English 2010

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Abortion and Legislation
These days, abortion is a very delicate and controversial topic. While many
argue that abortion should be restricted, others argue that abortion should be a choice
only for the mother to take, without the interference of the state, church, or family.
Nevertheless this discussion between pro-life and pro-choice people is not new.
According to Malcolm Potts, Professor Of Population & Family Planning at the
University of California, Berkeley, historical records show proof of moral discussion
and practice of abortion dating back to 1550 BC when contraceptive remedies and
abortion techniques were used in Egypt. Although abortion dates to ancient times, it
has acquire more power in the last forty years after being legalized in the 1973
Supreme Court decision on Roe v Wade. Even though pro-abortion groups are
favored by current laws that make abortion legal in all states (with some restrictions
depending on the state), pro-life groups are growing strong and fighting back gaining
some terrain. The most recent fight gained by this last group mentioned was the
recent legislation that was approved by the Supreme Court about banning partial birth
abortion, which is when the fetus is brought partially outside the mother and then
aborted. The purpose of this paper is to show that Roe v Wade should be overturned
and that the congress should enact new legislations and laws that will prevent the
abortion of viable fetuses.
Since abortion is a very argumentative topic, both prolife and prochoice
groups tend to support their respective arguments based on reliable data such as

published studies, experiments, and so on. For example, prolife groups argue that
medical advances and scientific research have improved the possibility of the fetus
viability (chance of fetus to live outside the mothers womb), therefore Roe v Wade
statement that viability is usually placed at 28 weeks must be changed to 27 weeks. In
order to prove their point they use data from a Swedish study in 2009, which found
out that babies born late at the second trimester who are given intensive care, survive
at surprisingly high rates: 82 percent of babies born at 25 weeks survived, 67 percent
at 24 weeks, and 53 percent at 23 weeks.
Nowadays, prolife groups are gaining more legislative and court fights.
According to a USA Today article, new restrictions on abortion are sweeping through
legislatures from Virginia to Arizona. As of right now, the NARAL Pro-Choice
America group have track of 235 bills in legislatures that would restrict abortion or
even completely prohibit it. These 235 bills would implement new restrictions on
when women can have an abortion. For instance, some people want abortion to be
illegal from the moment that the fetus has a heartbeat, others want to remove any
insurance coverage of abortions, and others demand that abortion must be completely
illegal. In other hand, prochoice groups are fighting back sending others legislative
proposals to congress. The majority of these proposals appeal more funding to
Planned Parenthood, which is the leader organization that provides sexual and
reproductive health care services in the U.S. such as contraceptives and abortions.
When debating about abortion, many arguments are employed in order for
each side to defend their stand. The three most used arguments used by both parties
are:

1. Life begins at conception therefore abortion must be prohibited. This

argument, although being the least conservative argument used by prolife
groups, is greatly embraced by many experts and intellectuals in the subject.
2. After viability, e.g. after a fetus is able to live outside the mothers womb, is
appropriate to restrict those abortions. As a consequence of the fetus would be
able to live separate from the mother, that life should be preserved. Contrarily,
before viability, when the fetus is not able to live outside the mothers womb,
is the right of women to decide whether to do an abortion or not. It is up to the
mothers conscience and in consultation with her doctor, minister, and family
to make those determinations.
3. The fetus is not considered a human till birth. This argument is greatly
embraced by feminist groups, which argue that since the fetus is not
considered a human being while being at the mothers womb, is only the
mothers choice to decide whether to continue or terminate the pregnancy.
Few years ago, the most popular assumption was that abortion was a fight
primarily between the Catholic Church and feminists groups. The Catholic Church
demanded that abortion must be prohibited since life is inviolable, while feminists
argued that is the right of women to do as their pleased with their bodies. Nowadays,
that assumption is known to be wrong because of not only religious and feminists
people, but also politicians, doctors, professors and many more joining the abortion
fight, with the most fundamental question in this debate being whether a human fetus
constitutes a human life.

Certainly, each side has their own opinion about this question. For instance
religious people tend to base their opinion on what the bible says about abortion,
while politicians tend to base theirs depending if they are liberal, republicans, or
democrats. Nevertheless, in 1981 a United States Senate Judiciary Subcommittee
invited experts to testify on the question of when life begins. Here are some quotes
from what the experts said about when life begins:
1.

Dr. Alfred M. Bongioanni, a professor of pediatrics and obstetrics at the

University of Pennsylvania, said: I have learned from my earliest medical education

that human life begins at the time of conception. I submit that human life is present
throughout this entire sequence from conception to adulthood and that any
interruption at any point throughout this time constitutes a termination of human
life.
2.

Dr. Jerome LeJeune, professor of genetics at the University of

Descartes in Paris, stated: After fertilization has taken place a new human being has
come into being. He stated that this is no longer a matter of taste or opinion, and
not a metaphysical contention, it is plain experimental evidence. He added, Each
individual has a very neat beginning, at conception.
3.

Micheline Matthews, professor at Harvard University Medical School

claimed: It is incorrect to say that biological data cannot be decisive. It is

scientifically correct to say that an individual human life begins at conception. Our
laws, one function of which is to help preserve the lives of our people, should be
based on accurate scientific data.

After the hearing was done, it was pointed out that prochoice groups were
unsuccessful to generate even a single expert to give evidence that life begins at any
moment other than conception.
After all that being said and according to my research, I believe that a viable
human fetus is a person just like any other; therefore it must be respected and
protected. For me it is just astonishing to know that currently ten states and the
District of Columbia do not have any time restriction about when to perform an
abortion. In such places, each day, a viable baby that would survive outside the
mothers womb is murdered. Therefore, because of this situation, I have a moral
obligation to defend the right to live and I must speak up for those who cannot speak
for themselves yet. So, my thesis is that the Supreme Court should implement
nationwide restrictions that would put an end to this feticide of viable babies and
pursue cases when viable fetuses are being aborted.
I believe that the fetus is a human being and has the same rights as any other
person because of my religious beliefs and educational research. My religious beliefs
are based on the bible, which has many passages, which demonstrate that human life
begins in the womb. As an illustration, in Job 31:15, it says: Did not He who made
me in the womb make him, And the same one fashion us in the womb?
Also, research done over this topic showed me that the beginning of human life is
conception. Although pro-abortion groups are totally against this idea, scientific
research clearly shows that a fetus is in fact a human being. Within 6 weeks of
pregnancy, the embryo or fetus already has a heartbeat. After this, the fetus grows
rapidly and has movement. At that point and till the person is diseased only four

factors change, which are the environment, size of person, level of brain development,
and degree of dependence.
Finally, this paper has shown that restrictions about when to perform an abortion
should be imposed by the Supreme Court in all states. This restriction would make
illegal to abort a viable fetus therefore saving the life of many children. The moment
to take action is now, if we decide not to, then every 24 seconds another baby, another
person, another life will be ended. I truly believe that some day these restrictions will
be established, and that day, another battle will be finished. Nevertheless, another
battle remains, which is to defend life from the moment of conception, therefore
making abortion as it was once before: Illegal.

Works Cited
1. Rachel Ankeny, et al. "Religious Perspectives On Abortion And A Secular
Response." Journal Of Religion & Health 49.4 (2010): 513-535. Academic
Search Premier. Web. 9 Mar. 2012.
2. Jost, Kenneth. "Abortion Debates." CQ Researcher 10 Sept. 2010: 725-48. Web. 9
Mar. 2012.
3. Williams, Dorie Giles. "Religion, Beliefs About Human Life, And The Abortion
Decision." Review Of Religious Research 24.1 (1982): 40-48. Academic Search
Premier. Web. 9 Mar. 2012.
4. Medoff, Marshall H. "State Abortion Policies, Targeted Regulation Of Abortion
Provider Laws, And Abortion Demand" Review Of Policy Research 27.5 (2010):
577-594. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Mar. 2012.
5. Osler, Mark. "Changes in Medicine Should Prompt New Limits on
Abortion.CNN.com. CNN, 01 Feb. 2012. Web. 09 Feb. 2012.
6. Jost, Kenneth. "Abortion Debates." CQ Researcher 21 Mar. 2003: 249-72. Web.
26 Mar. 2012.
7. The Associated Press. "Several States Forbid Abortion After 20 Weeks."
NYtimes.com. The New York Times, 6 Feb. 2012. Web. 27 Mar. 2012.
8. Lewis, Karen J., Morton Rossenberg, and Alisson I. Porter. "Abortion: Judicial
and Legislative Control." The Library of Congress (1981). Print.