Debate speech
Good afternoon,
We are gathered here today to engage in a debate as to whether abortion should be allowed
or not. Before getting into the debate and my position on it, I feel the need to define an
abortion and what the current status quo regarding this issue is.
The truth is that abortion can be classified into two categories:
a) Voluntary abortion, which is defined by dictionary.com as “the removal of
an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy”
b) Spontaneous abortion, which dictionary.com again defines as “the expulsion
of a fetus before it is viable”
Today, we will be specifically concentrating on the former, a voluntary abortion.
Currently in the United States, the current status quo is defined by the decision taken by the
Supreme Court on the case of Roe vs Wade. According to the Cornell Law School records,
The Court decided the following:
“a) For the stage prior to approximately the end of the first trimester, the abortion decision
and its effectuation must be left to the medical judgment of the pregnant woman's attending
physician.
(b) For the stage subsequent to approximately the end of the first trimester, the State, in
promoting its interest in the health of the mother, may, if it chooses, regulate the abortion
procedure in ways that are reasonably related to maternal health.
(c) For the stage subsequent to viability the State, in promoting its interest in the
potentiality of human life, may, if it chooses, regulate, and even proscribe, abortion except
where necessary, in appropriate medical judgment, for the preservation of the life or health
of the mother.”
Basically the rights of a mother to abort before the first three months of pregnancy and if
her life is threatened are protected through this decision.
My personal belief is that abortion is wrong on all instances because:
1) Abortion IS murder. When a woman takes the decision to get an abortion, an
innocent life is put to an end even before it gets to know this world. Doesn’t sound
fair, does it?
2) Aside from abortion, there are other alternatives which save the life of the infant if
he/she is not desired. The mother could, upon birth, give the child out for adoption.
In fact, as CNN reports, Ms “Roe” whose actual last name is McCorvey, has now
turned into a pro-life activist. When the case was filed she was 21 and on her third
pregnancy. She actually never had an abortion and gave birth to a girl, who was
given up for adoption.
3) In cases where the life of the mother is compromised, it is my belief that if given the
choice, doctors will perform the abortion just to be safe, when they could do more
to try and save both lives. Let me share with you a little personal anecdote. When
my grandmother was pregnant with my father, her life was threatened. Doctors
approached my grandfather and told him to decide whether to save his wife or his
son, to which my grandfather responded: save both. My grandmother survived, and
obviously so did my father. Had my grandfather taken the easy way out, I wouldn’t
even be here today.
However, my personal opinion has very little to do with what should be legal. It is my
belief that although wrong morally, women should be given the legal right to end their
pregnancies because:
1) This is a country based on democracy and the rights of the majorities to choose
above all. In order to preserve this democracy and keep serving as an example to the
rest of the world, the will of the majority must be attained. According to the
National Opinion Research Center, between 80 and 90 percent of Americans believe
that abortion should be available to a woman if her health is endangered or cases of
rape or risk of serious fetal defects. Professor Clyde Wilcox, who studies public
opinion on abortion, also says that about 75% of the people are in favor of
exceptions for rape, incest, fetal defect and life and health of the mother. This is an
overwhelming majority, and their voice must be heard.
2) If kept illegal for rape, incest, or any other reason, women are still going to find a
way to get abortions performed. According to the Guttmacher Institute, “of the 46
million abortions occurring worldwide each year, 20 million take place in countries
where abortion is prohibited by law.” Therefore, this opens up a space for black
market of unregulated abortions. Obviously keeping it illegal for most cases will not
stop it from happening, it would only criminalize it.
3) Legalization of abortion allows women to obtain timely abortions thereby reducing
the risk of complications. According to the WHO (World Health Organization), in
countries where abortion remains unsafe it is a leading cause of maternal mortality.
The Guttmacher Institute supports this by adding that six months after abortion was
legalized in Guyana in 1995, admissions for septic and incomplete abortion dropped
by 41%. Previously, septic abortion had been the third largest, and incomplete
abortion the eighth largest, cause of admissions to the country's public hospitals.
One year after Romania legalized abortion in 1990, its abortion-related mortality
rate fell from 142 to 47 deaths per 100,000 live births. This takes us to my fourth
point…
4) If not regulated by law, unsafe abortions would cause more deaths. They would
cause the death of the mother as well as that of the child.
Once critically analyzed, my conclusion is that abortion should be made legal, although
morally wrong to me. It is logically the best choice for the people, and that is what the
government exists for: to protect and ease the life of its citizens, not to make it more
difficult.