Should_Abortion_by_Legal

Should Abortion Be Legal Informal Logic PHI 103 Crystal Felton Dr. Renee Levant 19 December 2011 Should Abortion Be Legal Abortion is the expulsion of a fetus before it is viable, meaning the fetus has reached a stage of development capable of living outside of the uterus. Abortion should be legal only if the mother is suffering from a life-threating disease. Therapeutic abortion should only be done to preserve the health or life of the woman, all other is simply cruel and murder. Americans are deeply divided over abortion. It is believed that life begins at the point of conception when the sperm joins the egg, and termination from this point forward is murder. Roe verse Wade made abortion legal and a lot say that they legalized murder. The Roman Catholic Church says that abortion is okay during the first three months (New York, 1992). It is true women have a right to do what they like to their own bodies. Every person has a right to do as they please to their own bodies. An unborn child or baby is also an individual, a distinct individual separate from the mother and father. From conception a fetus has his own DNA, different from any other, even his mother. The mother’s body is different from that of her unborn child even if the unborn child resides in the mother’s womb it is still separate. We can see pictures of an unborn baby in the mother’s womb and see very distinct fingers, toes, eyes, and ears and even sucking of the fingers; there is a heartbeat and movement. By 14 weeks gestational age the taste buds are formed, you can see the unborn child swallowing, all of this shows us they are a separate life and to terminate that life is murder. Just because an unborn child is not seen doesn’t mean he/she isn’t alive. An unborn child has a right to life and should not be murdered or aborted because the mother does not want to be a single parent, or cannot afford to care for him/her, or any other reason except for life or death situations. There are other options to prevent you from becoming pregnant and taking or murdering a life. It’s reasonable to say that a man and a woman know that there is a possibility that a woman can become pregnant during sex. Both partners need to be responsible and take precautions that would result in an unwanted pregnancy. Abortion should not be a form of birth control. Abortion for health or medical reasons is a personal decision that the mother, her family, and her doctors must make. The mother and unborn baby are separate entities, but the circumstances are different, there is a life or death on the line. This circumstance is different from abortion or killing an unborn child for convenience opposed to which life will be saved for medical reasons. One life will be lost and it is like if there is a burning house and you have to pick which person you will save and which must die. Abortion in the case of medical reasons is not simply terminating an unborn child because you simply are unprepared to care for him/her. There are reasons beyond the mother’s control as to why the unborn child has to be aborted. There could be severe medical problems, physical or mental conditions that can be endangering the mother’s life if the pregnancy continues. In the case of cancer if a woman is pregnant and has an aggressive form of cancer in order to receive immediate treatment an abortion may have to be performed if not, the unborn child could suffer severe damage. For reasons of health abortion should be legal. Abortion for a medical reason protects the woman’s health and life. For women victims of incest or rape, abortion gives them a chance to decide if they want to continue the pregnancy despite the inhumane and savage way the child was conceived or to terminate. Situations such as rape and incest could be very traumatic and could cause the women to feel as though it is impossible to raise a child in a loving and healthy atmosphere. Abortion should be legal especially in cases of rape and incest because a woman will seek an abortion regardless if it is legal or not. She may seek out back-alley clinics or she may do it herself which could be very hazardous even resulting in the death of her. Legalized abortion prevents a rape victim from being further traumatized; it prevents a severely malformed or disabled baby from suffering a hard, painful and costly life if born. A woman should not be expected to bring a child into this world knowing that her child will struggle through life with severe disabilities or the result of a rape. She should have the legal choice to decide to terminate her pregnancy under such circumstances. Women abort children for convenience and many other reasons, would it be just as right to kill/murder a toddler because one runs into hardship or because it would be more convenient if that toddler wasn’t around' Just as a toddler is a living person independent of his parents’ so is an unborn child. Besides the fact that abortion is murdering an unborn child the mother can risk losing her life during the procedure. There’s the story of an 18 year old that had an infection from an incomplete abortion. The 18 year old named Holly had taken the drugs mifepristone and misoprostol also called RU-486 to terminate her pregnancy she went into septic shock and died. Holly’s father unaware that his daughter was pregnant said he spoke to her in the past about finding herself in a situation of unwanted pregnancy, but failed to speak to her about what she should do or would do in the event she did become pregnant (Guthrie, 2011). He never expected an FDA approved drug that was supposed to be safe could cause his daughter to lose her life. Murder defined by Webster’s II dictionary (1984) is killing of another human being under conditions specifically covered in law, to kill or slaughter inhumanly or barbarously. In later pregnancy the form of abortion performed is so cruel the method is called dilation and evacuation or D and E. The fetus is taken apart by the doctor while still in the uterus and removed (O’Brien 2011). Sharp-edged instruments are used to grasp, twist and tear the baby’s body into pieces, which are then removed from the womb. “In partial-birth abortion or D and X the unborn baby is delivered feet first, except for the head, which is punctured at the base of the skull with a sharp object. The brain is then suctioned out, killing the child (this method of abortion was outlawed in 2007 in the United States.)”(Minnesota Citizens 2011.) Saline abortion: Salt water is injected into the womb through the mother’s abdomen. The unborn baby swallows the fluid, is poisoned and dies in a process that sometimes takes 24 hours. The toxic solution cause severe burns over the unborn child’s entire body (Minnesota citizens 2011). These acts and methods seem very cruel and follow the description of murder as defined by Webster’s dictionary. In 1965 abortion was illegal in every state in America except when the woman’s life was endangered (Rosemary Nossiff 2001). Roe v. Wade was a 1973 landmark case where the Supreme Court ruled that state laws could not forbid a woman to have an abortion during the first three months of pregnancy. This same case also ruled that during the second three months the state could regulate abortions only to protect a woman’s health (Mezey 2011). This law allowed women to get abortions only during the first 3 months but there after she was only allowed an abortion for medical or health reasons. This is where the divide is as to when an unborn child is a person. When most abortion laws were enacted, it was because abortion was very dangerous the methods were not nearly as safe as they are today. The laws were put in place to prevent and protect women from undergoing procedures that place her life at risk. The argument now is that with medical advancement abortions in the first 3months is relatively safe. The states take on it is that they are interested in abortions be performed to insure maximum safety for the mother. They want the doctors, staff, as well as the facilities to be prepared for any complications or emergencies that may arise. The state also has an interest in protecting the unborn child. The argument rest on the theory that a new human life happens at the moment of conception there stand is if there is at least a potential for life they (the State) can assert their interest beyond the protection of the mother to the unborn child as well. Science tells us that the heart of the human fetus begins to form 18 days after conception (McNulty 1196). With that being a fact, a woman who decides to abort an unborn child is in effect taking a life a human being with a beating heart. Some say that women should have the right to control their bodies even so; we cannot use our bodies to assault others. We cannot even take illegal drugs which in effect is only hurting or affecting ourselves. When a pregnant woman drinks alcohol or takes drugs while pregnant there are laws against that. As stated by Guttmacher Institute, (2011), “several states have expanded their civil child-welfare requirements to include prenatal substance abuse,” this will allow the state to terminate parental rights because of child abuse and neglect. Yet and still a woman, that same woman who abuse her unborn child with illegal drugs and alcohol who can lose her parental rights can murder/kill her unborn child at any time. If the state cares enough about an unborn child to see that abuse from things the mother puts into her body is harmful, that leads one to believe that, that unborn child is a person separate from the mother and that deserves to be protected, that deserves life and not murder. While some believe that there is never a reason for abortion science and medicine has noted many reasons why it may be necessary. There could be genetic disorders in which case the mother decides she wants to spare her child a painful life. The mother could be facing medical problems and need to first get her health better so that she is better able to support a growing child in the future. There could be pregnancy disorders in which the unborn child could be causing the mother to die and removing the fetus is the only option to save the mother’s life. In cases of medical and health reasons abortion should be legal so that a woman can get safe help without the fear of having to search for back-alley doctors willing to abort their unborn child for a small price. They need legal abortions so that they can be confident in knowing all of the risk factors of undergoing an abortion. They need to know that if something should go wrong that there are facilities that can handle their emergency. Abortions for reasons of health, rape, incest or life and death situations are very different from abortions for convenience, or a form of birth control. No woman should have to be forced to care an unborn child if it is going to cause her death or if she has to look at that child and relive the memory of rape and incest. Therapeutic abortion should only be done to preserve the health or life of a woman, all other is simply cruel and murder. References Credo Propaganda and Mass Persuasion: Historical Encyclopedia 1500 to present. Retrieved 11/29/2011. (Fauz, Marian. Roe v.Wade. New York: Mentor, 1992 Guttmacher Institute. State Policies in Brief, (2011). Substance Abuse during Pregnancy. Julian Guthrie. (2011, December 5) “From Sorrow to Sharing.” San Francisco Chronicle, P.E.1. Retrieved: (December 17, 2011) From ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID: 252625001). McNulty, J. PhD. (1996) Heart Development Retrieved from: http://www.mccl.org./meddean.luc.edu/lumen/medED/GrossAnatomy/thoraxo. Mezey Susan Gluck “Roe v. Wade. World Book Advanced. World Book, 2011 Web. 18 December 2011. Minnesota Citizens Concerned For Life (2011) Unborn Babies Can Feel Pain. Retrieved From: http://www.mccl.org/page.aspx. O’Brien, David M. “Abortion.” World Book, 2011 Web. 18 December 2011. Rosemary Nassiff. Before Roe: Abortion Policy In The United States. (2001) Retrieved From Muse. Jhu.Edu/Journals_of_Policy_history.