Abortion Illegalization
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
choose abortion, women are able to enjoy, like men,
the rights to fully use the
powers of their minds and bodies (Paltrow 73). A
man can withdraw from a
relationship as soon as he finds out about a
pregnancy. There is no question of
his involve t after that, he has made his
choice. It is only fair to say that
women should be given the same choice. If
one doesn't want to hold the
responsibilities of a child than she should be
able to have the choice of
abortion in her options." Because contraceptives
fail, and because they are
not always available or possible to use, abortion
is necessary if people are to
be able to determine whether and when to "bear
or beget a
child"(Paltrow 72). Couples choose the alternative of abortion so
they can
start or expand their families when they feel most ready and able to
care for
them. Women choose to have an abortion because pregnancy and
childbirth can
prevent them from keeping their jobs, from feeding their
families, and from
serving others in ways they consider necessary and
appropriate. Pregnancy and
child birth may determine whether a women ever
gets to start or complete her
education, which will significantly influence
her ability to support herself and
her family. The availabilit y of abortion
makes it possible for people not only
to choose the number of children they
want, but also to create the kind of
family life they have always wanted for
themselves, to meet their
responsibilities. If a women cannot choose to
terminate an unwanted pregnancy,
she is denied the right to the "possession
and control" of her own
body. One of the most sacred rights of common law is
to choose and if a women
can't do this than their most important possession
is taken away. Abortion isn't
only a women's right, it's a women's choice.
However, allowing abortion to be
legal is immoral. A pre- born child is given
the status of a "product of
pregnancy" and never seen as the miracle only a
women can create.
Compassion for the small one is drowned out under a
demand for
"rights", but what about the rights for the unborn. "A women
has
a right to her own body" is an idea more and more women are realizing,
but
that idea ignores the unborn child's right to his or her body. Never, in
modern
times, has the state granted to one citizen the right to have another
killed in
order to solve their personal, social, or economic problems. the
embryo is its
own being that should have it's own rights to protect it. The
zygote is a unique
genetic being (Zindler 27). If one was to abort an embryo
than that embryo, that
human life would never be duplicated. A scientist that
may have found the cure
to A.I.D.S. would be killed. There is a better way to
solve our problems than by
killing children. A fertilized egg is the most
beauti , most innocent being that
we could ever create, and can redeem even
the worst of our mistakes. This
fertilized egg is not just a mass of tissue,
for if it were than there would be
no debate. A fetus feels pain. Ultra
sound, fetoscopy, study of the fetal EKG
(electrocardiogram) and fetal EEG
(electroencephalogram) have demonstrated the
remarkable responsiveness of the
human fetus to pain, touch and sound (willke
64). The fetus responds to
light, heat, cold, and taste. Observations of the
fetal movements in saline
abortions indicates that the fetus experiences
discomfort as it dies. One
doctor who, the New York Times, wrote
"conscientiously performs" saline
abortions stated, "when he
injected the saline, he often saw an increase in
fetal movements" (Willke
64). In another case, a film using mew
sonographic techniques, shows the outline
of the child in the womb thrashing
to resist the suction device before it tears
off the head. Then you see the
dead child dismembered child and t he head
crushed (Edwards 40). This is
murder. Nobody who sees this film will speak again
of "painless" abortion.
After the doctor who performed this procedure
saw this film, he never
performed another abortion again. But, many doctors
still do perform
abortion, and in some instances a live child is killed.
"About once a day,
somewhere in the United States, something goes wrong and
an abortion results
in a live baby" (Willke 76). Forty five out of six
hundred and seven mid
trimester abortions done in Connecticut in 1974-1976
resulted in live births
(Willke 76). In these cases the child was killed in cold
blooded murder. It
is immoral to kill, therefore abortion is immoral. Finally,
abortion should
be banned because life begins at conception. The individual sex
cell consists
of 23 chromosomes. It is only through combination, however, that
the sex
cells contain the full complement of heredity units that defines a
human
being (Shettles 17). This procedure of combination defines conception.
After the
merger of the two sex cells 46 chromosomes are present. This is
what makes a
human being. The merger is complete within twelve hours, at
which time the egg
is fertilized and becomes known technically as the
"zygote". The
inherited characteristics of a unique human being has been
established, and in
no circumstances will it change (Shettles 17). Nothing
from this time on, until
death, will anything be added. The definition of
alive is that a being is
growing, developing, maturing, and replacing its own
dying cells. It means not
being dead. At the very time conception begins the
zygote is growing,
developing, maturing, and replacing its own dying cel It's
alive. The
single-celled fertilized ovum cannot by any stretch of the
imagination be
considered part of a women's body. This new living being has a
genetic set up
unlike anyone else's, totally different from the cells of the
mother's body. It
makes no difference to assume that human life is more human
post-born than
pre-born. What is critical to figure out is if it is or isn't
human life, and of
coarse it is human life. At 18 days the heart is pumping
through a closed
circulatory system, with blood whose type is different from
that of the mother.
At 40 days the brain begins to function. In the 16th
week motion has been
detected. At 6 and 1/2 weeks all twenty milk-teeth buds
are present. During the
eighth week the baby's stomach secretes gastric
juice, and all it's body system
is present. The baby dreams, thinks, and
feels pain. This is definitely a child,
and no one on the face of this earth
would be here if they weren't conceived. In
summary, abortion can be
justified by a women's right to choose, but it should
be banned because it's
immoral and life begins at conception. Women have been
given the right to
have an abortion under the United States Constitution, but
this right is
still being protested by the people that fight for the unborn's
rights.
Pro-life activists claim that its immoral because it is simply defined
as
murder. Life begins at conception is another strong point brought up
by
pro-life activists. Before a child is born it is given all it's
necessities to
survive. Notice the operative word is before. Before birth the
childs heart
beats, the gastric juices flow in the stomach, and all its
necessary organs have
been made present. This is a child that thinks, dreams,
and feels pain. Yes,
some women may look at having an abortion to solve her
personal problems, but in
all, women are abandoning the abortion because it
weakens their great strengths:
creation, compassion and the ability to loo
eneath the surface of appearance of
things. Maybe soon the abortion issue
will reverse, and people will see the
rights of the unborn as greater
importance than that of a personal
right.