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.