Abortion: A Life or Death Decision

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses the history of abortion, its legality in the United States, the controversy surrounding the issue, and the different viewpoints for and against it. The paper also discusses partial birth abortion.

Abortion has been around for a long time and a part of almost every society. Today, nearly two-thirds of women in this world may get a legal abortion. Even when America was first founded abortion was legal. In 1870, a precursor to today's fights over abortion issues took place - the voluntary motherhood movement, but by the early 1900s nearly all abortions were illegal. But the law did not stop people from having abortions; they just did it illegally. The number of illegal abortions leaped from approximately 200,000 around the early 1900s to 1.2 million fifty years later. (Pregnancy Centers 2010)

Abortion: A Life or Death Decision

Abortion in the United States is very unique because there always seems to be a controversy with no ground or compromise between two sides completely. The reason is because a living human is or isn't being killed. This case is between life and liberty, but the issue at hand is ambivalence of the complexities of abortion, which makes it hard to settle the two sides. There is much more debate whether this is an action of life or death, and the difference is rather large. Both sides to the abortion dispute share a common goal: that abortion should become safer, and the number of abortions should decrease. Abortion as defined is inducing of premature delivery in order to destroy the unwanted fetus. Within abortion as defined, there are many different questions. Does the constitution defend an individual's right to abortion? Does this include confidentiality? Is a developing fetus a being? Should the law allow abortions for rape or incest cases?

Abortion, who decides a life, is worth keeping or destroying? The choice one makes has effects that can be temporary or that may make waves in one's life permanently. In today's society, people believe that this issue of abortion is their constitutional right, in which the constitution does allow it.

There is a right to privacy and reproductive issue, which is not directly mentioned in the Constitution or Bill of Rights, it is an enumerated right. The Supreme Court Decision in 1973, Roe vs. Wade, legalized abortion in the first trimester. Since then, over 42 Million women have had legal abortions (Wind, Rebecca, 2008). In America, 24% of pregnancies end in abortion, and 41% of that is on teenagers. 88% of abortions are performed during the first trimester. When a fetus is actually living is hard to define.

The 9th amendment states that, women have had the right to legal abortions since 1789. This amendment not only gives a woman her needed right, but also, made life safer for the practitioners of abortion. (Anderson, Matt, 2009) Doctors feared for their lives, before this amendment passed. The way they used to practice was in hiding, for fear of harm to their life or their families from "pro-lifers." If someone is so "pro-life," then how can they kill the doctors or hurt their families? It's all a big hypocrisy and one cannot judge someone else's decision to cause such terrible effect.

The fact is the heart begins to beat after 18-25 days, but the brain actually begins to function after 40 days. Most people claim one is a person directly after conception, while others believe that a group of 46 chromosomes does not make one a human. Whether one is or not, one is a living human being, sometimes it might depend as to whether one is protected by the right to life. As to abortions by rape or incest, these victims are another controversial topic. All too often, a young girl or woman has been raped and becomes pregnant. It is so disheartening to know that when that baby is born, it is born bearing the sickening memory of what preceded it. In this case, why should that woman have to live with such a horrible memory? A woman should have the right to do what is necessary, in order for her to try and be sane. She should have the right to "eliminate" herself of something that will haunt her forever of what caused the pain she went through. This might even prevent future suffering of the mother and child. Babies that are born from these types of acts are not intended or wanted at all, because the fact is the sexual act was forced and no contraception or precaution could be taken. Killing the babies from these actions is penalizing a person for something they had no choice or control in this matter. This is where the debate or dispute is linked between two groups; Pro-Choice and Pro-Life.

Naturally, each side is the absolute reversal of one another. This is why negotiation is so difficult. Pro-Life, or right to life, is the group that is against abortion. They are usually republicans, or conservatives. They claim human life begins at conception; thus making the fetus a person and elimination of such as that, manslaughter. The unborn are innocent, and deserve their right to life.

The issue of abortion to them is one of civil rights- they believe all humans justify equality, even those that aren't born yet. In the case of rape or incest, they still believe the child should not be punished for a criminal's wrong doing. Abortion is legal in our country, but Pro-Lifers hope to make an amendment that gives all living humans from conception until death equal protection under law. Pro-Life advocates also support Adoption, which they consider a positive alternative to pregnant women considering abortion. A major foundation for the Pro-Life group is religion.

Most are Christian, and believe the bible supports their views in several scriptures that basically say God knows and loves you from the moment you are conceived (Currie 28). There are only about 24% of those who are highly religious support abortion. The less religious a person is, statistics say, the more likely they are to be pro-abortion (Benson/Herrmann 17). The group that is pro-choice believes mostly in a woman's right to choose. These are mostly democrats, or liberals. They believe abortion is a personal choice, and this freedom is protected for all individuals. Their concerns will abortions that making it illegal will pose more problems, such as a rise in back alley abortions, which are both unsterile and dangerous. Other concerns include self-abortions, such as the famed coat hanger technique, and the possibility always exists that the mother will kill the baby after its birth.

This has happened several times with young mothers. Pro-Choice believes fetuses are a mass of tissue (Wilke,