LATEST ABORTION FINAL DRAFT 1
Abstract
Abortion is a medical process used to terminate a pregnancy. Abortion is a major health service
that is mainly being discussed today. This is a research paper that explains the d
...
LATEST ABORTION FINAL DRAFT 1
Abstract
Abortion is a medical process used to terminate a pregnancy. Abortion is a major health service
that is mainly being discussed today. This is a research paper that explains the different types of
issues and controversies that have evolved around abortion. Is abortion a moral issue? This is the
question that has created an ongoing debate between the pro-choice and pro-life movements.
Many people believe that abortion is a problem, but there are also many who disagree. There are
different ways in which an abortion can be performed. However, there are only two types of
abortions that are allowed in the United States. Abortion was illegal in the early twentieth
century, but it has worked its way to its legality and has left a mark on the world today. Even
though abortion is tolerated in the United States, those who believe that abortions are immoral
are not going to back down, making this debate never ending.ABORTION 2
Abortion: A Moral Issue?
J.K. Rowling once said, “We’re all human, aren’t we? Every human life is worth the
same, and worth saving.” Abortion has existed for many years. It is a controversial topic that is
being debated in today’s society. There are many people who support abortion, but there are also
many people who are against it. It is a question of whether or not pregnant women should keep
their child or have an abortion. Many have also questioned the morality of abortion. Abortions
affects women emotionally and physically. Pregnant women have experienced many
complications with abortions throughout these past years. There are many reasons why abortion
is morally wrong and why it shouldn’t be legal in the United States.
History of Abortion
Abortion is a medical process that is used to end pregnancies. It is also known as a
termination. In the early twentieth century, abortion was illegal in the United States. As the
pregnancy rate began to up for unmarried women and teenaged girls, many began to have illegal
abortions. It was a big issue because many women suffered from complications and even died.
As the women’s rights movement was moving a step forward, many feminists began to argue
about the extent that women should be allowed to have access for abortions. They believed that
women should have control in deciding what they want to do with their bodies. By the 1970s,
many states legalized abortions, if and only if it was necessary to save a woman’s life. However,
Jane Roe, a pregnant woman living in Texas, wanted to obtain an abortion. She wasn’t allowed to
because her life wasn’t in danger. This situation was brought up to the Supreme Court. This
court case is known as Roe vs. Wade, where they debated on whether or not abortion should be
legal. This case had resulted in the Supreme Court ruling in favor of Jane Roe. They decided that
a woman has the right to obtain an abortion under the Fourteenth Amendment to theABORTION 3
Constitution. Abortion was legalized, causing those who were against abortion to revolt. Even
though abortion is legal, those who oppose continue to fight for what they believe is right,
making this debate never ending (InfoBase Learning, 2016).
Pro-Choice vs. Pro-Life
There has been a big dispute on the decision of allowing women to have access to
abortions. Those who support abortion believe that women should have a right to decide whether
or not they want to have a child, but those who oppose believe the complete opposite. They feel
that having an abortion is a crime and it is murder. They believe the fetus should have the right to
live. People who are against abortion are known as the Pro-Life Movement and people who
support it are known as the Pro-Choice Movement (Abortion, 2015). The Pro-Choice supporters
believe that if abortions stay illegal, more and more women will obtain illegal abortions causing
many dangerous consequences. The Pro-Life supporters believe that abortion creates suffering.
There are many parents who are willing to adopt because they are not able have children. On the
other hand, to obtain an abortion there are certain forms of abortion a women is allowed to have
access to (InfoBase Learning, 2016).
Laws and Circumstances
According to the law, there are only two types of abortion that women are allowed to
access. To determine what type of abortion to choose and which you have access to can become
very hard when it comes to making a decision. There are many risks and complications when
having an abortion procedure done. One type of abortion is called medical abortion. In this
procedure, you do not need any type of surgery to end the pregnancy, but you do need to take
medications. The medical abortion involves taking the mifepristone, which is often referred to as
the abortion pill. This type of abortion is only provided by a health professional. The second typeABORTION 4
of abortion is call a surgical abortion. With this procedure it has to be done at a clinic, but there
are different ways that you can obtain a surgical abortion. Abortions are very harmful for women
and affects women physically (Lowen, 2014).
Risks Abortion Poses to Women
Several studies have shown that abortion does actually hurt women. Many women face
long-term consequences from the abortions they had. Studies have also revealed the abortionpremature birth link. One abortion raises the risk of a premature birth in a next pregnancy by
twenty percent. Two or more abortions raises the risk and doubles the risk of a very premature
birth in about 34 weeks or maybe even less. In 1963, Planned Parenthood said, “An abortion kills
the life of a baby after it has begun. It is dangerous to your life and health. It may make you
sterile so that when you want a child you cannot have it.” Having abortions make it harder for
women to have children, if they decide that they want to have a child later on. Abortions have
increased the risk a complications during other future pregnancies and can also cause severe
bleeding. In addition, abortions cause serious mental health problems and even breast cancer as a
result due to the loss of the protection from the pregnancy. Many women have also suffered from
miscarriages and death. Not only do abortions affect women physically, but abortions can affect
women emotionally (Ertelt, 2009).
Emotional Trauma
There was new research on abortion from the University of California. Their studies
show that most women who had an abortion one week after felt relief. Many women also felt
some negative emotions after they had this abortion, but they didn’t feel that it had been the
wrong decision. A full 90 percent of women who got abortions reported that they were relieved.
Even those women who were feeling negative emotions still said that they made right choice.ABORTION 5
The researchers saw that women’s emotions on abortions are tremendously variable. It mainly
depends on the women’s situation. There are women who believe they should have an abortion
because they’re too young or they may even not want to have a child, but their emotions are very
different. There are some women who feel guilt and feel like they didn’t make the right decision.
Researchers also saw that women who have a more difficult time getting an abortion, or women
who end up opting to end a pregnancy that wasn’t entirely unplanned, tend to feel more negative
emotions about the experience (Ressler, 2013).
Abortion’s Impact on Minorities
Zoe Dutton once said, "There’s a very unfortunate stereotype of women of color, and
black women in particular, that we just have babies." For many years, abortion has been targeting
minority babies. It has been revealed that a colored woman is five times more likely to end a
pregnancy as to white woman is. A Hispanic woman, however, is twice as likely to end her
pregnancy. In the United States, there are 1,876 black babies are aborted each day on average. It
is believed that the rate of abortion for white women has decreased dramatically and has
increased for colored women. According to Civil Rights leader, Erma Clardy Craven, “Several
years ago, when 17,000 aborted babies were found in a dumpster outside a pathology laboratory
in Los, Angeles, California, some 12-15,000 were observed to be black." Many people have
called this incidence black genocide causing many people to revolt against abortion. Minorities
are greatly being affected by abortions. Many people haven’t realized that abortions are killing
minority children (Dutton, 2014).
Abortion Affects the Unborn Child
Scientific evidence has shown that the unborn child does actually feel pain during the
abortion procedure. Unborn babies start to feel pain after twenty weeks of being in the womb.ABORTION 6
Abortion is a very painful experience for any baby that is being subjected to this procedure. By
that time, the baby has already developed its sense of touch, sound, and light. There has been
many sonograms and ultrasounds where you can see the unborn child flinching and moving from
sharp objects while having small tiny procedures done. Scientists have also discovered that the
unborn child feels more pain that the actual mother does. For this particular reason, many people
have been trying to reduce the frequency of abortions because people don’t understand the harm
that they are actually doing, which is why the morality keeps being questioned (MCCFL,2012).
Morality of Abortion
There has been many different opinions on abortion as a matter of morality. Many
Americans have questioned the morality of abortions. About half of U.S. adults feel that
obtaining an abortion is morally wrong. Only about a quarter of U.S. citizens say that they
personally don’t feel that having an abortion is a moral issue. The morality of abortion differs
widely among religious groups. Almost all religious groups view abortion as a crime. Very small
percentages of people in all religious groups consider it morally acceptable to have an abortion.
By comparison, men and women are about equally likely to say having an abortion is morally
wrong. Those who are fifty and older are more likely to accept abortions as to those who are in
the ages of eighteen to forty, who believe that it is incorrect and shouldn’t be allowed in the U.S
(PewResearchCenter, 2013).
Statistics
Associated Press reported in June, 2015, that the number of abortions decreased by an
average of twelve percent since 2010. Approximately 1.3 million women have abortions
performed each year. Most women usually have several reasons for abortions. Many abortions
occur because of unplanned pregnancies. Unintended pregnancy is the main concern that affectsABORTION 7
thousands of women each year. More than half of the 6 million pregnancies occurring each year
in the United States are unplanned. However, many believe that the reasons for abortions aren’t
justifiable. They feel that this procedure should stop and come to an end (Stacey, 2014). Many
clinics who provide abortion services have declined by one percent. Eighty-nine percent of all
U.S. counties lacked an abortion clinic in 2011. Nearly half of American women have unintended
pregnancies. Of all unintended pregnancies, only four in ten are aborted. Twenty-one percent of
all pregnancies in the U.S. end in abortion by choice. There has been a steady decline in
abortions since 1980. Women around the ages of 15-44 have abortions (Abortion in America,
n.d).
Abortion’s a Profit
One major outcome that most people have not figured out is that abortion is really a
business. Planned Parenthood, one of the world’s largest abortion providers, has over nine
hundred and fifty one million dollars in assets from performing abortion procedures. Planned
Parenthood has about eight hundred and sixty clinics all over the United States. In 2009, they
performed about 332,278 abortions, but they only recommend nine hundred and ninety seven
people for adoption. Yet, they are only responsible for 26.8% of all abortions performed in the
entire nation. Planned Parenthood claims that they’re trying to reduce the abortion limit, but the
truth is that their company is up from performing abortions financially. There are many people
who are supporting and defending Planned Parenthood, not seeing the trick that this company
has pulled. Planned Parenthood has also gone out to all the high schools recommending young
female students to obtain abortions, if they aren’t capable of having a child (Abort73, 2010).
.Reflection on AbortionABORTION 8
I personally believe that abortion is morally wrong. It shouldn’t be legal in the United
States because it is murder. There are many adolescents who are obtaining abortions and they
honestly shouldn’t be allowed to. Most adolescents aren’t even sure about themselves or their
lives, yet they’re getting abortions. They may not be capable to maintain a child, but getting rid
of the child is not the answer. Many people don’t see the risks that abortion poses to women.
When you do want to have a child, it becomes way harder and the chances of getting
complications are higher. I believe everyone should have the right to live, even if it means giving
up the baby for adoption. Adoption is a better choice than obtaining an abortion. There are
people who will adopt because of certain health issues that don’t allow them conceive. However,
I do believe that here are certain circumstances where an abortion is necessary, but there are
many women who have abortions simply because they don’t want to or they’re just not ready.
Many women who have acquired abortions have lived with guilt because they feel that they have
made the wrong decision.
Conclusion
Abortion is defined the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often
performed during the first twenty weeks of pregnancy. There are two types of abortions that
women are allowed to access, which are surgical and medical. Studies have shown that abortion
does actually hurt women. Many women have also faced long-term consequences. Many
Americans have questioned the morality of abortion due to the fact that it also causes pain to the
unborn child. About half of U.S. adults feel that obtaining an abortion is morally wrong. Only
about a quarter of U.S. citizens say that they personally don’t feel that having an abortion is a
moral issue. There will never be one final decision on abortion. There are many who agree and
many who disagree, making this abortion debate go on forever.ABORTION 9
References
Abort73. (2010). Abortion for Profit.
Dutton, Z. (2014). Abortion's Racial Gap.
Ertelt, S. (2009). Mayo Clinic Doctor Admits Abortions Hurt Women, Cause Premature Births.
InfoBase Learning. (2016). Abortion. Issues & Controversies.
Lowen, L. (2014). What is the Difference Between Medical and Surgical Abortion?
MCCFL. (2012). Unborn Babies Can feel Pain.
PewResearchCenter. (2013). Abortion Viewed in Moral Terms: Fewer See Stem Cell Research
and IVF as Moral Issues.
Stacey, D. (2014). Abortion Facts Every Woman Should Know.
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