Gina, a 13-year-old girl, who was thought to be home alone, was attacked by a seasonal worker who paid rent for a room in the house she lived in. In her bathroom after being raped, the assaulter fled when the mother came home. Later Gina was tested for pregnancy and found out to be 19 weeks pregnant. Luckily for her, a clinic provided the services she needed to abort the fetus. (“Stories About Abortion”). Just like Gina’s horrific account, there are many other assaults that occur, and unfortunately, in multiple cases some states or institutions don’t carry out abortion, deeming it illegal. From a philosophical viewpoint, the right to abort should be universally accepted: When going into the characteristics of a human, Aristotle 's assessment …show more content…
Judith Jarvis Thomson, an American moral philosopher, discussed in her book A Defense of Abortion that a fetus 's life shouldn’t hold more value than a woman 's life - Especially in cases when the woman has been raped or her life is in jeopardy from the fetus. Just like Gina’s story from the beginning, there’s countless more. From “Victims of Sexual Violence: Statistics” it states “On average, there are 288,820 victim 's (age 12 or older) of rape and sexual assault each year in the United States.” It’s a very daunting fact to know how many victims of sexual assault are there annually. Rightfully so, it’s more than acceptable that any of these women that have been impregnated deserve the rights for abortion. Another philosopher, Ronald Dworkin, goes onto say that if a fetus may have detached value, it can’t have rights on its own if it isn’t sentient. (“Liberty, Logic & Abortion”, Goldblatt) He believes that in order for something to possess a right - it must have an interest. Therefore, without an interest, the non-aware fetus can’t obtain rights to avoid the pain. To conclude the whole ordeal over whether the fetus or mother has more rights, the US Supreme Court has already declared abortion to be a fundamental right. An article “Should Abortion Be Legal?” states that a case in the 1970’s (Roe vs. Wade) came out to an approval that the constitution grants the right of privacy is extensive enough for women to make a decision for their own
The birth of a child is usually a wonderful and priceless occasion. However, on June 5, 2015, an eleven-year-old girl gave birth to a newborn girl. Approximately a year before she gave birth, her 40-year-old father repeatedly sexually assaulted her. In this case, the unprepared eleven-year-old child decided to have the baby. This is a prime example that illustrates that the right to abortion should always be vested in the woman.
Over the duration of the last century, abortion in the Western hemisphere has become a largely controversial topic that affects every human being. In the United States, at current rates, one in three women will have had an abortion by the time they reach the age of 45. The questions surrounding the laws are of moral, social, and medical dilemmas that rely upon the most fundamental principles of ethics and philosophy. At the center of the argument is the not so clear cut lines dictating what life is, or is not, and where a fetus finds itself amongst its meaning. In an effort to answer the question, lawmakers are establishing public policies dictating what a woman may or may not do with consideration to her reproductive rights. The drawback, however, is that there is no agreement upon when life begins and at which point one crosses the line from unalienable rights to murder.
An issue that has flared up in today’s society, abortion is a highly debated topic that has sparked some of the most violent discussions. The rapid growth in teenage pregnancy has only increased the amount of attention that has been drawn to abortion and whether it is ethical or not. While some say that a woman is in power of her own body and can make choices based on her best interest, some take much offense to that and demand that a baby is a baby no matter how small it is and that abortion is never okay. It is important to know going into this debate that to argue one side, one would have to be 100% consistent with that decision because of all of the grey areas that come up regarding abortion. With that being said, I still believe that a mother should take responsibility of the situation and recognize that, even though it is minuscule, a baby is a person the moment it begins to develop inside of her.
Abortion has been considered a controversy in the United States for many years. Abortion is the “expulsion of the fetus from the uterus.” (Robert H. Lauer) There are two different types of abortion, miscarriage and induced abortion. Women decided to have abortions for many different reasons and use it as a birth control plan. Many women decide that they can’t have the baby due to schooling, work, money and other responsibilities. Also, many women decide not to have the baby because they are single and don’t want to raise the child alone. (Robert H. Lauer) Although abortion has been legal in the United states recently, it was not legal in many states until 1973. (Thomson Reuters)
Why should any woman be denied the choice to do what she wants with her own body? Women should have the control to decide what is best for their own body without the interference of the government’s laws. Making abortion legal can save and protect the lives of the pregnant woman and unborn fetus. The abortion procedure can help a woman’s life by saving her from financial stress, difficult responsibilities, risky health concerns, emotional disturbances and it also corresponds with the law . The procedure helps the unborn fetus by preventing an irregular health, emotional, and social development.
Abortion, which is defined as a deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, is one of the most controversial issues in society. Many people believe that abortion is unethical and morally wrong, while others believe that it is a woman’s right to decide what to do with her body. According to www.census.gov, “the number of abortions performed annually in the U.S. has leveled off at 1.2 million a year” (1). This statistic supports how many women are choosing abortion. Although abortion is legal in the United States, many people continue to voice their opinions on how it is a human rights violation and should be illegal everywhere.
Today, abortion has become one of the greatest controversies throughout the world. The debate on whether or not abortion should become a legal option continues to dismember not only Americans, but citizens of other countries. There are people who believe abortion is a women’s civil right, and those who consider it as an immoral act. There are those who believe personhood begins at birth, and those who believe personhood begins from the moment of conception. Many contradictory statements lead to the separation of two groups: pro-choice and pro-life. While a pro-choice supports a women’s “right to privacy”, pro-life supporters are against such an action considering it murder, but why force a female to go through such a dramatic change because of a pregnancy?
As I was doing research, I came across an article by Napolitano and I found a startling statistic:
Abortion, defined as the intentional termination of a pregnancy, is one of the most highly debated liberties of all time. Approximately one to three million abortions are performed each year. Women receive abortions for reasons such as rape, teen pregnancy, and health concerns. Unfortunately, it is a liberty that some still wish to eradicate due to religious beliefs and misconceptions. Abortion should remain a legal option for women because illegal abortions result in far more fatalities, religion does not serve as grounds for a law, and most importantly, there is no conclusive evidence that a fetus is equal to a human being.
Women have the right to choose whether or not they want to have the baby, in cases such as rape. In this case, the women might not want to have the baby because she might be mentally traumatized by the incident. Having the baby could be a constant reminder to her about what she went through. If a woman gets raped, they might also end up with an STD that could have an effect on the fetus. According to The Orlando Women’s Center, nearly thirteen thousand have abortions each year because they were raped. As liberals would say, a fetus at very early stages is not a human life. Therefore, if the woman wants an abortion, she is not harming anyone in the process; in fact, she is most saving herself from going through all this trouble of taking care of the baby.
In 1973, the United States Supreme Court ruled that under the 14th Amendment, abortion is a woman’s decision. The ruling, in the case of “Roe vs. Wade”, further states a woman has a right to an abortion until “viability” which is defined as being able to live outside of the mother’s womb. Viability usually occurs around 28 weeks or 7 months. This means that a woman can abort a baby just two months before it is born. I strongly disagree with this ruling because this is killing innocent babies. Furthermore, many medical doctors confirm the fetus can feel pain as early as 18 weeks. Dr. Emidio Novembre spoke before the U.S. House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee. According to Dr. Novembre, “The fetus can perceive the pain, feel the pain and tries to avoid the pain. The fetus is a person and the person wants to live” (Reinhard). The fetus pain debate goes back at least as far as 1984, when President Ronald Reagan said, “Medical-science doctors confirm that when the lives of the unborn are snuffed out, they often feel pain, pain that is long and agonizing” (Yarrow). This evidence proves the fetus is a person and the attempts to kil...
Abortion has been a controversial topic in the U.S ever since it became legal in 1973 after the Roe v. Wade case. Abortion is defined as the, “the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy.” Pro-life supporters believe that abortion is unethical and argue that it is the mother’s responsibility to own up to her actions. They also argue that there is always the option of adoption, and that abortion could be very dangerous. I am pro-life and believe that the government doesn’t have the right to decide what a woman can or can’t do with her body.
The aftermath of Roe vs. Wade, when Jane Roe successfully had abortion legalized in various places, many abortion clinics all over the country sprung up. Clinics like Planned Parenthood and NARAL “sought to give the right meaning by ensuring both the newly legal abortion would be accessible and that women seeking abortions would not be victimized by inflated prices or untrained doctors performing unsafe office abortions” (Tribe 142). There are many reasons women seek abortion. Many pro-choice people say that a rape victim should not have to give birth to her attacker’s child, and to do so is attacking ...
Women should have the right to decide whether or not they would like to have an abortion. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines abortion as; “the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus.” The idea of a woman’s right to have an abortion being taken away is merely incomprehensible.
Abortion is a very controversial issue in our society. However, people tend to feel differently about abortions for rape victims. The contriversy over the abortion issue is that if a woman is responsible enough to go through the actions to become pregnant, she should be able to have the child. Churches believe that abortion is murder. However, if a woman is raped, she did not give her consent to have sexual intercourse with the offender. According to Schuman and Scott, although there are many people that have mixed feelings about abortion, in other words they believe that it is okay at some times, but at other times they feel that it is wrong, the most extreme pro-life people still believe that abortion is wrong “when pregnancy results from rape or incest.” (Schuman and Scott 786) In these situations, however, pro-choice believe that women have as much right to choose what happens to their body. According to Kimmel, in some states abortion is only legal in “cases of rape or of a threat to the mother’s health” (Kimmel 255).