Dear Mr. Shawn Nauman,
This letter is in response to your March 1, 1995 editorial regarding abortion. It must have been very tough at times, growing up with parents who were so young and unprepared for a child. I must commend your parents for doing such a wonderful job of raising a son who grew up to be so vocal with his opinions and thoughts. I realize with your mother being a teenager at the time of your conception, and with the timing of her pregnancy, with regards to the infamous Roe v. Wade decision, that the issue of abortion is perhaps an issue that is very personal one. You make some heart-touching statements in your writing, such as, “she gave up her life so that she could give me mine,” and “I have the pleasure of knowing I am living because she loved me.” I must admit though, it caught me entirely off guard when I got to the point in your column that you revealed that you were indeed pro-choice. You seem like the perfect candidate for someone who would be preaching pro-life.
Mr. Nauman, I ask you, how does your conscience allow you to encourage pro-choice behavior when you know that abortion means murdering a human being? You may contend that a fetus does not fit the profile of a human being because the fetus is not a living human being before birth. Basic biological knowledge easily defeats this statement. Once sperm enters into the vagina, it travels through the cervix and into the Fallopian tubes. Conception usually takes place in the outer third of the Fallopian tube. A single sperm penetrates the mother's egg cell and the developing child gets half of its genetic information, in the form of DNA, from the mother, which resides inside in the egg, and half from the father, which is found in the sperm. The resulting single cell is called a zygote. The zygote spends the next few days traveling down the Fallopian tube and divides to form many attached cells. A ball of cells is produced, each cell including a copy of the genes that will guide the development of the baby. Once about 32 cells have developed, biologists term the developing baby as a morula. With additional cell division, the morula becomes an outer shell of cells with an attached inner group of cells. The developing baby now enters the "blastocyst" stage.
The pro-life stance on abortion is often associated with and defended by traditional Christian beliefs , ; however, this paper will argue that it can and should be defended with secular arguments that appeal to reason and our shared human condition. This paper will try and counter the notion that the argument is simply another battlefield where religion and secular thought meet. Rather, it is an important issue that carries with it heavy implications not only for the religious but also for the secular. The major arguments discussed include the emotional and physical toll on the mother, the societal toll of having abortion legalized, and the rights attributed to every human being; first, however, the stance taken in this paper will be further defined and clarified.
As to any argument, there are two opposing sides when it comes to the matter of abortions. These two opposers usually refer to themselves as “pro-life” and “pro choice”. Pro-life supporters maintain that abortion is wrong and pro-choice believe that it is a woman’s freedom to choose her pregnancy decisions. When it comes to the topic of abortions, most of us will readily agree that it’s a woman’s choice to decide what her reproductive decisions are, i.e. pro-choice. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is in the question of whether or not abortion is a fundamental right granted to women by the Constitution. Whereas some are convinced that a fetus is considered alive at conception, usually citing the word of God, others maintain that
There are many who say that the preborn child is just a mass of tissue, a part of the woman's body. If this were the case, then no one would have any reason to o...
The article “Pro Life vs. Pro Choice” contains very sensitive subjects people argue among a crowd. The author shows a large number of advantages and disadvantages that leave individuals in an uproar while explaining their stance over the subject. Views on religion, myths, and unfit mothers show different arguments to each opposing side throughout the article. Alternatives to abortion and the future aspects have shown many different pieces about pro life and pro choice (Head, 2015). To start, pro life arguments will be stated along with the writer’s opinions. Finally, the writer’s opinions on the subject following pro choice disputes. This provides a clear understanding between the two opposing topics.
One of the biggest issue of abortion goes back to the controversial question of when human life actually begins. Many people will often argue that a fetus is a living being from the moment of conception and feel that it deserves the same legal protections as an adult, therefore making it immoral to kill it. Just like in our court system, we would not put an innocent person on death penalty. The fetus has done nothing wrong and has the right to live. As the editor of Christianity Today wrote, "abortion is one of those monumental issues of justice that comes along once in a lifetime. It is violence against children, a hideous act of poisoning or dismembering tiny bodies, then dumping them in a landfill or garbage disposal." On the other hand, those who are for abortion say that a fetus is only a "potential human being." The advocates for legal abortions want the mother to choose whether she keeps the baby or kills it, and the rights of a mother supersede the rights of a baby. John M. Sw...
In America abortion is one of the most heavily debated topics in recent years. Pro-life or pro-choice? Many people believe it is immoral and even consider abortion to be murder. The definition of abortion states “The termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to being capable of normal growth” Did you know that 1 in 3 women in the U.S. will have an abortion in their lifetime? (Baker, Aspen. "A Better Way to Talk about Abortion." Aspen Baker:. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Aug. 2016.) When first researching this topic I wondered, “What’s the big deal? Why would it matter if someone who was never even born, died?” And I realized that babies that would have been born due to abortion,
One of the most controversial and highly debatable subjects in the minds of the American public today is the topic of abortion. While abortion is seen as murder to some, others look upon it as an extremely safe procedure, offering numerous benefits to the recipient, predominantly being the right to choose. The argument has long been increasingly prevalent in the American political scene for decades, and is now being brought into new light as medical practices advance and technical flaws are effectively worked out. What cannot be altered, however, is the reality that what is being disposed of is in fact, a developing human life. It is this fact that the pro-life argument is based upon. The abortion debate not only revolves around the overall legality of the procedure, but also the conditions taking place that would condone such an operation.
George, the authors discuss about how abortion is morally wrong. According to the authors “human embryos and fetuses are complete (though immature) human beings”. Then they address counter arguments that human embryos are not the same a person because they are not conscious as a person is. The authors respond that human embryos have the “natural capacities” although less developed to reason, therefore according to the authors it makes no sense to say at which point an embryo becomes a person. And the authors conclude that the burden to carry out a pregnancy is less than “killing” the fetus. I also think that is not right to try to label an embryo as a human organism or not a person, it is a human person and it has a right to live. But you cannot force women to carry out a pregnancy they do not want, and no one should have a right to claim over their
According to Don Marquis, the fetus is a person and has the right to live because it is a biological human being and a human being in a moral sense (Lewis,2013, pp. 320). A fetus is a person some may say because it possesses some of the personhood characteristics. In the woman’s womb, a fertilized sperm turns into a blastocyst after 5 days and later turns into an embryo (human fetus), which eight weeks later the fetus develops a brain, heart, and all the other body cells and tissue (Lewis, 2013, pp. 293). At that moment, the fetus is conscious and alive, because the brain is slowly functioning and is pumping blood throughout the whole body. Soon, the fetus would form into a human figure and kick the mother’s tummy, and when the mother places her hand on her tummy, the fetus stops kicking shows a communication or connection. So, it is a wrongful act to abort the fetus because it has the potential to develop into a person.
The issue of abortion is emotionally loaded and this often makes for poor, not thoroughly thought out arguments. The questions: "Is abortion immoral" and "Is abortion a murder" are often confused. The pregnancy (and the resulting foetus) are discussed in terms normally reserved to natural catastrophes (force majeure, in legal lingo). At times, the embryo is compared to cancer: after all, they are both growths, clusters of cells. The difference, of course, is that no one contracts cancer willingly (except, to some extent, smokers --but, then they gamble, not contract). When a woman engages in voluntary sex, does not use contraceptives and gets pregnant - one can say that she signed a contract with her foetus. A contract entails the demonstrated existence of a reasonably (and reasonable) free will. If the fulfilment of the obligations in a contract could be life-threatening - it is fair and safe to assume that no rational free will was involved. No reasonable person would sign or enter such a contract. Judith Jarvis Thomson argued convincingly ("A Defence of Abortion") that pregnancies that are the result of forced sex (rape being a special case) or which are life threatening should or could, morally, be terminated. Using the transactional language : the contract was not entered to willingly or reasonably and, therefore, is null and void. Any actions which are intended to terminate it and to annul its consequences should be legally and morally permissible.
Opponents of the matter, who identify themselves as pro-life, assert that personhood begins at conception, and abortion is therefore the immoral killing of and innocent human being. The staggering numbers and cruel methods are addressed (al...
On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court, in two separate decisions, Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, declared that Congress and the states had to adopt a policy on abortion. Since then, abortion has been one of the most controversial issues in our country today. Every time the subject of abortion is raised, the same question always comes up: should people have the right to terminate an unborn child? The answer is no. No person should have the right to terminate an unborn child which has not yet had the chance to live, no matter what the reason is. Abortion is the termination of an alive, unborn child, which can experience pain through the process of an abortion. There is no need to have an abortion when these children could be put up for adoption instead of being ıaborted.ġ Abortion is the termination of alive, unborn children. How can a person decide just when an unborn fetus becomes a person with constitutional rights. Many people disagree when a fetus becomes an actual person, but the truth is that a fetus becomes a person at the time of conception. An article entitled ıPro-lofe and pro-choice? Yesġ says that, ıFrom the moment of conception, the fetus is endowed with all the genetic information that will enable its development into a full human personġ (Church 108). Technology has advanced very much in the past twenty years and now with the aid of medical technology and the science of fetology, doctors can prove that a fetus is an actual person as early as thirteen weeks of growth (Meyer 62-64). These facts only help to prove that a fetus is an actual person, who deserves the chance to be born. Contrary to belief, a fetus can actually feel pain. The observation of abortions on ultrasound have been very disturbing. So disturbing, that many abortion doctors who have seen the procedure, refuse to participate in abortions again (Meyer 62-64). An article entitled ıFetal positions: Making Abortion rareġ reports that, ıBernard Nathanson, a former director of the National Abortion Rights Action League, who performed thousands of abortions, repudiated the practice in the early 1980's after observing the apparent agony of a fetus subjected to a suction-tip abortionġ (Meyer 62-64). Modern neurology supports the claim that the fetus can experience pain, not just reflex. Reflexive reactions stimulate only the spinal column, but the more complex reactions that stimulate pain occur in the tiny portion of the brain called the thalamus.
Many people who are pro-life see abortions as a direct violation preserving human life. This is one of the trickiest arguments concerning abortion because of the various opinions about what qualifies as a human life. Some say from the moment a human sperm penetrates a human egg, a new entity comes into the world. I believe otherwise. In the first trimester, which is when majority of abortions take place, fetuses and embryos cannot survive without its mother. Since its health is dependent on the mother’s health, it is not considered a separate life and therefore is not considered murder. After all, a person’s age is computed from their birth date, not
The unborn entity surviving inside the mother’s womb is a complete human being and 14 days after the fertilization gastrulation begins which is the initial stage of appearance of spinal column in an embryo (Powell, 2016). Powell (2016) argued that the fertilization is the milestone of personhood, thus the unborn entity should be treated as a person and abortion cannot be morally justifiable. Similarly, some may claim that the appearance of a blood in the embryo begins the personhood. These biological views regarding the personhood does not support the termination of pregnancy because an unborn human entity is a person and has a right to life. Therefore, abortion is an example of killing and ending a human life and it is never morally or ethically
Abortion is defined as a procedure that is done to remove an embryo or fetus from the uterus of its mother in order to prevent its birth (Roth, 2005). Abortion is categorized as a bioethical issue because it relates to the morals of biomedical advances, policies and research. Abortion is a difficult subject that can involve personal morals and beliefs, legality and religious values. The issue is often viewed from either the side of pro-life, which places emphasis on the fetus and its right to life or pro-choice, which emphasizes the rights of the mother to decide the appropriate action (Roth, 2005). This brings the ethical question of should the government have the right to outlaw abortion into debate. The two viewpoints of pro-life and pro-choice explore the two main moral issues concerning abortion (Roth, 2005).