Abortion Essay, Research Paper
Abortion
In our media-intensive culture it is not difficult to find different opinions, thousands of newspapers and dozen of radio and television talk showes resound different points of view. One important issue that is being wildly discussed is of a woman’s right to determinate an unwanted pregnancy by making a choice to have an abortion. This issue can be considered from different perspectives. They can be moral, religious or legal.
Those who oppose the abortion rights and call themselves pro-life claim the abortion as a criminal act. They believe that it is a murder to terminate the life of the zygote/embryo/fetus ( Currie 24). To murder means to kill a person. The embryo is not equal to a person. It has only the potential to be one, but it does not have any of the mental, emotional or physical features. We can not say that the baby is equal to an embryo ( Currie 32 ).
The obstetrician and gynecologist Don Sloan argues that although an abortion destroys an embryo it is not a murder because the embryo is not a separate human life. It is not able to live outside the woman’s body. He says:
I wonder if people realize how big a fertilized ovum is. Half an inch? A quarter inch? It is less than the thickness of one of your hairs! That is not a “baby”. Many zygotes or embryos spontaneously abort and over 90 % of deliberate abortions happen in the first trimester when the embryo is less than two inches long.
Yet the pro-life movement persists in pretending that aborting a zygote or an embryo is the same as “killing a baby”. (40)
Even though it kills life, abortion is a moral choice when “would-be” mothers realize that their present circumstances do not enable them to raise a “would-be” child responsibly (Muller 25). In a case when the woman is not prepared to have a child but keeps it often the child suffers or is more likely to become violent or a criminal (Tarshis). The statistic shows that some mothers who decide to keep and raise their children do so for a couple of years and then, confronted by the problems of parenthood, are forced to give the child up after all (“Pregnant Teens: Why so many unmarried mothers?”).
The Conservative Christians are opposite on the abortion even though there is no particular passage in the Bible that encourages or discourages the abortion. The problem again is connected whit the question is it murder to terminate the life of the embryo. What is the biblical view of a person? Genesis 2:7 declares: “Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the, ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man become a living soul”…The phrase “become a living soul designated the person as animated flash. As the person is breathed into, so the person breathes (Simmons). In Genesis 3:22 God says “ Behold, mankind is become as one of us to know good and evil …”. To be a person is to be a choice maker (Simmons). The biblical portrait of person, therefor e is that of a complex creature with abilities and moral responsibility. The fetus does not have does characteristics.
Although the first works of the Christian Church hardly mentioned abortion, the Church had declared abortion a sin by the end of first century C. E. (Landes, Siegel and Foster, ed.). It is important to mansion that the change in the doctrine does not
have its origins in the Bible. The change is made by people even though they are connected whit the church. Recent popes are the ones making new canons. Pope Pius XII, deeply concerned about abortion, wrote in his Allocution to Midwives (1951):
Every human being, even the child in the mother’s womb, receives its right to life directly from God, not from its parents, nor from any human society or authority, no science, no ‘indication’ whether medical, eugenic, social, economic, or moral that can show or give a valid juridical title for a deliberate or and direct disposing of an innocent human life. (Landes, Siegel and Foster, ed.)
We have to accept that the religion is a not a public policy or law it is a personal choice. Unlike the nations of Europe, America is a country of church “goers”. For some when the church teaches that life begins at conception abortion is ruled out absolutely (Feldman). The moral debate on abortion must include consideration of what happens whit the children after they are born. Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League says: “We never spend time on the moral responsibility in childbearing” (Gorden).
Actually abortion has been practiced since the beginning of recorded history. They have always been women who, for whatever reason, were determined to terminate their pregnancies. Today the abortion issue has become a conflict over whether the unborn should have the same rights as the born, or whether a woman’s rights to control her life and body include the right to end the unwanted pregnancy. Like no other country America is tied up in knots over abortion. An important element that fueled America’s war over
abortion, say some observers, was the unexpected breadth of Roe V. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion nationwide (Feldman). Abortion in America is legal according to that law and the states can not protect “fetal life” until after viability, the point at which it could survive outside the womb. That point is considered to be after twenty-three weeks (The Law: The Supreme Court). Despite the absence of anti-abortion laws, most states have laws that protect the fetus right:
In Los Angeles, a fetus can legally be sued
Minnesota has a law requiring abortion clinics to dispose of aborted fetus in a “human “ fashion burying them or cremating them.
In Illinois, a pregnant woman who takes an illegal drug can be prosecuted for delivering a controlled substance to a minor. (The Law: The Supreme Court)
Abortion should be available as a legal right to all women who request it because there is no perfect contraceptive or birth control program. But is it suppose to be legislated at all or it should be considered as a matter of personal choice? The statistic shows that in those countries where the abortion is restricted illegal abortion remains a serious problem. Some people thing that if it is bad it should be forbidden by law even that there is no common opinion whether or not abortion is a bed thing . Smoking is considered as wrong but as long as the smokers do not infringe our right to bread clean air the act of smoking can not be forbidden by law.
Abortion is a legal and moral choice. It is a sign that the woman is desperate. The society has to respect and support her not to blame her. It is a very difficult decision of the woman’s life. It can not be considered as a murder but it is a elimination of a part of the
body and of a human potential. It is hard enough for the woman facing it and all the arguments against the abortion make the situation worse. We have to accept that this is a part of the human life, it exist and it restriction will only make a way for illegal procedures.
Works Cited
Currie, Stephen. “Abortion is murder.” Opposing viewpoints digests: Abortion . San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc, 2000: 24-33.
Gordon, Myles. “Keys to the court.” Scholastic Update 17 Sept. 1993: 6-8. Sirs Database .Online. Internet. 23 Jun. 2000. Available http: //discover.sirs.com/.
Feldman, Linda. “Why is America so tied up in knots over abortion?” Christene Science Monitor . 30 Apr. 1997. Sirs Database . Online. Internet. 20 Jun. 2000. Available http://discover.sirs. com.
Landes, Siegel and Foster, ed. Abortion an eternal social and moral issue. Texas: Wylie, 1994: 2-3.
“Pregnant Teens: Why so many unmarried mothers?” Sirs Digest Spring 1996. Sirs Database. Online. Internet. 21 Jun. 2000. Available http://discover.sirs.com.
The Law: The Supreme Court. Online. Internet. 21 Jun. 2000. Available http://www.abortioninfo.net/facts/legalty.htm.
Muller, Jerry. “Abortion is sometimes a moral choice.” Opposing viewpoints series: Abortion. San Diego; Greenhaven Press,Inc. 1997: 25.
Simmonns, Paul D. “Persenhood, the Bible and the abortion debate.” Articles by respected theologians. Online. Internet. 20 Jun. 2000. Available http://www.rcrc.org/religion/es3/comp.htm.
Currie, Stephen. “Abortion is murder.” Opposing viewpoints digests: Abortion . San Diego: Greenhaven Press, Inc, 2000: 24-33.
Gordon, Myles. “Keys to the court.” Scholastic Update 17 Sept. 1993: 6-8. Sirs Database .Online. Internet. 23 Jun. 2000. Available http: //discover.sirs.com/.
Feldman, Linda. “Why is America so tied up in knots over abortion?” Christene Science Monitor . 30 Apr. 1997. Sirs Database . Online. Internet. 20 Jun. 2000. Available http://discover.sirs. com.
Landes, Siegel and Foster, ed. Abortion an eternal social and moral issue. Texas: Wylie, 1994: 2-3.
“Pregnant Teens: Why so many unmarried mothers?” Sirs Digest Spring 1996. Sirs Database. Online. Internet. 21 Jun. 2000. Available http://discover.sirs.com.
The Law: The Supreme Court. Online. Internet. 21 Jun. 2000. Available http://www.abortioninfo.net/facts/legalty.htm.
Muller, Jerry. “Abortion is sometimes a moral choice.” Opposing viewpoints series: Abortion. San Diego; Greenhaven Press,Inc. 1997: 25.
Simmonns, Paul D. “Persenhood, the Bible and the abortion debate.” Articles by respected theologians. Online. Internet. 20 Jun. 2000. Available http://www.rcrc.org/religion/es3/comp.htm.