Abortion in the United States

ABORTION IN THE UNITED STATES

Abortion Controversy

According to the Guttmacher Institute, there are roughly 3,322 abortions per day; amounting to 1.21 million abortions performed every year in the United States. There are many different opinions about abortion, such as “pro-life” or “pro-choice”. People who believe that abortion is wrong and should be stopped in our society are considered to be on the “pro-life” side of the controversy. Those who believe a woman should be able to decide what she does with her body and who support abortions in the United States would be considered “pro-choice”. In today’s society, the issue of illegalization of abortions in some states, if not all, has become more and more of a controversial topic. In order to have an opinion about this controversy, people should be informed about both sides as well as other perspectives.

Beginning of the Controversy: Roe v. Wade

            Roe v. Wade is a well-known Supreme Court decision that ultimately made abortion legal in the United States. “The decision held that a woman, with her doctor, could choose abortion in earlier months of pregnancy without legal restriction, and with restrictions in later months, based on the right to privacy” (Roe v. Wade).  The decision to make abortion legal in the United States sparked the controversial views and many debates about this issue in today’s society. An interesting detail that most people are unaware of is about the first abortion laws in history. “The first abortion laws were aimed at protecting the mother from the abortionist. They were not necessarily set in the context that the fetus was, from conception, a human being that happened to be protected” (Burrell). It wasn’t until later that the controversy in legality began to circle around the life of the fetus, not necessarily the safety of the mother.

Pro-Choice Arguments

http://feministsforchoice.com/
pro-choice-news-roundup-12.htm

            The definition of pro-choice according to American Heritage: “Favoring or supporting the legal right of women and girls to choose whether or not to continue a pregnancy to term” . There are many reasons why pro-choice advocates believe this about abortion. An important argument from this side of the controversy includes: “If people want to stop abortion, they should turn to methods that do work” according to the ten arguments supporting pro-choice. This is extremely important in my opinion because if there are people who are against abortions, they should not blatantly say something is wrong without providing possible solutions. There are many ways to prevent unwanted pregnancies that result with abortions. For example, offering sex education in order for people to be informed about the decisions they are making. Pro-choice advocates also argue that, “Doctors, not governments, should always be the people to make medical recommendations and opinions” according to ten arguments supporting pro-choice. This argument is especially important because in today’s society, people feel more and more controlled by our government, causing a feeling of less power. For the government to illegalize abortions in the United States would be comparable with the President telling everyone they had to receive an operation, which is outrageous and would never be allowed. These are only a limited amount of reasons why people should have a right to their own decisions, especially when involving their own body.

Pro-Life Arguments

http://www.trulyrichmom.com/2011/02/
raising-pro-life-kids-my-natural-birth.html

            The definition of pro-life according to American Heritage: “Advocating the legal protection of human embryos and fetuses, especially by favoring the outlawing of abortion on the ground that it is the taking of a human life”. On the other side of the controversy, pro-life advocates believe that abortion should be illegal and should be banned from the United States. An important argument that pro-life defenders embody is that life begins at conception, and therefore abortion is equivalent to murdering a human being. Since murder is obviously illegal in our country, it would make sense to think that abortion should also be illegal. A different, less emotional argument would be that most Americans who pay taxes may have conflicting views about the legality of abortions since often times, U.S. tax dollars are used in order to fund a majority of abortions according to Women's Issues. Abortion has been made illegal in some States in the past, however has later been overturned. People advocating for pro-life are intensively trying to pass laws in order to make abortions illegal, but only time will tell what the outcome will be.

Planned Parenthood

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UfJtOv8DjM&feature=related

            Recent controversy about government funding of public health centers such as Planned Parenthood has caused government officials to consider reducing the funding significantly. According to the Los Angeles Times, "Republicans want to allow states to redirect money away from abortion providers" and also take away $317 million Planned Parenthood for the 2011 fiscal year. This would mean a significant decrease in family planning, health services such as cancer screenings, and birth control availability along with many more services.

The Right Argument

            In my opinion, pro-choice is the more logical answer in the debate of abortion in the United States. To me, the arguments for pro-life appear to be more of an emotionally biased decision when in reality, the right choice may vary for different people. The choice to keep or abort a baby should be entirely up to the woman. It is her body therefore the choice should not belong to any governmental laws or officials. In many cases, abortion is the only logical thing to do in situations of poverty, lack of family support, abusive relationships, rape, etc. 

Possible Solutions

          Possible solutions for this well-known controversy are still debatable and many people with opinions about this topic may not agree with the compromises or solutions for abortion in the United States. In order to make abortion more agreeable in the United States, our government could withdraw it's financial support for the funding of abortions, not necessarily all of it's funding (other health services that Planned Parenthood provides) but solely the funding of abortions. If a woman has the ability to choose abortion, she should be able to pay for it herself, not rely on other people's tax money. Another possible solution, that is more favored by pro-life supporters, would be adoption. Adoption gives a life to the unborn child while also giving it to a family that truly wants to have a baby. Although adoption has been known to be one of the hardest decisions a pregnant woman can make, it would ultimately be beneficial for everyone involved.

Works Cited

Akinrinola Bankole, et al. "Legal Abortion Worldwide In 2008: Levels And Recent Trends." Perspectives On Sexual & Reproductive Health 43.3 (2011): 188-198. Academic Search Complete. Web. 8 Nov. 2011. 

Burrell, Barbara. "Roe V. Wade: The Abortion Rights Controversy In American History." Rhetoric & Public Affairs 5.3 (2002): 546-548. Academic Search Complete. Web. 8 Nov. 2011.

Multimodal Essay (ROUGH Draft) Cayla Lepior

Cayla Lepior

Mr. Lutz

English 151

24 October 2011

Abortion Controversy

According to the Guttmacher Institute, there are roughly 3,322 abortions per day; amounting to 1.21 million abortions performed every year in the United States. There are many different opinions about abortion, such as “pro-life” or “pro-choice”. People who believe that abortion is wrong and should be stopped in our society are considered to be on the “pro-life” side of the controversy. Those who believe a woman should be able to decide what she does with her body and who support abortions in the United States would be considered “pro-choice”. In today’s society, the issue of illegalization of abortions in some states, if not all, has become more and more of a controversial topic. In order to have an opinion about this controversy, people should be informed about both sides as well as other perspectives.

Pro-Choice Arguments

            The definition of pro-choice: “Favoring or supporting the legal right of women and girls to choose whether or not to continue a pregnancy to term” (American Heritage). There are many reasons why pro-choice advocates believe this about abortion. An important argument from this side of the controversy includes: “If people want to stop abortion, they should turn to methods that do work” (10 Arguments). This is extremely important in my opinion because if there are people who are against abortions, they should not blatantly say something is wrong without providing possible solutions. There are many ways to prevent unwanted pregnancies that result with abortions. For example, offering sex education in order for people to be informed about the decisions they are making. Pro-choice advocates also argue that, “Doctors, not governments, should always be the people to make medical recommendations and opinions” (10 Arguments). This argument is especially important because in today’s society, people feel more and more controlled by our government, causing a feeling of less power. For the government to illegalize abortions in the United States would be comparable with the President telling everyone they had to receive an operation, which is outrageous and would never be allowed. These are only a limited amount of reasons why people should have a right to their own decisions, especially when involving their own body.

Pro-Life Arguments

            The definition of pro-life: “Advocating the legal protection of human embryos and fetuses, especially by favoring the outlawing of abortion on the ground that it is the taking of a human life” (American Heritage). On the other side of the controversy, pro-life advocates believe that abortion should be illegal and should be banned from the United States. An important argument that pro-life defenders embody is that life begins at conception, and therefore abortion is equivalent to murdering a human being (Women’s Issues). Since murder is obviously illegal in our country, it would make sense to think that abortion should also be illegal. A different, less emotional argument would be that most Americans who pay taxes may have conflicting views about the legality of abortions since often times, U.S. tax dollars are used in order to fund a majority of abortions (Women’s Issues). Abortion has been made illegal in some States in the past, however has later been overturned. People advocating for pro-life are intensively trying to pass laws in order to make abortions illegal, but only time will tell what the outcome will be.

           

Cayla Lepior Blog #15

 I decided to write about abortion in the United States and the different opinions about making it legal/illegal. This is a very controversial topic so I think I will get read about a lot of different perspectives and opinions while looking for people’s blogs about abortion and pro-life/pro-choice.

The first blog I found was from The Washington Post by Herb Silverman. The blog is titled “Pro-choice and Pro-life” and discusses the views of Silverman and his support of both pro-choice and pro-life. Silverman says, “I support a woman’s right to choose and oppose capital punishment” (Silverman). He uses Aristotle’s Rhetorical appeals when he says “You would think that those who oppose abortion under any circumstances and view it as the greatest evil would necessarily favor practical steps to reduce the number of abortions” (Silverman). He uses pathos and logic to question other people’s viewpoints and to make a point. What he is saying there is true, if people don’t agree with abortions, then why aren’t they in compliance with taking away our government’s funding for sex-education and government funded daycares? This article is different because he addresses both sides of the controversy, unlike most blogs that are very one-sided.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-faith/post/pro-choice-and-pro-life/2011/09/13/gIQAk3P5PK_blog.html

            The second blog I found was from a website called prolifeblogs.com and did not have a specific author. The article is titled “Undercover calls reveal Medicaid willing to pay for non-emergency late-term abortions with taxpayer $$”. This article basically talks about how the debate over tax-funded abortions and how millions of our tax dollars are being used to fund abortions every year. For example, “The caller identified herself as having a healthy pregnancy in the 26^th week of gestation to a Southwester Women’s Options employee named Sue. She told Sue that the reason she wanted an abortion was because her husband had just lost his job” (Undercover). In my opinion this appeals to my emotions because it is shocking to me that someone would abort their baby when it is almost fully developed for the sake that their husband lost his job. This article is different than most because it talks about the tax-funded abortions that most people aren’t aware of for example, “It is State money that generally funds abortions to the tune of millions of dollars annually”(Undercover).

http://www.prolifeblogs.com/articles/archives/2011/10/undercover_call.php

            The third blog I found was from blog.prochoice.org and is called “Wednesday’s Words from Women”. This blog is different because it lets other women submit their stories about why they got abortions. In my opinion, this appeals to people’s emotions and puts them in their positions so maybe other people opposed to abortions could have a better understanding. An example of this is when a member of an abortion clinic says, “I was physically abused by someone who claimed to love me, which made it so hard for me to leave him. However, I feared for my life. When I found out that I was pregnant, the decision was easy—I could not bring a child into this situation. The NAF member clinic saved my life. Having this option made a world of difference. I owe you all so much. I will be forever grateful” (Women). This definitely appeals to my emotions because this woman is sharing her personal experience to try and show others what it’s like.

http://blog.prochoice.org/

            The fourth blog I found was from a website called feminist.us and the author, Jill, explains why she is pro-choice. This blog particularly addresses all three sides of Aristotle’s Rhetorical appeals: ethics, logic, and emotions. Examples of this are when the author says “I am pro-choice because I think women themselves are the best people to decide when and if they get pregnant, give birth, and raise children” (Jill). This is really influential because this is the core of the controversy. Whose choice is it in reality? The author of this blog does a really good job of addressing all of the reasons she is pro-choice.

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2007/01/22/why-im-pro-choice/

Cayla Lepior Blog #14

While reading “What We’re Doing When We Blog” pages 293-297 of Everything’s a Text by Dan Melzer, I came across multiple hotspots. The first hotspot was in the beginning where it says, “In general, ‘blog’ used to mean a personal online diary, typically concerned with boyfriend problems or techie news. But after September 11, a slew of new or refocused media junkie/political sites reshaped the entire Internet media landscape” (Melzer 294). I thought this was really interesting because before I knew anything about blogging, I figured it was exactly what it described in the passage above: a place for people to vent about their personal problems or express them. I think it’s definitely interesting to see how times have changed and how all of a sudden more people want to broadcasts their opinions and knowledge.

            The second hotspot I found was on the last page. “What’s important is that we’ve embraced a medium free of the physical limitations of pages, intrusions of editors, and delays of tedious publishing systems. As with free speech itself, what we say isn’t as important as the system that enables us to say it” (Melzer 297). This particular quote really stuck out to me because with blogging, people now have an instantaneous way of expressing themselves. This expression is free of outside editing and other people’s viewpoints. You can write about whatever you want for as long as you want without any limitations and anyone can view it. I think this is important because in today’s society a lot of people believe that the media is censored and this is a way for the raw opinions of many people to be heard. I think blogging is an efficient, fast, and inspiring way for bloggers to write about whatever they want to.

Cayla Lepior Blog #12

http://www.scribd.com/doc/68025322/Exploratory-Essay

Cayla Lepior Blog #11

-George W. Bush "9/11 Address to the Nation":
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/gwbush911addresstothenation.htm

-Barack Obama's first speech as the 44th U.S. President:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7840926.stm

In my opinion, both of these speeches/videos are examples of "good" rhetoric because they were influential in our history as a country. George Bush's speech resonates with me personally because his speech was about a very emotional and tragic event that no one will forget. Obama's speech is also very important because it was his very first speech as the first "ethnic" President of the United States, also a very memorable time in history.

Cayla Lepior Blog #10

Essay Question: Should children of illegal immigrants, who have their babies in the United States, be considered legal U.S. citizens?

SOURCE #1:

October 2

USA Today News Article

Raul, Reyes. "Not very American: 'Illegal by birth'." USA Today n.d.: Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 2 Oct. 2011.

This article begins by stating that “some top Republicans have called for a review of the constitutional guarantee that anyone born in the USA is a citizen”. This is controversial because they say it encourages illegal immigration.

                  -Good information, it shows one perspective of the controversy with its opinion.

"If both parents are here illegally, should there be a reward for their illegal behavior?"

                  -Good quote I can use as one opinion/problem with illegal immigrants having babies who are then considered legal citizens.

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside."

                  -Quotation from the 14^th Amendment is important because it shows history’s views on immigration and how people are trying to change that.

The next part talks about democracy and discrimination of parents (US citizens VS foreigners). “If we were to end birthright citizenship, we would have two classes of children, both born on American soil. The only difference would be who their parents were – which doesn’t strike me as very democratic.”

                  -Important because it discusses discrimination which can be an influential point in my essay.

The next section introduces the phrase “anchor babies”, basically meaning “undocumented workers having children here to ‘anchor’ their family in the U.S. In truth, having a U.S.-born child is no protection from deportation.

                  -Introduces the name “anchor babies” and it’s important because this idea is the main focus in my essay.

The final part discusses the likelihood of ending birthright citizenship and also how it would effect our undocumented population.

                  -Important for the outcome of this controversy and if anything will actually happen to change immigration/citizenship laws.

SUMMARY:

I found this article really useful even though it only portrays one view of “anchor babies” and birthright citizenship. It mostly just talks about the negative view of illegal immigrants having babies in the U.S. who consequently become citizens. It focuses on the people who disagree with this and feel that there should be a revision to amend the citizenship aspect of the 14^th amendment/constitution.

SOURCE #2:

October 2

New York Amsterdam News Article

Persaud, Felicia. "And so the madness begins." New York Amsterdam News 102.2 (2011): 14-34. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 3 Oct. 2011.

First section talks about Republican Steve King’s Birthright Citizenship Act of 2011 that “would require that at least one parent be a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident for the newborn baby to receive automatic citizenship.”

                  -Important because it is one solution to the opposing views of “anchor babies” and so-called illegal immigration problems.

The next part discusses King’s opinion that the “anchor babies” are a result of a misapplication of the Constitution’s clause and “creates incentive for illegal aliens to cross our border.”

                  -I agree with the point that it creates incentive for people to illegally immigrate.

Later, the article talks about opposing views of his citizenship act as “the largest national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, said it best when it called the proposal ‘inflammatory, impractical, and immoral.”

                  - Important for my essay because it shows the other side of the controversy and how people of other nationalities feel about the proposal.

“These thoughtless and unnecessary proposals take our country in the wrong direction, away from inclusion and our other core American values. The citizenship clause is a bedrock principle of civil rights and part of what makes us all Americans. Never in our nation’s history have we amended to the Constitution to take away someone’s rights, and we should not do so now.” –Janet Murguía, NCLR president and CEO.

                  -Really important quotation from the opposing side of the proposal, states really good points as to why we shouldn’t pass the act.

SUMMARY:

Overall, this article was really useful. It acknowledges the Republican’s Birthright Citizenship Act and explains what it would do for U.S. citizenship as well as points out the other point of view. By including the viewpoint of the national Latino civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States, it shows the other side of the controversy, which is important for every influential essay.