War on Abortion
As modern day technology enhances, so do modern day problems. One of those problems that results from technological advancements is abortion. The act of abortion, according to Google, is “ending of pregnancy due to removing an embryo or fetus before it can survive outside the uterus.”
There is a political civil war going on within the country over this issue. Left-wing states such as California have taken it upon themselves to sue the Trump administration over his new rule that takes away funding from companies such as Planned Parenthood. Whereas, other states have proposed laws to completely ban abortion from happening within the state. These states include Colorado, Indiana, and Texas, but many are speculated to follow soon.
Colorado is one of the states to have this exception in their proposed law. Within the law it also states that it would still be illegal for cases of incest or rape. The punishment that was proposed for this felony that would most likely put the person performing the abortion in life imprisonment, or given the death sentence.
The United States isn’t the only country in the world that has a massive battle going on over abortion. Countries such as Mexico, Ireland, Malta, and many others have banned many forms of abortion. Many “Pro-Lifers” have massive problems with these countries, and their laws regarding abortions.
Although this civil war within the states is massive, there is another war going on behind the scenes. A war of the mind. Studies in Finland, Wales, and the United States, show that women who participate in abortions have significantly higher suicide rates than those who do not get abortions. During the Wales study, suicide rates went up 225% more, whereas in the American study the suicide rate went up 160%.
Other side effects can be seen other than increase risk of suicide. These symptoms can include regret, anger, guilt, shame, loneliness, loss of self confidence, insomnia, eating disorders, anxiety, and depression.
One of the main phrases that Pro-Choice people use is “my body, my choice.” The United States government has passed a federal act titled the Unborn Victims of Violence Act. This act protects unborn humans from being intentionally harmed. The government has stated that an unborn-baby is in fact a human, rendering the “my body” portion incorrect. There is no set time that is agreed upon by everyone as to when the child has the right to live, but shouldn’t everything be awarded the right to live?
Although the Pro-Life movement has a lot of supporters, the Pro-Choice movement also has quite a few. So far, this article has been focusing on the Pro-Life argument, but now it is time to take a look over at the other side of the battlefield; the Pro-Choice argument.
An argument chosen fairly often by the Pro-Choice side is that the United States Supreme Court has sided that abortions are a “fundamental right”, and that it is protected under the Constitution. The Supreme court favored the decision in a 7-2 case, thus making it legal to have an abortion in the United States.
Other people view it as something that should be covered under Health Care. Although President Trump has cut government funding to programs like Planned Parenthood, there is still a massive amount of support for it to be reinstated.
In a recent interview with Zoe Bryant (9), she stated money “should be funded towards organizations, and not just abortions”. This would mean that the government should continue paying for organizations like Planned Parenthood so that they can provide other services for the community. Planned Parenthood has many other programs other than abortions, and these include items such as cancer screening, sexual orientation help, STD help, depression, and other medical aids.
Although having the government cut funding towards Planned Parenthood wouldn’t close down any of these services. Planned Parenthood gets upwards of $775 million from independent sources. Notwithstanding some donors having chosen to opt out of paying for abortions with their money, there is still a lot of organizations who have chosen to pay for services such as abortion.
There are certain exceptions that can be accounted for during an abortion. It is always ethically okay if the abortion is to take place in order to save the mother’s life. According to the BBC, “some people argue that this is a case of the doctrine of double effect rather than a self-defence argument”. The doctrine of double effect is a saying that if something with good intent has a harmful side-effect with it, it is okay to do.
There are people who believe that abortions can be performed not only to save a mother from physical or mental harm, but also to save her from economic harm as well. Although most of the Pro-Choice doesn’t believe this, there’s still a large sum of people that believe this is an okay reason to perform an abortion.
In every conflict, there’s people who see it both ways. “I’m pro-choice,”Aiden Espinosa (12) said, “but me saying that I’m pro-choice doesn’t make me anti-pro-life”.
Espinosa believes in this middle-ground because “[he] was raised by three women; [his] mom, [his] grandma, and [his] sister. So I kind of have a more feminine outlook on the issue.” This “feminine outlook” includes that abortions should be allowed while the fetus is technically still a fetus. Somewhere near the second trimester is when Espinosa believes that the fetus has officially become a human. It leaves room for women who have mistakenly gotten pregnant either by force, or by an accident, the ability to fix their mistakes.
In conclusion, there’s always three sides to a battle. Two on either side of the battle, and one in the middle. Abortion will always be a controversial topic, one which many people will never agree on. But what everyone should keep in mind is that abortions are a medical issue, and not a political issue. Any fetus, as Corbin Kyriss (9) said, “could become the next President”.
Sources:
https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-abortion-restriction-lawsuit-20190304-story.html
http://www.life.org.nz/suicide/suicidekeyissues/abortion-and-suicide/
https://americanpregnancy.org/unplanned-pregnancy/abortion-emotional-effects/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/child/alive_1.shtml
https://www.oyez.org/cases/1971/70-18 U.S. Judicial System (Roe v. Wade)
https://web.archive.org/web/20110413033532/http://www.businessweek.com/archives/1999/b3652114.arc.htm (Business Week)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/philosophical/selfdefence.shtml
http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/euthanasia/overview/doubleeffect.shtml
