United States International University

SENEX 4800: INTEGRATED SEMINAR SECTION E SPRING SEMESTER 2011 LECTURER: DR. KARATU KIEMO

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT: THE ABORTION DEBATE STUDENT NAME: AMKAYAH PAT STUDENT ID NO: DEADLINE: 622404

MARCH 19, 2011

Table of Contents
Table of Contents....................................................................................................... 2 THE ABORTION DEBATE..............................................................................................2 Introduction................................................................................................................ 3 What is Abortion?....................................................................................................... 4 Clinical Methods Used for Abortion and Post-Abortion Care.......................................4 Manual/Electric Vacuum Aspiration (MVA/EVA):.........................................................5 Dilation and Curettage (D&C):....................................................................................5 Dilation and Evacuation (D&E):..................................................................................5 Medical Abortion:........................................................................................................6 Arguments in defense of abortion. ............................................................................6 Judith Thomsons Defense.......................................................................................6 The Roe vs. Wade Supreme court case decision.....................................................7 The 2010 Center for Reproductive Rights Report on Kenya....................................8 Arguments against Abortion.....................................................................................10 Discrimination Argument.......................................................................................10 The argument of deprivation................................................................................10 Argument from uncertainty..................................................................................11 Religious beliefs...................................................................................................11 Life begins at Conception......................................................................................11 My personal view of the subject...............................................................................12 Conclusions.............................................................................................................. 15 References and works cited......................................................................................17

THE ABORTION DEBATE

Introduction
It is difficult to write another paper on the abortion disagreement that could add anything new to what appears to be a multifaceted dispute whose resolution is not about to happen. Abortion evokes, on all sides of the debate, very strong feelings and judgments and very heated arguments. While it is often depicted as a two-sided debate, the abortion controversy is actually quite complex, involving guesswork on biology, ethics, and constitutional rights. Those who identify themselves as pro-life, for example, usually contend that abortion is wrong because it kills human life, which they believe begins at conception. However, some pro-lifers agree that abortion should be allowed in cases of rape or incest, or when the pregnancy threatens the life or health of the mother. Those who identify themselves as pro-choice often uphold that a woman should have the right to control her body and her destiny. But some pro-choicers also believe that there should be certain limitations on teenagers accessing abortion and on abortions happening after the first trimester of pregnancy. The reason for this continued debate is that abortion keeps happening. Each year, clinics and hospitals around the world are involved in performing an average of 42 million abortions. This breaks down to something like 115, 000 per day. In this research paper, I will take a neutral view on both sides of the debate. There are two kinds of question about which the critics and defenders of abortion disagree: Is abortion moral or immoral? and Should abortion be legal or illegal? In principle, these are importantly distinct questions. There are actions, such as trespassing, which we may think of as being justifiably illegal and yet not immoral. And there are actions such as adultery which we may think of as being immoral and not yet justifiably illegal. While I do not personally condone or condemn abortion, I will endeavor to show that under certain circumstances, abortion is justified and the woman should be afforded all the necessary support that she needs when she finds herself in such a predicament.
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What is Abortion?
In its everyday common meaning, abortion is when a pregnancy is terminated. This could happen naturally or on purpose. Natural abortions are caused by a variety of reasons, some in which the fetus does not develop normally, or if the mother has an injury or disorder that would prevent the birth of the child. Naturally occurring abortions are commonly referred to as miscarriages. Since the woman does cannot be blamed for a miscarriage, there is no debate over the matter. Other abortions are committed on purpose in order to prevent the birth of a child. These abortions are done because the pregnancy is not wanted, or the pregnancy will endanger the woman's health. It is this type of abortions that generates controversy and debate about the rights of a woman to control her body and destiny, and the right of the unborn child to be given an opportunity to live. Researching on the topic will quickly show that there are many ethical and social issues regarding abortion. As such, this issue should be handled with sober minds. We should not be quick to rush into taking stands.

Clinical Methods Used for Abortion and PostAbortion Care

The World Health Organizations (WHO) Safe Abortion Guidelines state the following as Preferred Methods of Abortion: For up to 12 completed weeks since last menstrual period: The preferred methods are manual or electric vacuum aspiration, or medical methods using a combination of mifepristone followed by a prostaglandin. Dilatation and curettage (D&C) should be used only where none of the above methods are available. For after 12 completed weeks since last menstrual period: The preferred medical method . . . is mifespristone followed by repeated doses of a prostaglandin such as misoprostol.
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The preferred surgical method is dilatation and evacuation (D&E), using vacuum aspiration and forceps.

Manual/Electric Vacuum Aspiration (MVA/EVA):

A surgical technique for abortion during early pregnancy in which the contents of the uterus are evacuated through a plastic or metal cannula which is attached to a manual or electric vacuum source. The technique can also be used for management of incomplete abortion. According to the WHO, MVA is a simple, cost-effective procedure . . . that is highly effective in removing retained products of conception from the uterus and is associated with a low complication rate. It is an effective method of treatment for uterine sizes up to 12 weeks LMP (i.e. 12 weeks from the first day of the last menstrual period). MVA does not require a general anesthetic and can be performed in an examination or procedure room, rather than in an operating room.

Dilation and Curettage (D&C):

A method that involves dilating the cervix through use of mechanical dilators or pharmacological agents and using sharp metal curettes to scrape the walls of the uterus, removing its contents. According to the WHO, the use of D&C requires operating theatre facilities and staff trained in surgical techniques and general anesthesia. Vacuum Aspiration is generally preferred to D&C due to the lower complications rate and reduced need for surgical facilities. The WHO also notes that in many parts of the world,[D&C has been replaced by vacuum aspiration which is safer and less traumatic if equipment is available and well maintained.

Dilation and Evacuation (D&E):

A surgical technique used in second-trimester abortions in which the uterus is evacuated with
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suction curettage and forceps.

Medical Abortion:
The use of pharmacological agents (i.e., medicines as opposed to a surgical procedure), singly or in combination, to induce abortion. According to Ipas, the most effective medicines for inducing abortion are mifepristone and misoprostol used in combination. Where mifepristone is not available, misoprostol used on its own is also effective. Misoprostol can also be used in post-abortion care to treat incomplete abortion or miscarriage.

Arguments in defense of abortion.

Judith Thomsons Defense
Back in 1971, Judith Jarvis Thomson wrote what many regard as the classic defense of abortion. In A Defense of Abortion, Thomson grants for the sake of argument that the fetus has a right to life but defends the permissibility of abortion by appeal to a thought experiment: You wake up in the morning and find yourself back to back in bed with an unconscious violinist. A famous unconscious violinist. He has been found to have a fatal kidney ailment, and the Society of Music Lovers has canvassed all the available medical records and found that you alone have the right blood type to help. They have therefore kidnapped you, and last night the violinist's circulatory system was plugged into yours, so that your kidneys can be used to extract poisons from his blood as well as your own. [If he is unplugged from you now, he will die; but] in nine months he will have recovered from his ailment, and can safely be unplugged from you. Thomson takes it that you may now permissibly unplug yourself from the violinist even though this will cause his death: the right to life, Thomson says, does not entail the right to use another person's body, and so by
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unplugging the violinist you do not violate his right to life but merely deprive him of somethingthe use of your bodyto which he has no right. "If you do allow him to go on using your kidneys, this is a kindness on your part, and not something he can claim from you as his due. For the same reason, Thomson says, abortion does not violate the fetus's right to life but merely deprives the fetus of somethingthe use of the pregnant woman's bodyto which it has no right. Thus, it is not that by terminating her pregnancy a woman violates her moral obligations, but rather that a woman who carries the fetus to term is a 'Good Samaritan who goes beyond her obligations.

The Roe vs. Wade Supreme court case decision.

In January 1973, a pregnant single woman (Roe) brought a class action challenging the constitutionality of the Texas criminal abortion laws, which proscribe procuring or attempting an abortion except on medical advice for the purpose of saving the mother's life. This was a landmark, controversial
decision by the Unites States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. In delivering the courts opinion, Mr. Justice Bluckmun said,

We forthwith acknowledge our awareness of the sensitive and emotional nature of the abortion controversy, of the vigorous opposing views, even among physicians, and of the deep and seemingly absolute convictions that the subject inspires. One's philosophy, one's experiences, one's exposure to the raw edges of human existence, one's religious training, one's attitudes toward life and family and their values, and the moral standards one establishes and seeks to observe, are all likely to influence and to color one's thinking and conclusions about abortion. In addition, population growth, pollution, poverty, and racial overtones tend to complicate and not to simplify the problem.
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The Court held that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion, but that right must be balanced against the state's two legitimate interests for regulating abortions: protecting prenatal life and protecting the mother's health. The decision gave a woman total autonomy over the pregnancy during the first trimester and defined different levels of state interest for the second and third trimesters. As a result, Roe vs. Wade has become the most quoted case in the debate about abortion.

The 2010 Center for Reproductive Rights Report on Kenya.

In 2010, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and American based organization that supports womens rights to abortion, reported that every year, at least 2,600 women die from unsafe abortion in Kenya; 21,000 more women are hospitalized annually with complications from incomplete and unsafe abortion, whether spontaneous or induced. The report gave a long list of recommendations to the various national institutions, with the overall effect that abortion be considered as a fundamental right of a woman. It said in part, The Government should publicly acknowledge the importance of reducing unsafe abortion in order to meet Kenyas obligations under the Millennium Development Goals, particularly the goal to reduce maternal mortality. To this end, the government should Support legislative and policy reform to improve access to safe and legal abortion services and quality post-abortion care services. Emphasize that unsafe abortion should be treated as a public health and human rights crisis, not a criminal issue. Majority of pro-choice side of the debate maintain that, abortion is a personal issue and should be dealt with by the individual. An interesting hypothetical situation is here given to illustrate the validity of the viewpoint. An 18-yearold single female is struggling to get her education so that one day she can
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be financially secure. Shes working to put herself through school, but there is no extra money and no extra time. One day, she hopes to marry and have children, but neither one of these events fit into her short -term plans. In fact, pregnancy right now could knock her totally off course and potentially ruin her life, as she now has it planned. So she takes the necessary precautions to prevent this from happening. But lets assume Mother Nature pulls a fast one on her. No type of birth control is 100% effective, and she happens to fall into that small percentage that isnt so lucky. Shes got quite a dilemma. She wants children, but not right now. To choose to have a child is a commitment and carries all sorts of responsibilities that shes not ready to fulfill. Her chances of achieving her goals are significantly reduced with a child. She wants to provide her children with all the advantages she didnt have, but that doesnt look possible now. Not only does the quality of her own life seem bleak, but so does the life of the child. She struggles with her situation, carefully weighing all the factors, and in the end, she decides not to continue the pregnancy. But now shes faced with a new problem. People she doesnt even know are trying to override her decision. Who are they, and why should they have any say in her life? Are they willing to support her and this child? These are some of the most compelling cases in favor of abortion. The prochoicers content that we have a moral obligation to all living things, but if their survival depends on the needs of an actual person, we have to give priority to human beings. We cant protect a fetus and consider the mother expendable. They further say that simply by debating on this issue, wont make it stop. That abortion will continue happening and that instead of the debates, we should instead provide safe means for abortion to those seeking the service. Most importantly, that women should not be treated merely as children bearing machines but individuals who have the rights to say on what happens to their bodies. This right cannot be subordinated to that of a fetus.
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Arguments against Abortion

Historically, the position of anti-choice advocates has been moral: abortion is murder; murder is wrong; abortion is wrong. The basis for this argument is a definition of the fetus in the womb as a person. And everybody knows that to murder a person is wrong and illegal. From this definition and argument, the argument quickly moves to dispose of the right of choice: everybody knows that persons have rights; everybody knows that to violate those rights is wrong and illegal; everybody knows that murder is illegal. Now this person (in the form of a fetus but a person and therefore abortion is both morally and legally wrong. Discrimination Argument The book Abortion and the Conscience of the Nation presents the argument that abortion involves unjust discrimination against the unborn. According to this argument, those who deny that fetuses have a right to life do not value all human life, but instead select arbitrary characteristics (such as particular levels of physical or psychological development) as giving some human beings more value or rights than others. The argument of deprivation The argument of deprivation states that abortion is morally wrong because it deprives the fetus of a valuable future. On this account, killing an adult human being is wrong because it deprives the victim of a future like oursa future containing highly valuable or desirable experiences, activities, projects, and enjoyments. If a being has such a future, then (according to the argument) killing that being would seriously harm it and hence would be seriously wrong. But since a fetus does have such a future, the "overwhelming majority" of deliberate abortions are placed in the "same moral category" as killing an innocent adult human being. Not all abortions

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are unjustified according to this argument: abortion would be justified if the same justification could be applied to killing an adult human. Argument from uncertainty Some pro-life supporters argue that if there is uncertainty as to whether the fetus has a right to life, then having an abortion is equivalent to consciously taking the risk of killing another. According to this argument, if it is not known for certain whether something (such as the fetus) has a right to life, then it is reckless, and morally wrong, to treat that thing as if it lacks a right to life (for example by killing it). This would place abortion in the same moral category as manslaughter (if it turns out that the fetus has a right to life) or certain forms of criminal negligence (if it turns out that the fetus does not have a right to life). Religious beliefs Each faith has many varying views on the moral implications of abortion with each side citing their own textual proof. Oftentimes, these views can be in direct opposition to each other. Some pro-life Christians support their views with Scripture references such as that of Luke 1:15; Jeremiah 1:45; Genesis 25:2123; Matthew 1:18; and Psalm 139:1316. Roman Catholics in particular believe that human life begins at conception as well as the right to life, so abortion is considered immoral and a violation of the Fifth Commandment: "You shall not kill" (Exodus 20:13). The Church of England also considers abortion to be morally wrong, though their position is not as firm as that of Roman Catholicism. Life begins at Conception The strongest of the arguments against abortion is that life begins at conception. The difference between a normal person and that baby in the womb is only where they live, and their age. Science has proven that the
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human beings genetic blue print or DNA begins when the sperm meets the egg. "It is the penetration of the ovum by a spermatozoa and the resultant mingling of the nuclear material each brings to the union that constitutes the culmination of the process of fertilization and marks the initiation of the life of a new individual. Therefore life does begin at conception. The baby doesn't just pop out of there one day and all of a sudden it is a kid. It is an ever-growing organism known as human. Throughout history, women's rights leaders such as Susan B. Anthony called abortion "child murder" and viewed it as a means of "exploiting both women and children." Elizabeth Cady Stanton said, "When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we wish." Children are being seen more as property, less as human. Instead of promoting abstinence, the only safe sex, children are brought up in a dangerous world of, "Me First!" In this world, there are no penalties for your actions. Instead of living with mistakes, or learning from them, an easy escape from the problem is readily available -- abortion. Ronald Reagan once said, "...unless and until it can be proven the unborn child is not a living person, then its right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness must be protected.

My personal view of the subject.

The anti-abortion side of the debate views abortion as the murder of the unborn child, and so they equate it to infanticide. On the other hand, the pro-abortion or "pro-choice" side views opposition to abortion as opposition to the freedom of women, as hatred of women, and as part of a historical effort to subjugate women as nothing more than babymaking machines . In general, pro-choice activists believe that the availability of abortion is absolutely necessary for the general alleviation of

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poverty and for the possibility of better and fulfilling lives for both women and children. While I am personally in the pro-choice camp, I am embarrassed to find that many common pro-choice arguments are based on bad reasoning. They often come back to the argument that abortion should be legal just because it would continue being practiced even if it were illegal again. Now this sought of reasoning could just as easily give us an argument for legalizing the use of narcotics or theft or murder or rape. These things have been illegal for a long time, but they just continue happening anyway. So we may as well legalize them, since they are going to just continue happening anyway. No sane person can accept such reasoning in those matters. The fact that something is happening or will continue to happen cannot be an argument for whether it is acceptable, moral or just. The basis of the pro-life position, in turn, is that human life starts with conception. This view has found its way into our very own constitution, and so each one of us is bound to uphold and protect is. I find this to be very ridiculous indeed! What in effect they are telling us is that there is no natural point of division in the life of a person between the fertilization of the egg and the point of the viability of a fetus to survive outside the womb, let alone birth. While this may seem like a simple and common sense statement, my main problem with the "starts with conception" view, is that the views of a very large number of pro-lifers are inconsistent with it. Majority of pro-lifers believe that abortion should be allowed in cases of rape and incest. If the "starts with conception" view of human life is to be applied consistently, a child of rape or incest is completely innocent of those acts and does not deserve to be killed because of the crime of its father. Even the drafters of our constitution fell for this and went on to contradict their starts with conception stance.

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Now, since many pro-lifers are inconsistent with the "start from conception" view, we must ask if there is any other justification for their anti-abortion stance. I think that the revulsion most people would feel at making a woman bear the child of a rapist can be taken as a sufficient clue that most pro-life sentiment actually does not come from the "starts from conception" argument. Otherwise they would simply say that abortion is unacceptable, no exceptions. A reasonable basis for pro-life sentiment centers on the issue of responsibility. Pro-lifers actually deny that they represent an "anti-choice" view of abortion or that they wish to prevent a woman from having control over her body. Their view is that the choice and the control come at the moment of sex, not at the moment of conception. Some have argued that a woman has the right to choose whether or not to become pregnant. She makes that choice before engaging in sex. To make that 'choice' after a pregnancy is underway, merely as a matter of birth control, is an immoral act. The argument then is that the act of choosing to have sex is the act of choosing to accept responsibility for the possible consequences, i.e. conception. To them it is no longer a question of a woman's control over her own body when it involves killing someone else, even if that is "merely" an embryo or fetus. The pro-life argument that human life begins at conception is simply not acceptable to me. Not just because the idea of forcing a raped woman to give birth to the rapist's child is repugnant, but because the idea of a fertilized egg being a human being is absurd. A fertilized egg is a protozoan with a human genetic code in the nucleus even in our hairs which we so often shave off. There is nothing sacred about the human genetic code; it is in every cell in the human body. That the protozoan grows into a human being is undoubted, but that leaves us with only vague criteria to decide

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when the line is crossed between animal life and human life. But there are vague criteria about lots of things in life. A religious belief that the fertilized egg possesses a soul, and thus is already fully human for that reason, provides a reasonable ground for a hard "prolife" view; but since it is a religious belief, it cannot form the basis of a public law that everyone must obey. There are many people who may be of various religious and non-religious persuasions. In Japan, abortion is common; but religious belief there, Buddhism, allows that, although this is an evil, which should be atoned for by repentance and religious practices, the child will actually be reborn and is not permanently harmed. Even consistent "starts with conception" people can allow abortion in cases where the pregnancy endangers the life of the mother, for allowing the pregnancy to proceed would be a wrong of omission in allowing the death of the mother. Where one will die, our only choice will be which, and an argument that the problematic life of a fetus is to be preferred to the grown and full life of the mother would betray very strange priorities.

Many people who believe that abortion should be available for many reasons besides rape and incest nevertheless do not like the idea of "abortion on demand" to be used merely as a substitute for birth control. They also do not believe that minors are competent either to appreciate the consequences of having sex or to appreciate the consequences of deciding whether or not to have an abortion.

Conclusions
Abortion continues to represent one of the most controversial and divisive issues in many societies. Those who are opposed to abortion often regard
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the issue as one of morality. Those who are in favor of abortion often defend their stance from a political and legal perspective. There are too many aspects of the issue which peoples views vary too widely. Some of these issues could be things such as the definition of a person; is the fetus a person, and if so when does it officially become a person? There is also the issue of rights. Do the rights of a person outweigh the rights of a yet to be person? Does the right of a mothers sovereignty over her body outweigh the right of an unborn child to live? The answers to these questions are very diverse as a result of the diversity of the American society. With the issue of abortion, ones attitude toward it is going to be based on many things such as religious background and personal morals. There is no black and white answer to the abortion issue. Luckily we live in a country where we have been granted lots of personal freedom by our new constitution. Therefore we are able to decide for ourselves whether something is morally right or wrong. Thus, ultimately, the choice is ours, but most importantly, it is with the woman who must make that choice. As with the many other ethical issues which we are faced with in our society, it is hard to come to a concrete answer until we are personally faced with that issue. All we can do is make an effort to know all of the aspects which are involved so that we may be able to make a sound decision if we were faced with this problem in our own lives.

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References and works cited

Planned Parenthood. Nine Reasons Why Abortions Are Legal. (19 March, 2011 ): www.plannedparenthood.org/abortion9reasons.htm Thompson, Judith Jarvis. A Defense of Abortion. Vol. 1. New York: Random, 1971 Blackmun, Harry A. Blackmun Opinion Part Four. (19 March 2011) http://www.abortionfacts.com/court_cases/roe/court_opinion_blackmun_part_ 4.asp Boonin, David (2003). A Defense of Abortion. Cambridge Studies in Philosophy and Public Policy. Boulder: University of Colorado. Allen, Kim. Abortion: Your Choice. Sept 1996. (23 March 2011). http://www.io.com/~wwwomen/abortion/ The Abortion Debate. (23 March 2011) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_debate World Publics Reject Criminal Penalties for Abortion June 18, 2008: (23 March 2011) http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/ Center for Reproductive Rights: In Harms way; The impact of Kenyas restrictive abortion laws.
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(23 March 2011) www.reproductiverights.org/kenya

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