Essay/Term paper: Morality and legality of abortion

Essay, term paper, research paper:  History Essays

Morality and Legality of Abortion


Somewhere amidst the abortion debates of the last quarter century, the
real issue has been lost. The focus has become too religious for a country that
has separated church and state. Therefore, I won't argue the religious rights
and wrongs of abortion. No answers can be derived until we focus on what the
law and our citizens do value, because this is how laws are changed. American
laws hold sacred the value of human rights....but when do a woman's end, and a
child's begin?
The saving grace, and ultimately, the great flaw of the Constitution is
it's variability. Our founding fathers created it as an open door, to allow
future generations to correct their mistakes, but also to make them, and to
contradict themselves ethically and morally, on the whim of a generation. As a
nation, we have always attempted a degree of morality in our laws, a shared
belief in what is right and wrong that is eforced by the law. We assert that to
ahrm another intentionally or otherwise is wrong and deserving of punishment.
Our laws condemn murderers and shun drunk drivers, charging involuntary
manslaughter in the case that he/she inadvertently kills another in an accident.
There are severe repercussions for rapists and assault of another person. We
also often assert that to harm oneself intentionally or in a way that could
have been prevented by our own precaution is wrong. These examples include the
seatbelt and helmet laws and the ingestion of harmful drugs. In keeping with our
common and lawful morality that is careful to protect human life, the legality
of abortion appears incongruent.
An important question of this issue is of the point at which the life
conceived inside a woman's body is considered a life, rather than her personal
property. After conception, is there such a point htat "the right to choose"
can be exercised as an alternative to a condom or pill to prevent the said
conception? Prochoisce supporters wil continue to argue that a woman has a
right to do with her body as she chooses including termination of an unwanted
pregnancy. However, nature has decreed the bodies of the same women as
indispensible protection for a life too vulnerable to survive outside of this
sanctuary. Should this biological right create a parallel between the human
gestation period and a 1-month trial run?
Whether not abortion is morally acceptable, it is in many cases
replacing conventional birth contral and postponing women's decisions as to
whether they desire a child. Factors such as invoncenience, financial stability,
and bad relationships have become grounds for abortion. These feelings should
be evaluated before a women begins to engage in the very act that promotes pro-
creation. The necessary precautions can then be taken to prevent the otherwise
inevitable, rather than trying to reverse a life already brought to existence.
Abortion was legalized at a time when women burned their bras and
demanded to be liberated, mainly from men. Somehow this movement shocked a
generally conservative government into giving these women what they wanted:
absolute freedom from men. Today, with their demands fulfilled, perhaps women
in the government alike have taken a moment to look at their handiwork and
wonder, "What have we done?"