Woman The Right To Abort The Fetus example essay topic

Section #53 December 2, 2004 Why Must We Kill? From the years 1981-2001,467,910 people died due to AIDS ("Cumulative AIDS"). In comparison, in the year 2000 alone, 857,000 babies were killed (Robinson). More babies are killed in one year from abortions alone than all of the AIDS cases combined in the past twenty years. So why are people fighting to keep abortions legal? In this upcoming election, we have two choices.

President Bush is the pro-life presidential candidate. Bush says abortions should be banned except in the cases of rape, incest or when the mother's life is in danger. He says that he is personally against all forms of abortion but does not think that the country is ready for a constitutional amendment banning all abortions. John Kerry is the pro-choice presidential candidate.

He believes that woman should have the right to choose if they want an abortion or not and that the government should not interfere. After reviewing both sides you will see that because of the questionable ethical, detrimental psychological, and physical effects that an abortion has on a woman there will be no doubt in your mind what the right thing to do is. According to Webster's Dictionary, abortion is "the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus; especially: the medical procedure of inducing expulsion of a human fetus to terminate a pregnancy" ("Abortion"). The problem with that definition is at what point do you say that a fetus in a woman's womb is actually a baby or person.

Is a fetus a human being when their heart begins to beat 18-25 days after conception? Or is it, a fetus is not a human being until there is brain waves after the 40th day of the pregnancy. Some say that the fetus is not a baby until it can survive outside of the mother's womb, which is at 20 weeks (Abortionfacts. com). The lines blur as to where life starts. As a result of not knowing when a fetus actually becomes a human being, the Supreme Court stepped in. On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States of America made a monumental decision.

In the case of Roe vs. Wade, the Supreme Court ruled that Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution provided the fundamental right for women to get an abortion. The Supreme Court said that the "right to privacy" gave the woman the right to abort the fetus or baby up until the third trimester (about 7 months after conception until delivery) unless the state had a "compelling interest" in stopping the abortion. Although the Supreme Court ruled in favor of abortion, President Bush is adamantly against abortion. He says, "I've set the goal that every child born and unborn ought to be protected. But I recognize [that many] people don't necessarily agree with the goal. People appreciate somebody who sets a tone, a tone that values life, but recognizes that people disagree" ("Issues: Abortion").

Bush signed a partial birth abortion ban in November of 2003 while in office. He also wants to have parental notification when minors seek an abortion. In addition, Bush wants to keep taxpayers money from going towards abortion. On the contrary, John Kerry is adamantly pro-choice. According to Planned Parenthood, Kerry has a "100% voting record when it comes to voting on issues that involve abortion" ("Issues: Abortion").

Kerry has voted pro-choice time in and time out. John Kerry staunchly resists any ban on abortion, even partial birth abortion where the baby has passed through the birth canal and killed. He also has said that he personally is opposed to abortion, but he cannot have his religious views affect his decision making if he were to be in office. In short, Roe vs. Wade has had an enormous impact on our society as a whole.

It might be hard to see the effects it is having on us because we are so involved in our daily lives that we hardly ever take a closer look at what is going on around us. We cannot get the spider web out of our eyes to see what abortion is doing to us. There are a few reasons how this is happening. Some people do not see a fetus as a baby.

It could be that they are not educated enough or they are scared and do not know what to do. They may look at the fetus just as a ball of tissue or maybe even see it as a human, but if that woman is too scared to have the baby, then what does she do? There are many groups out there that can help women who are in these types of situations. Catholic Social Services is one group.

They offer programs like Project Rachael that reach out to women who are contemplating an abortion. Groups like these can give counseling to women and can help them find ways out of the situation they are in other than abortion. Adoption agencies also offer another alternative to having an abortion. There are hundreds if not thousands of families waiting to adopt and love a little baby. So there are many different sources that women who are thinking about having an abortion can go to to get help or counseling. However, there are some women out there that do not believe a fetus is a human at all until it is out of the womb.

With this definition of life, it is hard to explain to some women that a baby is a real human being and deserves a chance to live. When you look at the fetus like this, how can there be anything wrong with having an abortion? You are not killing anything, just terminating a ball of tissue according to a few women. The baby also has to be viable (can survive outside of the mothers womb on its own) for it to be considered a person.

According to the Fourteenth Amendment, a mother gives birth to a fetus, not a baby. That fetus does not officially become a person until a doctor says that fetus is viable. How should the government be allowed to say when a fetus becomes a baby? That baby will have a beating heart within 18-25 days and brain waves will start functioning at 40 days (Abortionfacts. com). The government says that the fetus must be able to survive on its own or else it is not a person and does not have rights ("Issues: Abortion"). Many tiny babies cannot survive on their own.

When do we draw the line at when a fetus truly becomes a baby if we go by the government's definition? Would it be alright to wait till a baby was born to see if it had any type of disease or deformity on it and if it did we would just let it die? Once we are on the edge of the slope, it will not be long before we start sliding down it. It just does not make sense to go by what the government or constitution says. Life begins from the moment that baby is conceived.

The fact is a baby is a person and that there are options like adoption out there for people are some reasons to think twice about having an abortion. Another reason not to have an abortion is the fact that it is inhumane. When abortion clinics get women into their clinics, they will not tell them how the abortion is going to be done (Abortionfacts. com). This is why many women go through with the abortion, because they are not informed. A common technique used in abortions is called Dilation and Evacuation. It involves cutting the baby into pieces and then removing them from the mother.

"A pliers-like instrument is used because the baby's bones are calcified, as is the skull. There is no anesthetic for the baby. The abortionist inserts the instrument up into the uterus, seizes a leg or other part of the body, and, with a twisting motion, tears it from the baby's body. This is repeated again and again. The spine must be snapped, and the skull crushed to remove them. The nurse's job is to reassemble the body parts to be sure that all are removed" (Abortionfacts. com).

Do you think that if a doctor explained the procedure to a woman thinking about getting an abortion that she would go through with it? The sad thing about it is that it is legal. Abortions have become so common it is almost like they are a never ending fad in this country. Every minute, two babies die from an abortion in this country. Abortions are tearing down our society from the inside out and we do not know it. We are so used to seeing violence on television and murders every day that abortions do not really affect us anymore.

We are on the edge of a slippery slope. We kill babies because we are not educated, we just do not want to deal with the pressures of raising a child, or we just do not know where else to turn. But where do we draw the line in our society? The arguments against abortion keep on going and the abortion industry is the one benefiting from all of this. They go about their business all while making money by not informing people about what is really going on within the industry.

Eric Harrah was part owner of one of the nation's largest abortion clinics. He made a fortune from abortions, but after leaving the industry, he has since become pro-life. Harrah had a change of heart. During the time he was an abortionist; he became depressed and was addicted to cocaine. He would perform abortions day in a day out and it became like a routine to him. The women were not even people anymore -- they were just dollar bill signs walking in and walking out.

Harrah needed a way out. His way out came when he went to Pennsylvania to open an abortion clinic. A right-to-life group reached out to him. He was changed from that day on. He left the abortion world behind him because he said, "I knew it was the right thing to do" (Abortionfacts. com).

The abortion industry sucks a lot of people in. There is a lot of money to be made out there off of vulnerable women. Harrah said, "The average doctor who does abortions one day a week at a clinic averages 25-40 abortions. He will walk away in his pocket with an average of $100,000-125,000 a year" (Abortionfacts. com). This does not seem like a lot of money for a doctor, but that is working one day a week. That comes out to be about $2400 a day, and that is if the doctor only does abortions.

Most abortion doctors have their own practices on top of what they do at the abortion clinic. The average salary for a general surgeon is $150,000 a year (Physicians Search). So you can see how money and greed can easily take over ones life. So what are the reasons people have abortions?

Most People have them because they are not informed about what actually goes on. They have them because the abortion industry pours a lot of money into advertising for abortions, but not for the other options like adoption. People now days want to have sex but they do not want to accept the consequences of that action. Sex is for pro-creation, whether you believe in God or evolutionary theory. Sex is also for pleasure, but the problem arises when we do not want to take responsibility for our actions. No one says that you cannot have sex, but if you do, then you should be able to accept every responsibility that comes with the territory.

The argument about abortion comes in when people do not want to take responsibility for what they have done (Hatten). When you choose to have sex, you are saying that you are willing to accept the possibility of getting pregnant. The saying goes, "you " re right to extend your fist ends at my nose". So I'd say to anyone contemplating having an abortion that a baby has a nose, and perhaps a woman's right to choose ends at that baby's nose!

Bibliography

Abortion". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. 2004 Ed.
Abortion facts. com. Heritage House 76. October 24, 2004.
Abortion Surveillance". Center for Disease Control. June 7, 2002.
October 24, 2004.
Cumulative AIDS Deaths in the United States, 1981 to 2001".
Info Please. December 2001.
Centers for Disease Control. October 27, 2004.
Hatten, Elder Douglas. "Fetus an Unborn Child?" Hope of Zion November 3, 2004.
web "Issues: Abortion". On the Issues. org. On the Issues and the Speak Out Foundation. November 3, 2004.
Physicians Search. National Association of Physician Recruiters. November 3, 2004.
Robinson, B.A. "Abortion: CDC Yearly Data". Religious Tolerance. org. January 16, 2004.
Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance. October 27, 2004.