Many people believe that abortion is a moral issue, but it is also a constitutional issue. It is a woman’s right to choose what she does with her body, and it should not be altered or influenced by anyone else. Abortion has joined the race and war as one of the most controversial issues in the world today. There are many points of view toward abortion, but two fine distinctions are “pro-choice” and “pro-life”. Because I feel the decision to abort a pregnancy is that of the mother and the state or any other individual has the right to interfere; my position on abortion is “pro-choice”. Since the earliest settlers arrived in the United States abortions were being performed in society. That was the case until the late 1800’s when some states began passing laws that made abortions illegal. This law stayed in effect until January 22, 1973 when the Supreme Court ruled on Roe vs. Wade. It was then that the Supreme Court decided that it is a woman’s right to have an abortion, if she chooses, without state interference. Pro-lifers want the law changed so that abortion is made illegal again. Between 1880 and 1973, when abortion was illegal, many woman died or had serious medical problem after attempting to induce their own abortion or from going to untrained practitioners who performed abortions with primitive instruments or did the abortions in unsanitary conditions.
The Essay on Abortion favoring Pro Choice
... is stated in the ninth amendment. Right here, guarantees all women the right to abort a pregnancy. Pro-choice people plea that abortion is ... because of hemorrhaging or infection. Bottom line, if a woman wants an abortion, illegal or legal, nothing will get in her way. Why ... Abortion is one of the most controversial and hot issues debated, and is an issue that will never be agreed upon, just going ...
Women streamed into emergency rooms with serious complications- -severe bleeding, cervical wounds, infections, shock or even poisoning. In the United States today, with abortions legal, doctors are committed to providing this service under medically safe conditions. If abortions were made illegal again it would force poor women to bear and raise children they can’t afford to bring up. There would be a number of unsafe abortions being performed in back allies again. The decision to have or not to have an abortion by some women is based on standing family values. Some women choose to protect and preserve those values; therefore, an abortion it not even a consideration. The women deliver an unwanted child, resentment harbors within the women through the years. As time passes, this harbored resentment may surface and lashed out towards her spouse or significant and possibly even the child because she was forced to have a child she did not necessarily want at that time in her life. The end results being an unhappy home, possible abuse, or even divorce.
Women should be allowed to live their lives as they choose, not as it is chosen that they live it. Being forced to bear a child could mean having to support another human being that they may not be capable of doing so. The women give up their dreams of a better life. Also, they may be pressured into a “shotgun” wedding to save their reputation. Women should not be forced to make decisions based on the influence of other individuals beliefs or values.
“Pro-lifers” alternative for abortion is for women to bear a child and place it into the system- -adoption. Even though it is thought that being an orphan is only temporary, this isn’t necessarily true in all cases. Because adoption rules, restrictions and costs are so rigid most families willing to adopt are not able to or may not qualify. Therefore, many unwanted children placed in orphanages are shuffled through the system until they are 18 or live with foster parents who sometimes tend to be uncaring and abusive. According to Frederica Mathewes-Green “the abortion rate in this country is about 1.5 million a year, a rate that has held fairly stable for about 15 years. Divide that by 365 and that equals about 4,000 abortions every day”. Therefore, the “pro-lifers” alternative to abortion being that of adoption is very unrealistic. Most of the time, the mother of an unwanted child is very young and inexperienced or is too poor to take care of a child. Hence, the growing child is normally found to be malnourished, has no medical care and gets little attention or love. When circumstances such as these are found by Social Services, the child is usually taken away from the home environment and placed in foster care.
The Term Paper on Mccormack 1992 Abortion Life Pro
... the abortion debate. Pro-choice supporters favour a woman s reproductive rights, including the right to choose to have an abortion. In opposition pro-life advocates ... such as adoption, foster care for a period of time, or redistributing the already scarce resources toward more child-related expenditures (Crum ...
Little changes for the child in foster care because there is still little or no personal care. In either situation, the child suffers. Because of the instability in the child’s life, they end up lacking a stable education, lacking attention, and lacking discipline. Thus, the end result is an unproductive individual; normally these children resort to a life of drugs, crime, and violence. “Pro-lifers” say abortion is murder. However, for reasons other than already mentioned there may be morally valid reasons that some women opt for abortion. There are those women who discover that they have a serious medical problem, the birth of the child may result in her death. With the help of modern technology, some women learn their fetus may have severe abnormalities. In cases such like this, women opt for abortion for the sake of the child; the financial burden of caring for a handicap child could be insurmountable and the lack of medical benefits could be detrimental to the mother and the child. There may also be other personal crisis’s going on in a women’s life where the birth of a child would only add to the problem.
“Pro-lifers” say abortion is an immoral act. However, why should a woman be forced to bear a child that was conceived through the act of rape or incest? The only immorality in cases like this is the act of rape or incest. In California, two-thirds of adolescent girls who had delivered a baby implicated full-grown men as the father of the child. Another study showed that adolescent mothers were molested by men who had an average age of 27. Some girls were found to have been impregnated by a family member (Mathewes-Green).
The Term Paper on Pro Life Abortion Women Abortions
... Pro-life commercials of children and fetuses are giving people guilty hearts. 18 In the early part of the century women used abortion. ... Ireland, and New Zealand (Abortion Foes 567). The National Abortion Right Act League argues that without legal abortion women would be denied their ... and abused. 23 Children maybe unwanted for reasons such as lack of income or housing. 24 Abortion rose during the ...
Pro-lifers believe abortion is morally wrong, some perceive abortion as murder, and there are those who believe it is a selfish act. I see abortion as putting a child out of misery while he or she doesn’t have the ability to reason or fear. Abortion allows a woman to retain her constitutional rights and it relieves a would-be suffering child out of distress.
Bibliography:
Works Cited Mathewes-Green, Frederica. “We Can Find Common Ground On Abortion”. U.S Catholic Jan. 1998: p31 “Abortion Facts”. July 1997. Online. Available: http://www.abortion.html 28 March 1999.
