ABORTION Argumentative Essay

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Is abortion right or wrong?

The subject regarding abortion has resulted in heated debates among the religious

community as well as the general society with the point of contention revolving around whether

it is right or wrong. According to Kaczor (62), abortion is a social issue that is not entirely

ignored, but it is a subject that has not been accorded adequate attention. For that reason,

presently the general community is experiencing a lot of controversies complemented confusion

caused by the practice of abortion. It is argued that abortion is a process that results in the killing

of a fetus by the mother for various reasons, where in some cases these actions are done due to

life-threatening situations while on the other hand women feel no need to have a child.

Nonetheless, it is significant to acknowledge that abortion can be described as a painful topic for

the parties involved most especially when confronted with the dilemma of whether or not to

terminate a pregnancy. Abortion is a polarizing issue in the present society, however, it is

imperative to state that abortion is wrong considering the practice leads to health issues and the

ceasing of life.

Abortion involves the termination of an early pregnancy, thus leading to the death of a

fetus, however, it is significant to recognize that a fetus is a person, with a distinctive genetic

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code. It is the general assumption that a fetus is not a person, but a bunch of cells that can be

destroyed, nonetheless this perception is misleading considering after conception, the fetus

becomes a unique individual (Needle & Lenore, 124). After conception, the unborn babies

become unique individuals, for that reason, they are still at a vulnerable stage of their lives as

such they should be treated with adequate compassion, because they are entitled to have human

rights. As early as 8 weeks after conception, the heartbeat of unborn babies can be successfully

detected, additionally, the unborn babies develop fingerprints around the same period. As a

result, this dispels the perception as well as the narrative that unborn babies are not human, for

that reason abortion is wrong as it can be termed as an act of murder. The society is tasked with

the role to fight against abortion as the practice leads to the killing of unborn babies who are

entitled to lawful rights as everyone else.

Abortion is wrong considering despite ending the life of unborn babies, the practice

leaves the affected mothers in both physical and emotional pain. No mother should go through

the pain of losing an unborn baby, further by 18 weeks since conception a fetus is able to feel

pain and suffering for that reason abortion should not be permissible. According to Manninen,

the practice of abortion is more rampant among teenagers, who often feel distressed after getting

pregnant, thus resort to terminating the pregnancy as an easy way out. Nonetheless, abortion

leads to the various consequences thus cannot be labelled as a shortcut out of a crisis situation. It

is common to have women who have undergone an abortion to develop psychological trauma

thus end up being depressed after it becomes apparent to them that abortion has never been an

option. Additionally, O’Brien (235) asserts that research has depicted that abortion makes

women more vulnerable to the development of cancerous cells. For instance, an abortion that has

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been done poorly often results in fatal cases where mothers are at a risk of losing life or

developing other health issues that can be characterized by pain and suffering.

Another reason why abortion is wrong is that it results in the killing of innocent human

beings, it is clear that conception signifies the beginning of life, therefore, it is noble to treat a

fetus as a human being. During pregnancy, the fetus is the most innocent being, considering it is

incapable of causing harm, does not harbor evil intentions, cannot take part in moral or legal

offense and so forth. Thus, legally and ethically there is nothing that a fetus can do that can be

considered wrong to an extent of giving the reason for an abortion. A fetus cannot take part in

moral wrong, thus there is nothing that a fetus could do that could be argued to go against

acceptable morals. Thus, unborn babies have no capacity to engage in acts that could be termed

as legally or morally wrong. According to Wilson, the innocence of a fetus is underlined by the

inability to harbor evil motives that can cause an injury. It cannot be argued that the physical

injury sustained by mothers during childbirth are the evil intention of unborn babies, a woman’s

body is capable of replenishing itself after pregnancy.

Abortion is a social and ethical evil because it increases the tolerance of killing. By

approving and promoting the tendency of abortion the society becomes lenient towards the

reduction of the respect of life. By the society having less respect for life can be assumed as the

breeding ground for social evils, for example, euthanasia, for that reason abortion is wrong for

the well-being of a society. Human life is easily ended by abortion, therefore the practice should

not be entertained in any society, and it should be made illegal. Life should be respected,

considering human beings were created by God so that to fulfill particular resolves, as such

abortion makes this impossible since it involves the killing of a fetus (O’Brien, 102). The society

should fight against tolerating abortion as a way to promote birth control, where mothers will

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feel it is ethical and they have the right to terminate a pregnancy for as long as they feel they do

not want to bear a child. Even though most of the mothers find themselves in a situation where

they are carrying an unwanted pregnancy they should realize that abortion is not an option.

Besides, abortion is wrong because it promotes selective termination of pregnancies

reflecting on the reason that a child to be born might have genetic deformities thus this can be

described as human discrimination. In the event that the doctors discover that a child to be born

might have deformities should not be used as a point to justify abortion because physical

limitations do not make a child less of a human being. Thus, regardless of genetic deformities,

pregnancies should not be terminated considering the present society is very articulate and

focused on protecting the rights of a person born with physical limitations. According to Wilson

children born with disabilities are part and parcel of the society as such they are valued members

of the community since they contribute to the community in diverse ways.

However, since abortion is a controversial topic some people, societies and different

professionals argue that mothers have the right to choose abortion considering the practice is

right. Nonetheless, some partially condone the practice of abortion when it is applied in urgent

and exceptional circumstances for instances in life-threatening situations (Kaczor, 14). It has

been argued that a fetus cannot be assumed to be a unique individual and for that reason does not

have the right to live. It is stated that despite a fetus being made by a collection of cells, such a

situation does not warrant the fetus to have the right to live however much it is related to the

human species. For that reason, proponents state that abortion is not murder, considering a clump

of human cells is only entitled to live only if it has characteristics that distinguish it as a moral

individual. To support this position, some quarters contend that a fetus cannot be assumed to be

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independent, or being capable of self-determination; as such abortion can only be described as

the termination of an unwanted pregnancy and not the killing of a human being.

Abortion is right considering a fetus cannot feel pain and suffering during the termination

of pregnancy; it is argued that so that to feel pain an individual must have a cortex, something

that is functional after 26 weeks, after conception. Those who argue for abortion state that there

is no research that has proved the point that a fetus is susceptible to pain at least not before the

end of 26 weeks after conception (Manninen, 24). As a consequence, abortion in the early stages

of a pregnancy is not wrong. Proponents hold the belief that it impossible to hold that a fetus

does experiences pain in any way because there is no evidence that an early stage of pregnancy it

will have developed enough to be vulnerable to pain and suffering. A fetus can only feel pain

after experiencing development in an external environment; as such the ‘flinching' noticed in

fetuses is an indication of reacting to reflexes and not alleged pain. Additionally, it is quite

impossible to argue that a fetus is a human being when clearly the age of the human being is not

counted from the time of conception, but from the date of birth.

However, some researchers and scholars such as Kaczor (72), Manninen (24), and Needle

et al. (105) argue that various instances guarantee abortion. Sighting on the progression of human

dignity and respect for life, Needle et al. (49), for example, state that women may befall

unfortunate encounter where they are raped at the tender age hence keeping the fetus will

damage their respect in the community and more so their livelihood. With no doubts, these

instances are prevalent and increasing at an alarming speed which calls for an urgent measure in

restoring human dignity: such strategies may entail abortion. The opposers on this contemporary

issue hold grounds that human being cannot operate at a “stead-fast” set of policies that do not

provide leeway for special cases requiring unique intervention. However, despite the seemingly

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strong grounds with firm arguments for the abortion, I believe that human beings are brought to

the existence for a reason. Any person that attempts to or successful terminate the life of another

human being should be termed as evil, or better still a “murderer.” Every human being has the

right to live a decent life, but the rights end when another right of another person comes to play.

For example, a woman has a right to choose when to give birth, but these rights end when a new

being develops in them, and hence they no longer hold the right over such unborn.

Abortion is a polarizing issue in the present society, however, it is imperative to state that

abortion is wrong considering the practice leads to health issues and the ceasing of life. It is

agreeable that abortion involves the termination of an early pregnancy, thus leading to the death

of a fetus, however, it is significant to recognize that a fetus is a person, with a distinctive genetic

code. According to Manninen (32), abortion is wrong considering despite ending the life of

unborn babies, the practice leaves the affected mothers in both physical and emotional pain.

Additionally, it results in the killing of innocent human beings, it is clear that conception

signifies the beginning of life, therefore, it is noble to treat a fetus as a human being. However,

since abortion is a controversial topic, some people, societies and different professionals argue

that mothers have the right to choose abortion considering the practice is right. Nonetheless,

some partially condone the practice of abortion when it is applied in urgent and exceptional

circumstances for instances in life-threatening situations.

In conclusion, it is clear that human life is a combination of choices which, apparently,

may lead to vices if appropriate measures are not instilled. For example, a few people believe

that abortion is not necessarily evil yet it is a common belief in our societies that children are

held in high regards, and no single genuine reason guarantee abortion. The correct position in

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this argument, therefore, is prohibiting abortion with very restrictive exemption such as medical

cases.

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Works Cited

Kaczor, Christopher Robert. The Ethics of Abortion: Women's Rights, Human Life, and the

Question of Justice. Routledge, 2011. Routledge Annals of Bioethics. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=339969&site=ehost-live.

Manninen, Bertha Alvarez. Pro-Life, Pro-Choice: Shared Values in the Abortion Debate.

Vanderbilt University Press, 2014. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=801186&site=ehost-live.

Needle, Rachel B., and Lenore E. Walker. Abortion Counseling: A Clinician's Guide to

Psychology, Legislation, Politics, and Competency. Springer Publishing Company, 2008.

EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=208713&site=ehost-live.

O'Brien, Dennis. The Church and Abortion: A Catholic Dissent. Rowman & Littlefield

Publishers, 2010. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=341954&site=ehost-live.

Wilson, Joshua C. The Street Politics of Abortion: Speech, Violence, and America's Culture

Wars. Stanford Law Books, 2013. The Cultural Lives of Law. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1519311&site=ehost-live.

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