...Abortion: Legal or Illegal? Abortion: Legal or Illegal Alfred LaBarre HCS/455 Professor Patricia Getchell 09/19/2011 Policies are sought out in an attempt to improve the health care system in America. Everyone is affected by policies so we have to consider the outcome before they become effective. Policies are major topics that are discussed before becoming a particular policy. Without certain policies, public health care will be at a huge risk. The great concern of abortion eventually leads to policies that affect many Americans. Polices are being passed frequently, being strict on physicians allowed to perform the procedure. Abortion can be considered wrong for many reasons. Abortion can be looked upon as deliberately killing a defenseless fetus. Does the woman necessarily have the right to abort a defenseless unborn child? Many argue that the child should not be punished for activity the mother engaged in. It is possible for women to have regret shortly after having the abortion. Many women are not aware that abortions can cause them to be more at risk for breast cancer. Also women could possibly die from having an abortion performed on them. After all, the child could be given up for adoption and still have the chance of living a normal life. Everyone alive today was given an opportunity by their mother to live. At least the child had the opportunity...
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...Policies in Relation to Abortion Before and After the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court Case New Mexico State University Jennifer Walker Abstract The Roe versus Wade Supreme Court Case has had a huge impact on abortion laws in the United States. Before 1973, abortions were illegal and criminal, with few exceptions. Overnight, the decision in the case legalized first trimester abortions while leaving the specifications of the other trimesters up to the states. This case has led to many debates over the value of life and when life begins whether at conception, independence from mother, or first breath. All of these can be defined by religion, law, or individual beliefs. Unfortunately, none of the policies before or after Roe versus Wade have addressed the issue of unintended pregnancies, which is the underlying cause of abortion. Until this is addressed, policies will continue to be created, implemented, and challenged. Policies in Relation to Abortion Before and After the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court Case Introduction In 1973, a case was selected to be heard by the Supreme Court that would substantially impact women’s rights then and continue to impact them today. The case was over Texas policy article 1911 that stated, “If any person shall designedly administer to a pregnant woman or knowingly procure to be administered with her consent… and thereby procure an abortion, he shall be confined in the penitentiary not less than two nor more than five years…” (Law Library, 2014)...
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... Abortion Should Be Limited By Law The term “induced abortion” is likely very familiar to most people nowadays, according to a Chinese National Population and Family Planning Commission research study, China has more than 13 million cases of induced abortion every year, which is, undoubtedly, an incredibly high number, even for China. In the abortion controversy, the most appropriate approach is to limit abortions by law, which means to identify when and which abortions should be legalized because limit abortion can promote women’s health both mentally and physically, solve a series of social problems such as reduce the possibility of premarital pregnancy, mitigate the gender discrimination problem and promote the condom use. Essentially to adopt part of Hong Kong’s restriction of abortion. In Hong Kong, abortion is not allowed except for some special cases as follows: 1. two doctors find out that the pregnant woman may suffer from physical or mental harm, they agree and sign an informed consent form for the pregnant woman. 2. The unborn baby has been confirmed that is likely to be a severe deformed fetus. 3. The age of the pregnant woman is under 16 years old. 4. The woman becomes pregnant by rape or incest. This law is a proper law to limit abortions but it is not so available in Chinese mainland because one-child policy was launched here. So for Chinese government, a further consideration of the relationship between one-child policy and abortion should be taken...
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...Culture Attitude towards Abortion Shekemia Figueroa November 6, 2009 Developmental Psychology PSYC 331 Fall Semester 2009 Attitudes toward Abortion in different cultures Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in today society. Abortion is the termination of unwanted pregnancy by destruction of the fetus. It is one of the oldest methods of fertility control and one of the most widely used. It has been and is practiced in all regions of the world. In preliterate societies a woman whose pregnancy is unacceptable to the community, a woman who has broken its rule about appropriate sexual partners or the number of children, a pregnant widow, an unmarried girl or a girl too young, a woman who has had sexual intercourse with outsider or whose pregnancy is the result of an adulterous relationship is expected to have an abortion (Simon, 1). Abortion rights advocates argue that since the fetus develops inside of the woman’s body and since the outcome of the pregnancy will profoundly affect the woman’s life; abortion must remain a woman’s choice in some cultures (Cozic p. 52). In other cultures they believe that abortion should not be a woman’s personnel choice. People have different opinions on whether or not a fetus is consider a human being. Some culture attitudes toward abortion are different than others and they expect the decision to be made by their views on abortion. In 1992 the overall (national) abortion rate was 26 per 1,000 women ( Francome, p. 22). African...
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...Abortions and Forced Abortions in China Many people were forced to have abortions in China due to their government trying to maintain the growth of their population. This policy prohibits some families from having more than one child, if the first child is a girl you may have a second child. Although, “forced abortions are considered an acceptable way of enforcing China’s population limits, but are banned when the woman is more than five months pregnant.” (Tang. 2014) China’s government is serious about the policy even if that means telling women how many children they are allowed to have and enforcing it by abortions, forced sterilizations, and infanticide. Women who get pregnant without permission will still be dragged from their homes to abort their babies without choice, even if the woman is 8 months pregnant. Couples who disobey this policy gets heavily fined, and humiliated. The author of the article “Abortion and Forced Abortion in China” lacks Ethos because the author shows no credibility as far as stating not only who he is but what he has to do with the article. I think this article appeals more to pathos and logos. Einron starts his argument by quoting from the bible saying The Sixth Commandment “Thou shalt” not kill”(Exodus 20:13) . He then goes on to say “if abortion is considered murder, why are people doing it”? Abortions in the United States are by each and every individuals decision it is never forced although in china unmarried...
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...Affecting Abortion Abortion discussion in the public domain has most often centered on the policy and failed to address the major causes, which are the social issues. There is minimal focus on social reasons why 1.3 million women abort each year in the United States (Finer and Benshaw 15). Most of the reasons for carrying out abortion are addressed on two pillars alone: health complications and rape or incest. A third and a much bigger pillar, social reasons, have been ignored. Statistics show that a whopping 93% of abortions are due to social reasons (Finer and Benshaw 13). More attention should be focused on addressing the social aspects affecting abortion in contemporary society. The social reasons that make women want to abort include poverty, fear of heavy emotional and financial responsibility, and Incrimination of Teen pregnancy and unwanted pregnancy. Poverty trims down a mother’s capability to provide for a child, increasing the incentive to abort. As much as this may be reduced by existing social or welfare aid programs, abortion is still stigmatized as the problem of the poor. The less money one has, the less likely one will be able to afford bringing up a child, making abortion the only plausible option. This is made worse by the heavy emotional and financial responsibility to provide for children with little resources that poor people possess. Statistics show that over 750,000 teenagers become pregnant yearly and 80 % of the pregnancies end up in abortion (Phillips...
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...Bradford) Abortion should be allowed in the circumstances of the patient is under the age of 18, raped or incest, if the baby has a life threatening disease, or if the mother's life is in danger. Babies are often aborted following screenings due to mothers finding out possible diseases the baby could have. Although the topic of abortion is controversial, women should have their own choice. Abortion has been a controversial topic for many years, and has developed over time. According to Corinne Naden “Abortion is defined as the termination of a pregnancy before the embryo has developed and could survive outside the uterus.”Abortions have dated back to...
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...“Is the Texas law requiring women to listen to a fetal heartbeat, before being allowed to have an abortion, an appropriate policy??” Let’s pretend you have been shot in the leg. You go to the hospital and to get treated for this emergency and obviously the doctor tells you that you have to have surgery in order to remove the bullet and clean the wound. This is typical when getting shot in the leg. As, they are preparing you for surgery the doctor requires you to have an x-ray done before you have surgery to see if you would like the bullet removed or not. After hearing this news, you probably are in shock that a law was passed to make you go through this to get a bullet removed that you voluntarily came in for the doctor to remove. This is how some women in America feel about the pending policy of the requirement to listen to a fetal heartbeat before receiving an abortion. While the opposing team, that agrees with the bill, seems to think different. They feel that they are “helping” the women considering an abortion by giving them a second thought on what they are about to do. In Texas and also in several other states, legislation is trying effortlessly to pass the bill for requiring women seeking an abortion to listen to a fetal heartbeat before receiving one. Many people call this bill the “War on Women”. (1) The “War on women” consists of many bills discouraging abortion which is mostly lead by the Republican Party. The “War on Women” is best described as a list...
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...Throughout history, women have accomplished many acts, fought for rights to be treated with equality, for the right to not only to have choice over their bodies, but for the rights to vote, work, and so much more. Many of these feats have since been improved over time, but at the same time women are still treated less than, and obstacles continue to be placed in the paths of women, one in particular obstacle that has created barriers for women is the means of acquiring abortions and access to women’s health care without criticism. Anti-choice policy makers’ claim that restrictions are necessary in protecting the well-being and health of women, their pregnancies and their children (Burns, Dennis, Douglas-Durham), these claims are part of the hindrances of providing safety in women’s health care. What we are dealing with is policy makers putting many obstacles up for caregivers and patients to acquire safe and healthy means of terminating pregnancies that are unwanted, whether it is the fully mature female who did not have contraceptive or the 13 year...
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...“Evaluating Abortion-Care Programs: Old Challenges, New Directions,” Janie Benson, the author, sheds light on the effects that poor evaluations have on abortion care clinics and addresses new ways to evaluate programs, positively promoting safe-abortions clinics for women. Benson states that her “objectives are first to provide a conceptual framework for evaluation of the essential outcomes of the abortion related programs, and second to make recommendations for improvements in infrastructure, resource availability, and political commitment to support evaluation of abortion programs”(pg. 190). Benson uses quotes and paraphrasing from other sources to help build her argument. She first addressed the “conceptual framework for evaluating programs“, which means that women are given proper abortion and post abortion care will be less likely to need further care or die(pg. 190). Benson used studies in Bangladesh which showed that there might have been a correlation between the death rate of women, who died from abortion complications, and how policy provisions may have lowered the numbers(pg. 191). She uses the same method throughout...
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...Public Policy: Abortion The public policy regarding abortion plays a large role in U.S. politics through influential interest groups who are either pro-life or pro-choice advocates. These opposing sides have compelling arguments regarding the abortion policy in the U.S. that have been largely debated since the legislation of Roe vs. Wade in 1973, where the U.S. government declared that abortion was a “fundamental right” of American women. (Procon.org) While majority of Americans agree that abortion should not be recriminalized, there is still controversy over policies regarding abortion. Pro-choice advocates discourage all policies restricting abortions or taxes making them less affordable, where as pro-life advocates encourage stricter policies on abortions. In the U.S., The National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) and the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) are opposing advocacy groups that have greatly influenced this public policy and continue to inform and educate the general public on the abortion issue. Public policy regarding abortion is not just a national debate, other democratic countries face debate over abortion policies. For example, Canada has faced similar debate over abortion policies, but differs from the U.S. in significant ways. Pro- choice advocates in the U.S. believe that the government does not have to right to interfere with a women’s choice to get an abortion. They argue that women must have the right to abortion in order to posses the...
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...National Abortion Federation: Abortion is about a Women’s Right. | | | 3/8/2011 | | National Abortion Federation: Abortion is about a women’s right. The controversy of Pro Choice vs. Pro Life plays a strong role in society. This has further drawn attention from the National Abortion Federation (NAF). The NAF interest group favors Pro Choice taking pride in educating women on abortion as well as allowing them the freedom of choice. There are two kinds of abortion options that the National Abortion Federation supports in the U.S. – in – clinic abortion and the abortion pill. Statistically more than one million women choose abortion each year. Abortions are so common that 1 out of 3 women in the U.S. participate in the termination of a child before the age of 45. Each woman has a different case with a unique story, and due to this a women has the freedom to choose depending on their personal situation. Due to this, approximately 20 to 30 legal abortions are performed each year. The National Abortion Federation provides women strength, information, safe procedures and a referral program to put each woman in front of the right doctor. The federal judiciary is the most crucial battlefield in the current fight to preserve women’s reproductive choices The National Abortion Federation is fiercely fighting for what they believe in, Pro Choice; Freedom of Choice. As of February 18, 2011 the newly elected leaders in the House of Representatives voted 240 to 185 in favor...
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...Course 19 March 2015 ‘Abortion Distortion’ by Rebecca Ayrey Rebecca Ayrey’s article ‘Abortion Distortion’ was published on the Nation’s website in December of 2003. Ayrey asserts that the lawmakers who passed the so-called partial birth abortion ban are far removed from women's lives. During Ayrey’s late-term abortion, she realized that thousands of American women are forced to deliver a fetus with severe defects. The law restricts them from having an abortion on requirement that it was necessary to preserve the woman’s life. Only in the event that the physician declares the woman’s physical and mental health in danger is abortion permitted by law. As with the case of Ayrey, there is a probability of late diagnosis of severe type of fetal defects. Such diagnoses exact a painful toll on the woman and the legislations against late term abortion rob them of their right to choice and limit their alternative to risky abortion procedures. The late term abortion has become a very intriguing argument. What people must understand is that opposing abortion to an unwanted severely defective fetus subordinates the rights and body of the woman to that of the fetus. There are no positive benefits to this. The decision to have a late term abortion does not rely on the decision of the woman alone, but it is backed by a thorough independent diagnosis of a physician. Reversing the ban on late term abortion should be the focus of American legislators to empower women in their choice of life...
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...Abortion 1 Running Head: ABORTION Abortion Abortion 2 Abstract Abortion has placed a varying degree of cultural and religious views thus creating tensions between women’s rights, and political views that have resulted in a social problem that is not allowing our society to progress and create a solution. Abortion 3 Pregnant women used different ways to practice abortion during the ancient times. They used herbs, sharpened instruments and also applied pressure to abdominal areas. It’s stated that the Egyptian people were the first to perform the very first abortion that was actually seen by individuals. The abortion didn’t involve a doctor or surgical instruments; it involved climbing, hot water on abdomen, weightlifting, climbing, and paddling. All these activities are things that most doctors tell pregnant women not to do. But the Egyptians used it as a form of abortion. The Romans started laws concerning the acceptance of abortion, but it didn’t start until the 13th century. Their reasons for abortion was to help with the sizes of families, protect how women looked, and also hide the fact if they were pregnant and not married. Doctors and scientist did many researches on abortion and said the only way a women could have an abortion was if the baby was still a fetus. This research was done during the 18th and 19th century. It was known as “quickening” the pregnancy. After the baby came out of the fetus stage, it would be impossible to perform an abortion...
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...Women in America, from 1800 to 1973, resorted to back-alley abortions. Since the criminalization of abortion in 1910 1.2 million women per year committed illegal abortions resulting in many deaths and thousands harmed. Though the court case Roe vs Wade helped legalize abortion all across the U.S, Certain States have placed regulations that restricts women on have abortions. Because of the unconstitutional bans, restrictions on medicaid funding, and a bill that would contributes to the outlaw of abortion in america which negatively affects women. Roe vs wade was a milestone for abortion activists. In 1969 Norma McCorvey sought to terminate her unwanted pregnancy but at that time abortion was only legal for women if their life was in danger. Mccovey proceed to file a lawsuit against henry wade, the district attorney of dallas county. The infamous court case recognized a constitutional right to privacy, which is...
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