Partial Birth Abortion
The 1972 passage of Roe v. Wade has made abortion the greatest moralflashpoint in the United States today. For abortion supporters, the issueis often framed as a question of women's rights and privacy. Thisargument, however, ignores the reality that abortion - particularly late-term of partial birth abortion - involves the rights of another human beingas well. This paper further argues that a fetus is a human life, andentitled is therefore entitled to the same protections as any person whohas been born. It further argues that the termination of a fetus's lifeinvolves violent and painful procedures that would be akin to murder andtorture. Because of these factors, this paper states that federal courtsshould uphold the current ban on partial-birth abortions, ensuring the samebasic protections to the most helpless and innocent segments of American The issue of reproductive rights is a crucial part of the feministmovement, which believes that the right to control one's body is central toa person's dignity and independence. For many feminists, the abortionissue boils down to a question of women's rights. The agitation against
In addition, the ban stillfaces challenges filed by the National Abortion Federation, PlannedParenthood and numerous individual physicians. Two other district courts -- representing theSouthern District of New York and the Northern District of California --have also been granted restraining orders. AsDaniel Callahan, director of the Institute of Society, Ethics and the LifeSciences observed: "Genetically, hormonally and in all organic respectssave for the source of its nourishment, a fetus and an embryo is separatefrom the woman" (cited in Shettles and Rorvick 18-19). Though these restraining orders are only valid in their respectivedistricts, they essentially serve to invalidate the partial birth abortionban. Rebecca Chalker and Carol Downer discussed several abortion proceduresin their work A Woman's Book of Choices: Abortion, Menstrual Extraction, Ru-486. The bill bans "anovert act (that) will kill the partially delivered living fetus" (qtd inRosenberg). For example, in detailing theprocedures involved in partial birth abortions in her article "Whenabortions come late in a pregnancy," Marianne Lavelle describes a procedurecalled "dilation and evacuation," a pair of serrated forceps is insertedinto the uterine cavity and used to cut a live fetus into pieces. This indicates that more and more people are seeing thefetus who is only months away from being born as a full human being, and istherefore subject to the same protections. Just one week later, the fetus is threeinches long and the arms, legs, hands, feet, fingers and toenails are fullyformed (Costa 182). Despite widespread support, however, the bill's laudable provisionsare currently on hold. In fact, Congress had already passed thepartial-birth abortion ban twice before, though the bill had been vetoed bythen President Clinton. Furthermore, to support their claims, these activists argue that theban violates a woman's right to privacy as well as the more general privacyrights of people regarding their medical information (Albert). At 18 weeks, the sex of the fetus is clearly distinguishable and afetal heartbeat can be heard through a stethoscope. However, the various abortion procedures themselvesare violent and gruesome process.
Common topics in this essay:
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Reference Handbook,
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Chalker Downer,
Marianne Lavelle,
Hadley Arkes,
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Acceptance Essays
