Abortion And Murder Essay, Research Paper
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
aborted. 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 Pro-lofe and pro-choice? Yes
says that, From the moment of conception, the fetus is endowed with all
the genetic information that will enable its development into a full human
person (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 Fetal positions: Making Abortion
rare reports that, Bernard 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 abortion (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. Neurologists can detect the thalamus and the
central-nervous-system functions in the human fetus as early as the eighth week
of growth (Meyer 62-64). So, how can people justify abortion by saying that a
fetus is not a person until the time of birth? There are currently one million
five hundred thousand parents who are waiting to adopt a child. These parents
could give unwanted children love and a place in which to grow up. Every year,
nearly one million six hundred thousand unborn children are aborted. According
to the article Fetal positions: Making abortin rare,
Women wanting to rid themselves of viable infants can generally do so as
easily by delivering them and then turning them over to adoptive parents as by
aborting them (Meyer 62-64). These unwanted children would be given to
someone who would care for them as their own, and the mothers of these unborn
children would not have to worry about the responsibility of raising them.
Everyone would come out ahead, especially the unborn child. Abortionists claim
that unborn children are not human people. The article Pro-life and
pro-choice? Yes claims that, A potential human person is not yet
an actual human person. Thus abortion, if repellent, is not exactly
murder (Church 108). But on what possible justification can there be for
the termination of a seven month old unborn child, when heroic medical measures
are often taken to save an even younger childs life at a mothers
wish (Meyer 62-64). There is no way to say that an unborn fetus is not a human
person when there are plenty of facts to claim that it is. Once a child is
conceived, it is on its way to becoming a human person. There is no way to stop
the process of growth from happening, unless the fetus is aborted. Abortionists
also claim that it is the right of a woman to be able to choose if she wants to
have an abortion. Jessica Feierman, whose mother is an abortion doctor, says,
Im pro-choice because I believe that as women, we must be the
ones to make decisions about our bodies and we should have the right to be safe
with whatever choices we make (82). In the Roe v. Wade decision, the
Supreme Court declared that the rights of the fetus never eclipsed those of the
mother (Meyer 62-64). But what of the rights of the unborn child? An unborn
child is incapable of protecting itself and needs someone to protect it from
harm. This someone should be its mother, but sadly, it is usually the
mother that the unborn child needs protection from. There needs to be some sort
of law which protects these unborn children from needless death. There have been
a few court cases in which unborn children have been protected. In 1981, the
state of Georgia obtained the right to make a mother have a caesarean section,
against her will, to save her unborn childs life. More of these types of
cases should be enforced to save the needless deaths of unborn children.
Abortion is a subject throughout the world that desperately needs to be
addressed. The countless abolishing of unborn children needs to end. If people
would just look at all of the facts on abortion and realize that it is
senseless, then maybe some of these potential human lives could be saved.
Everyone deserves the right to be born, regardless of sex, color, or physical
handicaps. These unborn children deserve the right to grow up and become someone
in this world, not be terminated even before they get the chance to begin life.
Church, George J. Pro-life and pro-choice? Yes. Time 6 March
1995: 108. Feierman, Jessica. Stand by your mom. Seventeen
December 1994: 82. Larson, Edward J. Personhood: current legal
views. Second Opinion July 1990: 40. Meyer, Stephen C. Fetal
positions: Making abortion rare. National Review 20 March 1995: 62-64.