...to have an abortion, she must consider her health, the baby’s help and her religious belief. Would you destroy your baby just because you are young or single or unable to take care of her or him? Is an unborn baby really even a person? Some people think abortion should be legal. These are some reasons abortion should be legal. Making abortion legal does not keep a woman form having abortion it just makes them safer. Another reason why it should be legal is if the woman may have health problems, psychological problems or financial difficulties that make caring for a child very difficult. The last reason why abortion should be legal is if the child is unwanted. Abortion is one of the most persistently controversial issues in American culture and politics today. Since the 1973 national legalization of abortion, competing groups have fought to either restrict or increase access to the procedure, leading to heated debates among political activists, religious organizations, state legislatures, and judges. This conflict is perhaps reflective of the nation’s ambivalence over abortion. While it is often depicted as a two-sided debate, the abortion controversy is actually quite multifaceted, involving complex speculation on biology, ethics, and constitutional rights. Those who identify themselves as prolife, for example, generally contend that abortion is wrong because it kills human life, which they believe begins at conception. However, some pro-lifers grant that abortion should be allowed...
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...Abortion Abortion is the termination of pregnancy before the fetus is able to survive without depending on the mother. The loss of this is usually referred to as premature birth. Abortion is one of the most common medical procedures performed in many countries today. In some countries abortion is legalized while in others this is a criminal offence that can lead to prosecution. Globally, each year, 20 to 30 million legal abortions are performed while 10 to 20million illegal abortions do take place (Gnad, 2008). Abortions in most parts of the world are unsafe and, account for many deaths of women due to, many complication involved. In spite of modern, effective and readily available birth control methods, more than half of the pregnancies that happen in the world today are mostly unplanned. Many of these pregnancies end up in abortion. This has made abortion, a pertinent issue that this paper tries to discuss about. Firstly, abortion in the world today comes in many types. Abortion performed before the end of seven weeks from the time of conception is usually done surgically or by use of drugs. From nine weeks to fourteen weeks, abortion is usually performed by a procedure known as dilatation and suction curettage. After fourteen weeks, abortion is performed using a procedure referred to as dilatation and evacuation procedure (Michael, 2000). After expiry of 20 weeks after conception, abortion can only be performed by labor induction, saline infusion or hysterectomy. Medical...
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...Women’s Movement Timeline Kerri McCleary Kaplan University SS310-05: Exploring the 1960’s 1405B December 2014 Term Professor: Adam Rafalovich January 26, 2015 The idea of Women’s rights to an abortion has been an ongoing power struggle between politicians and women for a long amount of time. This struggle hit its first milestone in 1916 and is still present in today’s society. The timeline above shows many of the milestones that allow women the choice to have an abortion if they chose to receive one in terms of pro-choice or pro-life. In 1916 Margaret Sanger opened the first birth control clinic. Her clinic only lasted 10 days as she was arrested for such an act at this time. She gained so much support that a few years later in 1923 she opened another clinic. Before Sanger opened her next clinic she founded the American Birth Control League which became Planned Parenthood Federation of American in 1942. Margaret Sanger started the fight for women’s right to birth control. Due to the battles that Sanger won, in 1936, birth control information, by law, was not considered obscene and was able to be shared through the mail. This would be impossible if the public was supporting birth control. It took 24 years after the start of the movement for the government to act. In 1960 the Federal Drug Administration finally approved birth control as safe and can be used by any woman, victory! (Imbornoni, 2007). The Next step in this fight for women involves three Supreme...
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...The right to a safe abortion and the right to determine when and if to become a parent should be choices that can be made without being penalised. Women should have the right to make decisions about their own bodies. Making abortion illegal does not reduce the number of abortions. It is estimated that there are between 10000 and 14000 abortions in Queensland every year compared to approximately 17000 in Victoria where abortion is legal . Access to safe abortions and the legislation allowing abortion can prevent unnecessary suffering both physically and emotionally. To accept the High Court Judge, Justice Kirby’s statement that ‘no human justice system is perfect’ is unsatisfactory and would allow for the legal system...
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...Question 3: Assess the arguments for and against abortion, giving consideration to both medical and ethical issues. Abortion is defined as the termination of a pregnancy by the removal or expulsion of a foetus or embryo from the uterus, resulting in or caused by its death. It is derived from the Latin word ‘aboriri’ that means ‘to fail to be born’. The abortion argument is one of the most complex, controversial and highly charged topics in our society today. Those against abortion view it as the murder of a living human being, whilst its supporters take on the view that the choice of abortion lies with the woman, the foetus is not considered a human life but only a ‘tissue’ hence it is under the control of the mother and she should be allowed to make her decision at any point in her pregnancy without any resistance. On the other hand you have the ‘middle ground’ supporters who take on the moderate view in terms of the trauma the whole experience does to the woman who makes the life altering decision to consider or take abortion as an option, they are for restrictions on abortion to some extent however not banning the option entirely. Overall, this essay will serve to give an overview of the main abortion arguments, discussing, analyzing and trying to understand from each view. It will be looked at from a neutral perspective however no verdict will be made, as to attempt to derive the right answer for abortion will be difficult: the reason being that it is connected...
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...The two major parties, Democrats and Republicans, for decades have disagreed on many different crucial topics. Every time election comes these topics come up in all kinds of political debates and rallies around the country. Some of those important topics are; Abortion, Capital Punishment, Gun Control, Immigration, and Sex. In this new day and age, abortion has become possible through medical advances, which has also made it a pressing social topics during presidential debates. Democrats have the more liberal views on this topic believing it is “woman's right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy”. They also strongly believe in funding stem cell research, giving the mother the option to choose if she cannot afford the abortion, choice is a fundamental and constitutional right to all women. The Green Party share a very common outlook as the Democrats on Abortion. Their view is it is always a women’s right to choose, keep abortion...
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...Abortion Consent Laws Since almost the beginning of time, abortion has been something that is considered very taboo in our society. Many people do not like to discuss it or share their views on it to spare the feelings or judgement of others. However, it is a very important topic that deserves to have more light shed on it as well as have more supporters be open and outspoken about it. Nowadays, it is fairly simple for someone wanting an abortion to receive the proper medical care that they need in order to maintain their health; however, it was not always like this. Under common law, abortion was legal in the United States leading up to the 19th century. Early laws only banned the use of toxic substances to cause miscarriages after a woman...
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... Federal laws on abortion (1)On April 18th 2007 The U.S. Supreme Court held a vote on a nationwide ban on abortions. The law was passed and is still enforced to this day. This gave politicians...
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...Running head: GENDER SELECTION Is Gender Selection of a Fetus Ethical? Emily Myer Grand Canyon University NRS 437V 08.21.2010 Gender Selection It is a commonly known fact that countries such as China and India prize their male children far above their females. Investigations have also shown that many parents in these countries have been illegally aborting these less desirable female children as a means of gender selection. As a result, it is estimated that there will be nearly 60 million more men of marriageable age in China than women by the year 2050. (The Economist, 2011) A recent technological development published in the Journal of the American Medical Association report that, “a new maternal blood test can determine a fetus’ sex as early as seven weeks into a pregnancy” (Ravitsky, 2011). Is it possible that this technology, in and of itself, can pose an ethical threat to humanity? Some are already saying that it does. One such critic is Vardit Ravitsky, an assistant professor in the bioethics program at the University of Montreal. She is also the editor of “The Penn Center Guide to Bioethics”. In her opinion piece published on CNN’s website, she asserts that this new technology is safer, less invasive, and more accurate than the options that are currently available to the public, making it much easier to use for non-medical purposes such as gender selection (Ravitsky, 2011). For the purpose of this assignment, the ethical implications of gender selection...
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...valuable goals. Sometimes, attempting to achieve valuable goals through the law results in failure due to the way law used which may be self defeating. Authoritative character of law places a burden in human life of choosing for oneself and binds them. This should be avoided to the far extent possible. There may be some aspects of the common good that cannot be realized effectively using authoritative legal rules which implies that law is not a good tool for all purposes. Thus, the aspects of common good supported by authoritative rules are the appropriate aims of law. This object of this paper is to examine five controversial laws in US that restrict or regulate behavior and present a philosophical argument for or against why such laws advance a proper aim of law. Controversial Laws in US Due to their sensitive nature, there are several topics which are highly disputed. Since prudence and emotions never go hand-in-hand, it becomes hard to arrive at a conclusion. There are a number of issues, topics and laws which can be debated upon like laws permitting or prohibiting gay marriage, abortion, use of marijuana, assisted suicide, child pornography, animal cruelty, health care, human rights, recreational drugs, gun control and harm to the environment etc. Here we will discuss five of these. 1) Homosexuality – Gay...
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...Should Abortion be legalized? Introduction To fully understand the issue of abortion, we must first understand exactly what abortion is and the history behind the issue. According to the Webster’s Dictionary (2012) abortion is defined as the “termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus.” An abortion can take place under two different conditions. The two conditions are therapeutic and elective. Therapeutic abortion is when a pregnancy is terminated due to medical condition(s) that may endanger a mother’s health. On the other hand elective abortion is the termination of a pregnancy under any other conditions outside of health (Medical News Today, 2009). Throughout history there were various methods that were used in terminating pregnancies. However even though the methods differed, the trimester or duration of the pregnancy determined what type of procedure is used. Also the severity of the side effects and pain differed by what type of procedure use. According to the Medical News Today (2009) the methods used are clinical, surgical, and herbs. The two main types of abortions are the clinical and surgical. Although both procedures have their risks the herbal tends to be considered “extremely dangerous” compared to clinical and surgical abortion due to its history of causing internal injuries (Medical News Today). Foremost, both the clinical and the surgical procedure are...
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...English 102 Professor Douglas Belmore 6 May 2015 Abortion: A Wrong, Not A Right Imagine a mother of a cranky toddler, already struggling to pay the bills and they find out that they’re pregnant, what do they do? Statistics show that most women would make the decision to abort. What if the doctor came up with an alternative solution? What if the doctor suggested that the woman should kill her toddler to relieve her of her troubles? If this statement disgusts you, then so should abortion. What is the difference between the fetus in the mother’s womb and the toddler? Both are living human beings with hope for an incredible future. Abortions have taken away the future of too many beings that never had a choice. The world will never know if these children would grow up and change the world because they did not even have the chance. Without question, abortion needs to be illegal because no one should have to live in a world where killing human beings is acceptable, no matter the circumstances. Abortion is prevalent throughout all races but most common for African Americans. The scenario above is a prime example of what many young, black females would do. In fact, “Some 1,784 African-American children are killed by abortion each day. Even though African American women only make up 12.6% of the population, they were apart of the nearly 30% of abortions that occurred in 2008 (Enouen).” Many people argue that abortions should be legal under various circumstances such as rape and women’s...
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...U.S. 809 Bigelow v. Virginia Facts: Jeffrey C. Bigelow was the managing editor for The Virginia Weekly, a newspaper which was published in Charlottesville, Virginia. He was charged with violating Virginia law on May 13, 1971, after printing an advertisement for a New York City agency that helped women arrange for, finance and obtain abortions. The ad print was as follows: UNWANTED PREGNANCY LET US HELP YOU Abortions are now legal in New York. There are no residency requirements. FOR IMMEDIATE PLACEMENT IN ACCREDITED HOSPITALS AND CLINICS AT LOW COST Contact WOMEN's PAVILION 515 Madison Avenue New York, N.Y. 10022 or call any time (212) 371-6670 or (212) 371-6650 AVAILABLE 7 DAYS A WEEK STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL. We will make all arrangements for you and help you with information and counseling. 1 Specifically, Mr. Bigelow was charged with violating Va. Code Ann. § 18.1-63 (1960). The statute made it a misdemeanor to encourage or prompt the processing of an abortion "by publication, lecture, advertisement, or by the sale or circulation of any publication, or in any other manner, encourage or prompt the procuring of abortion or miscarriage". Mr. Bigelow was tried and convicted in Albemarle County Court. He appealed to the Albemarle County Circuit Court, where he was granted a de novo trial. De Novo is Latin for ‘new beginning’, so a de novo trial is a completely new trial. Typically, a trial de novo is ordered by an appellate court when the original...
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...Many people believe that abortion is only a moral issue but it is also a constitutional issue. Involving six different amendments, the Roe v. Wade decision was greatly based on The Constitution. The supreme court decision in Roe v. Wade was incorrect legally and constitutionally. All unborn children are entitled to protection under the constitution for they are human beings, but the decision that was made after just after two years of arguing made it possible for unborn children to be aborted within the first six months of the pregnancy. One may wonder why such a situation would have to occur, the answer is simple, a minority of pro-life citizens made abortion illegal. This scene is not one that a person could envision occurring in the United States, a land that is considered to be contemporary and enlightened. This very panorama could become reality due to the moral arguments given by means of those who support pro-choice. The problem with these arguments is that they are based on nothing more than inaccurate, uninformed opinions. The Supreme Courts job is to, of course, is to resolve the issue by constitutional...
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...read. Based on the writings of Theodore J. Lowi and Herbert Alexander I have been able to look into a third-party system how it is set up to fail. Between the electoral and presidential lead parties that are wanted and are there for the people, and what they want, will make it. Political Parties and the Electoral Process Both major political parties in the United States have their pros and cons when it comes to the views on abortion, gun control, taxes, affirmative action, and gay marriage. The liberal views of most democrats want everyone to have the rights they deserve, but then they know some of those rights should be limited. Though this seems hypocritical the rights, they want to see, restricted are gun control to name one. This is a right we are allowed by the founding fathers, but it is true there are some who should never get their hands on a gun. The conservative views of most republicans follow the teachings of the Bible very strictly, and issues such as gay marriage and abortions are, in their minds, corrupt. When it comes to gun control or taxes, it seems they want to...
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