Abortion

Sociology
Christopher Larres
November 19th 2012

Page 1

Abortion is a very controversial topic. It has been and will continue to be a heated debate in society. The main problem people have is the legality of abortion. There are so many different ways to view it. You can look at it ethically, emotionally, or politically. Webster’s dictionary defines abortion as the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus. It’s difficult for any person to pick a side when so many factors are in effect. Even in places where abortion is legal, you can still usually find people anti-abortionists. Religious groups tend to be pro-life. Some argue that you should not have the choice to let a child live or die because God is the only one who should be able to control the death of another human. Others feel that it is a selfish act to kill a child for the sake of your own wellbeing because you have already sinned, whereas the unborn child is still full of innocence. Prochoice groups however believe in reproductive freedom where you have the right to decide when you want to have a child and when you do not. Any DNA from a human being is considered to be human life. This includes ovum, sperm, zygote, embryo, and fetus, then to newborn all the way to an adult and beyond. But it also includes things such as skin, hair follicles, and cancer calls. Some forms of human life are simply considered more valuable. At the very moment of conception an individual is born. It has a set hair color, eye color; it may have freckles or dimples. Whatever this person is going to become it is there instantly. A heartbeat begins the twenty one days after conception. Electrical brain waves can be recorded as little as forty days in conception. When you look at the fetus as a person, it makes the decision of whether or not to abort just that much more difficult. Page 2
Prior to abortion becoming legal in the United States, each individual state had the power to determine whether abortion was illegal or legal. It was illegal in thirty states and then in twenty states it was legal under certain circumstances. The nineteen seventy-three Supreme Court ruling was what caused abortion to become legal in every state. The case in 1973 that determined this was Roe v Wade. It stated that due to the 14th amendment abortion will be considered legal in order to abide by the right of freedom and privacy of women. However they were to regulate the abortion so that after a certain trimester it was too late to abort. In 1992 the case of Planned Parenthood v Casey, they replaced the trimester system with the point of fetal viability.
In my option you should be able to abort until the abortion would cause the fetus to actually be in pain. Until it can feel pain, I don’t consider it human, even though it is still considered life. Plants are “alive” but we rip weeds out of the ground without a second thought. Why? Plants don’t talk or fight back. A human can. The most difficult part about choosing what side you’re on with abortion is how circumstancial it is. How do you regulate something when there are so many different ways it could go? ("Abortion Information You Can Use..." The Arguments of Abortion. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2012. .)
If you’re married and accidently got pregnant before you planned to have a child, but you can still support the child, should you try? If you are healthy enough to have the child but you can’t take of it, should you have it and put it up for adoption? Do you personally have the strength to give away a child you birthed? What if they come looking for their birth mom one day? What if your body just can’t handle birthing a child and your own life would be at risk by not getting an abortion? Page 3
All of those are questions up for debate. Pro-choice groups usually look at how the mother could be affected by the child’s