Abortion Paper

Submitted By tisha_taylor
Words: 1385
Pages: 6

Abortion has always been a controversial issue. Today abortion is legal although it hasn’t always been that way. Through mainly the efforts of physicians, the American Medical Association, and legislators, most of all abortions had been illegal by the 1900’s (U.S). In 1973 abortion was legalized in all 50 states due to the case of Roe v. Wade, but the abortion debate continues still to this day. I believe abortion should always remain legal. First reason is there are cases of rape where women end up pregnant with the assailant’s baby. Second reason is if the mother’s health can be at high risk or the baby could have severe medical problems. I will also tell you what happens medically when a country has such harsh abortion laws. Most important of all it is our constitutional right and will remain that way. I believe the only exception against abortion is if the woman isn’t using any type of birth control or safety precautions and uses abortion as a contraceptive. I believe then women that do this are abusing their privilege and their constitutional rights. Abortion should remain legal for cases of rape where the woman ends up pregnant. According to the reports from the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, someone in the United States is sexually assaulted every two minutes, and on average there are 207,754 victims (age 12 or older) of sexual assault every year. That’s only the women that have reported it. How many become pregnant from rape? A 1996 study in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology reported that “among adult women an estimated 32,101 pregnancies result from rape each year.” Statistics show 1 in 15 women get pregnant in cases of rape (Rape). What if that is your sister or your daughter: would you expect her to have the baby if she decided she didn’t want to after she’s been raped? Would you want your loved one to have to relive that painful moment every day? I believe that one of the reasons abortion should remain legal is due to rape. Second, medical reasons are a big reason why abortion should stay legal. One medical reason is the fetus has severe birth defects; an example is a fetus that has progeria. Progeria is a fatal genetic condition characterized by an appearance of accelerated aging in children (What). As children get older, they suffer from osteoporosis, generalized atherosclerosis, cardiovascular (heart) disease and stroke (What are). Children with Progeria normally die of heart attacks or strokes at an average age of thirteen years (What are). There is also a genetic disorder called trisomy 13. Individuals with trisomy 13 often have heart defects, brain or spinal cord abnormalities, very small or poorly developed eyes extra fingers and/or toes, an opening in the lip (a cleft lip) with or without an opening in the roof of the mouth (a cleft palate), and weak muscle tone (What is trisomy 13). Due to the several life-threatening medical problems, many infants with trisomy 13 die within their first days or weeks of life. Another medical justification is impending miscarriages. Medical experts can reveal when or if a miscarriage occurs when no fetal heartbeat can be detected by ultrasound or heartbeat monitor (medical). Doctors can detect all of these defects through ultra sound, blood tests, and amniocentesis (medical). All of these disorders eventually result in death or pain (progeria) so with abortion being legal you have the choice to take on the hardship or to avoid it altogether with abortion.
This is an example of what can happen if a country is too strict with abortion laws. According to the Blue Light web site a woman arrived at the University Hospital Galway on October 21st complaining of severe back pain, in which they had found out she was miscarrying and would lose the baby. Over a three day period in pain she asked for the pregnancy to be terminated. She was refused, and had been told, “It is because the fetal heart beat was still present and they couldn’t terminate