Pro-choice verses pro-life, which side are you on?
Running head: Pro-choice verses pro-life, which side are you on?
Pro-choice verses pro-life, which side are you on?
Jonathan Stanley
Southwestern College Professional Studies
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Pro-choice verses pro-life, which side are you on?
Abstract
There is an age old discussion whether or not abortion should be tolerated and if so under what
circumstances should we allow it. One side is that under no circumstance should we consent and
give the option to kill a baby because it is considered a living fetus. While the counter argument
is that it is their option to do whatever they please. Pro-choice versus pro-life, ethical beliefs
against free will, right verses wrong. This paper will review the two contending sides of
abortion, and provide a solution to the problem to mitigate this conflict. It will also diagnose
how late is too late to get an abortion and whether or not Congress should step in and finally take
a stand.
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Pro-choice verses pro-life, which side are you on?
Many teens and young adults make mistakes growing up. Some of their decisions they
make are minor while others create life decisions that have the potential to create catastrophic
waves throughout the rest of their lives. Abortion is one of those choices that have these dire
consequences. For instance pro-choice; is one spectacle that allows the human being if early
enough in the pregnancy cycle to make an educated decision whether or not abortion is the best
choice for themselves, the doctor, and their family. It supersedes and bypasses the government,
gives complete and outright power to the person. The reverse disagreement are those for prolife. These people think that the government should step in and bypass cases such as “Roe vs.
Wade”. It would force the women to carry the embryo/fetus until birth. To carry on and have
the baby since it is a human being and take the choice out of the individual person. That being
said women should not be allowed to have an abortion except under severe and extenuating
circumstances of rape, or if there is a complication that would present calamitous damage with a
possibility of death to the women. There are too many good homes that would gladly accept a
newborn baby. We always have a choice; some people say that pro-life isn’t a choice. It was
this reaction that caused the action in the first place that put you in the predicament to make a
choice what to do. Our government needs to step in and take action to allow these new-born
babies a chance at life. Formulate a law and finally take a stand on abortion to allow everyone a
chance at life. When a woman learns that she is pregnant the decision should be taken out of her
hand and live with the consequence of her actions.
Abortion can be defined as the "purposeful termination of pregnancy with intention other
than to produce a live born infant or to remove a dead fetus." Robinson, B. A. (2011) Human life
can also be coined as "any living cell or collection of living cells that contains DNA from the
species homo sapiens." This includes an ovum, a spermatozoon, zygote, embryo, fetus,
newborn, infant, child, youth, adult, and elder. It also includes a breast cancer cell, a living hair
follicle, and a recent skin scraping. Some forms of human life, like an individual ovum or
spermatozoon, are rarely considered to be of value, except by couples having difficulty
conceiving. Other forms of human life, like a newborn, infant, or adult are priceless; medical
professionals go to great lengths to preserve life.Robinson, B. A.(2011) Looking at the definition
of these terms abortion is the purposeful deletion of a living cell that you are disallowing by
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Pro-choice verses pro-life, which side are you on?
having an abortion. You are taking away a beautiful thing called life. Could you imagine if your
parents had an abortion? No, because they made the sacrifice and took care of their responsibility
to raise you the best they could to let you have that opportunity. Some people would say that
these beliefs are hypocritical since you denied an opportunity that you were so graciously given.
In 2008 a study shows that the number of abortions per 1,000 women between the ages of 15-44
were approximately 19.6. (Finer, L. B., 2011) This is up from 16.2 thirty five years ago. Nearly
half of all pregnancies are accidental and twenty-two percent of of pregnancies end in abortion.
Something needs to be done to stop so many people from having a chance at life. (Finer, L. B.,
2011)
Women have three different options when they find out that they are pregnant, they can
have the baby suck it up and handle their responsibility, get an abortion and take the easy way
out, or have a baby and give it up for adoption which is still very respectful. Robinson, B. A.
(2011) The different options are simple but complicated at the same time. The first option, after
the woman finds out she is pregnant is a gutsy call; depending on the financial circumstances
surrounding the person or family. It requires a little money to raise a child properly, although
many families function by meager means and still raise very successful children. The second
option being abortion, takes the chance away from the child to grow up and live their life. Prochoice relies on the fact that this is a free country and can make the decision that serves best for
their needs. They take a stand with the current government regulations and are free to choose
their own beliefs. The third option when a woman decides to continue on with pregnancy and
choose to give it up for adoption is a very brave choice. They give the opportunity for the child
to grow up based on their principles. Not all you growing up had a good childhood. Maybe you
had an abusive father, physically or sexually. Neglect, grew up poor, or just plain was not
groomed with the right and wrong choices in life. It still doesn’t give you the right to have an
abortion. It is our choices that make us who we are. After eighteen years of age we have the
option to leave the house and make our own life. Granted, these scars that were left can have an
emotional effect for the rest of your life. It is at this point you can make what you want out of
yourself. There are too many success stories of self-millionaires that came for nothing. There
are also too many spoiled kids that grew up living off mommy and daddy and do nothing with
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Pro-choice verses pro-life, which side are you on?
their lives too. They had the best education, money, cars, family; it doesn’t always lead to
success. In a lot of cases it could hinder a person. Once they experience reality they do not
know what to do since they were always cradled.
The counter argument for “pro-choice” is that the fetus is another add-on to the woman’s
body. That is is just a genetic gene inherited by the women for an action that she committed.
We could make an argument that the embryo is just a piece of tissue. (Acorn, R. (2008) We
could go on and explain that this is not killing a person but a frozen embryo. Since sperm and
ovules are both just a part of the body functionality. These two interconnected can produce a
baby but you don’t see anybody killing them. That something growing in the womb that
continuously gets bigger is is a part of the woman, therefore her choice to do what she pleases.
Holidays and birthdays are celebrated the day we are born at our first breath, not when we are
still using another person’s oxygen for breath. (Acorn, R. (2008) Their contention is that there is
no age limit or time frame on when they can get an abortion since nobody really can decipher
where human life begins and ends during pregnancy. There is too much speculation and too
many expert opinions to really decipher whether it is a baby or not. Another aspect to consider is
that if the parents do not want to have the children; they truly will not care for them and raise
them properly or at least how they should support their child. This leads to abuse, neglect,
children scarred for life at a very young age, and if you will expendable. Another aspect that it is
almost impossible to argue is if a woman was raped to force her have a baby. This is the most
relevant argument out of them all. I don’t think a woman should be forced to have a baby if she
was raped due to the extenuating circumstances to look at a child every day to remind you of the
horrible tragedy that happened. (Acorn, R. (2008) Another argument for pro-choice is if the
women has medical issues that prevent her from successfully having a baby while surviving at
the same time.
People who are for pro-life believe in the religious side. They agree with the fact that it
is committing murder when you have an abortion. They believe it to be unlawful, in most
circumstances and immoral. (Boonin, D. 2004) They believe that the one in ten women who have
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Pro-choice verses pro-life, which side are you on?
an abortion by age twenty is wrong. (Finer, L. B.) These people believe that even though fiftyfour percent of women used some type of contraceptive that this is part of life and you have to
roll with the punches. (Finer, L. B.) They believe in a higher power and with few exceptions
such as rape, or if the woman will die if she were to have a baby should choose life. We really
have seventeen states that actually use and set aside public funds for the less fortunate and lower
class. (Finer, L. B) Pro-lifers know about “The Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade did not create a
limited right to abortion but a virtually unlimited right to abortion throughout pregnancy
according to frc.org. We have all head about this case but what you probably didn’t hear is that
if the woman claims that she wants to abort the baby for “emotional” reason even after the timeframe due then that is her option without any repercussions. Doctors still have to follow rules
but can circumvent late the system currently in place. This case that favored the plaintiff is
almost indefensible and provides how our current rules that congress has in place today. Cleaver,
R., Schwarzwalder, R. (2011)Instead of trying to alleviate this problem congress is too busy
fighting over whether public or private insurance plans will cover abortion costs. The House and
Senate legislation could allow a new insurance plan that is covered by the federal government.
Anti-abortion activists are all over this and President Obama misspoke during a telephone
conference with thousands of listeners. Jackson, B (2009)This is where the CAPPS Amendment
comes into play since public funds aren’t supposed to be used to allow abortions except rare
cases such as rape. The way it is looking in the near future both the public plan will more than
likely be subsidized and cover the costs. In 1960 there were 292 abortions according to
johnsonarchive.net. In 2008 there were slightly over 1.2 million. With the amount of debt we
are currently in I don’t think it would be wise to add another deficit considering we are billions
in the hole. Congress needs to take a different approach and create a law to supersede “Roe vs.
Wade”. It is a giant loophole causing too many babies to be aborted without even given the
opportunity to live. There is no chance to reverse this act unless the House actually steps in.
After that, the doctors and nurses need to get on the same page and refuse to perform abortion.
Then we as adults need to educate our children about abortion and tell them the negative impact
of getting an abortion. Protestors need to get outside in front of abortion clinics and express their
concern. More articles, newspapers, and television channels need to get on the same page. Place
bumper stickers on cars, heck even get on the radio and express how you feel. The current
abortion laws will never change until most of these methodologies start to attain and explored.
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Pro-choice verses pro-life, which side are you on?
America is a free country and that is what makes the United States so great. Downside is once a
rule is in place and input as a law it is extremely difficult to get it reversed.
Pro-life and pro-choice is a concept of opinion and almost impossible to find someone
that does not have a strong judgment of one or the other. You can’t be apathetic about both, you
have to pick one. Pro-choice offers the woman a choice to abort her mistake. Forgive and forget
the responsibility of her action. Unfortunately, some decisions that we make are unforgiveable
and should not be given the choice to take back. Pro-life offers every single potential fetus a
chance to develop into something special. It gives us a chance to grow up to be fireman, police
officers, doctors, and lawyers. It delivers an opportunity to live your life as you choose. Could
you really imagine our world of great inspirations and scientists if they were aborted? Darwin,
Bell, Edison, and Socrates are some of the most famous and inspirational people of all time.
Would you abort them if you knew they would grow up to make that much of an impact on our
life? No, the point is you never know. How late is too late to abort? That would be the second
you find out you are pregnant. Congress needs to step in to resolve this growing epidemic. It’s
not fair to allow abortions and keep killing innocent people. It’s not fair to the people who
cannot have babies due to complications of their reproductive organs, and not fair to yourself,
God, or the baby. Don’t become another statistic that keeps rising. The deletion of abortion
would significantly help our economy and us. It would decrease our deficit; provide babies for
happy couples who deserve them. Give opportunities for everyone to have a chance to live and
succeed at life. You shouldn’t take the easy way out unless you become pregnant under severe
extenuating circumstances; such as rape, incest, or the mother’s life is at stake. We need to all get
together and take a stand against abortion. If we don’t “Roe vs. Wade” will rules for another 100
plus years!
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Pro-choice verses pro-life, which side are you on?
References
Acorn, R. (2008). Life Strategies Discover the Truth. ThingsEternal. Retrieved from
http://lifestrategies.thingseternal.com/topics/abortion/prochoice-arguments.html
Boonin, D, Carlson, B., Dworkin, R., Feinberg, J., George, R., Lee, P., & Stretton, D. (2004).
The Wrong of Abortion. Retrieved from
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/content/BPL_Images/Content_store/Sample_chapte
r/1405115475/Cohen_sample%20chapter_Contemporary%20debates%20in%20applied%
20ethics.pdf
Cleaver, R., Schwarzwalder, R. (2011). The Best Pro-Life Arguments for Secular Audiences.
Family Research Counsil. Retrieved from http://www.frc.org/brochure/the-best-pro-lifearguments-for-secular-audiences
Finer, L. B., Zolna, M. R., Jones, R. K., Kooistra, K., Henshaw, S. K., Mosher, W. D.., & Gold,
R. B. (2011 August). Facts on Induced Abortion in the United States. Retrieved from
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html
Jackson, B. (2009, August 21). Abortion: Which Side Is Fabricating? Retrieved from
Factcheck.Org website: http://www.factcheck.org/2009/08/abortion-which-side-isfabricating/
Johnston, R. (2011 November 11). Abortion Statistics and other data. Wm. Retrieved from
http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/policy/abortion/index.html
Robinson, B. A. (2011). Abortion Access: All sides of the issue. Ontatio Consultants on
Religious Tolerance. Retrieved from http://www.religioustolerance.org/abortion.htm
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