Abortion

This is my latest essay for my English class. It is about abortion. I am very passionate about this subject and I feel I did very well on this essay. It is a 5 page research paper and I wasn't allowed to make it an opinion paper (and if some of you know me, you know that's hard for me to keep out of something like this). The underlined words/phrases are what I added to the original. My computer isn't letting my copy and paste the final (without the underlined stuff), so you'll just have to deal with the lines.

            
In January 1972, our country legalized abortions.
Roe v. Waderemains one of the most divisivelawspassed on a Federal level. Since the passing of Roe v. Wade, 52,000,000 babies have been aborted. Abortion is the act in which a doctor removes an unborn child from the mother’s womb. It is a very controversial matter. The clinics claim that it is safe and legal, although it isn’t the safest choice. 90 percent of abortions are performed because the baby is unwanted or an inconvenience. The earliest form of abortions dates back to Ancient Egyptian times, and it is still used to this day. Margaret Sanger started one of the most well known organizations in the country, Planned Parenthood, in 1939. Her goal was to wipe out the “impurities” of our nation. There are two sides to the abortion argument, Pro-life and Pro-choice. Pro-life is the side that claims that abortion is a bad thing and Pro-choice believes that abortion is the best choice for unwanted pregnancies. Now, I personally am pro-life, but I do look at it from both sides before making any arguments or decisions on this subject. I write from both sides of the argument so my paper will be as accurate as possible. I do not want what I say to sway you to either side, but instead inform you so that you can come to your own conclusion.

            Abortion is where a doctor, specializing in abortions, removes an unborn child -or fetus- from the mother’s womb. It is safer to use a doctor who is properly trained in this area. Most abortions are performed because the women cannot take care of the baby. Whether they aren’t mature enough or they don’t have the money for it. Others are because the women just do not want the baby and therefore want to get rid of it as soon as possible. Some people who are pro-life dub abortions as the “easy way out” for this reason. The clinics say that abortion is safe and legal, but others say it is not and should be illegal. There is currently a political debate in progress over this subject of life and illegalizing abortions.

            The first discovered description of abortions is from Ebers Papyrus, dating back to Ancient Egyptian times. According to the Ebers Papyrus, the earliest form of abortions is herbal abortifacients. This is basically using herbs to cause a miscarriage. There is also another method of abortion. Some call it the abortion pill. When the egg implants itself into the womb, the woman’s body creates a certain hormone called progesterone, which
allows
 the fertilized eggto attach itself to the lining of the uterus (the endometrium). This abortion pill (or as known in Europe: RU-486) prevents the body from producing this hormone causing the uterine lining to break down into a menstrual period, flushing out the fertilized egg. Women to this day still do this as a method of abortion, although it was illegal for a while. The most common method of abortion is the aspiration method. In this process, a tiny tube connected to a vacuum aspirator machine suck out the contents of the uterus. This procedure takes about ten minutesand is the same procedure as a DNC. These are all first trimester methods. One of the second trimester proceduresis a chemical procedure. This method is rarely used, for it is not totally safe. The third trimester is more difficult, as the baby can now live outside the womb. In order to abort these babies the woman is induced and the baby is terminated. This method is called a partial birth abortion.

            Margaret Sanger is the founder of one of the most well known abortion and women’s health organizations in the country, Planned Parenthood. She established it in 1939 and it has been going strong for over
7
50 years. Planned Parenthood started out as American Birth Control League, and was later changed to Birth Control Federation of America. One of Sanger’s motives for starting this organization was to get rid of the African American race. She thought that by doing this she could “purify” America, cleanse it from the poor, disabled, and colored.

            The pro-life or right-to-life group believes that the unborn child has a right to live. Some believe that life begins at conception and others believe that life starts when the fertilized egg places itself in the womb. They believe that abortion is murder and demolishes the rights the child has. A lot of pro-life activists use the Bible to back up their arguments. This can be useful because the Bible does imply that abortion is wrong. Exodus 23:7 states: “Be sure never to charge anyone falsely with evil. Never sentence an innocent or blameless person to death, for I never declare a guilty person to be innocent.”(NLT) When an innocent, defenseless, blameless fetus is aborted, it is directly defying this statement. There is another option. If the woman decides she does not want to keep the baby, she can decide to give it up for adoption. The Bible also talks about adoption as a very good thing in Ephesians 1:5; “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”(NLT) Adoption should be the first choice a woman goes to or thinks of if she has decided not to keep the child. Pro-lifers believe that abortions are unsafe and should be illegal. There are many different side effects to having an abortion. Abortion can tear the cervical muscle, the abortion tools can pierce the womb – which can lead to miscarriages or other problems during pregnancy later on. Some women are even unable to become pregnant again after having an abortion.
The women
can also be struck by depression. Some are so weighted down by the emotional stress that they wind up committing suicide.

            Another part of this debate is whether or not the fetus is actually alive. The pro-life group believes that the fetus is alive and human. They believe that since the fetus is an unborn baby, it deserves the same rights to life as everyone else. There is evidence that the fetus is alive. For one thing, the word conception means “to begin” or “the beginning”. Research shows that after three weeks, or more specifically - 22 days, after conception the fetus has a detectable heartbeat. After six weeks, it has detectable brainwaves and is able to feel pain at 12 weeks. It can have dream sleep (REM) at week 17 and recognize its mother’s voice at 20 weeks. There is proof that the fetus can feel pain, video footage of a fetus moving away from an abortion tool. This footage has been showed in many different occasions. Pro-lifers believe that the fetus really is a baby. Actually, the word fetus literally means “unborn child” so that is more proof that the fetus is alive and a baby.

            The pro-choice group has a different view of these things. First off, they believe that life starts when the baby is born, or the beginning of the third trimester (the last three
months
 of pregnancy). Abortions are not allowed after the third trimester has started, unless the life of the mother is in danger. The pro-lifers say that abortion is sin, but many pro-choicers do not feel the same way. They believe that an abortion is simply getting rid of something they did not want. Some pro-choicers also say that quoting the Bible won’t get pro-lifers anywhere in this debate. They believe that the fetus is not alive and that it does not deserve the same human rights as those living. They do not believe that the fetus feels pain or is even human yet. It is not a child to them and should not have the right to live. They also think that, if the child has the possibility of being handicapped or of being put in a bad situation (a poor family or a teenage mother), that they are doing it a favor by aborting it. The pro-choice group portrays abortion as a very good thing and as a way to help women who do not want to care for a child.

            Abortion is a very heavy topic and a serious matter. It’s something that should not be taken lightly. Again, this paper was not written to persuade you to choose a certain side, but rather to let you know what is happening and to help you to make an informed decision. Abortion is when a woman acts on the decision not to have a baby, and decides to have it taken out of her body. There are many different abortion and women’s health clinics around the country but the most well known is Planned Parenthood. Founded by Margaret Sanger in 1939 and going strong since. There are various methods of abortion and each is performed with care.
Both sides of this debate
have their own pros and cons. The Pro-life side believes that the fetus is alive and human, deserving of human rights, while the pro-choice side believes that the fetus is not alive and that the mother’s right should be top priority since she had rights first. Both sides use great arguments defending their views and beliefs. The pro-life group uses the Bible and scientifically proven facts- just to name a couple, while pro-choice go off of other resources. Some pro-choicers even use Bible references, but most of them do not. Although I have found many of the verses they have used to be misinterpreted or used incorrectly. Most people can agree that a woman should have a choice, though the pro-life side says that abortion should not be one of those choices. Abortion can be a terribly gruesome episode or it can be a relief, depending on how you look at it; from the pro-life perspective or the pro-choice perspective. It’s your choice.