Ms. Blain Abortion: Three Perspectives "Heads or Tells", shouts the referee, as he flips the coin. Just before the coin lands the quarterback hollers, "neither". The astonished crowd watches as the coin lands on its edge. No one considers this possibility; after all, what are the odds of this occurring.
The possibility does however remain even though unconsidered. In this paper the author will show the as yet unexplored side of abortion, the third perspective. This paper will examine: Profile, Precipice, and The rights of the unborn child.The Pro-life group protest around abortion clinics holding up pictures of aborted fetus weeping because they can easily envision the solid existence of the as yet unborn child. While at the same time they can barely see the plight of the woman carrying the child. In the exact opposite perspective we have the pro-choice group, who cry about a woman's right to control her body, however they don't even consider the fetus within the woman as a real human being, or the life it might have been allowed to lead.
Then we have the as yet unexplored perspective, the rights of the unborn itself. The unborn child doesn't have a voice to cry out, "What about me, I don't want to die? ", or "If I have to die can I choose the method of my execution? " Even condemned criminals have the right to choose the method of their execution. Where do you stand on these heart tearing issues, and how would you answer these questions? Does a woman have an absolute right to decide for herself whether or not to have an abortion? Do the elements surrounding the decision to have an abortion justify that decision?When does life begin, at conception (the fertilizing of the egg), or at birth, or some unknown period in between? Is an unborn child protected by the US Constitution? Do the unborn have a right to life? Are they protected against cruel and unusual punishment? If the unborn do have constitutional rights how can those rights be enforced? Are the current methods of abortion cruel and unusual? First let us examine the pro-life perspective on abortion. One definition of abortion: "The expulsion of an embryo or a fetus that is not normally able to live outside the womb.Spontaneous abortion or miscarriage may result from human imperfection or from an accident.
Deliberately induced abortion simply to avoid birth of an unwanted child s the willful taking of human life" (WatchTower Publications, 2010). So, if you accept this definition of abortion, then of course you could conclude that abortion is murder and not simple family planning, thus the pro-life perspective. They would further back their point of view with scripture references such as the following: Psalms 139:13-16 miss, You created our innermost being; You covered us in our mother's wombs.We praise you for we are fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are your works as we know very well. Our frames were not hidden from You, when we ere being formed in secret; in the womb, skillfully woven together in the depths of the earth; invisibly. Your eyes saw our unformed substance; but in your book all the days ordained for us were written, even before one day even existed for us" (Hawkins, 1996).
Other scriptures include: Psalms 127:3 "Lo, children are a heritage of the Lord: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. " (C.D. Stampede Enterprises Inc.
, 1611), Isaiah 49:1 5 "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee" (C. D. Stampede Enterprises Inc. 1611).
From this point of view the pro-life group says life begins at conception and God has already started making plans for the baby's life. Therefore they conclude that abortion should be illegal and that Roe v. Wade should be overturned, abolishing a woman's right to choose, protecting the unborn.Having looked at the pro-life point of view, now let us consider the pro-choice perspective. Definition of Abortion - "The expulsion of a fetus (naturally or expo.
By medical induction) from the womb before it is able to survive independently, expo. In the first 28 weeks of a human pregnancy' (Allen, 1996). Pretend for a moment you are a woman or young girl, and try to place yourself in their place in the following scenarios. Case #1: A 13-year-old girl crying confused and frightened watches her boyfriend walk out of her life after she tells him she is pregnant.
She thought he loved her.Case #2: A woman finds out she is pregnant with her sixth child. Her husband is out of work and the five children they already have must go to bed hungry most nights. She asks herself, how can I feed another one? Case #3: A career minded young woman having Just earned her nursing degree finds out she is pregnant. Her husband, a doctor, is already putting in loads of overtime at the hospital.
When would they have time for a baby? Case #4: A woman is about to go home after shopping all day, and on the way to her car she is forced into an alley at gun point, and brutally raped.Case #5: A super model finds out she has gotten pregnant after an affair with her photographer. Of course she can't have a baby, having a baby would end her modeling career. Case #6: A woman while pregnant contracts a disease which in nine out of ten cases causes birth defects, and therefore her doctor advises an abortion. All these people, while coming from totally different backgrounds, face the same problem, unwanted pregnancy. In cases of rape, teen pregnancy, and possible birth defects, abortion would not only seem to be permissible but perhaps even necessary.
These are the premises upon which the pro-choice group argues their case, and admittedly these arguments are Just as sound as the pro-life group's arguments, which bring us to the perspective of the unborn. Earlier we asked the question about cruel and unusual punishment; spoke of the current methods of abortion, and criminal executions, now the time, has come to examine these issues. First we shall look at the three major methods for performing an abortion: 1) vacuum aspiration; 2) dilation and curettage; and 3) the saline abortion or salt poisoning meet do.The first two meet odds are generally used on infants during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and the third for infants 16 weeks or older. In the first method: Vacuum aspiration - a vacuum tube with a sharp edge (and with approximately 30 times more suction power than a home vacuum cleaner) sucks the tiny baby's body into a Jar, ripping it apart in no time.
In the second teeth: Dilation and Curettage: The doctor uses a loop-shaped knife to scrape the lining of the mother's womb, slicing the infant to pieces.In the third method: The saline abortion: A long needle is inserted into the mother's abdomen into her water sack; some of the amniotic fluid is withdrawn and replaced with a concentrated salt solution. As the baby breathes and swallows the toxic solution, it struggles and convulses. Also the caustic effects of the solution burn away the top layer of skin leaving it raw and shriveled.
Usually a painful death comes in a few hours. In some asses however it can and has happened where days later labor begins, and a live but dying baby is delivered" (Holmium's S, 2008).Considering this, how does the baby feel? First it is condemned to death, having committed no crime. Second it is given no choice in the method of execution, all of which would be considered cruel and unusual punishment if preformed even on a condemned criminal. Not to mention, what criminal in his right mind, when asked to choose his method of execution would say, "Oh I don't know why don't you give some maniac a machete and let him chop me o pieces or, better still, dip me in a vat of acid until my skin melts off, then ship me out to sea and throw me overboard to drown.
Imagine yourself to be an unborn baby nestled securely in the warmth of your mother's womb, sheltered, nourished, and content; suddenly from out of nowhere you are assaulted with deadly force, and chopped into tiny pieces. How do you feel? Having covered all three perspectives, pro-life, pro-choice, and the rights of the unborn, Just consider the fact that in the time it has taken you to read this paper, hundreds of abortions have taken place. Just as no one considers the possibility of a coin landing edgewise, no one considers the perspective of the unborn either.So in conclusion let me leave you with one last scenario, and a final thought.
A doctor's best friend comes to him and tells him his wife is pregnant but they don't feel like they have the time to care for a baby right now, and asks him if he will perform an abortion for them. The doctor agrees and sets a time for his friend's wife to come in. She comes in but the doctor tells her to come back in a week due too scheduling issue. In the meantime the couple changes their minds and decides to pep the baby after all. His wife has a healthy boy.
