Why Abortion Should Be Illegal Essay

Superior Essays
Why Abortion Needs to be Deemed Illegal and Socially Unacceptable The 1973 Supreme Court case Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion nationwide until the point of viability, or the point where the fetus can survive independently with or without support from doctors. Since Roe vs. Wade, 53 million abortions occurred legally in the United States from 1973 to 2011 (“Induced Abortion in the United States,” 2016). The pro-life argument strives for the rights of the unborn while the pro-choice argument defends the woman’s right to have an abortion. The true debate of this topic is figuring out when exactly the living fetus exists. Pro-Life activists believe life begins at conception while Pro-Choice activists believe that a fetus is not living until …show more content…
One health risk is psychological damage to mothers who had abortions. Chittom and Newton (2016) reported that “sadness, depression, guilt, anxiety, numbness, and shame are just a few of the psychological effects common to women who had abortions.” According to “Should Abortion be Legal” (2016), a study done by BMC Magazine reported that women who had abortions often have higher anxiety levels and are 154% more likely to commit suicide than other women. The Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology reported a study on the effects on men whose partners had abortions and it found that 51.6% had regrets, 45.2% felt sadness, and 25.8% experienced depression (“Should Abortion be Legal,” 2016). Chittom and Newton (2016) note that Pro-Life activists often explain the long term emotional, spiritual, psychological, and physical trauma after the procedure as post-abortion syndrome, which is not officially recognized by the medical world. Besides psychological damage, abortion can also lead to future health issues for the mother. The article “Should Abortion be Legal” (2016) published a 2003 study done by the International Journal of Epidemiology, which found that 15% of first trimester miscarriages are mostly caused by previous vacuum aspiration abortions. The same article also noted a 2014 study published in the Cancer Causes and Control Journal that showed a link between abortions and breast cancer. The …show more content…
Rich and Wagner (2016) argue state that in a 2004 survey on women who had abortions, 92% reported they had the procedure because of social reasons rather than medical reasons or sexual assault. The primary social reasons provided were “the timing being wrong for having a child, not being able to afford a baby, having relationship problems with the father, or not feeling mature enough to raise a child” (Rich and Wagner, 2016). Furthermore, abortion is used to escape responsibility and the consequences of a mistake. An unborn child should not be punished for the parent’s failure to realize the risk of pregnancy during sexual activity. Additionally, the article “Should Abortion be Legal” (2016), also gives substantial social arguments. For one, abortion limits the amount of adoptable children, which denies families wanting children the pleasure of adopting. In 1971, 90,000 US infants were put up for adoption versus only 18,000 in 2007 (“Should Abortion be Legal,” 2016). Additionally, abortion eliminates any “potential societal contributions of the future human being” (“Should Abortion be Legal”, 2016). Think about our world today without a particular individual. To put this into perspective, imagine our society without the contributions of Celine Dion, Cher, Justin Bieber, and Steve Jobs, whose mothers actually considered having an abortion for various reasons (“Should Abortion be Legal,”

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    However, the majority of complications take time to develop and will not be apparent for days, months, or even years” ( “Physical Dangers Associated With Abortions”). Abortions can lead to death for women who choose to undergo the process of abortion. Studies in the United States show that, “mortality rates after abortion were significantly higher than after childbirth,”showing that women have a better chance of living by having the child (“How Abortion Hurts Women”). In many cases, abortions cause depression and/or self harm.…

    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The major argument with abortion is taking the life of an unborn human. Fetuses are not independent of themselves, more so they are very dependent on their carrier for nutrition, oxygen and other supplements. Therefore, the child will not be able to survive outside the womb by itself. Abortion is ending the pregnancy, not ending the life of the baby. Pro-life activists argue fetuses are able to feel pain.…

    • 703 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Those who support abortion, which are most known as “Pro-choice,” and those who don’t support abortion which are called “Pro-life.” Pro-choice people believe that women should make their own decision on their health and not the government or politicians. They believe that youths should have appropriate sex education programs and they support funding for abortions. They believe their is nothing wrong with abortion, and whatever they do to their body, should not be any one’s business. Pro-life people believe that abortion is unethical, and it 's immoral to kill another human being for they also have the right to live.…

    • 1632 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many people take the right to live for granted, however, from hundreds of thousands to millions of unborn children are killed annually because they are unwanted by their parents. Facts provide evidence to support, “If destroy us at the earliest stage, you never end up with us at this stage” (Clemmitt). Everyone believes their life is guaranteed, that they will be able to live undisturbed and happily. Marcia Clemmitt stated in an article from 2006, “If you are a full scale human embryo and you are given nurture, you end up, by anybody’s definition, a full-scale human being”. According to a 1997 statistic, approximately one and a half million children are aborted annually; 100 thousand children are put up for adoption while one and a half million families want to adopt a child annually (“Annual Adoptions”).…

    • 1222 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    To begin with, when having an abortion it is more than likely you will eventually have medical problems. Many people believe abortion is completely safe and does not cause any health issues, but this is completely false. Abortion can cause psychological damage. In 2008 Public Health found that "Young adult women who undergo... abortion may be at increased risk for subsequent depression. "…

    • 1167 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    On average, there are 293,066 sexual assaults on women ages 12 and up every year in the United States of America. If you do the math, factor in the leap years, that comes down to about one sexual assault of a woman anywhere from the age 12 and up every 107 seconds. What if some of these sexual assaults ended in pregnancies? About 5.0% of them do, although it may not seem like much, it 's important. By no means should abortion be promoted as a product in the supermarket, however that does not mean the option should be taken away from women who suffer from sexual assaults which are unfortunately often committed domestically or by someone they know.…

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abortion could lead to future medical problems for the mother. Most people who are prochoice say that a baby shouldn’t come into this world unwanted, but there are millions of couples who would love to adopt a newborn baby, therefore the baby is always wanted by someone. In two thousand fourteen, eight thousand one hundred eighteen abortions took place just in Indiana and out of the eight thousand one hundred eighteen only twelve percent of the women had something wrong with their health, where they would die if they didn’t get an abortion. The other eighty-eight percent just didn’t want the baby. (Indiana abortion facts).…

    • 658 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    There are many psychological risks that can take place after an abortion, women experience suicidal thoughts, depression and anxiety disorders. It is understandable that some doctors choose not to do the procedure on a woman, especially if she is at a higher risk to experience some of these side…

    • 885 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Abortion is the act of purposely killing a human fetus. This action is legal in the United States of America due to the differing opinions regarding it. In this essay, I will discuss whether, or not abortion is morally permissible. If Abortion is in fact morally permissible, is it permissible in all or just some situations? I will argue that abortion is only morally correct in cases of a fetus having a severe genetic disorder and when the mother’s life is in danger.…

    • 2014 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Abortion Is A Right Essay

    • 1953 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Fetal Rights. New York: 2006 Print Pollitt, Katha. Pro: Reclaiming Abortion as Good for Society. 2014…

    • 1953 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Abortion Debate

    • 1477 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Those negative impacts can be caused by both safe and unsafe abortions. However, unsafe abortions caused around 47,000 deaths in 2008, and nearly 22 million unsafe abortions take place every year (“Preventing Unsafe Abortion”). Death, future pregnancy problems, and breast cancer include just a few of the physical health problems a woman may face after having an induced abortion. Mental health also has its place in abortions as well. Many women who choose to have an abortion have a higher rate of self-diagnosed depression.…

    • 1477 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One reason abortion is a social issue is because people don’t know whether it should be either illegalized or legalized everywhere. Tom Anderson says,” if abortions become illegalized then it will have a significant impact on women and would cause society to become like the third world. ”(Anderson,3) Which he describes as a place where the population suffers from poverty, malnutrition, treatable disease, poor health care, unemployment and lastly a place where women feel little empowerment concerning their reproductive lives. (Anderson, 3).…

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Abortion should not be legalized because it is the taking of a human life. Abortion cause psychological damage to women who choose to abort their babies. Abortion can also lead to a serious health complication and in some cases the worst case scenario can be death. Instead of aborting a babies and having the risk of losing your own life, it would be easier and better to give the infant to somebody that will take care them and love. Women that are aborting babies are having the risk of not being able to become pregnant ever again in life.…

    • 1549 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Abortion is a sensitive topic for many to discuss and one of the most controversial issues in the United States. Abortions became legal in the United States in 1973 after the Supreme Court judged in favor of Roe vs. Wade (McDonagh). There are many opinions on whether abortions should be legal. This research project will focus on the affects an abortion can have on a woman. There are still many questions concerning if abortions can cause psychological and physical damage.…

    • 1374 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Prolife can be defined as the baby must be born despite all other viability or quality of life whereas prochoice is that each person has full control over what they do with their own body with respect to their reproductive systems as long as they do not breach anybody else’s reproductive system. It is clear that the reason why there is conflict is due to abortion. It can go either way on the debate depending on the situation and the beliefs that an individual may have. However, though the law protects unborn fetuses there should be other preventions and rights that should be contemplated, such as the absolute right to be born no matter the circumstances of the parent, and the right to adoption. Fetus are protected to an extent due to the prolife/prochoice debate, however they should be fully protected from…

    • 968 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays