“Approximately 68,000 women die worldwide from having abortions performed in unsafe and unhealthy conditions each year” (Haddad). These abortions typically occur in areas where the procedure is deemed illegal or where it is difficult to obtain readily available assistance in terminating a pregnancy. If abortion became illegal, it would create many social and ethical problems within society. While the legality of abortion is highly debated among people because of its moral and political concerns, it is an undeniable right for women and often a benefit to society as a whole; therefore, abortion should remain a legal option.
First of all, the termination of a pregnancy occurs due to many different reasons, although one significantly common cause …show more content…
In particular, the right to bodily integrity is unquestionable, yet often infringed upon in cases with women. For example, restricting a woman from receiving an abortion forces her body to be affected, to change, and to sustain something against her will. This is a violation of the most important principles that founded the United States of America: freedom and independence. However, opposers to this concept state that saving the life of the child is more important. In that case, all viable organs from the recently deceased would be harvested in order to save the lives of the 8,030 people who die on average each year in the United States (American Transplant Foundation). This is not the case as even corpses have bodily integrity in the eyes of the law. The refusal to allow abortions to remain a legal option for women says one thing. The women in America are seen as less deserving of basic human rights than the deceased. This fact is a startling and worrisome one and results in the question of what other rights may be stripped from American women if even their bodily integrity will not be …show more content…
Significantly, 91% of abortions are carried out during the first trimester of a pregnancy (FoxNews). By the end of the first trimester, the fetus is only about one and a half inches long and half an ounce in weight. The baby starts to grow the major organs that adult humans have, but the process will have just begun (Mayo Clinic). However, the brain has not yet formed the connections needed for conscious awareness or the registration of pain. Therefore, the termination of a pregnancy at this point in the fetus’s development is not inhumane or cruel. Abortions performed in the second trimester are much less common, as it is a more difficult procedure. Abortions this late in the pregnancy can be caused by the obstacles that some areas in the United States put in place to make it more difficult to obtain an abortion (Herold). These obstacles can include required prior authorization by a physician, a waiting period for the woman to rethink her decision, requiring the mother to see a sonogram, and requiring teenagers of childbearing age to obtain parental consent. Other reasons include fetal anomalies, the health of the mother, and the management of a miscarriage (UCSF). After the end of the second trimester at 24 weeks, it is extremely rare to have an abortion performed as it may be possible for the fetus to live outside the mother’s uterus independently. Abortions performed at this
First of all, the termination of a pregnancy occurs due to many different reasons, although one significantly common cause …show more content…
In particular, the right to bodily integrity is unquestionable, yet often infringed upon in cases with women. For example, restricting a woman from receiving an abortion forces her body to be affected, to change, and to sustain something against her will. This is a violation of the most important principles that founded the United States of America: freedom and independence. However, opposers to this concept state that saving the life of the child is more important. In that case, all viable organs from the recently deceased would be harvested in order to save the lives of the 8,030 people who die on average each year in the United States (American Transplant Foundation). This is not the case as even corpses have bodily integrity in the eyes of the law. The refusal to allow abortions to remain a legal option for women says one thing. The women in America are seen as less deserving of basic human rights than the deceased. This fact is a startling and worrisome one and results in the question of what other rights may be stripped from American women if even their bodily integrity will not be …show more content…
Significantly, 91% of abortions are carried out during the first trimester of a pregnancy (FoxNews). By the end of the first trimester, the fetus is only about one and a half inches long and half an ounce in weight. The baby starts to grow the major organs that adult humans have, but the process will have just begun (Mayo Clinic). However, the brain has not yet formed the connections needed for conscious awareness or the registration of pain. Therefore, the termination of a pregnancy at this point in the fetus’s development is not inhumane or cruel. Abortions performed in the second trimester are much less common, as it is a more difficult procedure. Abortions this late in the pregnancy can be caused by the obstacles that some areas in the United States put in place to make it more difficult to obtain an abortion (Herold). These obstacles can include required prior authorization by a physician, a waiting period for the woman to rethink her decision, requiring the mother to see a sonogram, and requiring teenagers of childbearing age to obtain parental consent. Other reasons include fetal anomalies, the health of the mother, and the management of a miscarriage (UCSF). After the end of the second trimester at 24 weeks, it is extremely rare to have an abortion performed as it may be possible for the fetus to live outside the mother’s uterus independently. Abortions performed at this