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Sarah Ridley

Professor Colvin

ENG 1201-527

24 March 2019

Abortion

I remember having a conversation with my mom about abortions one morning. She told

me that it would never be easy to have one but it wouldn’t be easy to keep a baby that you

can’t give your all to. My mom was pregnant with my little sister, Allison, who is healthy now

and has given me great joy. My mom had her at twenty-six weeks which is nearly half as early

as a normal baby. They gave her a slim chance of survival and that broke my parents’ hearts.

She was born almost completely blind and at whopping weight of one pound and six ounces.

She was only eleven inches long and fighting for her life. They performed a C-section on my

mom to get the baby out and preformed immediate surgery on her eyesight to save what was

left. Even my mom had to fight she couldn’t leave the hospital for a month and my sister stayed

on a ventilator for three months. From that moment forward I researched abortions and why or

why not people perform them. Abortion should get rid of pro-choice and pro-life sides because

it would benefit the government in spending less money on campaigns, would help the

women's mental health, and it would allow women to choose their life paths without feeling

judged.

Abortion is a controversial topic that continually keeps the United States at a

difference. Abortion is the classified as the excretion of a fetus from the woman’s uterus before

it is in the “viability stage”, which is usually considered as the twentieth week. Abortion may
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also be characterized as an instant miscarriage or it’s sometimes referred to as an induced

abortion. Abortion followers have two following groups that are known as the pro-life

supporters that believe in every child living and the pro-choice supporters who believe that

sometimes having a child can hurt someone more than they can help someone. The pro-life

supporters believe that abortion should be banned because when someone has an abortion,

they are taking someone else’s’ chance at life. Pro-choice supporters believe all women should

have a right to decide what they want to do with the pregnancy because it is given in our

constitutional right. Abortions may be performed to preserve the life of a mother, prevention of

the completion of a pregnancy due to rape or incest, the prevention of the birth of a child with

deformities, or to prevent birth for a social or economic reason (Britannica). Although abortion

takes the life of a child it can also be used to save the woman’s life too.

Pro-choice supporters leading argument is that all women should have the right to

decide for themselves if and when they choose to start a family (Abortion Access). These

supporters believe that all women should have the right to be able to choose if they want to

have an abortion and that it is a fundamental human right. It is also stated in the Supreme

Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade in 1973 they concluded that abortion was their constitutional

right and was a leading aspect for women’s equality and autonomy. Giving women their

reproductive choice also empowers women to take control over their own bodies. Also,

according to science we are unable to tell when a child can feel pain and emotions, so the

personhood begins for a child when a fetus can survive outside the woman’s womb or when

the child is born, and it is not when you first conceive the child. As well as, the modern day
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abortion procedures are much safer and don’t likely cause any lasting health issues like cancer

or infertility.

The misunderstandings behind abortions are that people have abortions and don't have

real reasons for having one when they made the decision to have sexual intercourse. Another

misunderstanding is that abortion is always bad in some people's eyes but some people could

be having an abortion because of rape or incest. While learning about the topic there are two

sides and two arguments. People making these statements are missing the personal

information from the woman and their life. Woman who have abortions may have medical

problems and having the baby could potentially take their life. Also, people who have abortions

could not be able to take care of the child and may hinder their life more if they had the baby.

Overall, abortions can also be seen as always bad even though the public doesn’t always know

what a person is going through and one decision can save someone’s life.

People need to change their thoughts on abortion because it could save a woman's life.

Women everyday make a decision to keep or abort a child. The pro-life supporters believe that

it is a life and no life should be taken as well as the child may feel the pain of being aborted.

However, in some cases keeping the baby can hurt the woman in many ways. This includes

their mental health because they could live in a bad environment and not be able to afford to

take care of the child the way they should be. Also, a woman could be pregnant with the child

of their rapist or from incest. The misunderstanding is that pro-life supporters believe that

these women are self-centered and don't think about the child but in reality, it is still hard to kill

a child that is unborn but they know it is for the best in their situation.
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Roe v. Wade’s decision was made at the Supreme Court on the date January 22, 1973.

Roe lived in Texas who wanted to terminate her own pregnancy through an abortion. The Texas

law at this time had not allowed any kinds of abortion except for when the women’s life was at

any kind of risk. In the court ruling, it held that the women’s right to an abortion fell within the

right to privacy in the Constitution. The right to privacy refers to the concept of that one’s

personal information is protected from the public that was organized by Griswold v.

Connecticut. This right to privacy is protected by the fourteenth amendment. This decision had

given the women total control over the pregnancy during their first-trimester and it stated the

different levels of interest for the second and the third trimesters of their pregnancy. This court

ruling affected forty-six states as a result. This is a major backbone for the pro-choice

supporters because it was written constitutional right.

Pro-life supporters’ main argument is that when the life of a zygote begins the life

should be acknowledged. Therefore, to these supporters they see women who have abortions
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as murderers. Also, life begins at conception so these unborn babies are humans and have the

right to live their lives as we all get to. Some also believe abortion is the killing of a live human

being and it defies the “word of god”. This pro-life group believes that if women become

pregnant that they should have to accept the responsibility that comes with producing a child.

Basically, if a woman chooses to have sexual intercourse, they need to be aware of the

consequences that come along with it. Abortion shouldn’t be an option because they could

have the child and put it up for adoption. They believe that no matter what you should have the

baby because every life is important. When you have an abortion, you are taking the life of the

child before it is born and isn’t given the chance to be a child, to get married, or even grow old.

In “The Best Pro-Life Arguments for Secular Audiences”, it shows information on how a

life is a life and there should be no choice on whether taking a life is okay or not but abortion is

a right give under the Constitution. In science it states that people who say that no one quite

knows when life begins aren’t really arguing about science rather arguing about politics or

religion. Above all, the real argument is when does the life begin to deserve acknowledgement.

Next, in the law section it talks about the law permitting abortion known as Roe v. Wade that

allowed abortion in the first trimester. Women are given their “right to privacy” and both sides

that pro-choice would abort because having a child would negatively affect their lives and pro-

life decide that a life should not be taken when you made a decision and risk. Overall, although

it seems unclear abortion is a choice given but it is still considered a viable life.

Also, some doctors don’t want to perform abortions due to the fact that it is a scarring

for anyone to see. In “Abortion: What Do Doctors Say?”, MD Meg Meeker provides information

on abortion from the doctor’s point of view. She talks about how a young adult got pregnant
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and decided that having an abortion would be the best fit because having the child right now

would not fit into her lifestyle right now. However, after having the abortion she felt as if she

was criticized by her obstetricians and physicians. Most doctors don’t want to perform the

procedures because when the abortion is performed in certain stages you can see the unborn

baby’s body party torn apart. She personally believes that no one should have to see that sight

even once in your life. This is because it is mentally hard to watch but as doctors, they have to

go with what the patient’s want and what will make them the happiest. In all, doctors don’t

agree with abortions but will provide the care for their patients even if the sight is hard to see

every time the procedure is done (Abortion: What Do Doctors Say?).

The labels pro-life and pro-choice should be gotten rid of because the amount spent on

abortion campaigns. Campaigns like the ARC and NARAL receive money from the public in

support of their campaigns when the money could be used to go towards adoption homes or to

hospitals for babies. The money spent for the campaigns is given from political action

committees and generally aren’t getting farther into solving the split beliefs. The money spend

per year is thousands of dollars and can be given to other organizations that could help babies

or to help families wo may not be able to support a child and need help. There are tons of

campaigns taking money from the public that is donated but could go to bigger and better

causes for kids than rather to fight the opposite side when everyone could believe what they

want.

Two ways that people can behave differently from the status quo is to be accepting of

abortion. It is considered a Constitutional law under Roe v. Wade because people believed

women should have the right to choose their life paths. Today people believe they should be
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either pro-choice or pro-life but people should know that no matter the choice abortion isn't

easy. The choice should be made for the woman themselves whether they keep the baby, abort

the baby, or put the child in foster care. People today need to think of the health of the women

rather than not supporting everyone. As well as taking into account that it is a baby and it is a

life and you should make the decision that will be best for them in the long run. Overall, no

more choosing sides and to support all women to live a happy healthy life.

The world would be different because no women would worry about the backlash from

their peers. The benefit would be there would be no sides, pro-life and pro-choice, and people

will support everyone. Abortion isn't easy for the women and don't need to be criticized for

their choices. As well as it can help the health of themselves and the mental health for

themselves in the long run. The drawback would be that although women can sympathize for

other women it may be harder to sway men because they won't have the experience of having

a child or the risk of obtaining a child. Also, the government would save money from spending

money on pro-choice or pro-life campaigns on abortion. To sum it up, getting rid of the labels

can be difficult but in the long run it would be beneficial for the women to feel free to make

their own decisions without risking being judged.

In the article “Abortion Facts” it talks about how women choose to have abortions for

only selfish and personal reasons. The ultimate decision to have an kind of abortion is rarely

easy for almost all women who decide to have the abortion. Women usually base their

decisions on many different factors that include, the most common as being the lack of money

or resources and the unreadiness to start or expand their family due to not having existing

responsibility before conception of the child. Women who have children wait till they have a
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course of action that is way more suitable for childrearing. Also, those that did want to get

pregnant later on developed a medical issue, found out their child had severe abnormalities or

have experienced any kind of personal crisis and had to have the abortion needed for survival

and need of the child. As well as, around 13,000 women every year have abortions because

they became pregnant as a result of incest or rape. To sum it up, it shows that women don’t

choose to have an abortion because they just don’t want the child and feel like it, all women

have reasons because choosing to have an abortion is not always an easy choose.

In “Is Abortion a Human Right?” in Northern Ireland their abortion laws are even stricter

and by far the strictest in Europe. Their laws are based on human rights for the women and the

unborn child to increase the chances of the baby getting a chance at life. Within their laws the

legislators cannot deny abortions to females who are victims of rape or incest or who carry

fetuses with fatal abnormalities because it is a violation to human rights. They also have The

Abortion Act that doesn’t allow abortion after 28 weeks and those that perform illegal

abortions can be sentenced to 14 years behind bars. Their abortion rights are fairly similar but

the American abortion rights are a battle between choice and life where in Northern Ireland has

strict laws on who can abort in certain situations and up to what week. In all, their abortion

rules are far stricter and within the United States having Roe v. Wade seems fair for women and

a fair choice on what path they want to go in their lives.

In “Should Abortion Be Legal” it states both sides of abortion and that each side has

reasons for feeling a certain way and debates whether or not abortion should be a legal option.

For pro-choice followers’ argument it provides the US Supreme Court had declared abortion as

a fundamental right that is provided through the Constitution, this choice gives women the
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control over their bodies, a baby isn’t given personhood till they are out of the womb, fetuses

can’t feel the pain of the abortions, legal abortions reduce injury or death from illegal

abortions, and many more. For pro-life followers they give information on how abortion is

murder, life does begin at conception, fetuses feel the pain of abortion, abortion is killing a

human. Roe v. Wade was wrong and should’ve been overturned, and much more. In all, both

sides have reasons for siding with one or the other.

The issues with getting rid of the labels of pro-choice and pro-life is that in some ways

there won’t be a way to meet in the middle on some issues. Pro-life supporters can understand

in some cases why women have abortions because it can save their life but still believe it is

their wrong for having sexual intercourse. As well as Pro-choice followers all believe that

women should be given their constitutional right under Roe v. Wade to decide to have an

abortion whether for a physical or mental reason. It may be hard to find the happy middle for

these groups because although some circumstances can be understood not all will keep the

groups as one. Overall, getting rid of the labels pro-life and pro-choice may be difficult because

these supports will find it hard to feel the same about abortions.

Taking a chance and fighting for my sister’s life has changed my family for the better.

She is one of the most kind and loving people I have ever met and would never hurt a soul. I

have learned that when you come together for what you believe it will be worth it in the end

because my family wouldn’t be the same without her. Abortion is something that shouldn’t be

thought about lightly, it’s a choice that will change your life for the worse or far the better and

that is your choice. So, if the pro-life and pro-choice supporters were to come together it could

produce something so great that everyone can agree on even if it won’t be easy to give up
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some of your beliefs. As well as the money spent on the campaigns can be spent on adoption

homes and to help raise money for babies who need emergency surgery like my sister did.

Lastly, the women’s mental health can be stable, and the women will be able to make decisions

without the feeling of judgement. This will help women make decisions for themselves and not

for the people around them.

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Works Cited

LaRoche, Kathryn K. “Exploring Canadian Women's Multiple Abortion Experiences:

Implications for Reducing Stigma and Improving Patient-Centered Care.” Sinclair College

Off-Campus Authentication Form, 2018, www-sciencedirect-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/science/article/pii/S1049386717302980?via%3Dihub.

Nolan, Kevin G. “Law and Legislation Series.” Sinclair College Off-Campus Authentication Form,

New York : Nova Science Publishers, Inc., 2010, web-b-ebscohost-

com.sinclair.ohionet.org/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=1ed1b053-a573

4654-8551-894e539f52ad%40pdc-v sessmgr01&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ

%3D%3D#AN=333753&db=nlebk.

Milligan, Susan. “Is Abortion a Human Right?” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World

Report www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/12/02/is-abortion-a-human-right.

Schwarzwalder, Rob. “Family Research Council.” FRC, 2019, www.frc.org/brochure/the-best-

pro-life-arguments-for-secular-audiences.

“Abortion Access.” NARAL Pro-Choice America, 2019, www.prochoiceamerica.org/issu

e/abortionn-access/.

“Abortion Facts.” National Abortion Federation, prochoice.org/education-and-advocacy/about-

abortion/abortion-facts/.

“Abortion ProCon.org.” ProConorg Headlines, 2018, abortion.procon.org/.

“Abortion: What Do Doctors Say?” Meg Meeker, M.D.,www.megmeekermd.com/blog/abortion-

what-do-doctors-say/.