Abortion Essay -- essays research papers

Abortion is never an easy decision, in fact its one of America’s most controversial issues in today’s reality, but women have none the less been making that choice for thousands of years. Studies show that about 43% of American women will have one or more abortions during their lifetime, and women's centers and hospitals perform more than a million abortions on an annual basis. Women have many reasons for not wanting to be pregnant including age, marital status, economic status, and the circumstances of their pregnancy, and thus seek out an abortion. Although many citizens view abortion as an immoral act of brutality and strongly contest its usage, others believe the choice belongs solely to the mother and the mother alone. The main argument pertaining to abortion is whether or not a fetus is a "person" that is "indistinguishable from the rest of us" and if it deserves rights equal to women's. On this question there is a tremendous spectrum of religious, philosophical, scientific, and medical opinion, but it all really depends on who you ask. It's been argued for centuries. Fortunately, our society has recognized that each woman must be able to make this decision, based on her own conscience. To impose a law defining a fetus as a "person," granting it rights equal to or superior to a woman's, thinking, feeling, conscious human being, is not only arrogant but absurd. It only serves to diminish a woman’s value. (Heritage House 76, Inc.)Under the view of pro choice supporters the embryo is not a baby since it can not survive and live outside the uterus since it receives everything needed to survive from the mother’s body. In a sense the fetus dies but it was neve r living to begin with so it can not be considered an act of murder as pro-lifers would argue. More simply consider acorns and trees. (Robinson) Just as an acorn is a fertilized egg of the oak, that does not make it a tree. Sure it has the potential to become an oak tree, but it has not yet grown to that stage and thus can not be considered one. (Blackmun 78) Putting out laws to prohibit abortions does not necessarily stop it; it merely attempts to make it more difficult. When women feel it is absolutely necessary, they will choose to have abortions, even in secret, without medical care, in dangerous circumstances. This only puts the life of the mother at an even greater r... ...the option of deciding when or whether to have children? Or is that a government decision? And who is going to feed and cloth and above all provide a nurturing environment for the growth and development of society’s most precious life, certainly not the government. (Planned Parenthood) Thus since the child relies upon the mother for its life, the mother should be entirely in charge of the decisions concerning her life, body, and well being. Activists on both sides speak out everyday in violent and non violent ways to express their opinions concerning the topic. Abortion, now in the twenty first century has become not only a political debate but a biological and even religious debate. By the basis of the Supreme Court case of Roe vs. Wade, in no way should the government deprive a woman of her right to personal liberty (under the Fourteenth Amendment) and her reservation of rights to the people (under the Ninth Amendment) upheld by the constitution of the United States of America. (Herda 54-57) The U.S. is a country or personal freedoms and liberties, and never should it act as a dictator whose powers limit the ability to protect one’s self, especially women’s reproductive rights.