The Right to Life
The Right to Life
One of the biggest topics thrown around in politics, government, and everyday conversation is abortion. Abortion can be defined in many ways, but a basic definition would go something like this "Any method used to terminate a human life from the moment of conception until birth. (Erlandson). Abortion is such a difficult subject to come to an agreement on because different people 's lives and rights hang in the balance. Two major questions lie in the determination of whether abortion is right or wrong "Is this a human life?", and "When does a human life begin?". Roe v. Wade was the first legal case to try and examine this subject at a closer look back in 1973; and nearly three decades after the Roe v. Wade decision made abortion legal in the U.S., the public debate continues to follow the well-worn path between condemnation and choice. Public attitudes do not. Those who support abortion rights justify their position in several ways. To start, these people believe that life as a fetus is not technically a human life until after the second trimester of birth. They believe that an embryo is only a "potential" human being (Peikoff).
Aside from the argument of whether the fetus is viable or not, the basic idea of taking a women 's rights to her own body disturbs many pro-choice believers. They feel that abortions are private affairs and do often involve painfully difficult decisions with life-long consequences. But they also feel that, tragically, the lives of the parents are completely ignored by the anti-abortionists. Yet that is the essential issue. They feel that in any conflict it 's the actual, living persons who count, not the mere potential of the embryo. They are firm in the belief that what a woman does to her own body is her own business. In addition, they believe that it is best for a child to not be born at all than to be born hated, to a mother who is forced to have him because she has no choice, and not because she
One of the biggest topics thrown around in politics, government, and everyday conversation is abortion. Abortion can be defined in many ways, but a basic definition would go something like this "Any method used to terminate a human life from the moment of conception until birth. (Erlandson). Abortion is such a difficult subject to come to an agreement on because different people 's lives and rights hang in the balance. Two major questions lie in the determination of whether abortion is right or wrong "Is this a human life?", and "When does a human life begin?". Roe v. Wade was the first legal case to try and examine this subject at a closer look back in 1973; and nearly three decades after the Roe v. Wade decision made abortion legal in the U.S., the public debate continues to follow the well-worn path between condemnation and choice. Public attitudes do not. Those who support abortion rights justify their position in several ways. To start, these people believe that life as a fetus is not technically a human life until after the second trimester of birth. They believe that an embryo is only a "potential" human being (Peikoff).
Aside from the argument of whether the fetus is viable or not, the basic idea of taking a women 's rights to her own body disturbs many pro-choice believers. They feel that abortions are private affairs and do often involve painfully difficult decisions with life-long consequences. But they also feel that, tragically, the lives of the parents are completely ignored by the anti-abortionists. Yet that is the essential issue. They feel that in any conflict it 's the actual, living persons who count, not the mere potential of the embryo. They are firm in the belief that what a woman does to her own body is her own business. In addition, they believe that it is best for a child to not be born at all than to be born hated, to a mother who is forced to have him because she has no choice, and not because she
Cited: Erlandson, Greg. "Church Authorities Clarify Legal Definition of Abortion." Voice 8 Dec 1998. 4 April 2003 http://www.trosch.org/ccl-abor.htm. Peikoff, Leonard. "Abortion Rights are Pro-Life." Capitalist Magazine Jan 23 2003. 4 April 2003 http://capmag.com/article.asp?ID=2404. Appendix A The tiny hand of a fetus reaches out from a mother 's womb to clasp a surgeon 's healing finger. It is, by the way, 21 weeks old, an age at which it could still be legally aborted.