Abortion The End Of The Beginning Analysis

Abortion: The End of the Beginning
A woman slowly and hesitantly picks up the pregnancy test. She is pregnant! This woman, Jane, is only in the very early weeks of her pregnancy, but feels very excited and quickly begins preparing for her future baby. Jane feels some doubt and fear (what if he doesn’t want a child?), but ignores it. Instead, she elatedly calls her boyfriend on the phone and explains to him that he’s going to be a father. They get married before the birth of their child. Months pass and she finally has her precious baby boy in her loving arms. Jane’s baby grows into a tiny, little toddler who takes his first steps on his first birthday. He grows into a child, who makes friends with all of the children in his neighbor. Every …show more content…
If the baby is considered alive by the mother for quite some time, but then the mother decides on a late-term abortion, is this murder? The mother had acknowledged the baby as a person then upon the decision to receive an abortion, decided that the baby was no longer human. If the baby was once considered alive, can the mother take away this title? If not, does this become murder? If abortion is murder, this is a very unique situation. Even if the baby in the womb is not believed to be a human, it does not change the irrefutable fact that the baby is living being and that abortion is ending the life of something that is vital, functional, and alive. According to pro-lifer and writer for the New York Times, Ross Douthat, abortion’s rare situation requires legal action in the event that a woman does have an abortion as it differs from most other human affairs: "That while abortion is killing, while it is murder, it is also associated with a situation, pregnancy, that’s unlike any other in human affairs, and as such requires a distinctive legal response. No other potential murderer has his victim inside his body, no other potential murder victim is not in some sense fully physically visible and present to his assailant and the world, no other human person presents herself to her potential killer in what amounts to a pre-conscious state" (Douthat). Residing inside of the mother is a life that will eventually grow into a human if …show more content…
There have been many cases where a woman had an emotional, mental, or physical problem before her abortion. However, there are still many women who indeed suffer the effects of an abortion. There can be feelings of guilt from what the woman has done. Perhaps not at first, but possibly later on in her lifetime. “Post Abortion Stress Syndrome (PAS) affects everyone and is a form of post-traumatic stress disorder. The process of making an abortion choice, experiencing the procedure and living with the grief, pain and regret is certainly, at its very core, traumatic. As with any trauma, individuals often try to "forget" the ordeal and deny or ignore any pain that may result. Many simply don 't relate their distress to the abortion experience. At some point, however, memories resurface and the truth of this loss can no longer be denied. During these moments, the pain of post-abortion syndrome reveals itself in the hearts of millions of lives. The symptoms of post-abortion syndrome will not necessarily appear at the same time, nor is likely that any woman will experience the entire list. Some may occur immediately after an abortion and others much later.” (“Post Abortion Syndrome”). PAS does exist as a consequence of abortion. Though many stand up for abortion, you don’t often hear of a woman who has had an abortion and speaks up about it. Perhaps this is because of the abortion stigma, but this is more likely because the women who have had an abortion feel