Abortion Debate

Superior Essays
Dr. Seuss once said, “A person is a person, no matter how small”. Abortion is a topic of debate across the world, and almost everyone has very strong feelings about it one way or the other. This topic raises hard to answer questions such as: when does life begin? At conception? At birth? Somewhere in between? It’s a difficult question to answer, but many have tried to define a line. Although a fetus does have some rights, I believe the fetus and embryo should have nearly complete protection and the development of their senses should be taken into consideration when debating this topic. Between conception and 20-24 weeks, a fetus has little to no rights separate from the mother, depending on which state the abortion occurs in. An embryo is …show more content…
A single cell is considered the smallest form of life, a living organism, and I believe that to be true. I believe that at conception, when sperm meets egg, that fertilized egg, or zygote, is the smallest form of human life. This happens naturally, when a man and a woman have sex, the natural result is pregnancy. If someone is not able to or does not want to have a baby, perhaps instead of having an abortion as a solution to the “problem”, they should considered abstaining from sex, or using multiple ways of effective protection. Putting my Christian worldview aside, a strong case could still be made to protect a fetus’s right to live. A heartbeat is a sign of life, and a heartbeat can be found as early as week 6 of gestation (American Pregnancy Association, 2010). A person is not declared legally dead until their heart has stopped beating, and therefore a person should be considered legally alive at least when their heart starts beating. Not only is this my opinion, but is the opinion of a committee assembled by the U.S. Senate, comprised of some of the world’s most prominent scientists who believe that life begins at conception. One of these scientists, Dr. Alfred M. Bongionanni, a professor in the field of pediatrics and obstetrics at the University of Pennsylvania quoted, “I submit that human life is present throughout this entire sequence from conception to adulthood and that any interruption at any point throughout this time constitutes a termination of human life…” (Alcorn, n.d.). Another scientist, Dr. Jerome Lejeune, who discovered the chromosome patter of Down syndrome, stated, “After fertilization has taken place a new human being has come into being. This no longer a matter of taste or opinion, not a metaphysical contention, it is plain experimental evidence… Each individual has a very neat beginning, at conception” (Alcorn, n.d.).

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    “If we accept the fetus as a person, it would imply that the fetus has the same rights that belong to a person, including the right of living” (Kadayifçi et al, 64). This proves that when morality is included into the topic of pro-life and pro-choice, pro-choice may not seem as ethically accurate. “If the fetus is a person and has the right to live, it is wrong to end the life of an innocent person, and no one would question the innocence of the fetus” (Kadayifçi et al, 64). Therefore, if people could see the fetus as just another person, they may be more prone to consider abortion as a bad…

    • 1234 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abortion is an emotive and controversial topic that raises political, ethical and social debates. According to Dictionary.com, “abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, usually before the embryo or fetus is capable of independent life; most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy.” In this paper, I’ll explain the main legal and ethical issues surrounding abortions. Also, I will provide a case that has to deal with abortion. Ethical questions mainly stem from religious, social and professional dimensions.…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abortion And Motherhood

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages

    “Murder is the killing of an innocent human life. Abortion is the killing of an innocent human life. Therefore, abortion is murder. ”(beaconmbc.com/ articles/isabortionthesameasmurder.htm) However, the case of Roe v. Wade states that a fetus does not become a “person” until it can survive outside of the mother’s womb, sometimes referred to as the point of vitality.…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Federal Government Should Outlaw Late-Term Abortion In 2013, reporter Sarah Terzo from Live Action News in Virginia indicated that late-term abortion clinic shoots babies through the heart with poison in order to kill them. This example is a good reason to why the federal government should be outlawing late-term abortion. No matter what situation the mother and fetus are in, every fetus should have the right to live a meaningful life. However, the federal government should outlaw abortion after the first trimester because many of the practices are inhumane, all fetuses should have the right to live, and the ways abortion can cause risks for the women. Late-Term Abortion Being Inhumane…

    • 1331 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abortion Controversy

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Abortion has been one of the main topics in America to produce a plethora of controversy, marking the collision of two values: pro-life and pro-choice. While we know that each side produces a wide variety of points as to why each group believes what they do, we still must be omniscient about the life of the child. Someone who is pro-choice would argue that the woman has the right to her own body and what happens to it; however, taking the side of pro-choice disregards the child’s life. This seems like complete balderdash to me, almost to be noted ignorant. Abortion is wrong to me because it is considered murder, it causes psychological and emotional trauma to the mother, and it teaches people to ignore responsibility.…

    • 839 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Merely six weeks into a pregnancy the heart of the fetus begins to beat. By that point it can be considered alive. Pro-choice activists will argue that women have the right to choose whether or not to terminate the life of this child because it resides inside the woman’s body. While it is the right of the woman to do what she wants with her own body, that should not make it constitutional for a woman to end someone’s life. Except in cases of rape, the woman has chosen to have sex, whether or not she is ready to have a child.…

    • 1006 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As soon as conception, the baby should have the same rights to life as we have. If you look at the constitution, it states that each person should have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. In the Bible there are many areas its talks about the importance of life. Both clearly state that our right to life is one of the greatest rights we have. As each generation grows up, the more people are becoming selfish, heartless, and stubborn.…

    • 1746 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Even though the fetus is still developing, doesn’t it have a claim to life? It can still claim as a life, even how small they are. I still remember once I visited a Catholic church that accepted aborted babies from local hospitals, and performed last rites then buried them. I went through a room in the church where the bodies were kept. I felt like I could hear babies crying.…

    • 1144 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    ‘’It is just a blob of tissue, not a baby” (“Pro Life Vs Pro Choice: An Introduction to the Debate’’). Because most abortions are done with in the first trimester or slightly after, it is hard to consider it as killing a living, breathing human being. ‘’Personhood begins after a fetus is able to survive outside of the womb or after birth, not at conception’’ (“Should Abortion Be Legal?”). Out of the seven characteristics of life, five cannot be demonstrated by a fetus within the first trimester if it was to be removed from the womb of the mother. These characterizes of life are as follows: all living things grow, all living things reproduce, all living things have the ability to adapt to their environments, all living things use energy, and all living things have the ability to respond to different stimuli introduced into their environment (“The seven characteristics of life”).…

    • 782 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Hills Like White Elephants Critical Response Essay The issue presented in this work is one that continues on today. How pro-life and pro-choice individuals approach the moral dilemma of abortion. Immediately there is a dismissive tone set by “The American”.…

    • 1002 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Conception is the beginning of human life and not at birth, the birth stage is part of the development of the human body (Dougherty, 2006), abortion should not be legal because human life begins at conception, puts the physical health and mental health of the woman at risk. Not everyone thinks and believes a human life begins at conception, there’s a lot of debates on this delicate and important topic; however, scientists demonstrates that life does begin at conception. “It is a scientific fact that an organism exists after fertilization that did not exist before” (Terzo, 2013). The new organisms develop their own DNA which means that is different from the parents showing that is a distinctive individual, again the new organism is alive and…

    • 158 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    A human life begins start at the time of the conception. A children does not deserve to be kill for the irresponsibility of their parent. According to Life Site News, "Abortion is a defining human-rights issue of our time.." (Ricker 1). Everyone stands up for their own human rights, but when it comes to abortion no one stands up for the baby’s human rights.…

    • 1549 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Do people consider a fetus to be a human or just an egg that has not yet fully evolved into one? When speaking of a fetus legally it is considered to be another member to society. The second a fetus is fertilized it has the right to life. Though abortion has not yet been banned, laws still have some sort of involvement when women decide to undergo abortion. Abortion is one of the most complex situation when falling into the prolife/prochoice debate.…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abortion is a huge problem that has caused a wide range of controversy all over the United States. There are two sides to the problem, which are people who oppose abortion or support it. Abortion becomes a big deal when trying to decide whether a fetus should be considered a human being already when a woman aborts. In my case I believe that a woman should not be able to abort a child inside her unless there is some type of serious medical issue where the child may not come out alive. When a woman aborts a child, they did not want, it is like the killing of another human being who had no say or ever did anything wrong to deserve it.…

    • 1386 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abortion Abortion is a very controversial topic. It refers to the termination of pregnancy by removing the fetus from a mother’s womb. Abortion laws are different in each state. Proponents of abortion argue that every woman has the right to abort her pregnancy and a fetus is not a human until it is born. However, people should remember that life begins as soon as the baby is conceived so aborting a fetus means murdering a baby.…

    • 700 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays