Abortion Has Always Been A Case Of Term Paper

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Abortion has always been a case of debate in history, because of the numerous implications this issue has. It relates not only to the rights of the mother, but, even more important, to the rights of the unborn child. Additionally, abortion provides an unwanted means of late contraception. Due to this available, last minute solutions, teens tend to pay less attention to normal contraception means, which encourages not only promiscuity, but the spreading of sexually transmitted diseases and especially AIDS. The most important argument that the pro-choice and the pro-life groups use is the morality argumentation. A simple syllogism applies in this case. The conceived fetus is a member of the human specie and ending its existence is murder. Murder is immoral and unethical

. However, this argumentation stands only after we deliberate over the condition of the fetus. Can the fetus be considered a human being, entitled with the same rights we all have?

The pro-choice argumentative group will always state that the fetus is not biologically sufficiently developed to be able to assert that he is a human being. This is dubitative. In the moment that the fetus is conceived, he begins a life of his own, a life where he feeds himself and bears all of the physiological characteristics of human life.

Asserting that the fetus is not yet a human being seems completely off the path, mainly because there is no proper and no real argumentation in this sense. If this were to be true, one could, for example, consider that the child doesn't have rights until he is three years old, which would practically encourage infanticide as well. This example may be rather strong, but it was used in order to prove that one cannot draw the line that separates a child with rights from a fetus without rights. The only solution is to consider the conceiving as the moment from which the child begins to have rights and, especially the moment from which these rights need to be protected.

We need to point out here that Christian morality has introduced some actions which lead to murder and are considered to be legitimate. In the medieval period, there were the crusades, where the Christians were not only allowed, but encouraged to slaughter Muslims for a holy cause. Nowadays, war still remains one of the 'legitimate' murders. In this sense, utilitarian defense is sometimes used by the pro-choice groups as an argument for abortion

The idea is that abortion "might reduce the number of unwanted children" and "increase the freedom and autonomy of women"

. This, related with the avoidance or minimization of the social care problems that often appear in the case of unwanted children, may encourage women to be able to make a choice and avoid child birth and child caring if they want.

As someone has mentioned, the right of choice that each one of us has "does not extend to the decision to make immoral choices that adversely affect others"

. This is a very important argument we are to use when arguing against abortion. Abortion is immoral intrinsically because it affects other people. Democracy and the right to chose does not exonerate someone from respecting the other individuals that live in the same world.

The fact that a fetus is already an individual has already been previously argued for. As an individual, the fetus has rights. His most important right is the right of being protected against other people choices. This is a right that is generally conferred to us both by morality and by legality. In this case, only in some situations and some states do we have it confirmed by legal actions.

The morality argumentation revolving very much around the rights of the fetus and it may be concluded that this is very much determined by the moment...

...

There is no point in entering a medical or anatomic discussion about brain formation and zygotes, as many argumentative articles tend to . Morality, very much like faith, has different explanations and a different rational base. Intuitively, one is to consider that fetal rights are to be considered from the conception moment, with the entire argumentation deriving from this and previously presented.
There are more arguments to be brought against abortion. One of the most important one, referred to in the opening paragraphs, refers to health risks. Abortion may tend to become an alternative to traditional contraceptive methods, among them methods that help prevent the risks of sexually transmitted diseases. The idea that one always has abortion as a last minute solution for an unwanted pregnancy may encourage the idea that traditional contraceptive uses are futile and that there is no need to apply them, since one can always resort to the abortion solution.

This would mean, however, to deeply undermine the medical statistics and the health risks related to having an abortion. Several resources give eloquent proofs in this sense

. Infections and hemorrhages are a major cause of death in abortions and legal abortion is reported to be "the fifth leading cause of maternal death in the United States"

. It should be mentioned that many of the deaths caused by abortion are not reported and are generally resulting from abortions taking place in other places than the hospital.

Further more, there are other health risks worth mentioning deriving from abortion. Breast, ovarian and cervical cancer have increased chances of occurring to women who have had abortions (2.3 higher chances for cervical cancer, for example

). The more abortions one counts, the higher the risks and the chances of developing a form of cancer. Uterine perforation, cervical lacerations and the risk of having handicapped newborns in later pregnancies are some of the other health risks that abortion helps increase.

A brief note should be made related to the risk of having handicapped newborns, in close connection to the morality issues that have been discussed previously. This appears as an even more immoral gesture and act. One does not only end the fetus's life, immoral act that has already been discussed, but approves the fact that, by one's actions in the present, the risks of affecting an individual in the future increase. It is very much like doing something wrong now, while being aware that your gesture is likely to affect others in the future as well.

The health risks that have been described related to health risks are not simple discussions, moral and ethical points-of-view or philosophical references to the beginning of life. These are facts, strong statistic factual information that shows, mathematically and undeniably, that abortion plays a significant and concerning role in health related problems, increasing the chances that a woman having had one or more abortions may get sick in the future. As much as the pro-choice category may comment on the evidence, facts are always hard to argue against.

The issue of promiscuity among teenagers, another cause for choosing the pro-life, against abortion point-of-view, is to be discussed in close relation with some of the morality issues that have been previously mentioned. Abortion provides the additional incentives, the extra choice that teenagers need to make wrong choices and to prefer them over taking time to considering. These are characteristics of the respective age, when one tends to act first and think later.

One may wonder whether the threat of health risks, much higher in the case of abortions in teenagers than otherwise (additionally, 30% of all abortions are pursued by teenagers) is a higher menace than AIDS and a better incentive to avoid promiscuity in life.

The essay has presented three of the best arguments in deciding for a pro-life solution on abortion rather than the pro-choice, legitimating it. The foremost should always be the fact that abortion takes an individual's life. By any norms, this is not only a crime, but…

Sources Used in Documents:

Bibliography

1. Physical Health Risks of Abortion. Scientific Studies Reveal Significant Risk. On the Internet at http://www.w-cpc.org/abortion/physical.html

2 H.L. Howe, et al., "Early Abortion and Breast Cancer Risk Among Women Under Age 40," International Journal of Epidemiology, 18(2):300-304 (1989)

3. Sharvy, B. The morality of abortion. A critique. On the Internet at http://www.efn.org/~bsharvy/abortion.html

4. Abortion morality. Letters to the Editor. The Miami Herald. November 2004. On the Internet at http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/editorial/letters/10278784.htm?1c
Sharvy, B. The morality of abortion. A critique. On the Internet at http://www.efn.org/~bsharvy/abortion.html
Abortion morality. Letters to the Editor. The Miami Herald. November 2004. On the Internet at http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/editorial/letters/10278784.htm?1c
Sharvy, B. The morality of abortion. A critique. On the Internet at http://www.efn.org/~bsharvy/abortion.html
Physical Health Risks of Abortion. Scientific Studies Reveal Significant Risk. On the Internet at http://www.w-cpc.org/abortion/physical.html. Also in H.L. Howe, et al., "Early Abortion and Breast Cancer Risk Among Women Under Age 40," International Journal of Epidemiology, 18(2):300-304 (1989)
http://www.w-cpc.org/abortion/physical.html


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