("abortion"). The Constitution says we have a right to privacy, so taking away a woman’s chance to make decisions about her own body violates that right. The American Civil Liberties Union defends the Constitution and peoples’ rights.ACLU has protected the rights of abortion for women, and in recent years has argued mayor cases opposing restrictions that deny woman access to reproductive health care ("ACLU"). Policy 263 states: "The ACLU holds that every woman, as a matter of her right to the enjoyment of life, liberty, and privacy, should be free to determine whether and when to bear children."(The American Civil Liberties Union) The closure of abortion clinics will be done with the purpose to reduce the number of abortions. This raises the question whether this will be an effective method or not. Before 1973 abortions were illegal yet the number of women who sought abortions did not decrease ("abortion"). Before 1973 many thousands of women died or suffered serious medical problems after attempting to perform their own abortions, or going to untrained doctors who performed cheap abortions with uncivilized methods or in unsanitary conditions (The Abortion Law Homepage.). If clinics are closed, women will still continue to attempt, and succeed, in ending unwanted pregnancies just

Abortion - Prolife view

2000-01-16T13:00:00-05:00

Abortion, the termination of pregnancy before the fetus is capable of independent life, can either be spontaneous or induced. It is called "the knowing destruction of the life of an unborn child." (Mass General Laws Chapter 112 Section 12K) When abortion occurs spontaneously, it is called a miscarriage. However, when the loss of a fetus is caused intentionally, it is regarded as a moral issue. Abortion destroys the lives of helpless, innocent children and is illegal in many countries. An estimate of 1.2 million are performed each year. In retrospect, an estimate 38,010,378 innocent children were aborted since 1973 when the process was legalized. Abortion is a simple and safe procedure if it is done by trained medical workers during the first trimester. There are four different techniques utilized during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy. Suction aspiration, also known as vacuum curettage, is the most common surgical means of abortion. This is when a powerful suction tube with a sharp cutting edge is inserted into the womb through the dilated cervix. The suction dismembers the body of the developing baby, tearing the placenta from the wall of the uterus, and sucking blood, amniotic fluids, placental tissue, and fetal parts into a bottle. Although it is one of the safer methods, there are still frequent complications such as infection and tearing of the uterus, causing hemorrhaging. Dilatation and Curettage (D&C) is another surgical process involving the insertion of a loop shaped steel knife to cut the baby’s body into pieces. The placenta is then scraped off the uterine wall. There is a higher risk of infection with D&C and greater blood loss than with Suction aspiration. RU 486 and Methotrexate are two similar types of chemical abortion. RU 486 is a pill that can be taken orally only during the five to nine week period. Three trips must be made to the abortion clinic. In the first, the RU 486 pill is administered after a physical examination. During the 2nd, 36 - 48 hours later, the woman is given a dose of artificial prostaglandins initiating uterine contractions. This causes the embryonic baby to be expelled from the uterus. The third visit, about two weeks later, can determine whether the abortion has been completed or if further surgery is necessary. Methotrexate is administered by intramuscular injection. It attacks growing cells of the trophoblast, which functions as the life support system for

Abortion: Birth Control or Legal Murder?

1999-12-22T13:00:00-05:00

Approximately 1.6 million murders are committed legally each year. With the exception of laws in few states, the mutilated bodies of the victims are thrown into dumpsters like pieces of rotten meat. While these victims lay waiting in the infested dumpsters to be hauled off to a landfill, the murderers are in their offices waiting for their next patient--the accomplice to the murder. This is the murder of an innocent child by a procedure known as abortion. Abortion stops the beating of an innocent child's heart. People must no longer ignore the scientific evidence that life begins at the moment of conception. People can no longer ignore the medical and emotional problems an abortion causes women. People must stop denying the facts about the procedure, and start hearing the silent screams of unborn children. The argument by the pro-abortion side is that the unborn child is not truly a child. Many people who are pro-abortion justify their beliefs through the concept that a fetus is only a blob of tissue until it is born, or the statement: life begins at birth. Abortion is not as simple as removing a "blob of tissue" (as the pro-abortion activists put it) from a woman's body. Abortion is the destruction, dismembering and killing of a human life--an unborn baby. "But it is scientific and medical fact based on experimental evidence, that a fetus is a living, growing, thriving human being, directing his or her own development" (Fetal Development). A fetus is not just a blob of tissue, rather a fetus is Latin for "offspring or young one." Human life begins at fertilization, therefore it is wrong to murder the innocent child in the womb. At a US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee meeting, most scientists said that life begins at conception or implantation of the embryo. No scientist at the meeting claimed that life begins at birth (Factbot). Professor Hymie Gordon of the Mayo clinic stated "' . . by all criteria of modern biology, life is present from the moment of conception'" (Fetal Development). In a 1963 Planned Parenthood pamphlet entitled 'Plan Your Children' it states "an abortion kills the life of a baby after it has begun. It is dangerous to your life and health" (Factbot). Even though abortion is dangerous to a woman's life, and it kills her baby, Planned Parenthood still offers it as a safe solution. This statement contradicts what most abortion

The Ethics Of Abortion

1999-12-22T13:00:00-05:00

Abortion is a very controversial subject that has been continually argued over for the past few years and probably many years to come. The main controversy is should abortion be legalized? First before we get into the many sides of abortion we must first define abortion. Abortion is the destruction of the fetus or unborn child while the child is still in the mothers womb. This can be done by almost anyone from the mother herself to back alley abortions and even to abortions by clinics set up especially for this purpose. There are two sides to this abortion topic the PRO-LIFE which is those who are against abortion altogether and the PRO- CHOICE or those who believe it is the womans right to choose if she wants to have an abortion. These two groups offer different solutions to problem. The pro-life solution is to have the child and basically live with it. They believe abortion is not an answer. The pro-choice solution is abortion because of reasons they feel are appropriate. Although abortion is morally and ethically wrong should it be legal for victims of rape or incest who have no other alternative? There is no real answer to this controversy, there are two sides to it though which have been arguing for many years over the subject. The first is the pro-life group. This group does not believe in the abortion factor. To understand where the pro-life stands we must first understand its beliefs and reasons for its beliefs. Then we can discuss what their solution to the abortion topic is. Pro-life believes that rape and incest are very emotional topics. "They often elicit throughout the population feelings of revulsion; people draw back from the issue of rape and incest. People don't know how to handle a person who is in that much pain. There is no quick fix. That is why it is difficult for even pro-life people to come to grips with the argument over abortion in cases of rape and incest." Some of those who are pro-life will allow abortion in these cases because they don't know what else they can do for the victim and except it as a rare case. But it is known that allowing abortion in these cases usually does not help the victim, instead it only worsens the problem because the victims needs are not being met. But what the facts suggest

Abortion

1999-12-22T13:00:00-05:00

Abortion has been one of this country's most controversial topic on hand. But if one sees the constitutional infringement to women by the restriction of abortion, the torment to the unwanted child and the anguish society

History of abortion in the Court

1999-12-15T13:00:00-05:00

Abortion. The word alone provokes strong emotion in both women and men alike. Roe v. Wade was decided twenty five years ago, but still the fight is not over. Instead, there are mass rallies, bombings of abortion clinics, murders of doctors and workers at such clinics, intimidation, arrest, political lobbying, and numerous Supreme Court cases. What is it that divides families, and keeps old friends from speaking to one another on the topic? Why are opinions so polarized and why are minds so closed? As the great philosopher Plato said, "A perfectly simple principle can never be applied to a state of things which is the reverse of simple". The topic of abortion is anything but simple, and our laws governing the matter are ever changing to try to achieve a middle ground. In the late nineteenth century a specific backward law was added in Connecticut. It banned not the sale or manufacture of contraceptives but their use. The Director of the Planned Parenthood League of Connecticut, Griswold, and its medical director, a licensed physician, were convicted under the statute as an accessory after they gave advice to married couples on contraception. Griswold appealed the statute to the Supreme Court, where the question was whether the statue violated the Constitution. The Court was convinced that it did, though it refused to become specific about what clause of the Bill of Rights it violated. The court drew notice to a "zone of privacy", which was an emanation created by various amendments. This "zone" grew out of the right to privacy implicit in the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendments. The Ninth Amendment also hints at its existence when it says that the enumeration of specific rights does not preclude the existence of other rights enumerated. With Griswold v. Connecticut, 381 U.S. 479 (1965), the Court established that married couples have a "Right to Privacy" as a prenumbra to the Bill of Rights. Seven years after the Griswold decision, the Supreme Court expanded the "right to privacy" to include the right of women to obtain abortions, during the first six months of pregnancy. Roe was blocked, by the laws of Texas, from obtaining an abortion, because Texas law prohibited abortion except to save the life of the mother. Citing the Griswold case, she appealed to the Supreme Court, charging that the Texas statute was an unconstitutional restriction of her "right to privacy". By a

Abortion

1999-12-08T13:00:00-05:00

Abortion is defined as the termination of a pregnancy before the fetus is capable of independent life. Abortions must be conducted before the end of six months or the fetus will leave the womb and it would be considered premature birth. If the fetus weighs less than 18 ounces or is less than 20 weeks into pregnancy, it is usually considered an abortion. There are two types of abortions. One is spontaneous and the other is induced. Spontaneous abortions are known y another name, miscarriages. The second form of abortion is an induced abortion. This is the deliberate termination of the fetus. Many have pondered upon the meaning of abortion. The argument because every child born should be wanted, and others who believe that every child conceived should be born. 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. Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion. Although 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 intensely strong 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 the mother is her property and its life does not begin until birth. Although many believe that abortion is a woman's choice, abortion should be banned because it is immoral and life begins at conception. Abortion is the choice of a woman in whether or not she wants to receive one. The right to choose to have an abortion is personal and essential to a woman's life. The state can not interfere in the private lives of a citizen. 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. A man can withdraw from a relationship as soon as he finds out about pregnancy. There is no question of his involvement after that; he has made his choice. It is only fair to say that women should be given the same choice. If one does not want to hold the responsibilities of a child then she should be able

Abortion: Pro-life!

1999-12-04T13:00:00-05:00

Every day, an overwhelming amount of human beings’ lives are terminated. The culprit: unwanted pregnancies. Many woman are (not by choice), becoming pregnant as a result of unsafe sex, rape, and other things. So what is one to do when they discover that they’re pregnant? They have some alternatives: (1) have the child and raise it (2) have the child, then give it up for adoption (3) get an abortion. Sadly, many women choose alternative three, unaware of what they’re getting themselves into. Abortion is very cruel to the baby and even harms the mother. It is murder! There are many different procedures for abortions, all gruesome and pain inflicting on the baby. Suction Aspiration (vacuum curettage) makes up for 98% of first trimester abortions. The cervix is first dilated. Then a suction tube with a sharp cutting edge is inserted which rips the baby to pieces. It then sucks out all the remains. If the mother waits until the third trimester (when the baby is more developed), then she must have Partial Birth Abortion. Using Ultra-sound, the doctor grabs the baby’s legs and forces out all but the head. Scissors are then jammed into the back of the skull and opened, creating a larger hole. A suction tube sucks the brains out, causing the skull to collapse. Then the dead baby is removed. Believe it or not, the mother is also harmed. In Suction Aspiration, if any tissue is left inside, it’ll become infected. For Methoxotrexate Injection, another type of abortion, Methoxotrexate can produce ill side effects such as anemia, nausea, cancer, lung disease, and heavy bleeding. Just think of the mental trauma the mother is also feeling. She has the forever-guilty conscience of being responsible for her own child’s death. Many mothers say, "I’ll regret it for the rest of my life." "I feel like crawling into a hole and dying," says another mother after the operation. A common argument is that abortion isn’t murder because the baby isn’t alive. But on the contrary: life begins at conception. After only 18 days, the heart is formed, and after 20 the brain, spinal cord, and nervous system are developing. A mere four days later, the heart starts beating. Is abortion murder though? According to the Webster Dictionary, abortion is to terminate a pregnancy because the baby is not capable of living. Murder is to kill another human being. A human being is defined

Abortion

1999-11-18T13:00:00-05:00

Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy before the fetus is capable of independent life. Abortions must be conducted before the end off six months, or the fetus will leave the womb and it would be considered a premature birth. There are two types of abortions. One is spontaneous and the other is induced. If the fetus ways less than 18oz or is less than 20 weeks into the pregnancy, it is usually considered an abortion. Spontaneous abortions are known by another name, miscarriages. These usually occur during the first three months of pregnancy. It is estimated that 25% of all pregnancies end in spontaneous abortion. The second form of abortion is induced abortion. This is the deliberate termination of the fetus. There are four main types of induced abortions. The first takes place up to 12 weeks. It is called vacuum aspiration. This is where a tube attached to a vacuum is inserted into the uterus and sucks out the embryo and all other material. The second type takes place after the 15th week and is called saline infusion. Here, the doctors replace a little fluid with a salt solution. This causes the uterus to contract. The fetus is then expelled. The third type is a hysterotomy. This is a similar procedure to a cesarean section. The only difference is, in this operation, is that the cut is smaller and lower. The fourth type is available in the first fifty days. It is a drug called RU-486. It was developed in France and approved for sale there in 1988. Clinical trials in the United States began in 1994. When performed under proper conditions, the sooner the person has the baby, the less risk she is at. The likelihood of complications increase as the woman gets farther into the pregnancy. Although, an abortion has less of a risk of injury than does actually delivering the baby. Abortion is one topic that has been heavily debated. Many cases have gone to court over an abortion. Perhaps the most famous case was Roe vs. Wade. It was a case that was settled in 1973 under Justice Blackman. The Supreme Court ruled that they could not ban abortions in the first six months of the pregnancy. After six months, the states can ban an abortion except in cases in which the woman's health is at risk. I think that there is a lot that can be done.

Abortion

1999-10-23T14:00:00-04:00

As of right now, abortion is legal in all nine months of the pregnancy for any reason. This controversial issue is a question of how important the value of life is. The turning point came in 1973 when the Supreme Court's decision in Roe vs. Wade saying, that women have the right to murder an innocent child only up to 24 weeks . This false perception is fueled part by groups supporting abortion rights and it is then uncritically unaccepted by the media. The fact is that the current law allows a woman to get an abortion for any reason she deems necessary. It seems ironic that a people can get so emotional when it comes to animal rights, yet see no wrong in ripping a developed baby from the protection of the mother. It is not the child's fault that he or she was conceived. Some people argue that the developing is not technically a child yet because it cannot live on its own. Most of the procedures in murdering the growing child can be painful to the baby and be harmful to the mother. So how can we as a nation make sure criminals are executed painlessly and let children be murdered by extremely painful measures. At 18 days after conception, a baby's heart is already beating, and at 6 weeks, brain waves can be measured. At 8 weeks, the stomach, liver, and kidneys are functioning, and the fingerprints have formed. At 9 weeks, the baby can feel pain . Here are some methods of early abortion: Vacuum Curettage: powerful suction tube inserted through the cervix and into the womb. The unborn child is torn apart by the force of the suction; the fetal body parts and placenta are sucked into a jar. Possible complications include infection, cervical laceration and uterine perforation. Mifepristone: also known as RU-486, the chemical causes an abortion by interfering with the function of the placenta, starving the unborn child to death. Prostaglandins are then administered to expel the fetus. This method of abortion takes place over the span of several days; the average woman using it bleeds heavily for more than nine days, but some women have bled for over four weeks. Mifepristone is just beginning to be used in the US. Long-term health risks are not yet known. Methotrexate: though not approved by the FDA for this use, a methotrexate injection kills the

Should Abortion Clinics be Closed?

1999-07-05T14:00:00-04:00

In 1973, the supreme court decision known as Roe v. wade, made it possible for woman to get safe, legal abortions from well-trained medical practitioners and therefore led to dramatic decreases in pregnancy-related injury and death. Now the policy proposal has been done to close up abortion clinics. We are against this proposal and we will give you some arguments why we think abortion clinics in this state should not be closed. Closing up abortion clinics enables a lot of woman to have an abortion. Having an abortion should be woman's own choice. But when there are no providers of abortion around, that choice has already been made for her. Closing up the clinics will higher the barriers of having an abortion. But when the barriers are too high, this means that for some woman, the right to make their own choices in life, is taken away from them. The constitution says we have a right on Privacy, so taking away a woman's chance to make decisions over her own body and life, infringes with that right. In 1973 the American Supreme Court ruled that American's right to privacy included the right of a woman to decide whether to have children, and the right of a woman and her doctor to make that decision without state interference. Closing up abortion clinics violates that right woman have. The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) is the nation's preeminent defender of the Constitution and The Bill of Rights, they defend the rights of all. The ACLU has protected the right of woman to choose abortion, and in recent years has argued the key cases opposing restrictions that deny woman access to reproductive health care. Policy 263 states: "The ACLU holds that every woman, as a matter of her right to the enjoyment of life, liberty, and privacy, should be free to determine whether and when to bear children." Closing up abortion clinics will be done with the purpose to reduce the number of abortions. This raises the question whether this will be effective. Before 1973 abortion was illegal. Criminalization of abortion did not reduce the number of woman who sought abortion. What is known is that between 1880 and 1973 many thousands of woman died or suffered serious medical problems after attempting to self-induce their abortions, or going to untrained practitioners who performed cheap abortions with primitive methods or in unsanitary conditions. Taking away the provision of

Abortion

1999-07-02T14:00:00-04:00

Abortion is the ending of pregnancy before birth and is morally wrong. An abortion results in the death of an embryo or a foetus. Abortion destroys the lives of helpless, innocent children and illegal in many countries. By aborting these unborn infants, humans are hurting themselves; they are not allowing themselves to meet these new identities and unique personalities. Abortion is very simply wrong. Everyone is raised knowing the difference between right and wrong. Murder is wrong, so why is not abortion? People argue that it is not murder if the child is unborn. Abortion is murder since the foetus being destroyed is living, breathing and moving. Why is it that if an infant is destroyed a month before the birth, there is no problem, but if killed a month after birth, this is inhumane murder? It is morally and strategically foolish, because we lose the middle when we talk about reproductive rights without reference to a larger moral and spiritual dimension, and we are unwilling to use language like transgression and redemption, or right and wrong. -Wolf p54 The main purpose abortions are immoral is how they are so viciously done. Everyday, innocent, harmless foetuses that could soon be laughing children are being brutally destroyed. One form of abortion is to cut the foetus into pieces with serrated forceps before being removed, piece by piece from the uterus by suction with a vacuum aspirator. Another form consists of bringing the foetus feet first into the birth canal, puncturing its skull with a sharp instrument and sucking out the brain tissue. The body parts, such as the head, are given letters, rather than refer to the parts as what they are. In my opinion this is for the doctors who cannot face the reality of what they are doing. The remains of the foetus or embryo, as the case may be, are put into everyday, plastic buckets and then sent to a dumpster where these precious bones and limbs are disposed. However, how and when an abortion takes place are matters of little importance to pro- abortionists and other defenders. Even former abortion practitioners from varying backgrounds and religions have a new view on abortion. These changes of heart were caused by psychological, religious and scientific reasons. One doctor, Dr. Bernard Nathanson, performed 60,000 abortions and supervised 10,000, before scientific evidence and the use of an ultrasound, convinced him he was promoting

Abortion

1999-05-11T14:00:00-04:00

Sara is driving down 7th avenue in her red pickup truck, in a hurry and traveling well over the speed limit. Becky, who is 3 months pregnant, is waiting to cross the street on the corner of 7th avenue and Bell. The street light changes and Becky is signaled by the crosswalk sign to proceed across the street. Sara is putting in a new CD and not paying attention to the fact that she has a red light, without enough time to stop Sara runs the red light and hits Becky who has just started to cross the street. Now Becky is rushed to the hospital, she is hurt but will live but her baby dies. Should Sara be charged with the death of the unborn baby? On the other hand, Jessica, who is a 16-year-old girl, decides to sleep with an 18-year-old boy. She gets pregnant and has an abortion because she is not ready to be a mother. Should Jessica be charged with the death of an unborn baby? The answer to both of the questions is, yes. Abortion is wrong, cruel and most of all, it goes against the word of GOD. When a woman decides to have sex she is taking the chance of getting pregnant, even if she uses protection. If she doesn't want to get pregnant she shouldn't have sex, and she should be responsible enough to suffer the consequences. For example, Carrie is very promiscuous and finds out that she is pregnant, so she goes and has an abortion. Next time Carrie finds out that she has HIV, well she can't pay someone to get rid of her problem so she has to deal with it. Why shouldn't she have to deal with the fact of being pregnant? There are many other options to killing an innocent human: adoption or raising the child with the help of parents. However, some girls are forced to have an abortion. No matter the reason someone has for an abortion, it is still cruel. Some women are forced to have an abortion either by their parents or their spouse. This circumstance is very hard to argue because the woman who is pregnant is not making the choice and should not be held accountable for it. And that is the only reason anyone might consider having an abortion. Look at it like this, Jeff and Bonnie are building a house,

Reilyism Speech

1999-01-22T13:00:00-05:00

The founding of entire nation was forged on the principle that all men are created equal under the law. This is the essence of our Declaration of Independance and the philosophy behind the Constition. We, through history, have made certain that ALL people in this country have equality before the law. We have set uup the premise that all people are equal before the law. Lady Justice is blind to Race, Religion, _________ . We have declared that there is no such thing as sub-humans-and that NO human being's rights are superior to another human being. If we want to live by the premises that we set up in this country, then we cannot overlook ANY human being-NO ONE can be excluded. There are, however, a human beings that is ignored the protection to thier rights to life everyday. The aborted children. I dare the negative to PROVE that a child in her mother's wound is alive! Does the negative actually believe that a human being is alive when and only when a human being has fully developed? If this is true, then most of here are not alive. The human specie is only fully grown at adulthood, many of us here are not adults yet-and by that definition, it wouldn't matter if your shot and killed on the street because "your not fully developed". We are a stage in development-teenager-just like a child is, just like a toddler is, just like an old man is, and just like a aborted child is. There is no magical transformation that occurs when a child is born. He has the same basic needs to survive before he is born, and the same needs after he is born. The negative is going to attempt to make you believe that the differnce in quality of a unborn child is so great that these children do not resemble what we call alive. They want you to believe that a unborn child cannot feel pain. Can an unborn child feel pain? If it can, then does that not resemble life? If they do successfully make you accept this premise, then it becomes easy to abort a child. If you accept that an unborn child is not a eating, breathing, moving, human inside of a woman then thier life can have no value. But the answer is yes, a unborn child does feel pain. Now, I know it is hard for

Abortion

1999-01-22T13:00:00-05:00

In Roe et al. v. Wade District Attorney of Dallas County (1973), one of the most controversial cases in recent history, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state laws that limit a woman's right to an abortion during the first three months of pregnancy. Justices Rehnquist and White dissented. Mr. Justice Blackmun delivered the opinion of the Court.... This Texas federal appeal and its Georgia companion, Doe v. Bolton, post, p. 179, present constitutional challenges to state criminal abortion legislation. The Texas statutes under attack here are typical of those that have been in effect in many States for approximately a century. The Georgia statutes, in contrast, have a modern cast and are a legislative product that, to an extent at least, obviously reflects the influences of recent attitudinal change, of advancing medical knowledge and techniques, and of new thinking about an old issue. We forthwith acknowledge our awareness of the sensitive and emotional nature of the abortion controversy, of the vigourous opposing views, even among physicians, and of the deep and seemingly absolute convictions that the subject inspires. One's philosophy, one's experiences, one's exposure to the raw edges of human existence, one's religious training, one's attitudes toward life and family and their values, and the moral standards one establishes and seeks to observe, are all likely to influence and to color one's thinking and conclusions about abortion.... The Texas statutes that concern us here are Arts. 1191-1194 and 1196 of the State's Penal Code. These make it a crime to "procure an abortion," as therein defined, or to attempt one, except with respect to "an abortion procured or attempted by medical advice for the purpose of saving the life of the mother." Similar statutes are in existence in a majority of the States. Texas first enacted a criminal abortion statute in 1854. Texas Laws 1854, c. 49, Sec. 1, set forth in 3 H. Gammel, Laws of Texas 1502 (1898). This was soon modified into language that has remained substantially unchanged to the present time.... Jane Roe, a single woman who was residing in Dallas County, Texas, instituted this federal action in March 1970 against the District Attorney of the county. She sought a declaratory judgment that the Texas criminal abortion statutes were unconstitutional on their face, and an injunction restraining the defendant from enforcing the statutes. Roe alleged that she was unmarried and pregnant; that she wished to terminate her pregnancy by an abortion

Abortion

1999-01-22T13:00:00-05:00

Abortion

1999-01-22T13:00:00-05:00

During the past quarter century, abortion has joined race and war as one of the most debatable subject of controversy in the United States. It discusses human interaction where ethics, emotions and law come together. Abortion poses a moral, social and medical dilemma that faces many individuals to create a emotional and violent atmosphere. There are many points of view toward abortion but the only two fine distinctions are "pro-choice" and "pro-life". A pro-choicer would feel that the decision to abort a pregnancy is that of the mothers and the state has no right to interfere. A pro-lifer would hold that from the moment of conception, the embryo or fetus is alive. This life imposes on us a moral obligation to preserve it and that abortion is tantamount to murder (Kolner 5). In the United States about 1.6 million pregnancies end in abortion. Women with incomes under eleven thousand are over three times more likely to abort than those with incomes above twenty-five thousand. Unmarried women are four to five times more likely to abort than married and the abortion rate has doubled for 18 and 19 year olds. Recently the U.S. rate dropped 6 percent overall but the rate of abortion among girls younger than 15 jumped 18 percent. The rate among minority teens climbed from 186 per 1,000 to 189 per 1,000. The most popular procedure involved in abortions is the vacuum aspiration which is done during the first trimester (three months or less since the women has become pregnant). A tube is simply inserted through the cervix and the contents of the uterus are vacuumed out. The most commonly used type of second trimester abortion is called dilation and evacuation. Since the fetus has bones, bulk and can move, second trimester is not as simple. When as much of the fetus and placenta are vacuumed out then tweezers are used to remove larger parts. After this, or the beginning of the fifth month abortion is serious and actually induced as childbirth. That is, the mother is given substances which puts her into labor and delivers the fetus as she would a full-term baby. About 40 percent of Americans believe that abortion should remain legal and 40 percent believe it should be banned except when the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother or is the result of rape or incest. Also 15 percent b eveit should be illegal in

Abortion

1999-01-22T13:00:00-05:00

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

Freedom Of Choice

1999-01-22T13:00:00-05:00

Since 1973 abortion has been an important controversial issue to the United States. The problem begins should it be a womans choice whether or not to terminate her pregnancyor should it be the goverments choice. This is where a woman looses her rights as a person. If

Abortion: Life or Death - Who Chooses

1999-01-22T13:00:00-05:00

In Roman times, abortion and the destruction of unwanted children was permissible, but as our civilization has aged, it seems that such acts were no longer acceptable by rational human beings, so that in 1948, Canada along with most other nations in the world signed a declaration of the United Nations promising every human being the right to life. The World Medical Association meeting in Geneve at the same time, stated that the utmost respect for human life was to be from the moment of conception. This declaration was re-affirmed when the World Medical Association met in Oslo in 1970. Should we go backwards in our concern for the life of an individual human being? The unborn human is still a human life and not all the wishful thinking of those advocating repeal of abortion laws, can alter this. Those of us who would seek to protect the human who is still to small to cry aloud for it's own protection, have been accused of having a 19th Century approach to life in the last third of the 20th Century. But who in reality is using arguments of a bygone Century? It is an incontrovertible fact of biological science - Make no Mistake - that from the moment of conception, a new human life has been created. Only those who allow their emotional passion to overide their knowledge, can deny it: only those who are irrational or ignorant of science, doubt that when a human sperm fertilizes a human ovum a new human being is created. A new human being who carries genes in its cells that make that human being uniquely different from any and other human being and yet, undeniably a member, as we all are, of the great human family. All the fetus needs to grow into a babe, a child, an old man, is time, nutrition and a suitable environment. It is determined at that very moment of conception whether the baby will be a boy or a girl; which of his parents he will look like; what blood type he will have. His whole heritage is forever fixed. Look at a human being 8 weeks after conception and you, yes every person here who can tell the difference between a man and a women, will be able to look at the fetus and tell me whether it is a baby boy or a girl. No, a fetus is