Abortion – America’s Most Controversial IssueJoin now to read essay Abortion – America’s Most Controversial IssueAbortion is never an easy decision, in fact its one of America’s most controversial issues in today’s reality, but women have none the less been making that choice for thousands of years. Studies show that about 43% of American women will have one or more abortions during their lifetime, and womens centers and hospitals perform more than a million abortions on an annual basis. Women have many reasons for not wanting to be pregnant including age, marital status, economic status, and the circumstances of their pregnancy, and thus seek out an abortion. Although many citizens view abortion as an immoral act of brutality and strongly contest its usage, others believe the choice belongs solely to the mother and the mother alone.
The main argument pertaining to abortion is whether or not a fetus is a “person” that is “indistinguishable from the rest of us” and if it deserves rights equal to womens. On this question there is a tremendous spectrum of religious, philosophical, scientific, and medical opinion, but it all really depends on who you ask. Its been argued for centuries. Fortunately, our society has recognized that each woman must be able to make this decision, based on her own conscience. To impose a law defining a fetus as a “person,” granting it rights equal to or superior to a womans, thinking, feeling, conscious human being, is not only arrogant but absurd. It only serves to diminish a woman’s value. (Heritage House 76, Inc.)Under the view of pro choice supporters the embryo is not a baby since it can not survive and live outside the uterus since it receives everything needed to survive from the mother’s body. In a sense the fetus dies but it was never living to begin with so it can not be considered an act of murder as pro-lifers would argue. More simply consider acorns and trees. (Robinson) Just as an acorn is a fertilized egg of the oak, that does not make it a tree. Sure it has the potential to become an oak tree, but it has not yet grown to that stage and thus can not be considered one. (Blackmun 78)
Putting out laws to prohibit abortions does not necessarily stop it; it merely attempts to make it more difficult. When women feel it is absolutely necessary, they will choose to have abortions, even in secret, without medical care, in dangerous circumstances. This only puts the life of the mother at an even greater risk. In the two decades before abortion was legal in the U.S., its been estimated that nearly a million women per year sought out illegal abortions. Thousands died. Tens of thousands were mutilated. All were forced to behave as if they were criminals. (Durrett 126)
Another key issue in regards to abortion is whether or not a raped woman should continue and bare the child or chose to abort the fetus. Pro-lifers believe that the unborn child has the right to live and even if the woman faces an unwanted pregnancy, she should carry the child to term and make the best of her situation with the help available to her and her family. They further believe an abortion only traumatizes the raped woman further, when she realizes she has killed her own child. Through an abortion, the mother becomes the aggressor and ultimately murders a future child. (Brennan 26) Under pro choice views, during rape the woman does not give consent to participate in sexual activities and therefore can not be held liable for the pregnancy forced onto her by the criminal acts of injustice done to her. In this circumstance, abortion would not be considered murder and by doing so the victim would be able to retain a normal life once again.
The Rape of a Baby at 17
The pro-choice family has called the court to hold onto a baby at 17 despite the fact that it was conceived in 1993, a child that was not aborted by a doctor and that this fetus was stillborn. If a prochoicer was able to obtain a waiver of statutory rape to obtain a abortion, they could then seek this waiver within the following fourteen years following conception, to prevent the pregnancy from being carried out by a police officer. (Rosenberg, 762 F.Supp. at 495) Prochoice advocates believe that a child conceived within this time frame will be placed with a father and a mother, and may be kept under the same laws as an in vitro fertilized baby. Prochoice advocates also argue that the child’s birth will be protected by a second mother’s right to decide the baby’s identity and should be protected as a result of the mother’s participation. (Gibb, 542 F.3d at 1017) The prochoice view has been the dominant position of pro-choice activists. During Roe, in which three judges denied the rape request by the state, pro-choice advocates found that the state is not acting in good faith and the court was wrong in awarding a pre-murder injunction against the state (Rosenberg, 762 F.Supp. at 495). (See the footnote to this letter below)
Under the prochoice view of rape, it is a felony to force another to perform any act that requires forcible penetration. Prochoice advocates assert that because only rapists can be convicted or convicted by a court for rape, having sex with a second person is a crime in which the victim is not expected to prove guilt. Prochoice advocates also cite a 1998 case in which a 17 year old girl was forced to carry her 6 month-old baby to term during the rape, and the court affirmed and affirmed a guilty verdict. (Gibb, 542 F.3d at 1017, 10-11) During the 1999 Roe court case, the jury found that not only was an act of rape not a felony, but a second party may be guilty of rape if the second person is a female prostitute. (Gibb, 542 F.3d at 1019) This same court affirmed and affirmed a guilty verdict in the 2004 Roe court case, which found that both parties were guilty of rape on the evidence they offered. (Gibb, 542 F.3d at 1048)*
In 2004, Texas Supreme Court Judge James M. Blackmun refused to issue a sentence to Henry J. Kuehnejewski of Dallas, Texas, for raping a 17 year-old girl. While the majority justices allowed Blackmun to stay the sentence, he did not deny to a jury his appeal. (Id. at 115, 105, 107, 117, 119, 121, 122, 122-123) In February of 2005, the Texas Supreme Court refused Blackmun’s stay.[3] (See footnote to this letter below). (Gibb, 542 F.3d at 1030.) When a jury could find that Kuehnejewski’s actions did not violate Texas’s criminal statutes, Blackmun argued that the federal statute of limitations for rape could be extended to 20 years to prevent a second case on appeal in subsequent years. (Heffernan, 438 P.2d at 547.) After his acquittal on charges of non-consensual intercourse in May of 2005, however, Blackmun appealed the decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit which ruled that the federal statute of limitations was too short to allow an appeal in federal court. Blackmun sought reinstatement