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Introduction
Any discussion that involves someone’s life and death is always bound to be a long and deep one. Suicide, euthanasia, capital punishment – these are hot topics in many circles of society.
In this sample essay, the author tackles the issue of abortion, which is a difficult and sensitive one. She takes a glimpse at the abortion debate and explores the perspectives of pro-abortionists and anti-abortionists.
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Abortion Pros
Abortion refers to the act of terminating a pregnancy, either by taking specific medicines or undergoing medical procedures to deliver the fetus. In the United States, abortion is considered legal, with certain nuances and applications varying from state to state. Legal abortion has existed in the country since the decision on Roe v. Wade in 1973, allowing women across America to enjoy exercising their hard-earned abortion rights.
However, with the United States beginning to impose restrictions on abortion laws and slowly taking away the current constitutional protections afforded to women, the debate on whether pregnancy termination is the right or wrong thing to do is once again amplified.
Here are some of the arguments of the pro-choice movement.
The woman’s body is hers and hers alone.
Ultimately, our bodies belong to us. Therefore, we should be the ones making the final decisions about anything that will affect it. Pregnant women should be able to choose whether or not to continue with pregnancy should they find themselves in unfavorable circumstances. Outside the United States where abortion is not legal, so many young women are forced to deliver their babies and look after them even when they are barely able to feed themselves. If we’re talking about human rights, it also goes without saying that a woman has the right to protect her own body, which may mean a decision to do away with an unwanted child. American women are fortunate to be able to enjoy the right today.
Human life begins not at conception, but at a period of viability.
There is an argument by pro-abortionists that the phrase “human life begins when it is conceived” is essentially not true, because it is only when a fetus is “viable” does it have a right to life. Viability means that the fetus can already survive outside the mother’s womb if it needed to be delivered at that precise moment. Some supportive facts for this argument are that our ages are determined by our date of birth and not our date of conception and that in the U.S. census, fetuses are not documented. In the United States Constitution, the term “person” does not include unborn children when it was used in the Fourteenth Amendment.
Fetuses do not have the capacity to feel pain.
Many people balk at the apparent cruelty of killing a fetus during a procedure, but the truth is that an unborn child outside the period of viability can’t feel pain. Most neuroscientists argue that to be able to experience the sensation of pain, you would need a working brain cortex. This remains undeveloped until the 26th week of pregnancy. For the most part, termination of pregnancy happens well before this period, and many states impose a certain restriction on abortion laws during the viability phase.
Legal abortion prevents the adverse effects of illegal abortion.
If you lived in a country where pregnancy termination was forbidden and decided to go through with it anyway, you would probably turn to illegal abortion clinics where you could discreetly have the procedure done and move on with your life. The problem with this is not just that you are breaking the law, but you also run the risk of experiencing maternal injuries or even death if the procedure goes wrong, or if the one performing it isn’t actually licensed. There are even women who try to perform the act themselves, using coat hangers or even knitting needles to do an induced abortion. According to the World Health Organization, 68,000 pregnant women die every year due to complications caused by illegal and unsafe abortions.’
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Modern abortions are safe and do not have lasting complications such as cancer and infertility.
Those who support abortion are quick to point out that the procedure was not as experimental as it used to be. Many women go back to their normal lives quickly after undergoing the procedure without worrying about potential side effects. Today, the risk of death from abortion has fallen to 0.6 out of 100,000. In fact, today it is even riskier to give birth. There was once a claim that pregnancy terminations can increase the chance of getting breast cancer, but this has long been debunked by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the National Cancer Institute, and the American Cancer Society.
Abortion Cons
While there continue to be many people who support the termination of unwanted pregnancy, there are just as many others who oppose abortion. Here are a few arguments presented against it.
Aborting a pregnancy is committing murder against an innocent human being.
Of course, the main argument of the more conservative side of the pro-life movement is that life begins at conception, and so to abort is to kill an innocent child. Though they are the owners of their own bodies, the fetus is still a life that is separate from theirs, which complicates the ethical aspects of this act. Since the United States Constitution asserts that all lives are created equal, then the fetus should be afforded the same right to life as its mother’s. What is ended in the womb is not just a biological matter, it is a real person’s life.
Pregnancy termination causes unforeseen psychological damage to women.
Not a lot of people talk about the aftermath of pregnancy termination. We all assume that since it is an outpatient procedure, women choose to go back to their pre-pregnancy lives easily. However, for many women, this is far from reality. Though there is an initial relief immediately after the procedure, many of them will find that the scars, seen or unseen, serve as a constant reminder of the precious life they had chosen to let go of, causing guilt, shame, and depression. The psychological burden and trauma caused by the experience can make it difficult for them to reassimilate themselves into society. This affects their mental health, which then impacts their quality of life. If left untreated or undiagnosed, these women can spiral into more serious psychological issues, which would be harder to come back from. Without the proper kind of care and counseling afforded to pregnant women who are considering this route, many of them will walk out of the abortion clinic with a hidden wound that may not surface until something triggers it. This can then affect the mother’s economic and social life, and it will leave her worse off than how she was before she decided to end her pregnancy. These are some of the more “silent” consequences of abortion that need to come out into the light.
Planned parenthood is a healthier option.
Those who are against abortion argue that there is a better and safer way to approach our reproductive lives. A non-profit organization, Planned Parenthood exists to educate human beings, especially women, on how to maintain their reproductive lives in healthier and more positive ways. They provide education and awareness on positive human sexuality. Although they also have abortion services, they provide you with the option to increase your sense of responsibility and control through awareness of various contraception methods, birth control, abortion pills, and disease control.
The number of adoptable babies decreases.
One of the blessings in disguise of legalizing abortion is that parents or individuals who are incapable of conceiving and long for their own child can choose to adopt. Many of these babies that are taken into new homes are products of an unwanted pregnancy. The women choose to hand over their child to people who are more capable of raising him or her. As such, she is able to complete her pregnancy and gain peace of mind that she has done the right thing by saving her unborn baby. At the same time, another family is made happier and more complete with a new member.
Selective abortion is just another form of discrimination.
Terminating a pregnancy on the basis of discovering genetic abnormalities or physical limitations in unborn babies is called selective abortion, Those who are in the anti-abortion camp point out that to filter out the kind of babies that you want to bring into the world is actually a way of discriminating against them even though they haven’t been born yet. The pro-choice movement declares that all people should have the opportunity to participate equally in society, no matter their physical limitations. Choosing to end a pregnancy is essentially terminating the unborn fetus’ right to participation.