Abortion Article

There may be no single divisive issue in the U.S. among even well-educated people than the issue of abortion. What generations ago was a deep dark secret, with the sort of back-alley disgraced physicians performing rudimentary abortions often in dingy and unclean surroundings, Abortion now is even a major political problem.

What is obvious is that the divisions are social as well as religious. There are many who dispute the notion about when life begins. Catholics and conservative Evangelical Christians see birth as beginning at conception. Others see life as not being viable until the baby is born. The very notion of wanting or needing an abortion- for whatever reason, be it rape, incest, economic problems or even the fragility of mother and/or fetus has turned into a political matter of the woman's right to choose.

One needs to examine both sides of the issue as well as realize that Abortion is no longer a secret last-minute device. Abortions have become numerous. Here is proof: 43% of American women will have an abortion in their life-time, if current rates are sustained....But few women share the details beyond a small circle of loved ones because the experiences don't fit neatly into a debate that centers on moral absolutes. "According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, approximately 1 out of 3 women in the United States will have had an abortion by age 45. It's fair to say that the majority of Americans have either had an abortion or know someone wh

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The Supreme Court decision upholds the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act that Congress passed in 2003. The ruling makes it criminal for physicians to perform abortions using 'dilation and extraction,' a procedure that is used for late-term abortions. The decision has been a major blow to abortion rights activists" (Houppart para. 1). The pro-life groups- and there are many organizations, religious as well as merely communal, who believe in the so-called "sanctity of life." This is an argument that simply will not disappear. In some ways it is almost as impossible to come to terms as that mythical question about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. There is simply no definitive, medical or scientific conclusion that can establish for everyone's satisfaction when life begins. If the moment a male sperm penetrates and merges with the female ovaries, is this the beginning of life? Does life begin when the fetus is viable enough to have limbs and can move and even breathe, and there is a recognizable heart beat? Not even doctors can agree. As one commentator states it: For some, it represents sin. The destruction of an embryo, even an early-stage one, offends the core moral order. "'Pro-life' advocates have lob

Category: History - A