Life, Death, and Politics : A Run-Down Of The Abortion Debate

Résumé du document

Few issues have fostered such controversy as has the topic of abortion.
The participants in the abortion debate not only have firmly-fixed beliefs, but each group has a self-designated appellation that clearly reflects what they believe to be the essential issues. On one side, the pro-choice supporters see individual choice as central to the debate: If a woman cannot choose to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, a condition which affects her body and possibly her entire life, then she has lost one of her most basic human rights. These proponents of abortion believe that while a fetus is a potential life, its life cannot be placed on the same level with that of a woman. On the other side, the pro-life opponents of abortion argue that the fetus is human and therefore given the same human rights as the mother. Stated simply, they believe that when a society legalizes abortion, it is sanctioning murder. In today's more industrialized societies, technology has simplified the abortion procedure to a few basic and safe methods. Technology, however, has also enhanced society's knowledge of the fetus. Ultrasound, fetal therapy, and amniocentesis graphically reveal complex life before birth, and it is this potential human life that is at the heart of the debate. In order to form an opinion on this matter, we must first question and define several common factors which are numerously debated.

Extraits

[...] Supreme Court declared unconstitutional the Texas and Georgia abortion laws. The Texas case, Roe v. Wade, concerned a statue which restricted legal abortions to those deemed necessary to save the woman's life. The Georgia case, Doe v. Bolton, dealt with a state law permitting abortions only when required by the woman's health, or to prevent birth of a deformed child, or when pregnancy resulted form rape. The court's invalidation of these laws implied that similarly restrictive laws in most other states are also unconstitutional. [...]

[...] Is abortion immoral? Pro-life activists would argue that the taking of a human life is wrong no matter what the circumstances or in which tri-mester it is done. The controversy over abortion has avoided the real issue facing today's woman - her need to grow beyond stereotypes. Whenever an individual or group realizes it has been treated unjustly, the first reaction is anger, but often the anger is first expressed as aggression. People outgrowing oppression have so much stored-up bitterness, so many memories of powerlessness and so little knowledge of how to make themselves heard, that violence toward others is the result. [...]

[...] Whether abortion and birth control should be a woman's decision has been a source of controversy throughout history. To defend the morality of choice for women is not to deny reverence toward or appreciation for many women's deep commitment to childbearing and shield nurturance. It does ask that women collectively come to understand that genuine choice with respect to power is a necessary condition of all women. When the day comes that the decision to bear a child is a moral choice, then and only then, the human liberation of women will be a reality. [...]

[...] Life, Death, and Politics: A Run-Down Of The Abortion Debate Introduction Few issues have fostered such controversy as has the topic of abortion. The participants in the abortion debate not only have firmly-fixed beliefs, but each group has a self-designated appellation that clearly reflects what they believe to be the essential issues. On one side, the pro-choice supporters see individual choice as central to the debate: If a woman cannot choose to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, a condition which affects her body and possibly her entire life, then she has lost one of her most basic human rights. [...]

[...] Women with the knowledge and means could usually obtain a reasonably safe abortion, performed by a physician. For women without information and funds, this option was unavailable. It is my personal opinion that abortion must remain legal if we are to uphold the Constitution and respect women as equal individuals. There already is wide agreement that the single most important effect of legalization has been the substitution of safe, legal procedures for abortions that formerly were obtained illegally. This substitution quickly led to a dramatic decline in the number of women who died or suffered serious, sometimes permanent, injury. [...]