Pro/con Research

For my assignment, I researched both sides of the abortion debate.  I wrote two papers about the call to change the partial-birth abortion status.  For one I took the position of being for the ban on PBA, and for the other I took the position of being against the ban.  Obviously, I agree with the paper written for the ban:  

For—Putting A Stop to Partial-Birth Abortion

            Can you imagine living your life for less than a couple of minutes, and then having it suddenly and brutally ended?  The innocent babies whose parents are too ill, not financially ready, or just too lazy to deal with their precious children go through this procedure before they can take their first breaths.  Partial-birth abortion involves the removal of the fetus by pulling the body outside of the uterus and opening the skull to remove the brain through suction and an abortionist delivering the limp body.  This process is in no way justified and should be banned completely.  In 1995, some members of Congress took action to ban partial-birth abortion and a bill was passed by both the House of Representatives and the Senate.  A year later, however, President Clinton vetoed the bill and partial-birth abortion remained legal.  The bill was vetoed once again by Clinton in 1997, but in 2003 President Bush legalizes the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, only to have it blocked in court by the National Abortion Federation (NPR).  There is a need to advocate against the legalization of this procedure for many reasons.  Partial-birth abortion should be made illegal because it takes the life of a human being, it takes away the human being’s rights before it has the freedom to decide for itself, and it could endanger the life of the mother. 

            There is controversy about whether or not human life begins at conception.   When a sperm unites with an egg a new life is formed and is immediately dependent on the mother, but is still its own person.  Abortion is viewed as removing a cell, not a human life.  How is this possible?  A cell is human.  We are all made up of cells, and the removal of cells is unnatural.  Even at four weeks old the fetus has already formed the heart and the brain is developing (AllRefer).  Anything with a heart and brain must be living.  The fact that life begins when an egg is fertilized makes the concept of partial-birth abortion even more gruesome.  The abortionists and mothers have some sense of knowledge that the baby is living.  Brenda Pratt Shafer, an assistant nurse to Dr. Haskell, gave a testimony of how Haskell performed a partial-birth abortion: “ Then the doctor stuck the scissors through the back of his head, and the baby’s arms jerked out in a flinch, a startle reaction, like a baby does when he thinks he might fall” (Abortionfacts).  The baby can obviously feel what is happening to him because it reacts to the pain.  Partial-birth abortion takes away the life of a living human being who has not even had the chance to take its first breath.  By the third month the baby has fingernails.  This development is often used to convince others of the life of a fetus ever since the movie Juno brought attention to this fact.  So how is it that if by the beginning of the third month the fetus has developed very human features, it is still not human?  There is no sense in the arguments to support abortion.  Abortionists believe partial-birth abortion is sensible because they restrict the fetus from taking its first breath by removing the brains while the head is still inside the mother’s body.  First of all, this is in no way ethical because the baby has its head cut open with scissors and its brains sucked out through a tube.  Also, the baby has no glimpse of life before it is sucked out of him.  It is impossible to not have some sense of knowledge that this procedure takes the life of a human being and it needs to be stopped.  Partial-birth abortion is practically legalized murder and should be made illegal.

            Every living thing has a right to life.  So why is it okay for innocent babies who are dependent upon their mothers to be brutally stripped of this precious gift?  It is an injustice toward helpless children.  The United States of America is supposed to encourage equality, but how is there equality in restricting freedom to an innocent human being and ending its life?  Everyone deserves the chance to live out his life, whether it lasts for an hour or one hundred years.  The Convention on the Rights of the Child gave a preamble which stated that there are rights of the child "before as well as after birth" (Priestsforlife).  It is completely unfair and inhumane to forcefully take away a child’s right to life by ending its life.  Partial-birth abortion needs to be made illegal because it is an injustice to the human race by denying equal rights.         

            Another reason to stop partial-birth abortion is because it can endanger the mother’s life.  Those who support partial-birth abortion defend it by saying it is okay if the mother cannot have the baby due to medical issues.  It does not make sense, however, to risk harming the mother in order to save her.  Abortion can cause damage to the cervix, which can cause future issues with bearing children.  It is an unnatural process that brings harm to both parties.  Not only can abortions cause physical harm to the woman, but the emotional effects can be draining.  According to Catholic News Agency, women who undergo abortions are more at risk for depression and committing suicide.  They explain that a study published in the Journal of Anxiety Disorders shows, “women who aborted their unintended pregnancies were 30 percent more likely to subsequently report all the symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder than those women who had carried their unintended pregnancies to term.”  There is no equality in the decisions to end the life of one, helpless human being in order to save the mother because of the aftereffects of these abortions.  It is not worth risking the physical and emotional harm which is sure to occur after an abortion. 

            The concept of partial-birth abortion is unethical, unjust, and unsafe because it the life of an innocent baby, it takes away its right to life, and it puts the mother’s life in jeopardy.  There needs to be more knowledge of these procedures and a call to action against them.  Partial-birth abortion should be made illegal in all states to save the precious lives of the unborn children.  Help our future children by advocating making partial-birth abortions illegal.  If we can end these particularly horrifying procedures, then we can bring attention to the public to hopefully end all abortions in the near future. 

                                                            Works Cited

Pavone, Frank. "Partial Birth Abortion." Priests for Life. Priests for Life,
            n.d. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://www.priestsforlife.org/
            partialbirth.html>. 

Rovner, Julie. "'Partial-Birth Abortion:' Separating Fact from Spin." NPR. NPR, 

21 Feb. 2006. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://www.npr.org/2006/02/21/5168163/
            partial-birth-abortion-separating-fact-from-spin>. 

Storck, Susan, Linda J. Vorvick, and David Zieve, eds. "3.5 Week Fetus." All 
            Refer. A.D.A.M., 1 Nov. 2009. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
            <http://health.allrefer.com/pictures-images/35-week-fetus.html>. 

Willke, John C., ed. "Partial Birth Abortion." AbortionFacts. AbortionFacts,
            2013. Web. 5 Nov. 2013. <http://www.abortionfacts.com/literature/
            partial-birth-abortion>.