FREE ESSAY ON ABORTION

ABORTION

One of the most controversial topics over the years, and still today, is abortion. Is
abortion murder or not? When does a fetus become a human? There are no answers to these
questions. Everyone individual has their own beliefs on whether or not abortion is
justifiable. Abortions have been performed throughout many of centuries. Recently, there
has been a number of court cases that has changed the legality of abortions, especially
in the United States, for example Roe v. Wade. Even religions have changed their views on
abortions over the course of the years. In the abortions wars there are two parties,
pro-life and pro-choice. Pro-life believes that abortion is murder and is completely
immoral. Pro-choice, however, believes that it is the mother's choice if she wishes to
terminate the pregnancy or not. There are countless ways to perform an abortion. Some are
obviously much safer. Even then there are some serious side effects that may happen
during or after an abortion, both physical and psychological. This essay is just skimming
the top of the abortion issue. Hopefully it will give you a general idea of how
complicated this topic is.
Before there was a legal system, as we know it, abortions were decided just by your
religious beliefs. Judaism believed that the life of someone already born is more
important then that of the unborn. Therefore is the mother's welfare is at risk an
abortion is permitted. However it is not acceptable to terminate a pregnancy for any
other reason. In Islamic beliefs a woman has the right to have an abortion, until the
soul enters the fetus, between 40 to 120 days after conception. Buddhists believe that
abortion is justifiable. They say that the fate of the unborn child is not to come into
the world at this time. The Bible says in Num 5:27"God mandates 'trial by ordeal' for
women accused by their husbands of adultery. The priest is instructed to make a potion,
the accused is ordered to drink it, and if she miscarries, she is considered
guilty."(Abortion in history) Early Catholics didn't believe that the soul entered the
fetus until later, 40 days for boys and 90 days for girls. Only in 1869 did the Catholic
Church declare that the soul entered the fetus at conception, therefore rendering
abortion murder. 
Until the second half of the nineteenth century, the English Common Law was that
abortions were permitted until the quickening, that is until the baby started moving.
After that, with the new advances in the medicine field we came to understand more what
happens to a woman's body during pregnancy and abortions. The abortion laws were made to
protect the women from uncertified abortionists. 
There is one remarkable legal battle that changed the American abortion laws to what they
are now, Roe v. Wade. It took place in 1973 in Texas. Roe, Norma McCorvey, was an
anonymous plaintiff against the State. The ruling, abortion is legal. It gives the mother
the right of whether or not to terminated her pregnancy. However, that does not give the
woman the right to terminate her pregnancy for any reason during all nine months. "The
court said that the woman may have an abortion until fetal viability, the time at which
it first becomes realistically possible for a fetus to live outside the woman's body. At
that point the state's interest outweighs the woman's right." (Roe v. Wade) There are
obvious exceptions to that law if the mother's health is at risk. And just as a passing
comment, Roe has now changed sides. She was an active abortion activist for close to 20
years. Now she is just as involved in the opposing side. She has converted to
Christianity and has been baptized. She is a leader for the anti-abortionists.
The methods of abortion are divided into early abortions and later abortions. The newest
addition, just approved by the FDA, is the RU-486 pill. Also known as mifepristone or the
abortion pill. It may be used from the fifth week until the seventh. It is a chemical
that interferes with the function of the placenta, which in turn starves the fetus. The
fetus is then expelled using misoprostol. The abortion takes place over a few days. The
woman may bleed for about 9 days, and may experience nausea, diarrhea, vomiting and
painful cramping. Other way of abortion is vacuum aspiration, used from the sixth week
until the sixteenth. This is performed by inserting a powerful suction tube into the
uterus. The force of the suction removes the fetus. Possible complications are infection,
cervical lacerations and uterine perforation. There is another method to abort a fetus,
which is not approved by the FDA, it is called methotrexate. It is used from the fifth
week until the ninth. Methotrexate interferes with the growth process, which is why it is
used in the treatment of cancer. The fetus is then expelled using misoprostol.
Methods of late abortions include dilation and evacuation. In which the fetus is removed
by forceps. The fetus is torn apart limb by limb. The complications are infection,
cervical lacerations and uterine perforation. This method is used from the thirteenth
week until the twentieth. Prostaglandin or misoprostol is also to terminate the
pregnancy. It is used to induce premature labour. Live births are common. The
complications include convulsions, vomiting and cardiac arrest. It may be used from the
sixteenth week until the thirty-eighth. Digoxin induction is used from the sixteenth week
until the thirty-second. It involves injecting a lethal chemical into the fetus' heart.
It is followed by an induced labour. Saline abortion is when a salty solution is injected
into the amniotic fluid. The salt poison's the fetus. This method is rarely used due to
the severe health risks for the woman. The last method used is the partial birth
abortion. This used from the twentieth week until almost the last weeks of the pregnancy.
The baby is pulled into the birth canal. Then a catheter is used to suction the baby's
brains, so it fits through the canal in one piece.
According to the Westside Pregnancy Resource Center, the leading causes of abortion
related deaths are hemorrhage, infection, embolism, anesthesia and undiagnosed ectopic
pregnancies. The risk of breast cancer doubles for women having their first abortion. The
risk is multiplies with every other abortion. The woman can lower the risk by giving
birth to a child. Compared to woman how haven't had an abortion the relative risk of
cervical cancer is 2.3 for those who have had one abortion. For those who have had
multiple abortions the relative risk jumps to 4.92. There are similar elevated risks for
ovarian and liver cancer. Another health risk if pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) which
is potentially life threatening and can lead to ectopic pregnancy and reduced fertility.
Patients who have chlamydia, which is 20-27% seeking abortions, 23% will develop PID
within four weeks of the abortion. Those who don't have chlamydia have only a 5% risk of
developing PID. Teenagers, who account for 30% of all abortions, are at higher risks of
suffering from complications. 
According to the Westside Pregnancy Resource Center, in a study of post-abortion women,
only eight weeks after their abortion found that 44% complained of nervous disorders, 36%
had troubles sleeping, 31% had regrets about their decision and 11% had been prescribed
psychotropic drugs by their doctor. Another study found that more than 19% of the women
suffer from diagnosable post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some of the symptoms of
PTSD include hyperarousal (anxiety attacks, irritability, difficulty concentrating,
disturbed sleeping habits…), intrusion (the reexperience of the traumatic event at
unexpected times, flashbacks), constriction (the numbing or inability to recall the
abortion or important parts of it). Some women, 30-50%, experience sexual dysfunction
immediately after the abortion. The problems sometimes include loss of pleasure,
increased pain, an aversion to sex or males, or promiscuity. Some women suffer for only a
brief period of time, others for a long time. Of the women who experience post-abortion
sequelea, 60% reported having suicidal thoughts. Twenty-eight percent attempted suicide,
of which half attempted more than once. Approximately 45% of all abortions are repeat
abortions.
"Abortion rights are pro-life. They give a woman the right to control her own body, which
is part of her right to her own freedom and life. An embryo, in contrast, is pre-human,
only potential, not actual life. As such, it cannot possess any rights." (Leonard
Peikoff) Those who believe that it is the woman's choice to have or not to have an
abortion are called pro-choice. This is how they perceive abortion. During the first
trimester the embryo is undistinguishable mass of cells that lives in the woman's body,
its host. Therefore it's obvious that the host should decide whether or not to terminated
the growth of something in them. "If you call the embryo an 'unborn child', then you
could call, with equal logic, any adult an 'undead corpse'". (Leonard Peikoff) The embryo
has the potential to become a child, in the womb it is not a child. Seeing that being a
parent is a tremendous responsibility, should we enforce that on anyone? Does anyone have
the right to tell a woman what she is allowed to do her body? Is that not one of the
fundamentals of abortion? The woman is the one who must suffer the discomfort of being
pregnant and having to go through the labour. Not only does she have to go through the
physical changes; she must also go through the emotional states of pregnancy. Yes, there
is always adoption. But she must still go through the pregnancy. 
The flip side of the coin is pro-life. They strongly believe that abortion is murder.
There is child growing inside the womb. The mother has no right to end a life. Life
begins at conception. To terminate that life unjustly is immoral. To kill a child simply
because the mother feels herself unfit to care for a child is completely unacceptable. If
a woman chooses abortion she is being selfish. She isn't taking into account that there
is another being dependent on her, her very own child. There are other choices other than
abortion, ones that preserve the precious life of the fetus. The first is not getting
pregnant in the first place. Contraception is so openly available and inexpensive.
Adoption should not be over-looked. With adoption the mother won't have to care for the
child and no harm will come to it. Pro-life leaders feel that they must feel that they
must fight for these defenseless children. Did you know that one child is aborted every
22 seconds in the United States. Another interesting fact is "77% of the pro-choice
leaders are male. One hundred percent of them will never get pregnant." (Rodman &
Buckley)
I can't classify myself as pro-choice nor could I call myself pro-life. I do believe that
the embryo becomes a life at the moment of conception. However, I don't believe that
abortion, within the first trimester, is murder. After the first trimester the embryo
becomes a fetus and to end its life is wrong. By the end of the first trimester a woman
should know whether or not she is willing to care for a baby. Adoption I think is a very
good alternative. I think that pro-choice does have many good points. Especially those on
the right of freedom and the right to choose what happens to your body. Pro-life has, for
me, the strongest point, which is that the fetus is a child that has started at
conception. Abortion for myself is not an option. For many it is though. If the abortion
is performed within the first trimester that, to me, is acceptable. If an abortion is to
be performed after that is should be for only one reason, which is the mother's health is
at risk.
Bibliography
Abortion in History
www.pinn.net/~sunshine/abortion/history.html
November 20th, 2000 
Abortion Rights Are Pro-Choice
Leonard Peikoff
www.aynrand.org/medialink/prolife.html
November 20th, 2000 
How Abortions Are Done
Westside Pregnancy Resource Centre
www.w-cpc.org/abortion/methods.html
November 20th, 2000 
Mental Health Risks of Abortion
Westside Pregnancy Resource Centre
www.w-cpc.org/abortion/emotion.html
November 20th, 2000
Physical Health Risks of Abortion
Westside Pregnancy Resource Centre
www.w-cpc.org/abortion/physical.html
November 20th, 2000 
Roe v. Wade
www.roevwade.org/court.html
November 20th, 2000 
Women and Abortion: Another Voice
Monika Rodman & Kathleen Buckley
www.prolifeinfo.org/atr026.html
November 20th, 2000