I decided to research both sides of the topic to make sure I was familiar with the different viewpoints. Below I have posted both sides of the argument to provide my readers with with a full view of the topic. However, I actually agree with with the against abortions argument.
Against Abortions
The discussion of whether abortions should be legal or
illegal has been a heated debate for thousands of years now. The term abortion
is another way of saying to terminate a pregnancy. In Jeff Jones’s work, “U.S.
Abortion Law”, he tells us that when the Constitution was written more and more
women turned to having abortions due to the 9th and the 14th amendment stating
that women have the right to privacy; this means that the right to make their
own decisions which is included in their confidentiality. Since the
Constitution gives women the right to do as they please with their pregnancies
the topic of abortions has become a huge argument between the pro-life and
pro-choice. The people associated with the group pro-life want to enforce
making abortions illegal whereas the pro-choice group feels as though women
have every right to destroy a fetus for whatever reason. However, it seems cruel and unjust that
unborn children will not be able to enter the world due to the decisions of
their parents. By allowing abortions to
be legal unborn babies’ rights to life are being taking away, the risk
psychological damage increases and the numbers for babies that may possibly be
adopted decreases; abortions cause more harm than good.
By making abortions legal some women automatically turn
to terminating their pregnancy instead of thinking of other possible options.
Just as women have the right to make their own decisions and the right to life,
unborn babies should also be respected with the same rights. Everyone’s opinion
of when life actually begins is different but if you really think about it the
term “pregnancy” is associated with the term “baby”. As we all know a baby is a
human, a living creature which means that the baby is living at the moment of
conception. Because life starts at the moment of conception, it is very
possible that when a mother goes to get an abortion the unborn child can feel
pain and suffering. When interviewed by Annie Murphy Paul, Sunny Anand, an expert
bystander in the case of Carhart v. Ashcroft, said, “If the fetus is beyond 20
weeks of gestation, I would assume that there will be pain caused to the fetus.
And I believe it will be severe and excruciating pain.” When women and
contemplating on whether to get an abortion or not, or even when they are in
the process of getting an abortion they fail to think about what the unborn
fetus is feeling.
In some cases women terminate their pregnancy in order to
prevent stressful situations but will the stress really be prevented? When
women follow through with an abortion they suffer from emotional stress. In a
study by David Fergusson 42% of women who had previously terminated a pregnancy
claimed to have major depression by the time they were 25 years of age whereas
39% claimed to have anxiety after their abortion took place. Another 27% of the
women in the survey stated that they had thoughts of suicide. In addition to
these findings, Fergusson was told that other women began to abuse drugs and
alcohol (Fergusson). Not only will the mother start to feel depressed or
stressed, but it’s likely that the father will also start to feel a little sad
or even guilty. Abortions not only hurt the mother, but the whole family may
possibly be affected by this one decision that can’t be taken back once done.
By allowing women to get abortions we are depriving those
women who are incapable of conceiving the right to a child whom they could have
possibly adopted. The more women that follow through with abortions, the less
children there are in the adoption system. While many may think that this is a
good thing it is actually not. Would one rather have thousands of children
murdered or have thousands of children who can be put in the system and grow up
with a family who will love and care for them? Many families who cannot
conceive rely on these mothers who are incapable of providing for their child.
When a mother terminates a child it seems rather selfish than anything. Why end
a child’s life when a mother could put the child up for adoption and give the
child the chance for a happy and loving life that you can’t give them? Think
about it. As a parent the goal is to do what is best for the child and if a
mother knows that she can’t do just that and another family can, why should she
be selfish and inconsiderate. Let that family who wants to adopt take on the
responsibility. That is what they are there for. In Terry Eastland Article, “The Forgotten option”,
he discusses the severe differences in the numbers of families wanting to adopt
and the numbers of children actually in the system due to the abortion rates.
In the year of 2002 there were over 2 million families waiting to adopt
children but there were only 134,000 children in the United States system that
could actually be adopted. If abortions were to come to an end more couples
would be able to start a family.
Works Cited
“Abortion’s
Deleterious Effect on Women: Comprehensive Study Provides Convincing Evidence
of Psychological Damage.” National Right to Life News 33.1 (2006): 19. MasterFILE
Premier. Web. 3 Nov. 2013
Eastland, Terry. ""The
Forgotten Option"" The Weekly Standard. n.p., 28 Jan. 2003. Web.
03 Nov. 2013
Jeff, Jones.
"Facts about Abortion: U.S. Abortion Law." Facts about Abortion:
U.S. Abortion Law. n.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013.
Jones, Murphy
Annie. “The First Ache.” The New York Times. n.p., 10 Feb. 2008. Web. 21. Oct.
2013.
For Abortions
If abortions were to become illegal
many women would become not only upset, but also even start to think of ways to
take care of the pregnancy on their own. It is known that years ago women would
use home remedies to terminate their pregnancy (Anne). For many years woman
could not afford to pay to travel to different countries where abortions were
legal so they started to attempt to perform the procedure on their own. As it
may sound crazy, women started to harm themselves just to terminate their pregnancy.
This was done by inserting chemicals such as bleach and even alcohol. In
addition to inserting these chemicals inside their bodies, women also began to
penetrate themselves with sharp objects such as needles for knitting, scissors
and some even went to the extreme of using coat hangers. The process of women
attempting their own abortion caused more complications for them than what
would have occurred if abortions were legal from the beginning. The death rate
of women began to increase due to fatal injuries and also poisoning (Era).
Abortions would help keep the
poverty levels down because families wouldn’t have to spend money that they
don’t have on items that they can’t afford. If abortions were to become illegal
several families would go hungry, without clothes and possibly without roofs
over their heads. Why should you have to put your child through a tough,
depressing situation like this? You shouldn’t. The act of terminating a
pregnancy is not as bad as it seems. In reality the parents are really just
doing what is best for their unborn child. In most cases, the act of
terminating a pregnancy is due to low income and parents knowing that their
child will not have the best life; this is not the parents being selfish. In
cases like this one, the parents are doing what is best; the selfish thing for
them to do is to bring a child into the world that they know will not afford,
or even love conditionally.
If abortions were to become illegal,
thousands of women could find themselves in awkward situations. Not only
because they would not be able to terminate the pregnancy, but because if they
were to have a miscarriage, society could possibly take that as an excuse for
“murdering” their unborn (Anne). If a woman was talking about receiving an
abortion and then all of a sudden she told friends or family that she had a
miscarriage it would look problematic. Say abortion was illegal and the woman
was to be question by an authority figure she could have serious consequences
such as being charged for manslaughter and or even being arrested (Anne).
Making abortions illegal would most likely cause more chaos in the world than
necessary. More people would go to court to defend their miscarriages, the numbers
for hungry children would increase, and the numbers of families who are
homeless would most likely increase as well.
In one particular case, Doe V.
Bolton, a married woman who lived in Georgia wished to have an abortion. She
was denied the right to follow through with her plans because she was told that
she did not meet the necessary requirements. In Jones’ article, he listed the
requirements that had to be met in order for women to terminate their
pregnancy. The health of the mother must be at risk, the pregnancy must be a
result of rape, and the final requirement was that the baby had to be deformed.
The district viewed the law to be unconstitutional but still did not issue an
order against the law enforcement. Another court case that is very popular is
Roe V. Wade where a young woman from Texas by the name of Jane Roe was denied
the right to freedom when told that she was not allowed to have an abortion. In
1973, the law changed stating that women were allowed to make their own choices
and abortions became acceptable.
It would be in best interest for not
only women, but society as a whole for abortions to remain legal. As a country,
we want our population to be healthy, and stable; the chances of the majority
of our country staying this way would be decreased if the law on abortion were
to change. While many people may feel as if abortions are completely wrong,
disrespectful, cruel and inhumane abortions actually help out a lot of
families. It takes a lot of thought for a mother to terminate her pregnancy,
but most of the time a mother has no other choice but to follow through. By
making abortions illegal law enforcement would taking away the rights of women
which would be unconstitutional. It is clearly stated that we have the right to
make our choices, so put yourself in that situation. How would you feel if you
were being denied your rights?
Works Cited
Jeff, Jones.
"Facts about Abortion: U.S. Abortion Law." Facts about Abortion:
U.S. Abortion Law. n.p., n.d. Web. 21 Oct. 2013.
Libby, Anne.
"What If Abortion Were Illegal?" Love Joy Feminism. n.p., n.d.
Web. 22 Oct. 2013.
"When
Abortion Was Illegal." When Abortion Was Illegal. n.p., n.d. Web. 21
Oct. 2013.
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