Abortion Debate

Pro Choice
Stefan Pirone

Abortion Debate- Pro choice

Miami Lakes Educational CenterAbortion Debate

Pro Choice
Imagine you are a twelve-year-old girl living in a third world country having to deal
with an alcohol-craving father and with lack of family care. Imagine that one night, your
beloved uncle takes advantage of you and sexually abuses you leaving you pregnant. Afraid of
that your parents will beat you, you hide the pregnancy as much as possible, and when your
parents find out, they beat you and do nothing about the pregnancy due to financial problems.
When you start having complications after 4 months, your parents finally take you to the
doctor. The doctor reports that if the pregnancy goes through, your life is in great danger.
Without a moment to spare, you choose to get rid of the fetus. The doctor tells you that it is
impossible due to ethical laws that prohibit abortion. I believe that Abortion should be legalized
all around the world due to the facts that women should have the right to choose the best for
themselves, abortion reduces risk to social problem complications, and because abortion is not
murder.
In America, we have given rights from birth that are equal to men and women. We all
have the right to choose for ourselves. In situations of rape or incest some women are forced to
carry the dreadful burden throughout the nine months and give birth to a child that was a result
of unwanted sex. Some conservatives argue the fact that abortions are used as form of birth
control but in reality women very rarely choose this path due to the wide varieties of
contraception that are less troubling than abortion. The morning after pill is becoming a
popular method for dealing with unprotected sex. Christianity has always emphasized the
importance of responsible decision making, and nothing is more important than the decision of
when, or whether, to have children .... one thing I know from the Bible is that Jesus was not

Abortion Debate- Pro choice

against women having a choice in continuing a pregnancy...Jesus was for peace on earth, justice
on earth, compassion on earth, mercy on earth, and choice on earth. The quoted sentences
come from a member of the United Church of Christ that agrees that the right to choose is
given from birth and nobody could take that away. If the right to abort would become illegal,
would that mean that the government would have the power to force women to practice
contraception or undergo sterilization? A woman has the right to choose what is best for her.
Another factor in the process of forcing women to carry out unwanted pregnancy is the
possibility of complications to occur. Women who end up giving birth to unwanted babies are at
very high risk to psychological problems. In the case of rape or incest pregnancies would
further harm or scar the woman permanently in addition to the harm done by the offender.
Abortion does cause stress but the American Psychological Association discovered that stress is
greatest prior to an abortion. This means that aborting the unwanted fetus relives and helps the
mother relax and try to heal the damage done during the violent act. Abortion is a safe medical
procedure. Medical abortions have less than 0.5% risk of serious complications. They almost
never affect a womens health or future ability to become pregnant or give birth. A very
important social problem is the practice of non-medical abortions. In countries who are very
conservative and do not have laws concerning abortion, the practice of abortion out of a
medical or sterile environment is very common. In those cases, the risk of injury, infection, or
even death is very large. There are and there will not be any ways to completely remove
abortions whether they are medical or non-medical from a country or even a city. Teenagers
who become mothers have grim prospects for their future. They are much more likely to not
focus on school and end up their educational life as a drop out. Also teenage mothers are also
more likely to receive inadequate attention from their parents and are very likely to develop

Abortion Debate- Pro choice

health problems. The father of the child might not be even interested in being a parent so the
situation where a young mother must raise a baby by herself is very probable. In countries
where there are no laws specific to legalized abortions, there is minimum population control
and there is mass poverty. Critics argue that giving a baby for adoption is a very good
alternative to abortion. In contrast, very few women who give birth choose to give their child
up for abortion; in fact three percent of unmarried white women and two percent of black
woman choose to give up their babies. Another fact is that only eight percent of women who
have abortions did not use any form of birth control.
The main reason that critics do not support abortion is because they think it is murder. I
believe that an abortion is not murder; it is a way to keep a life from being unwanted, or have
bad parents, and also a way to keep the mothers future open to any opportunity. Scientists have
shown that life begins at conception. We, humans, are mammals and give birth through the
vagina after it was developed in the uterus then eventually fed milk from the inside of a
womans body. There is a difference why babies are not referred to as fetuses and vice versa.
Fetuses cannot exist independent of the mother. Using our current technology we could only
maintain a baby out of the mothers womb after 24 weeks of pregnancy. Most medical and
sterile abortions take place in the first trimester or in the first three months of pregnancy. As a
fetus is attached by the placenta and umbilical cord, its health is dependent on the mothers
health and therefore could never exist independently. A fetus used the mother as a host and uses
her a source of food and nutrients needed for survival. I believe that after those mentioned
facts, the mother should have full control over her own body and have legal rights to terminate
an unwanted abortion. Tom Head from About.com quotes First trimester abortions may have
absolutely no moral implications whatsoever--perhaps a first trimester embryo is no more

Abortion Debate- Pro choice

conscious than a kidney or spleen. The concept of personhood is way different from the
concept of human life. We know that a fetus is a seed that would later develop into a human. A
fetus, in the first trimester has no feelings and cannot be classified as human yet. I believe that
the laws concerning legalized abortions should be allowing women to terminate the pregnancy
no later than the first trimester. Another point I would like to mention is In Vitro fertilization. In
Vitro fertilization is the process where fertilized eggs are inserted in the uterus of a woman that
has complications in carrying out a pregnancy. If the law prohibits that women cannot terminate
a pregnancy even at the stage where the fetus or embryo is no more than a fertilized egg then
why should In Vitro fertilization be allowed? In Vitro fertilization is a process where fertilized
eggs are thrown away routinely. Any fertilized egg has the chance into becoming a human
being yet the law allows In Vitro fertilization as a practice. Well, some may now question In
Vitro fertilization and think that a practice like that should not be allowed. If this process is
terminated, then the government is taking away the right or the only chance for a woman who
is physically unable to carry a pregnancy due to hereditary, or disease, to have her own child.
"Pro-choice and pro-life activists live in different worlds, and the scope of their lives, as
both adults and children, fortifies them in their belief that their own views on abortion are the
more correct, the more moral, and more reasonable. When added to this is the fact that should
'the other side' win, one group of women will see the very real devaluation of their lives and life
resources, it is not surprising that the abortion debate has generated so much heat and so little
light." Kristin Luker mentions above the common sense idea behind this debate. Abortion will
always be a gray area that will always bring up conflicts or cause arguments due to ones race,
culture, religion, or personal beliefs. Once again, I will state my reasons and would like to
begin with the fact that I am not pro-abortion I am pro-choice. I believe that women should

Abortion Debate- Pro choice

have the right to choose what happens to her body and have the right to terminate an unwanted
pregnancy that if left alone, will result in complications. Having the legal authorization of the
government to terminate an unwanted pregnancy reduces the chance of social problems like
non-medical abortions, psychological complications, or even poverty. Last but not least, the
process of abortion is not murder. A fetus cannot live independently away from the mothers
womb before 24 weeks and therefore is one hundred percent dependent to the mother. Without
laws favoring the mothers choice, rape or incest victim are left defenseless and are obligated to
carry out and give birth to an unwanted baby or the child of a criminal. I have stated my points
on why abortions should be legalized and I would like to end this speech with a quote from
John William Warner:
I am pro-choice with limitations, pro-life with exceptions