Very well written, beautiful.

And the points are excellent.

don't agree, a life to be lived and is aborted is a life murdered. if you can now kill a baby the day before it is born, whats ot stop ud from killing it the day after? and lets not stopat that, two months? maybe its not cute anymore so we'll get rid of it. no srry, i've never had any debate about where i stand on abortion.

also, if it is for your debate team and you say you dont necassarily think that women should have abortions, where is YOUR tand on this? if i was on my debate team at school, and they wanted me to debate in favour of something i was NOT in favour of, i would not be debating.

Personally, I agree wholeheartedly with RuathaWehrling. The choice is made when the girl or woman chooses to have sex. As long as she chooses to have sex and knows the risks, she also chooses the possibility of having a baby.

If she is raped or if there are severe issues in health that would threaten the health of the mother, or a genetic disease that could cause something like permanent paralysis for the baby, then I agree that the woman should be able to opt for abortion.

Exacty! Women should have the choice of abortion. They should not have to give birth because other people only consider the unborn child who doesnt know it is dying. A foetus is not more important than a woman.When people are against abortion and protest they say they are thinking of the child but they are not. There is many unwanted children getting beaten,abused and sent to orphanages. Its not enough to say they will be adopted because alot are not. Not aborting (when needed)has major consequences for the child and mother as it leads to depression,crime ect.Women are not slaves, they should have freedom.

Another thing if a foetus is considered living and people think it is murder then if a woman has an unplaned misscarrage then wouldnt she be killing it by accident, therefore she should be changed with manslaughter?

Good essay I 100% agree with you.

What is abortion?

-Wally

...

So, it's okay for me to kill a life form, but it's not okay for me to drink alcohol until I'm 21?

Right.

It's okay to abort a baby, who may become a prodigy child, who may become a leader of society as an adult...How many possible great people are we killing off before they never have the chance to even take a breath of air? True, we can't assume that every aborted baby - fetus, same difference - will turn out to be this grand person, but if they're aborted we'll never know, will we?

But no, it's all about the mother's choice. The mother gets to be the selfish one. She's allowed to kill a baby because she can't handle it.

That makes perfect sense.

-

Sure, you have free will to kill if you wish, but I'm still gonna throw a fit at realizing that you can get away with it when I can't get away with killing the idiot that's hurt my best friend.

And yes, I consider aborting a fetus the same as killing a baby. It's a life. And even if you don't want to consider it a life, it still WILL be a life if you give it the chance.

What a sad society we are making. Spanking kids is abuse. Aborting babies is perfectly normal.

I wish there was a way to shed a tear for every aborted life. But that list is way too long, and I'm a generally happy person. I'll have to settle for saying a prayer every night.

~Reda~

But from an objective view, you wrote a nice little debate essay here. I can see it your way, I just don't agree.

In response to the review below:
Yes, I know all of this. I never said I think women should have abortions, I never said that I think abortions are right. That's what people who are Pro-Life seem to refuse to admit: that Pro-Choice people don't nessecarily believe that abortion is right. That's why it isn't called Pro-Abortion. I, for the record, don't think abortions are right. But I also don't think it's right to make such a big choice for everyone by making abortion illegal. I'm glad you took the time to review this even though you don't agree.

Clarity

Sorry it's long, I hope you actually take the time to read it.

What would you say if I told you that 1.3 million babies were murdered in the US every year? What about the 110 thousand murdered in Canada every year?
Would you be shocked? Surprised? Perhaps angry?
What kills these babies? What has taken the life of over 50 million babies since 1973? What takes the life of one innocent baby every 20 seconds?
Abortion.

What is life? What is being human? Webster’s dictionary defines life as this: “The condition that distinguishes organisms, being manifested by metabolism, growth and reproduction.”
What does this mean? An organism is considered living if it can: 1) use other objects (living or not) to make energy to function, 2) grow and 3) reproduce. An unborn child has the ability to do, and does do these things, with the exception of reproduction. But, prior to even the earliest abortions the baby has every body part that it will ever have, including the basis of their reproductive organs.
It’s common belief that the child is the same as the mother because it lives inside her… as though it were some sort of organ. But did you know that a body part is defined by the common genetic code it shares with the rest of its body? Guess what, the unborn child has its own unique genetic code! Therefore it cannot logically just be ‘a part of the woman’s body’!
Another thing to think about is this: Every abortion stops a beating heart and measurable brain waves.
What do we call it when a person ceases to have a heartbeat or brain waves? We call it death. Hence what should it be called if one has a heartbeat and brain waves? Life of course! We know that an unborn’s heart begins to beat about 21 days after conception, and that brain waves become measurable around 40 days. Abortions aren’t preformed early than 42 days after conception.
As Randy Alcorn, author, puts it, “It is an indisputable fact that each and every legal surgical abortion in America today stops a beating heart and stops already measurable brain waves.” What am I trying to get across? Abortions end a life, and that’s a scientific fact.
Why is it that the animal activists protest when an animal is abused or killed, but they don’t even care when a human child is killed in what is supposed to be the safest environment they’ll ever experience… their mother’s womb? The unborn child does feel pain when it’s aborted. Contrary to popular belief, this isn’t a painless procedure for the child. Surgeon Robert Shearin says without hesitation, “As early as 8-10 weeks after conception, and definitely by 13 and a half weeks, the unborn experiences pain.”
Fetologist Albert Liley of the University of Auckland said, “When doctors first began invading the sanctuary of the womb, they did not know that the unborn baby would react to pain in the same fashion as a child would. But they soon learned he did.”
An unborn child can feel pain, it’s been scientifically proven, and yet those who are Pro-Choice refuse to admit it. The Planned Parenthood website goes as far to say, “We know for sure that the embryo or fetus cannot perceive pain…”
It’s a lie.
Abortion has a negative impact on everyone involved. The unborn child is never given a chance at life, the father will often exhibit signs of guilt, and others involved in the process are also overwhelmed with the guilt they feel for their actions. But the mother is the most affected. Here is a compiled list of many of the physical side effects abortions can have: a punctured uterus, damaged organs, excessive bleeding, intense pain, shock or coma, allergic reactions, infections, ectopic pregnancy (which, if not treated, can be lethal), blood clots, injury to the cervix, higher rate of future miscarriages, barrenness, an increase in the risk of breast cancer (the link has been proved relevant by such scientists as Dr. Joel Brind of Baruck College, New York), and finally, even death. It’s true that death isn’t common, but it does occur on occasion. It’s often due to internal lacerations; or the doctor leaving a part of the unborn child within the mother’s womb.
18 year old Michelle Madden died because not all the pieces of her baby were removed from her body, and it caused deadly blood poisoning.
The same sort of thing happened to 43 year old mother of five, Mary Pena, whose unborn baby had not been completely removed. Her cervix had been cut greatly, and the abortionist had removed nearly one pound of her skin.
On top of all the physical difficulties that can occur, there are many emotion difficulties one would have to face. Things such as: guilt, emotional numbness, frequent crying, lowered self esteem, anger and or rage, intense grief, and suicidal desires. Women’s lives don’t just become free and happy when they abort their child. They live with that choice for the rest of their lives.
Women are not the only ones affected though, all of society is. We’ve lost over 50 million children in the last 33 years solely due to abortion. That has to do something to our population, and if you look at population records you can see that it is. Americans and Canadians today aren’t having enough children to keep up our current population. Our population is going to drop drastically and there will be big problems for society as a whole.

Agreed. But.

You're a bit self-righteous here, stating opinions rather than facts. The point of this type of essay is to use facts to prove the opinion, and not the opinion to prove the facts. Right?

You have good points, but you're going about it in a way that's going to make people who disagree sneer and look down their nose at you. I think the best way to state all of this and still gain respect is not to start off your first paragraph with 'the nation has no right to impose birth on someone who doesn't want it,' but rather, to start with the facts and figures and move on to the "lesser" arguments. Starting with the strongest arguments and moving on to a woman's rights after you've given the numbers, figures, 'women can die,' etc. etc. would be a better way to go.

Still.

Keep writing.

:)

Alrighty, here goes my review. No flames, I promise:

1.) "The important question is not when it is to whom." -- I think you're missing a word or two in this sentence!

2.) "Depending on who is pregnant many obstacles or none at all can stand in the way of a safe pregnancy." -- And, perhaps equally importnant, of a HAPPY and WANTED pregnancy. After all, safety is NOT the reason most women who get abortions choose to do so.

3.) "Those people who think it is wrong need not change their minds about it, but they don’t need to impose their thoughts on a nation." -- Well, I doubt they would agree. After all, if someone believes a fetus is a child with all the rights that a child has, then it makes sense for that person to see abortion as murder. And wouldn't you say it is right for a person to impose their believes on their nation when the topic is murder? That's what makes this debate different from, say, debates on homosexuality or other personal topics. This debate involves ending a (potential) life before it can begin. It's a decision that affects the fetus (who some consider a child, recall), not just the adults involved (as in discussions on homosexuality, etc). There's a difference between letting someone hurt themself and letting them hurt someone ELSE. Laws are made to prevent the latter, but not (usually) the former.

4.) "Abortion should be legal in the United States because no one has the right to force someone to give birth." -- You just said this. Don't repeat yourself in writing -- you gain nothing in terms of impact and it's bad technical form.

5.) "Abortion should be legal in the United States because some women and girls can die from giving birth." -- Again, you are repeating yourself nearly verbatim. You don't need to!

6.) "The final reason of why abortion should be legal in the United States is that no one has the right to impose their thoughts, feelings, and “rightful” actions on anyone else." -- This is an extremely BAD argument. After all, if I have the RIGHT to do whatever I want (since no one else can impose their opinions of me), then I have the RIGHT to kill people, to rape, to steal, to break the law in any way I want... and there can be no consequences. Laws, by their very definition, "impose their thoughts, feelings, and “rightful” actions" on people. Now, while something like a pro- or anti-abortion law might be hotly disputed, I don't think most other laws are. But you can't argue the point that you have here without throwing out ALL laws... and I doubt you really want that!

7.) "If you took it out and put it in a different situation it would not survive, unless medical care and technology was provided." -- The trouble with this is that it's true about many newborn babies, too. Would you consider it okay to kill a premature newborn who needed to be on oxygen? No? Then this isn't a very solid argument.

8.) "If the United States makes abortion illegal every woman and girl would be caught in this trap with no way out – that doesn’t sound like freedom to me." -- I completely agree. However, are you certain abortions are always the right way out of the trap? What about preventing people from falling into the trap, instead? Or what about helping them by releasing the trap, instead? No, it will NOT always work, but gnawing off your own leg is a very extreme way to get out of the trap. Don't we have the responsibility to provide other options?

And I'm done reading. For the record, I am NOT a wholehearted pro-lifer. Not really. In fact, I very firmly believe that every woman should have the right to choose whether to have a child or not. The only thing is, I think that WILLINGLY having sex with a man counts as that choice. Which means that in cases like rape (where the girl truly had no choise) or severe mental retardation (where the girl really didn't understand the consequences of her actions) or medical risk to the mother (where the mother didn't realize there was such a risk beforehand), then abortion should be a legal option. Whether it's the best choice or not, I don't know, but you're right: "no one has the right to force someone to give birth".

On the other hand, if the woman consciously and willingly has sex, say with a boyfriend, and ends up pregnant, hasn't she already made her choice? If she went through middle school sex-ed classes, she knows where babies come from. And just as with any other choice, sometimes the consequences aren't the best. I can respect that and sympathize with that (one of my best friends got pregnant the last few months of college -- whoops! -- and I know how hard that was on her). I think we as a society have a responsibility to help people in such situations. But to pretend they had "no choice" in the matter is a lie, and a lie that devalues women. Women ARE smart enough to know the possible consequences. We may choose poorly at times, but that's not the same as not choosing at all.

Personally, I would never have an abortion, but I agree with you on nearly every point on your essay.

My whole stance on the matter is that if I could get pregnant (am not on the pill, or don't have condoms) I won't have sex. That way I can 99.9% ensure that I don't get pregnant (and I often use both forms of contraception at the same time to be sure) and if I do get pregnant then I'd take the view that that sperm worked BLOODY hard to get to my egg, so I may as well let it live. I look at pregnancy as a risk of having sex. And since I am able to care for a child should I happen to fall pregnant, I see it as a calculated risk...it's unlikely to happen and if it does my life changes for now and my overseas experience trips will be postphoned. However, not all people who have sex and risk pregnancy are in a stable relationship, or financially ok (I'm not rich, but I get by) or so close to a career like I am.

Anyway, I do think that people should have the choice. I also really liked the quote at the end of your essay...I think it totally sums up what a woman goes through mentally and emotionally when she contemplates abortion. I also think that the societal taboo is important to coexist with the legalisation of abortion. It prevents abortion being regarded as a method of contraception and ensures people thoroughly think over their decision before they have an abortion. However, unfortunately, with the taboo comes prejudice, and that can be hard for women in an emotionally vulnerable state to handle. I think though that women who don't think about their abortion before they have it have a high risk (either later when they do have children, or even after the procedure itself) of feeling guilty or regretful about their decision, so ultimately the taboo partially (although not totally) prevents such psychological trauma.

All in all, a good essay. If it was written for a debate I wonder what people would have responded. There's not much you can say other than "but...God says it's wrong!"

the coffee fiend

(PS: I'm not a scientist by any means, but I wonder if the parasite thing is correct? Because I always thought a parasite ultimately killed the thing it was living off. And a foetus eventually grows to not need its mother's blood etc to survive, even though it's practically helpless at birth. At any rate, it still grows to maturity where it is self sufficient. Not that I am in anyway authoritative, I was just wondering...)

I agree with you, while I personally don't think I would ever have an abortion, I still think its a women's choice to decide. Luckily, I live in the UK, and we're a bit more open about things like that than the Americans.
I also think that if they crimilized abortion, that's not going to stop anyone. And how many right-wing bible belt families flame it and then secretly have one? And god forbid, Backstreet abortions, which can kill people.
I don't think anyone has the right to declare if its murder or not, not even high-and-mighty church goers.
Your essay was very well written and if you didn't get an A* for that, I'd be very surprised.

I found this to be very well-researched and beautifully written. The pro-life argument it too often religiously or emotionally oriented. I also liked the quote you put in the end. Good job.

So, instead of telling us women have to have their babies, the government should tell us it's okay to kill a living thing? Um, no thanks. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are supposedly the foundations of this country.

It comes down to your stance on premeditated murder, I guess. Not a fan. Abortion isn't healthy for us as a society, either. I feel it helps foster the whole lack of accountability thing our culture has going on these days. But I think that's an essay in and of itself.

But even though I disagree with abortion, and therefore your essay, it was a well written, and so I commend you on that. It wasn't too long, which is good, and you present your points pretty well, without any fancy language. Obviously it didn't change my mind, but you did a good job in the writing department.

I concur on all counts. *thumbs up*