Melissa
Salazar updated her status: "There is a big vote in ABQ this week! I pasted
my paper below from my biomedical ethics class I took a few semesters ago. I am
for the ban, and this hopefully explains my thoughts on the subject. It's rather
long, but I told Anna I would share it. 
Melissa
PHIL 2247
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| Melissa's husband, Gabe, and son, Stone |
May 5, 2011
Pro-Life View of Abortion
In 1997, an
eighteen-year-old girl in New Jersey gave birth in the bathroom stall at her
senior prom. Within minutes of giving birth, the teen manually strangled and
suffocated the newborn and threw him in the dumpster. The teen, Melissa Drexler,
was charged with murder and endangering the welfare of a child (Hanley). When
the story hit the news, many people were horrified that a mother could end the
life of her own child and discard him with the trash. The innocence of that
newborn child broke the hearts of many Americans, while the mother did not
receive the same sympathy.
Before that child made the eight-inch journey
through the birth canal, he would have been considered a fetus rather than a
newborn child. If the mother had ended his life while still in the womb, it
would have been considered abortion instead of murder. What is the difference?
What changed in those few short moments? Abortion is not considered murder by
law because a fetus is not considered a living person with constitutional
rights. (Hinkson-Craig and O'Brien)
The abortion debate has been the source
of extreme controversy in the US since the Supreme Court passed Roe v Wade in
1973 (Feldt). Groups have rallied for and against abortion, even to the point of
violence. It is an ongoing political issue, and a major topic of election
campaigns. The dividing line between viewpoints is vast with no signs of
resolution (Hinkson-Craig and O'Brien).
The beginning of life is one of the
issues on abortion that is cause for much of the debate. To define when life
begins we must look at scientific evidence to debate the issue. When the sperm
fertilizes the egg and creates a zygote, it is an individual life. It has unique
chromosomes from its mother and father. As the zygote travels to the uterus it
continues to grow and divide independently from the mother. This is confirmed
with in-vitro fertilization. The donor’s egg is fertilized with the sperm and
left to grow on its own to
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| Melissa and her daughter, Layla |
ensure that it is an actively growing embryo. Then,
the woman receiving the embryo must be in a certain stage in her cycle in order
to receive the embryo in her uterus. Eventually, 3-5 days after fertilization,
implantation occurs giving the embryo nutrients from the mother (Storck).
Because an embryo has unique chromosomes separate from his parents, and can
actively divide on its own for several days without being implanted in the
uterus, it is a separate being from the mother from the time of conception. It
is true that it does eventually need to implant for growth and nutrition, but it
is still a separate person. For the mother pregnancy begins at implantation, but
for the embryo it begins at conception.
The first major event in the
development of an embryo is neurulation. During neurulation the brain and the
spinal cord develop. By the end of the first month of gestation the primary
brain vesicles are developed. By the end of the second month, actual brain waves
can be recorded. At three and a half weeks of gestation, the heart begins to
pump blood within the embryo. At seven weeks voluntary skeletal muscles have the
ability to contract causing fetal movement (Marieb and Hoehn).
An
undeniable sign of life is brain activity. Psychologists argue death occurs with
loss of brainwaves because all cortical functions, response to stimuli, motor
reflexes, and other signs have ceased; therefore, the person is no longer able
to function other than simple vital functions typically driven by machines (Kail
and Cavanaugh). If the absence of detectable brainwaves is a sign of death,
would the presence of brain wave not be a sign of life? The brain is functioning
to contract skeletal muscles as early as 7 weeks (Marieb and Hoehn). That
movement is quite some time before the mother can feel the movement known as
quickening that some pro-choice advocates claim is the beginning of life
(Hendershott).
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| Melissa's son, Stone, in the womb |
A fetal heartbeat can be one of the most precious signs of
life. Parents can see the heart beating even at the first ultra sound performed
during the pregnancy. Throughout the pregnancy physicians check the heartbeat to
ensure that the fetus is still strong and healthy. Through the advancement of
technology parents can even use a device to hear the heartbeat from their own
home to have the assurance that everything is still ok. If the heartbeat has
stopped then the fetus is no longer living. Abortion stops a beating heart
(Hendershott).
Even with scientific evidence available for abortion debates,
most will argue purely on the basis of morality. The concept of ensoulment
cannot be clearly defined since it isn’t on a biological level. There is no
medical test that can be done proving one does or doesn’t have a soul.
Therefore, this topic is left to moral debate.
The Pro-Life movement is
backed by many Christian organizations including the Catholic Church and other
private organizations such as Focus on the Family. God, as the creator of life,
is the foundation of their beliefs (Focus on the Family).
“At Focus on the
Family, we are dedicated to defending the sanctity of human life, and by human
life we mean God's creation from fertilization to natural death. In the
beginning, God created the earth and everything in it, including humans. As it
says in Psalm 139:13, "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in
my mother's womb." We believe that every human, in every condition from the
single cell stage of development to natural death, is made in God's image and
possesses inestimable worth. Abortion runs contrary to these beliefs.” (Focus on
the Family)
Pro-Life groups focus is on the fetuses right to life. That life
is as sacred and unique from any other life. The smallest zygote is regarded
with the same view and care as a newborn child. While the mother’s safety is a
factor in some cases, the mother’s financial, marital, or social status is not a
factor in whether or not her unborn child should live. Wanted or not, the fetus
is a living human being created by God in the care of a woman. In rare cases, a
pregnancy has resulted from rape, or in a young girl not ready or equipped to
care for a child. Even in these extreme cases, Pro-life groups still do not
endorse abortion. They do sympathize with those women and provide programs to
assist with their situations, but believe that in crimes such as that there are
two victims. One crime doesn’t justify another (Hendershott).
In efforts to
persuade women not to have an abortion, Pro-Life groups have set up crisis
pregnancy centers to give women pregnancy tests and, if an unwanted pregnancy is
discovered, give out information about adoption agencies. The most effective
method in deterring abortion is letting the mother view her child through ultra
sound technology at the clinic. Technology has advanced so much with the GE 4D
imaging that a mother can actually view the face of her unborn child. Many women
who had originally decided to abort the fetus decided against it after seeing
the ultra sound. Many women justify abortions because the fetus is so small it
is easy to pretend it doesn’t exist. If that woman is given the opportunity to
look at her child she can no longer pretend it doesn’t exist.
Senator
Hillary Clinton is a well-known Pro-Choice activist. In 2008 she spoke at a
Democratic Compassion forum on the topic:
“I think abortion should remain
legal, but it needs to be safe and rare. And I have spent many years now, as a
private citizen, as first lady, and now as a senator, trying to make it rare,
trying to create conditions where women had other choices (Issues2000).”
The
tag line “legal, safe, and rare” has become a common response for the Democratic
Party (Issues2000). When looking at it from a moral standpoint, one could ask if
it is not wrong then why does it need to be rare? If it is indeed a non-living
cluster of cells as Pro-Choice advocates say, then why does it need to be a rare
practice? Could it be that some Pro-Choice advocates, including Hillary Clinton,
may acknowledge that it is a living human being, but regard the mother’s
situation as the ultimate deciding factor especially in extenuating
circumstances? Women such as Gloria Feldt, President of Planned Parenthood, have
a more extreme stance on abortion. She advocates abortion of all levels, for any
reason, at any time. She believes women should have complete control over their
body at any stage of pregnancy. Laws restricting abortion are an invasion of
women’s privacy (Feldt).
One of the major reasons that people would take a
Pro-Choice stance is because of the fear that a young teen may get pregnant and
not be at a place in life to care for the child. That does happen in rare cases,
but the CDC reports that girls younger than 15 account for only .5% of the
abortions nationwide. The majority of abortions are being done on women age
20-29 for social reasons (Center for Disease Control).
Many women who have
an abortion procedure suffer from emotional trauma afterwards. Guilt and regret
are often overwhelming. A lot of women chose abortion because they didn’t see
any other way out of the situation. Frederica Matthews-Green has said, “A woman
doesn’t want an abortion like she wants an ice-cream cone or a Porsche. She
wants it like an animal caught in a trap who gnaws off its own leg.”
(Nicholson-Brownell)
I strongly believe Roe v Wade should be overturned. I
believe abortion is the tragic loss of innocent human life. The rights of a
fetus should be protected the same as children who have already been born. While
many pregnancies are unplanned and unwanted, the risk of pregnancy comes with
choosing to be sexually active and women have to step up and take
responsibility. Contraception has advanced with many options available to reduce
the risk of pregnancy when used properly. Therefore, I believe that “choice”
should be made prior to becoming pregnant. A woman can “choose” to take control
of her body by taking appropriate measures to prevent pregnancy. Not all birth
control methods are 100% effective, however, for many methods the risk is lower
than 1% when used as directed (Planned Parenthood).
In order for Roe v Wade
to be overturned, I submit that the procedures for adoption should be improved
in order to encourage women with unwanted pregnancies to carry the child to term
and give him/her to a family who is willing and able to love and care for that
child. In the US adoptions currently can cost up to $40,000. In addition to the
cost, an adoption agency can’t guarantee how long the waiting period to get a
baby will be (Hendershott). In order to be effective, the Pro-Life groups must
take a stronger stand to make adoptions in the US less costly. Women in
situations in which they can’t raise a child must have an alternative. Families
who want to adopt children shouldn’t be prohibited because of the costs. If the
cost of adopting a child wasn’t such a burden on the average family, more
families may adopt multiple children. It would also open up the possibility to
adopt for families with limited financial resources.
Works
Cited
Center for Disease Control. “Abortion Surveilance US 2007.” Statistics.
Center for Disease Control, 2007.
Feldt, Gloria. The War on Choice: The
Right-Wing Attack on Women's Rights and How to Fight Back. New York: Bantam Dell
A Division of Random House, Inc, 2004.
Focus on the Family. Our Position
(Abortion). 2009. 2011 йил 1-May .
Hanley,
Robert. “New Jersey Charges Woman, 18, With Killing Baby Born at Prom .” New
Jersey Charges Woman, 18, With Killing Baby Born at Prom . New York: New York
Times, 1997 йил 25-June.
Hendershott, Anne. The Politics of Abortion. New
York: Encounter Books, 2006.
Hinkson-Craig, Barbara and David M. O'Brien.
Abortion and American Politics. Chatham: Chatham House Publishers, Inc.,
1993.
Issues2000. Hillary Clinton on Abortion. 2008 йил 13-April.
.
Kail, Robert V. and John C. Cavanaugh. Human
Development A Life-Span View. 5th Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning,
2010.
Marieb, Elaine N and Katja Hoehn. Human Anatomy and Physiology. Ed.
Serina Beauparlant. 8th Edition. Pearson Benjamin Cummings,
2011.
Nicholson-Brownell, Ada. “Pentecostal Evangel.” Finding Forgiveness
2000 йил 16-January: 7-13.
Planned Parenthood. Birth Control. 2011. 2011 йил
1-May .
Storck, MD, Susan. In Vitro
Fertalization. 2010 йил 10-Feb. National Library of Medicine. 2011 йил 1-May
.
Wyatt, John. “Medical Paternalism and the Fetus.”
Journal of Medical Ethics 27.5 (2001)." |
