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July Villa ESL 101 David shnaiderman July 17 2000 Pro-life side of abortion Abortion is defined as the induced termination of pregnancy and expulsion of an embryo or fetus that is incapable of survival. Abortion can be either a spontaneous abortion (miscarriage), or a medically induced termination of pregnancy. The sides of abortion are the pro-life, which is the side against abortion, and pro-choice, which is the side that supports it. This issue should be illegal except in cases of rape and danger to the mother, cause the unborn person should have the rights to live and to have the same opportunities as anybody else, even though if it doesn t have the love from the mother, it should be give up for adoption. There should be more education on how to prevent it from happening from school support groups and from the department of education as Robert franco eur says in his book tanking sides. The pro-life side argues that a fetus is a person and should have the right to live.
But what does all this visualization of the fetus tell us about the issue of fetal person hood? If the fetus looks human, is it necessarily human? Ethics and philosopher Joseph Fletcher warns that the powerful visual images of the fetus in the uterus seduce many into a proleptic fallacy; that is, in their anticipation of the future birth, they describe the fetus as a person and attribute person hood to it as if it had already been born. To understand why abortion should be illegal there has to be an overview to the ethical question of abortion, and the value of a human life.
Also the different aspects and opinions on these issues, those aspects are: It s history, What does the bible have to say in this issue, the doctor s point of view and should he know when does a life becomes a human life, a woman s point of view and the different types of laws that regard this issue. Even though abortions are legal, there are some laws to regulate it. Bell and Howell information and learning Critical Issue Essay: Teen Pregnancy says that: Until the 12 th week of pregnancy, medically induced abortion is a matter between a girl her physician. After the 12 th week, some states have laws that may regulate abortion according to the teenagers health.
After the 24 th week of pregnancy, many states have laws, which regulate and even prohibit abortion except in cases. There have been a lot of opinions regarding the sides of abortion and at what part of reproduction does a fetus is considered a biological live. An overwhelming majority of the experts answered emphatically that biological life begins at conception or implantation. Pro-abortionist failed to produce even a single expert witness who would testify that life begins at some point other than conception or implantation.
Some pro-abortionist did present an interesting alternative point of view, which has become popular over the past several decades. This alternative viewpoint basically sees all life as a continuum with no specific beginning. It considers the continuum to run from sperm and egg, to single-cell zygote, to multi-cell blastocyst, to embryo, to fetus, to newborn, etc. this view is attractive because it supports the right of each mother and doctor to individually choose when in the continuum the fetus becomes a person. Unfortunately, this new approach fails to reckon with the obvious scientific fact that there is a definite starting point in human biological life.
At conception the sperm and eggs, each of which contains only part of the genetic material required to form a person, merge to form a new unique biological entity. Unlike the sperm or egg, the diploid zygote possesses a unique human genotype and the power of full differentiation, without which no human life can be expresses. The haploid sperm and egg are only parts of the potential for human life. The zygote is biological human life. As Bell and howell says in their essay: Teen Pregnancy.
Bioethics refers to the application of moral reasoning to issues raised by medical treatments, technologies, and the life sciences. Bioethical decisions are quite simply life choices -choices regarding the meaning of life, its beginning, the quality of its continuation, and its end. Bioethical issues include the allocation of health care resources, life-prolonging treatments, organ transplantation, euthanasia, physician-assisted suicide, abortion, new reproductive technologies, and recent advances in genetics diagnosis and therapy. Such issues often prove controversial and divisive. Occasionally, bioethical questions leave us puzzled and confused: new medical treatments and technologies often do not come with sufficient precedents to guide our moral reasoning. where the life of the girl is in danger.
Illegal abortions, although rare in the US, are common worldwide; they carry a high risk of complications, including perforation of the uterus, and severe bleeding. Infertility or death often results. statistics show on Britannica s All sides to the issue that most induced abortions are performed sometime during the first two months of pregnancy when the fetus is one inch or less long. Over 90 % of abortions are performed during the first trimester (the first three months); they total about 1. 2 million / year in the US. About 140, 000 second trimester abortions are performed yearly; they represent 9 % of the total. One common reason for abortions at the latter stage of pregnancy is that an amniocenteses procedure has detected that the fetus has a serious genetic defect.
With currently approved technology, these procedures can only be done later in pregnancy. (An experimental non-invasive blood test is currently being evaluated in the U. S. ) Another common reason is that the woman is young and in denial about her pregnancy, and does not seek an abortion until she can hide it no longer. In the ancient cultures there are a few recorded legal prohibitions against abortion in antiquity; there are even fewer ancient laws protecting the practice. Abortion may not have been a prevalent issue in ancient times.
Killing the baby outside the womb after delivery, however, was a prominent subject of debate much like abortion is today, for most of the same reasons. Hippocrates, the father of the modern medicine and sopranos the greatest of the ancient gynecologist, both opposed abortion, though whether this was for protection of the mother or fetus is not clear. The Hippocratic oath, formulated around 400 BC and taken verbatim by U. S. physicians until recently, clearly prohibits abortion; however, it has been contested on almost all points since the day it was written. The Bible never mentions the word abortion, as a result some people wold say that this practice is not prohibit, but the Bible appears to be silent on the topic of abortion.
There are some quotes of some anti-abortion authors on the opinion of the Bible in this issue: John T. Noonan said: the Old Testament has nothing to say on abortion. And John Connery said: if anyone expects to find an explicit condemnation of abortion in the New Testament, he will be disappointed. The silence of the New Testament regarding abortion surpasses even that of the Old Testament. Spontaneous abortions, or miscarriages, occur for many reasons, including disease, trauma, or genetic or biochemical incompatibility of mother and fetus. Occasionally a fetus dies in the uterus but fails to be expelled, a condition termed a missed abortion.
Illegal abortions, although rare in the US, are common worldwide; they carry a high risk of complications, including perforation of the uterus, and severe bleeding. Infertility or death often results. The woman point of view is very important, since she is the one going through the thought process of deciding if the child should live or not, as Caroline Garage says in her home page: that basic fact is simple: life begins not at birth, but at conception. The beginning of human life is not religious, moral or philosophical issue: it is a scientific and biological one. From the time those 23 cromornes become 46 onward, the unborn is a living, developing individual with a unique genetic makeup.
Some woman feel that the medical community should emphasize on finding safe and effective birth control that would eliminate the need for abortion. That would be the easiest solution, because the debate will still rage on, and some abortions will still occur. But before effective birth control is found, before society changes its attitude toward pregnancy, and makes it more acceptable for woman or young girls to be pregnant. The law opinion of the subject is based on the English law. Henry Brandon, the father of the common la, apparently regarded abortion (at least after 5 or 6 weeks) as homicide and it seems that at early common law abortion was a felony, and, therefore, a hanging offense. Later commentators, Coke and Blackstone, held expressly that abortion after quickening was not the crime of murder, but a separate crime.
The American law, before general codification of law became commonplace in the 19 th century; criminal law was based on the common law inherited from England. Therefore, states followed the law, as it existed in England. Exactly what this was could vary depending on when the state is said to have received the common law. There have been some judicial cases involving abortion the most popular one was the case of Roe v. Wade.
Even though the court legalizes abortion in all 50 states after this case I m opposed to the legalization of it, To summarize this case, (Roe v. Wade: First step or misstep) A pregnant single woman brought a class action challenging the constitutionality of the Texas criminal abortion laws, which proscribed procuring or attempting an abortion except on medical advice for the purpose of the saving the mother s life. The plaintiff s assertion was that prohibiting abortion at any time before birth violated a woman s constitutional right to privacy. In deciding the case the court attempted to avoid the issue of when life begins. Justice Blackmum, writing for the majority, asserted, we need not to resolve the difficult question of when life begins this judiciary is not in a position to speculate as to the answer. The court then ruled the constitutional right of privacy was broad enough to encompass a woman s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.
In other words, abortion should be a private matter between a woman and her doctor. However, the court also ruled that the privacy right involved cannot be said to be absolute. In particular, a state may properly assert important interest in safeguarding health in maintaining medical standards, and in protecting potential life (abortion perspective). This ruling has several significant flaws, because the court ruled that the constitutional to privacy protected abortion in part because it was not possible to reach agreement on when life begins, asserting that a woman should be allowed to make her own choice in this matter at least up to a certain point. But in defining that certain point the court introduced the viability s the beginning of meaningful life. This is illogical, causes on the one hand on the idea that life is beginning is indeterminate and on the other hand on a definition of when meaningful life begins.
Also, it raises the obvious question of the validity of the court s definition of meaningful life and their determination of its starting point. With regard to the former, nowhere in the ruling does the court ignored modern scientific evidence concerning the beginning of biological life. In conclusion, there has been a lot of opinions on this side of abortion, that have been stated in this paper, those where, the laws from the Bible, the Ancient history and the medical viewpoint. Some of these opinions may have been on the other side of abortion, but that still doesn t gives the right to nobody to play the role of god and decide who is going to live and who is not. Pro-life gives a change to the unborn without evens knowing what kind this child accomplish during his live. Since the fetus is not capable of speaking his mind this side tries to defend him and stand up for him in does life changing moments when a mother decides to have an abortion or (the best alternative) not having it.
Pro-life groups are very active at the state level and have successfully influenced legislators and governors into creating many laws that restrict abortion. Many of the laws have been ineffectual; they are so broadly worded that they are usually declared unconstitutional shortly after having been signed into law. Those laws that survive are not particularly effective; they often merely deflect abortion seekers to nearby states. At this time, compromise between pro-life and pro-choice supporters appears to be impossible.
Scientific research has successfully shown that abortion causes many psychological side effects. It leaves the woman with many strong feelings about their decision. They feel sadness, wishing things could have been different and grief for a lost life. Guilt arises because they know a fetus represents an independent life. Anger builds up towards other people having to do with their decision.
Sometimes the mother may feel that she has in fact been abandoned. Most of the entire mothers feel ashamed and embarrassed about her action. People close to the mother may be angry with her for ending her pregnancy and make it difficult for her to deal with. Even years after the abortion, women tent to remember the regretful experience. Word cited page Abortion perspective Bible.
What the Bible has to say about abortion? July 14 2000. web Abortion perspective law. Roe v. wade: first step or misstep July 12 2000. web Abortion perspective medicine.
Shouldn t a doctor know when life begins? July 12 2000. web Abortion perspective history. Interpreting the past July 13 2000. web Bell and Howell information and learning Critical Issue Essay: Teen Pregnancy July 14 2000.
web Britannica online encyclopedia. Abortion, euthanasia, and the value of human life July 15 2000. web Britannica online encyclopedia. All sides to the issue July 15 2000. web Howell, Joseph H and Sale, William Frederick. Life choices.
Washington, D. C. : George Town university, 1995. Riddle, John M. Eve s Herbs. Massachusetts: Harvard university press, 1997.
Franco eur, Robert t. Taking sides. Dushkin publishing group, 1996. Risen, James &# 038; Thomas, Judy L. Wrath of Angels the American Abortion War.
Basic Books, 1998. Weir, Robert F. Physician assisted suicide. Indiana: Indiana university press, 1997. State abortion laws. State abortion laws web
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