Abortion
Abortion
During the past quarter century, abortion has joined race and war as one of
the most debatable subject of controversy in the United States. It discusses
human interaction where ethics, emotions and law come together. Abortion poses a
moral, social and medical dilemma that faces many individuals to create a
emotional and violent atmosphere. There are many points of view toward abortion
but the only two fine distinctions are "pro-choice" and "pro-life". A pro-
choicer would feel that the decision to abort a pregnancy is that of the mothers
and the state has no right to interfere. A pro-lifer would hold that from the
moment of conception, the embryo or fetus is alive. This life imposes on us a
moral obligation to preserve it and that abortion is tantamount to murder
(Kolner 5).
In the United States about 1.6 million pregnancies end in abortion. Women
with incomes under eleven thousand are over three times more likely to abort
than those with incomes above twenty-five thousand. Unmarried women are four to
five times more likely to abort than married and the abortion rate has doubled
for 18 and 19 year olds. Recently the U.S. rate dropped 6 percent overall but
the rate of abortion among girls younger than 15 jumped 18 percent. The rate
among minority teens climbed from 186 per 1,000 to 189 per 1,000.
The most popular procedure involved in abortions is the vacuum aspiration
which is done during the first trimester (three months or less since the women
has become pregnant). A tube is simply inserted through the cervix and the
contents of the uterus are vacuumed out. The most commonly used type of second
trimester abortion is called dilation and evacuation. Since the fetus has bones,
bulk and can move, second trimester is not as simple. When as much of the fetus
and placenta...
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