Abortion: Pro Choice Research Paper Examples

Type of paper: Research Paper

Topic: Pregnancy, Abortion, Social Issues, Women, Life, Children, Human, Family

Pages: 7

Words: 1925

Published: 2020/11/27

Abortion is a controversial issue in today’s world. This is because of the many arguments for and against the practice. The issue has so much controversy because it is a human rights concern. The major debate revolves around the morality of killing a fetus. Those against the practice assert that if a fetus has the status of a person, it has the right to life and abortion cannot be treated as permissible. Pro-abortion arguments point to the right of a woman to make a choice on whether or not to have a baby. It is her right to protect herself against health hazards that may be caused by the birth of the baby where there may be after birth complications.
Abortion has been justified for special situation pregnancies such as pregnancies caused by rape and incest. The greatest controversy lies in pregnancies resulting from voluntary sexual relations of the woman. Prolife debaters argue that it is morally right for a woman to take responsibility of her actions of having sex without protection. The issue is rather very passionately contended.
The two sides of the debate do not agree on major facts as regards abortion. First, the definitions are rather contended. For instance, to the pro-life activists life begins at conception and, therefore, abortion is equated to murder. There is the general assumption that a fetus is a person. This is not a correct position. Most abortions take place in the first trimester whereby the fetus is not independent of the mother and is therefore not an independent being. It cannot, therefore, be said to be a person and murder would not apply to termination of the life of such a being.
Illegalizing abortion would take the world back to the dark days where women would procure abortion in very unsafe circumstances. Legal abortions are safe and the women are well taken care of. It is against civil rights to force parenthood on a woman. It is a fundamental right to allow women to decide to have a baby or not. Parenthood requires a lot of responsibility and has serious economic implications including education for the baby, medical cover and also time. Teenagers who always find themselves pregnant are not in a position to be parents. A woman that is not ready for such a task should be allowed to choose. The counter argument for this is that adoption is a viable alternative to abortion with almost 1.5 million families in America wanting to adopt a child. However, it is shown that very few women opt to give up their babies for adoption after birth an option that doesn’t wish away the implications of being a single parent. Abortion is the ideal way to deal with such situations. Moreover, mothers are often reported to experience serious psychological problems because of the helplessness to elaborate their loss and to handle with their grief.
Abortion should also be allowed to cater for instances where the pregnancy occurs by way of rape or incest. Compelling victims of rape to have these babies would cause continued stress and trauma from the ordeal. Anti- choice proponents counter this by asserting that proper medication would prevent pregnancy from such experiences. Though this is true, most victims of rape are so traumatized at the time to seek medical attention and pregnancy eventually ensues.
Opponents of abortion also argue that abortion puts women in danger of psychological illnesses including madness and breast cancer. However, this is yet to be scientifically proven. Moreover, before a woman undergoes abortion she is made aware of the dangers that she may be exposing herself to. She has a right to choose what is more favorable for her in the circumstances.
The other issue that raises controversy in this debate is human rights issue due to the argument that fetuses feel pain during abortion. It is argued that, second trimester terminations require a woman to go through induced labor before which the baby is injected with poison to kill him or her. The result of the induced labor is a fetus that is in a very human form. Most abortions, however, take place in the first trimester of the pregnancy and the method used is dilation and evacuation. It is already established that a fetus is unlikely to feel pain until the sixth month of the pregnancy.
A being that cannot feel pain should not be a point of concern when safeguarding another’s rights who is more likely to be affected by the birth. Abortion is in fact a good option when a baby is predetermined that it will be disabled. It would be unfair to bring children in the world to suffer the consequences of not having some fundamental organs. Many opponents of pro-choice may attempt to rebut this by stating that the children have a right to a future. Maybe, they would still make it in life though disabled. This argument is defective as in America; there have been cases of children suing their parents for being disabled. No woman would love to have a disabled baby. They should at least be afforded the opportunity to choose.
Abortion is also in the heart of sexual equality. Previous studies show that in America most women prefer to abort their babies because having a baby would interfere with work or school in cases of teenagers. They also opt for abortion because they do not want to be single parents and they cannot afford to maintain the child. Men rarely find themselves in such kind of dilemma. For there to be sexual equality, abortion rights should be one key. Anti- choice proponents invalidate this argument by saying that contraceptives may be used to avoid the pregnancy, such that there would be no need to consider abortion if they were used well. However, a report by Gutmacher Institute shows that 51% of women having abortions used a contraceptive method during the month they got pregnant. Also nine out of every 10 women at risk of unintended pregnancy are using contraceptives. Oral contraceptives, the most widely used type of birth control carry failure rates of 6 to 8% in actual practice. Contraceptives have their place, but in cases where they fail, motherhood should not be forced on those women.
The issue of sanctity of life also arises in the abortion debate. This has been influenced a lot by the basic values of different individuals. Muslims for instance, are anti- abortion because the Koran expressly says that abortion is not allowed for fear of poverty or the future. Christians also are against abortion and argue that there is nothing as an unwanted baby. To them God has a purpose for every being that is conceived and life begins at conception. Nonetheless, these claims are according to faith. Every person has a right to express their opinion on what is morally right according to their faith but this should equally not be imposed on those that think otherwise.
The status of the fetus is one of the major contentions on the debate. Proponents argue that fetuses are humans or potential human beings. Worldwide treaties have been reluctant to define when the life of a human being begins. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights tends to lean on the idea that life begins at birth as it states all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and in rights. It is debatable if an embryo is a person. There are qualities of human character that are clearly identifiable in fetuses. They include metabolism, growth, reaction to stimuli and reproduction. This classification of fetuses as persons or potential persons is rebutted by the fact that a person means an individual capable of attributing to his or her own existence. That is a person that if their lives are taken away from them, they have been truly deprived of existence. This cannot be said to be the case with embryos and fetuses. They are indeed potential human beings but the right to life does not apply to such as these. Otherwise we would have a case saying that the sperms that go to waste during the act of sexual engagement is a violation of human rights. The moral wrong attached to the depriving of a potential person the right to become a person should be considered invalid due to the fact that the wellbeing of the actual persons should be given priority as compared to those without any certainty of life.
There is a concern that abortion is becoming a way of birth control in the USA. With statistics showing that in 2011, approximately 1.06 million abortions took place in the USA. In 2013, the number was 984,000 legal abortions. It is projected that 21% of all pregnancies in America end in abortion. The prolife side claims that the legalization of abortion has seen these figures escalate by the day. It is corrupting the morality of the whole society. In reply, morality is a society choice. The social, economic implications of the birth of these babies are far worse than the consequences of abortion. The conclusion that it is morally wrong to procure an abortion does not make it impermissible in the reality of circumstances.
Another argument for abortion is privacy. A woman has the right to her own body. It is a question of privacy whether the child has a right to the body of the mother against her own will. Is that not infringing on the mother’s right of privacy? Indeed, the pro- life side argues that that right must not be absolute with complete disregard of the life carried in her womb. A fetus like any other human has a right to life.
This issue has also triggered controversy with the new law that abortion birth controls are to be offered freely to the women without pay. This means the tax payers are paying for the women to procure these abortions. Many argue that this is wrong because there are many in the population who are anti- abortion and they shouldn’t be forced to pay for them. This argument cannot hold as tax money is used to do so much that individuals are opposed to. For instance, taxes are used to fund war which many are opposed to. Abortion is in the interest of protecting the health of women and therefore it should be received like any other development agenda.
The major contention has always been whether in allowing abortion, there is any violation of human rights. It has been a question of fact which the two sides have never been able to agree on. Is a fetus a person? Is it entitled to rights? Is the right of the woman to privacy and to her reproductive health absolute? What is the moral thing to do when a woman is in a dilemma of whether to terminate a pregnancy? These are the questions that run the abortion debate. In view of all the discussions, I stand prochoice. Let a woman enjoy the freedom a man has enjoyed for so long. Let her be given the choice to choose whether to be a mother. We live in the 21st century where maintaining one requires just more than a decent job. The moral arguments may be trying to rebut the reasons for abortion but in the face of the world we live in it is justified. It is the woman’s body that undergoes the reactions, the pain and the trauma. Her interests take the upper hand against the unborn if we are to consider human rights.

Bibliography

Giubilini, A. (2012). Abortion and the argument from potential : What we owe to the ones who might exist. Journal of Medicine and Philosophy, 50-57.
Kamm, F. M. (2013). Creation and Abortion : A study in Moral and Legal Philosophy. Philpapers, 20-45.
Karakoulaki, M. (2012). Abortion and Human Rights in the USA. Globalized World Post, 1.
Macmahan, J. (2013). Causing People to exist and Saving People's Lives. Journal of Ethics, 5-35.

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WePapers. (2020, November, 27) Abortion: Pro Choice Research Paper Examples. Retrieved March 29, 2024, from https://www.wepapers.com/samples/abortion-pro-choice-research-paper-examples/
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Abortion: Pro Choice Research Paper Examples. Free Essay Examples - WePapers.com. https://www.wepapers.com/samples/abortion-pro-choice-research-paper-examples/. Published Nov 27, 2020. Accessed March 29, 2024.
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