Bench 1

Cortney Bench

Professor Silver

Writing 2010

April 24, 2016

Both Sides to the Story

The debate over abortion has been with us many years now. Abortion refers to the

surgical operation that pregnant women undergo when they can not or do not wish to care for a

child. This topic still presents so much controversy that it still holds significant relevance

among citizens, government, politics and anyone who has ever felt strongly about it. When it

comes to abortion, no one can really come to a conclusion. Should abortion be illegal or legal in

the U.S.? The reason there is so much debate about this topic is because there are two primary

sides when it comes to opinions on abortion: Pro-Choice and Pro-Life. Those who are Pro-Life

believes that aborting a baby should be illegal because every baby should have the right to life.

Whereas, individuals who identify themselves as Pro-Choice believe that abortion should be

legal and the woman should have the right to choose whether they have a baby or not. (Previous

sentence: "The reason there is so much debate about this topic is because there are two sides

when it comes to opinions on abortion and that is Pro-Life and Pro-Choice. Pro-Life is where

someone believes that aborting a baby should be illegal because every baby should have the right

to life. On the other hand, Pro-Choice is where someone believes that abortion should be legal

and the woman should have the right to choose whether they have a baby or not." I fixed this
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sentence because there was words in there that didn't need to be there. I fixed it by making the

sentences into 2 instead of 3 so it was easier to understand.)

Abortion is one of the biggest debates we have in our country and that is why it is very

important to look at both sides of the argument. The following articles, journals, and books

provide research and data into both sides, providing a balanced discussion of the topic.The

conversation around abortion is dominated by back and forth debate that has no solution, but

would be more productive if it adopted a solution oriented approach.

Examining into both of the common arguments for abortion, pro-choice and pro-life,

the article Arguments For and Against Abortion published by SexInfo Online gives a brief

overview for each argument. For the pro-life side, one argument is that the unborn fetus is not

at fault; rather it is the mothers or fathers lack of care and he/she deserve consequences. The

second argument is that if abortion is legalized, it will become as common as taking birth

control. Thirdly, the fetus could have a future that could make a difference in the world. Finally,

most religions do not support abortion so it should be illegal (Arguments For and Against

Abortion).

On the pro-choice side, the article provides several arguments firstly, planned children

will have better lives; the fetus isnt a sentient being yet. Secondly, a womans body and health

are more important than an unborn childs life and if a woman is raped, she could have trauma

from the experience. The third argument is that foster homes have too many children. Lastly,

abortion is a safe procedure for women. While both of these views differ greatly from one

another, there is a gray area where regardless of what side you are on, there are different

circumstances (Arguments For and Against Abortion).

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In the the article, Abortion among Young Women and Subsequent Life Outcomes by

David M. Fergusson, is a research study that was conducted over a period of 25 years and

consisted of 492 women participants, all of whom were under the age of 21. All these women

either had an abortion, were pregnant but did not have an abortion, or were not pregnant at all.

The purpose of this study was to see which of the three situations had comparatively better

outcomes (Fergusson). The researchers based their definition of better outcomes by the

womans education, relationships, finances, and jobs. The rationale for these outcomes is that

when they asked the women who had had an abortion, why the made their decision was usually

for those same reasons. As a part of their research, they calculated the percentage of women

who: went to college, were on welfare, were employed, and whether they were in a serious

relationship with their partner or not (Fergusson). (Previous Sentence: Calculating the

percentage of women who went to college, who were on welfare, who were employed, and those

who were in a serious relationship with their partner or not. I fixed this sentence because it was

a fragment sentence. I fixed it by starting out with a better start to the sentence and made it make

more sense and less confusing than before.) In conclusion, the two main reasons women had

abortions were because of their education and relationships. Women who had had an abortion or

women who were not pregnant had much better outcomes than women who decided not to have

an abortion. Overall, based off these findings, the women who chose to have an abortion made

this decision because they believed that their lives would have better outcomes (Fergusson).

Continuing the conversation of how both arguments are reasonable, a book written by

Bertha Alvarez Manninen called Pro-Life, Pro-Choice: Shared Values in the Abortion Debate,

provides in depth research and uses good reasoning to explain why both sides of the argument
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are valid. Manninen mostly defends the Pro-Choice side, but she does take into consideration the

Pro-Life side and how important the fetuss life is in this type of situation (Manninen). She finds

insight in Pro-Choice perspective by researching the Roe vs. Wade Court Case. Manninen looks

in depth at the Personhood Amendments dealing with that court case. She questions why they

focused more on the image of the woman rather than the future life of the fetus when this is a

pro-life argument. In her book, she states that Embryos and fetuses are alive and human. This is

a biological fact. But biological facts alone do not settle moral issues. The contentious is whether

embryos and fetuses are human persons-that is, whether fetuses are proper subjects of moral

status and moral rights, and consequently, legal rights (Manninen 22). By saying this, she

agrees that a fetus is a human. Manninen also looks into many womens decisions in choosing to

abort and considers the decisions they made due to their circumstance. In addition, she

researches the process women go through when they decide to have an abortion, and the

psychological burden and guilt a woman goes through after the procedure. When Manninen first

approached the topic of abortion, she was pro-life, but after taking classes and conducting

research, she was able to see that the pro-choice argument also had reasonable arguments.

Manninen came to the conclusion that while each argument may criticize each other and be

different from one another, both sides are reasonable and have valid arguments that cannot

simply be dismissed (Manninen).

The following journal article, Where Do We Draw the Line? by Jonathan Gornall, also

looks into both arguments for pro-life and pro-choice by doing his own research. Gornall

investigates sides in his newspaper article published on February 10, 2007. His research comes

from the United Kingdom where he uses evidence from scholars work to provide the bases for
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pro-life and pro-choice arguments. He begins his research by looking into the United Kingdom

Abortion Act, which legalized abortion through the National Health Service (Gornall). The

evidence he provides in the article is a survey done by YouGov, some data collected from

women who had abortions in England and Wales, the case study of Nadine Dorries who

proposed a bill, and 4D scanning ultrasound images and videos. The author does not only use

this evidence to support both sides, but he also insists from letting his opinions get in the way of

his article (Gornall).

In contrast to the other articles, Causes and Consequences of Public Attitudes Toward

Abortion: A Review and Research Agenda by Ted G. Jelen and Clyde Wilcox, provide multiple

solutions to the problem of abortion while also looking into both sides as the other authors have

done. This research takes place in the United States and mainly focuses on attitudes toward

abortion (Jelen and Wilcox). The views the authors primarily review are religion, relationships,

and debates that interact with abortion. The researchers have been studying this study for about

30 years and have concluded that, Most Americans have an opinion on abortion, and a

substantial majority indicate that the issue is important to them...abortion opinion is relatively

stable, both at the individual level, and in the aggregate. (Jelen and Wilcox 1). Their main

argument is that abortion is a big, important issue that needs more research. The reason this

article is different than the others is because rather than a review of the history behind abortion

like the other articles, they tend to focus their research on the public attitudes of abortion that

lead to future solutions so abortion can be more researched (Jelen and Wilcox).

The article The Right's Reasons: Constitutional Conflict and the Spread of

Woman-Protective Antiabortion Argument also focuses on the anti-abortion argument rather

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than both sides of abortion. Reva B. Siegel begins her argument by going back into history and

looking into the Gonzales vs. Carhart court case that passed the Partial-Birth Abortion Act which

made it illegal to perform a partial abortion in a womans first trimester (Siegel). This Act

banned abortion for all women in order to protect the fetuses and also the women. As a result,

the author also explains that she is anti-abortion because she believes that the fetus should be

saved and so should the woman giving the birth itself. She has interviewed several women who

have had an abortion and finds that, A woman who is encouraged to defy her nature as a

mother to protect her child is likely to suffer significant psychological trauma and distress and

will be put at risk of a variety of life-threatening illnesses (Siegel 1653). Siegel argues that

women who have an abortion suffer from regret, trauma, illnesses and PAS (Post Abortion

Syndrome). She knows that there is still much debate on this topic, but the arguments are

different from before than they are now thanks to new research. In the recent debates, there is

more consideration for the women's health and fetus when it comes to abortion (Siegel).

Continuing on the conversation of Pro-Life, the article From Choice to Reproductive

Justice: De-Constitutionalizing Abortion Rights by Robin West, also lean towards anti-abortion

like Siegel. West also argues that abortion does not only affect the fetus, but also the woman

having the abortion. Instead of reviewing the Gonzales vs. Carhart court case, West focuses on

the Roe vs. Wade court case. He argues that the Roe vs. Wade court case was not considerate of

the pro-life arguments, but only focused on the pro-choice arguments and politics around

this debate (West). The final decision on abortion of this court case was that women are allowed

to have an abortion if it was under a medical reason such as rape. He understands the reasons

behind pro-choice arguments and even says that they are very persuasive (West). He suggests
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some alternate opportunities available to women who choose to have an abortion in order to

promote reproductive justice. In order to promote this persuasively, West looks into the moral,

legal, political and rhetorical avenues. Wests solution is that instead of having the abortion law

be constitutionalized, it should be controlled through politics (West).

Though all these articles, journals, and books may make and review of different

arguments, they all produce evidence for their reasoning. Behind everything they argue for and

against, they all know that abortion is a significant issue elicits personal values. Abortion is still

a constant debate between but overall it should be taken more seriously so we can find a solution

to end this debate once and for all.

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Works Cited

"Arguments For and Against Abortion | SexInfo Online." Arguments For and Against Abortion |

SexInfo Online. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2017.

Fergusson, David M., et al. Abortion among Young Women and Subsequent Life Outcomes.

Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, vol. 39, no. 1, 2007, pp. 612.,

www.jstor.org/stable/30042921. Accessed 16 Feb. 2017.

Gornall, Jonathan. Where Do We Draw the Line? BMJ: British Medical Journal, vol. 334, no.

7588, 2007, pp. 285289., www.jstor.org/stable/20506339. Accessed 16 Feb. 2017.

Jelen, Ted G., and Clyde Wilcox. Causes and Consequences of Public Attitudes Toward

Abortion: A Review and Research Agenda. SAGE Journals , University of Utah, 1 Dec.

2003, http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/106591290305600410. Accessed 16

Feb. 2017.

Manninen, Bertha Alvarez. Pro-Life, pro-Choice: Shared Values in the Abortion Debate.

Nashville, Vanderbilt University Press, 2014.

Siegel, Reva B. The Right's Reasons: Constitutional Conflict and the Spread of

Woman-Protective Antiabortion Argument. Duke Law Journal, vol. 57, no. 6, 2008, pp.

16411692., www.jstor.org/stable/40040629. Accessed 16 Feb. 2017.

West, Robin. From Choice to Reproductive Justice: De-Constitutionalizing Abortion Rights.

The Yale Law Journal, vol. 118, no. 7, 2009, pp. 13941432.,

www.jstor.org/stable/40389510. Accessed 16 Feb. 2017.

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