Abortions in College
In three weeks Sarah will leave for college. She broke up with her boyfriend last week and today she found out she was pregnant. Should Sarah have an abortion, or stop her plans in order to have a baby at eighteen? On January 22, 1973 the landmark Roe vs. Wade decision made abortion a constitutional right. Legally Sarah can have an abortion, but it has become a social issue that has become a large controversy. Abortions among college students are not widely accepted. According to a Planned Parenthood study done in 1997, forty percent of seventeen year olds will become pregnant before their twenty-fifth birthday. That statistic is directed to college age women. Should abortions be easily accepted among college students? My own viewpoint is "yes", abortions should become more easily accepted among college students.
The other side says that the embryonic tissue is not living on its own; therefore it does not have human rights, "the fetus is only a potential human being, and we confuse actual with potential" (Tribe 117; Hadley 62-63). Being socially shunned because of the decision to have an abortion does not help any situation. The added stress of morning sickness, mood swings, weight gain, and planning leave a huge emotional strain on all women (De Puy). I am in agreement that one should be responsible, but unwanted pregnancies are much !to common to do away with abortion. Even the Constitution gives no clear answer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------**Bibliography**. No conclusion has been made as to the exact moment when the fetus becomes a baby; it is a large gray area. Abortion may be a personal choice, but there are many factors that go into the decision. Pro-lifers argue that if one is responsible enough to have sex, one should be responsible enough to deal with the consequences (Tribe 199). Pro-lifers say that from the moment of conception the fetus is a person and therefore is a bearer of human rights, "a fertilized embryo is the foundation for a living human being" (Tribe 115; Hadley 62). Can college students handle the emotional responsibility of having a child? Most women who have gone through an unwanted pregnancy remember feeling anger, guilt, shame, self-judgment, fear and depression (De Puy). So who is right and who is wrong? When is a fetus considered a baby? Who makes the definition of a human being? These are questions that will most likely never be answered. Entering college is a new experience for teenagers that involve a new sense of freedom and responsibility. The Constitution uses words like born or naturalized, that being interpreted to mean that the rights are protected once the fetus is born (Tribe 120). The fetus cannot live outside of the mother; it is part of the mother (Reich).
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Acceptance Essays
