Timothy Kennedy

Bessie McAdams

English 225

01/22/17

Argument for Pro-Choice

In this country, we pride ourselves on our freedoms. Freedom of speech, freedom of

religion, freedom to assemble; these are all gifts endowed to every citizen by our Founding

Fathers. Since then, we have had other freedoms defined and expanded by both legislatures and

courts. One notable case is Roe v. Wade, which along with Planned Parenthood v. Casey, states

that under the 14th amendment women have the right to abortion until fetal viability. Abortion

for any reason is a womans choice, and they should have the choice available to them, for the

well-being of both mother and child. There is statistical evidence for this, as well as personal

testimony from a family member that had an abortion.

First, we have to discuss fetal viability. When the egg is fertilized, it becomes a zygote,

which is a grouping of cells that begins to divide and grow. This grouping of cells will begin to

develop organs and other features, but they cannot survive without help from the mother. If one

was to remove the it from the body, for instance during a c-section, it would not be able to

survive. It would not count as a birth, because it simply cannot independently survive. This is

important to distinguish from an infant, which depends on its parents for food, shelter, etc.

Despite this dependence, the baby can breathe and move and exist outside the womb. This vital

distinction is what separates a developing mass of tissue from a human life, a person that can

survive as its own entity outside the mother.

 When we talk about the state of our country, we talk about how well-off we and our

fellow countrymen are. We talk about quality of life. When we read about how more and more

people struggle to make a living for themselves, how graduates cannot find work,

ever-increasing population becomes a real concern. For those in poverty with unplanned

pregnancies, what desire is there to possibly inflict that pain upon someone else by bringing them

into the world? This is a real question for women at or below the poverty line. My family

members decision to abort her child resulted in one less child being raised in poverty by

inexperienced young adults who were not ready or able to do so.

Abortion is also an important choice for women to make regarding their future plans.

According to the Guttmacher Institute, 74% of women who had an abortion said it would

interfere with her education or work. In a progressive society such as ours, we celebrate women

who have high goals for themselves and their professional lives. Why should their personal lives

be put on hold because of unplanned pregnancy? When my close family member had her

abortion, she was able to continue her life as planned. She didnt have to put her college career

on hold or abandon her ambitions. She had children again later, once she had put herself in a

place professionally that better allowed for her to raise a child.

Another important instance of abortion is when the fetus is dying, or poses a health risk

to the mother. If the childs development is poor and a medical professional predicts that it will

end in miscarriage or stillborn, abortion should be an option. The mother, as the carrier of the

fetus, should be able to make that decision. As its a part of her body at that point in

development, she should reserve the right to decide when action should be taken. This is most

likely not an easy decision at all for the mother, so why should it be decided by somebody else,
much less regulated to be illegal? Can you imagine the reaction of a mother whos been told her

child will likely be a stillborn and must still carry it to term? That would be a horrific experience

for the mother, as well as the child.

Abortion is not an easy choice for a woman to make, but it needs to remain one available

to all women at anytime. There are many factors that come into play when pregnancy happens,

and a ban over abortion shows a needlessly caustic and careless attitude to the women who are

considering it for various reasons. In a country built on freedom of choice in so many ways,

reproductive choice needs to remain on the list.

Timothy Kennedy

Bessie McAdams

English 225

01/22/17

Argument for Pro-Life

In this country, our Founding Fathers stated that human beings have certain unalienable rights.

Right to life, right to liberty, and right to the pursuit of happiness. Since then, the court cases of

Roe v. Wade, along with Planned Parenthood v. Casey, have infringed on those rights, and not

just the ones of the child. Convenience abortion, abortion allowed for any circumstance, is

morally wrong and harmful to women, and should be banned. There is scientific and statistical

evidence for this, as well as personal testimony from a family member that had an abortion.

To say that abortion is morally wrong, one says that the fetus from the moment of

conception is a person, and the killing of an innocent person is murder. Embryologists, those

who study embryonic and fetal development, are scientifically the soundest source of knowledge

in this matter. A study from the International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy by

embryologists states that the life of a human being unequivocally begins at the moment of

conception, and is not a blob of cells or a piece of the mothers tissue. It is a completely

independent being with its own genetic identity. In the third week after conception, the brain,

heart and spine are already developing. A week later the heart is beating. This is a living being,

not a foreign growth in the mother. In addition, fetal viability is a term without much science to

back it up, quoted in cases without any studies to support it. Doctors speculate when the fetus
can feel pain based on nervous system development, but it is just speculation with the current

scientific knowledge we have.

Abortion in many cases cannot be attributed as a womans choice, due to its

pervasiveness as being a womans only choice. A study done on the effects on women before

and after abortions showed that two thirds of women reported that they were coerced into the

decision, and 84% reported that they felt they did not have information given to them in order to

make an informed decision. My family member who had an abortion had this exact experience.

Her boyfriend at the time was extremely hasty to hush her, and stop her from discussing it with

anybody else. He hurried to take her to a Planned Parenthood establishment, where the staff did

not give her any information regarding pregnancy. They did not explain any other options she

had, nor give her an ultrasound; she cites that if she had been provided any of these things, she

would have changed her mind, or at least reconsidered. Instead, a man took advantage of a

woman who was frightened and uncertain, and coerced her into doing what he wanted. Is this not

what a man does when he rapes? Its harmful to the woman, and places his desires above hers.

Abortion is also unhealthy to women both physically and mentally. Seventeen percent of

women participating in a study on the aftereffects of abortion reported physical complications,

such as abnormal bleeding or pelvic infection, since their abortion. Based on abortion statistics,

this represents around 200,000 women annually. These complications come due to the various

processes undertaken to abort the child, as they are unnatural and against the normal biological

developments inside the womb that sustain life for the child. A gynecological survey found

abortion to be a risk factor for several future pregnancy complications, such as tubal pregnancy,

preterm delivery, placenta previa, and miscarriage, dispelling the myth that abortion is healthy
for women who dont necessarily want a pregnancy at the time, but could want one later.

Psychologically, the study mentioned in the previous paragraph concludes that Posttraumatic

stress reactions were found to be associated with abortion. Consistent with previous research, the

data here suggest abortion can increase stress and decrease coping abilities. A British Journal of

Psychiatry survey showed that women who had undergone an abortion experienced an 81

percent increased risk of mental health problems. My family member had this experience as

well. Directly after her abortion she was traumatic for many years, and had to seek professional

psychological help. She is still haunted by the decision she made, and although she was lucky

and did not have any physical problems afterwards, she said she will regret it for the rest of her

life. This is also not healthy towards women.

Abortion should not be a choice women have to make, as its harmful to both the child

and the mother. There are indeed many sociological factors that cause women to consider an

abortion, so any action taken to limit abortions should also include measures to create

environments supportive of pregnancy and adoption. This way, our unalienable rights as humans

apply to us both in the womb, and outside it as well.