Many have pondered upon the meaning of abortion. The argument being that every
child born should be wanted, and others who believe that every child conceived
should be born (Sass vii). This has been a controversial topic for years. Many
people want to be able to decide the destiny of others. Everyone in the United
States is covered under the United States constitution, and under the 14th
Amendment women have been given the choice of abortion. In 1973, Harry A.
Blackmun wrote the majority opinion that it's a women's right to have an
abortion. Roe v. Wade legalized abortion. Even though these people have been
given the right, the case is not closed. Pro-life activists carry a strong
argument, and continue to push their beliefs. They feel so strongly about these
beliefs that violence has broken out in some known instances. Pro-choice
activists, on the other hand, also carry very strong points. They believe that
the child inside them is their property and it's life doesn't be until birth. In
1973, the United States Supreme Court decided that as long as the baby lived in
the womb, he or she would be the property of the mother. Because of this
decision almost every third baby conceived in America is killed by abortion,
over one and a half million babies a year (Willke vii). Many countries have
followed our decision on the abortion issue and some of these include Canada,
England, and France. Other countries still believe abortion should be illegal,
they include Germany, Ireland, and New Zealand. Although many believe that
abortion is a women's choice, abortion should be banned because its immoral and
life begins at conception. Abortion is the choice of a women whether or not she
want's to receive one. Under the 14th Amendment's "personal liberty"
women are given the right to receive an abortion. The 14th Amendment's concept
of "personal liberty" and restrictions on state action is enough to
allow a women's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy. The right to
choose to have an abortion is so personal and essential to women's lives that
without this right women cannot exercise other fundamental rights and liberties
guaranteed by the Constitution (Paltrow 72). The state can't interfere in the
private lives of a citizen. Without the right to choose an abortion the 14th
Amendment's guarantee of liberty has little meaning for women. With the right to
choose abortion, women are able to enjoy, like men, the rights to fully use the
powers of their minds and bodies (Paltrow 73). A man can withdraw from a
relationship as soon as he finds out about a pregnancy. There is no question of
his involve t after that, he has made his choice. It is only fair to say that
women should be given the same choice. If one doesn't want to hold the
responsibilities of a child than she should be able to have the choice of
abortion in her options." Because contraceptives fail, and because they are
not always available or possible to use, abortion is necessary if people are to
be able to determine whether and when to "bear or beget a
child"(Paltrow 72). Couples choose the alternative of abortion so they can
start or expand their families when they feel most ready and able to care for
them. Women choose to have an abortion because pregnancy and childbirth can
prevent them from keeping their jobs, from feeding their families, and from
serving others in ways they consider necessary and appropriate. Pregnancy and
child birth may determine whether a women ever gets to start or complete her
education, which will significantly influence her ability to support herself and
her family. The availabilit y of abortion makes it possible for people not only
to choose the number of children they want, but also to create the kind of
family life they have always wanted for themselves, to meet their
responsibilities. If a women cannot choose to terminate an unwanted pregnancy,
she is denied the right to the "possession and control" of her own
body. One of the most sacred rights of common law is to choose and if a women
can't do this than their most important possession is taken away. Abortion isn't
only a women's right, it's a women's choice. However, allowing abortion to be
legal is immoral. A pre- born child is given the status of a "product of
pregnancy" and never seen as the miracle only a women can create.
Compassion for the small one is drowned out under a demand for
"rights", but what about the rights for the unborn. "A women has
a right to her own body" is an idea more and more women are realizing, but
that idea ignores the unborn child's right to his or her body. Never, in modern
times, has the state granted to one citizen the right to have another killed in
order to solve their personal, social, or economic problems. the embryo is its
own being that should have it's own rights to protect it. The zygote is a unique
genetic being (Zindler 27). If one was to abort an embryo than that embryo, that
human life would never be duplicated. A scientist that may have found the cure
to A.I.D.S. would be killed. There is a better way to solve our problems than by
killing children. A fertilized egg is the most beauti , most innocent being that
we could ever create, and can redeem even the worst of our mistakes. This
fertilized egg is not just a mass of tissue, for if it were than there would be
no debate. A fetus feels pain. Ultra sound, fetoscopy, study of the fetal EKG
(electrocardiogram) and fetal EEG (electroencephalogram) have demonstrated the
remarkable responsiveness of the human fetus to pain, touch and sound (willke
64). The fetus responds to light, heat, cold, and taste. Observations of the
fetal movements in saline abortions indicates that the fetus experiences
discomfort as it dies. One doctor who, the New York Times, wrote
"conscientiously performs" saline abortions stated, "when he
injected the saline, he often saw an increase in fetal movements" (Willke
64). In another case, a film using mew sonographic techniques, shows the outline
of the child in the womb thrashing to resist the suction device before it tears
off the head. Then you see the dead child dismembered child and t he head
crushed (Edwards 40). This is murder. Nobody who sees this film will speak again
of "painless" abortion. After the doctor who performed this procedure
saw this film, he never performed another abortion again. But, many doctors
still do perform abortion, and in some instances a live child is killed.
"About once a day, somewhere in the United States, something goes wrong and
an abortion results in a live baby" (Willke 76). Forty five out of six
hundred and seven mid trimester abortions done in Connecticut in 1974-1976
resulted in live births (Willke 76). In these cases the child was killed in cold
blooded murder. It is immoral to kill, therefore abortion is immoral. Finally,
abortion should be banned because life begins at conception. The individual sex
cell consists of 23 chromosomes. It is only through combination, however, that
the sex cells contain the full complement of heredity units that defines a human
being (Shettles 17). This procedure of combination defines conception. After the
merger of the two sex cells 46 chromosomes are present. This is what makes a
human being. The merger is complete within twelve hours, at which time the egg
is fertilized and becomes known technically as the "zygote". The
inherited characteristics of a unique human being has been established, and in
no circumstances will it change (Shettles 17). Nothing from this time on, until
death, will anything be added. The definition of alive is that a being is
growing, developing, maturing, and replacing its own dying cells. It means not
being dead. At the very time conception begins the zygote is growing,
developing, maturing, and replacing its own dying cel It's alive. The
single-celled fertilized ovum cannot by any stretch of the imagination be
considered part of a women's body. This new living being has a genetic set up
unlike anyone else's, totally different from the cells of the mother's body. It
makes no difference to assume that human life is more human post-born than
pre-born. What is critical to figure out is if it is or isn't human life, and of
coarse it is human life. At 18 days the heart is pumping through a closed
circulatory system, with blood whose type is different from that of the mother.
At 40 days the brain begins to function. In the 16th week motion has been
detected. At 6 and 1/2 weeks all twenty milk-teeth buds are present. During the
eighth week the baby's stomach secretes gastric juice, and all it's body system
is present. The baby dreams, thinks, and feels pain. This is definitely a child,
and no one on the face of this earth would be here if they weren't conceived. In
summary, abortion can be justified by a women's right to choose, but it should
be banned because it's immoral and life begins at conception. Women have been
given the right to have an abortion under the United States Constitution, but
this right is still being protested by the people that fight for the unborn's
rights. Pro-life activists claim that its immoral because it is simply defined
as murder. Life begins at conception is another strong point brought up by
pro-life activists. Before a child is born it is given all it's necessities to
survive. Notice the operative word is before. Before birth the childs heart
beats, the gastric juices flow in the stomach, and all its necessary organs have
been made present. This is a child that thinks, dreams, and feels pain. Yes,
some women may look at having an abortion to solve her personal problems, but in
all, women are abandoning the abortion because it weakens their great strengths:
creation, compassion and the ability to loo eneath the surface of appearance of
things. Maybe soon the abortion issue will reverse, and people will see the
rights of the unborn as greater importance than that of a personal right.