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Abortions Should Be Legal

Breeanna Lawrence

Freshman Composition 190 05

Alderson Broaddus University

Professor Daniel Propst

November 20, 2022

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The government should legalize abortions because 22,800 women die each year due to

illegally ridding of unwanted pregnancies (How many women die from unsafe abortions?).

Whether it be legal or illegal, women will find a way to rid of an unwanted child. Access to

legal, professionally performed abortions reduces maternal injury and death caused by these

unsafe, illegal abortions. Many results of these unsafe abortions, such as sepsis and unintended

organ puncture, require major surgeries or completely removing the uterus. The overturn of Roe

v. Wade won’t affect the numbers of abortions performed, but the number of safe abortions

performed.

Women coming in and out of abortion clinics fear for their lives. The women walking

into the clinics must be escorted in due to violent protestors because it is too dangerous for a

pregnant woman to walk in alone. Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, anti-abortion protestors

have become more extreme by using threatening tactics. The NAF’s (National Abortion

Federation) data shows that the use of arson, vandalism, blockades, bomb threats, and death

threats have doubled in a matter of months (Abortion clinic escorts say work is becoming a 'war

zone').

Fetuses are incapable of feeling pain when most abortions are performed. They are only

capable of feeling pain until around the seventh month of pregnancy, which is about the 28th

week. Each state has different laws on how far along the pregnancy can be before getting an

abortion is no longer an option. Although six states and the District of Colombia have no limits,

most states banned them between the 8th and 28th week of pregnancy (Grace Panetta, The latest

point in pregnancy you can get an abortion in all 50 states).

Personhood does not begin until the fetus becomes “viable”. This means when they are

able to survive outside the womb, or after birth, not after conception. Developing fetuses need
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oxygen beginning early in pregnancy, but they won’t take their first breath until after birth. This

means that the fetuses don’t truly breath in the womb. Instead, the umbilical cord provides them

oxygen until their first breath. As a basis for personhood, some state laws restricting abortions

use the fetal heartbeat as “morally significant”. Many physicians use the term “fetal heartbeat”

when consulting patients, but the developing fetus does not have a functioning heart that

generates sound (Nancy S. Jecker Professor of Bioethics and Humanities, What is 'personhood'?

the ethics question that needs a closer look in abortion debates 2022).

Although pregnancy preventions, such as the pill, an IUD, and injections, have a high

success rate, they are not 100% effective. There are many factors that can increase the chances of

pregnancy and many types of medication that can cancel out the effects of birth control. Birth

control pills are 99% effective, but only with “perfect use”. This means taking the pill everyday

at exactly the same time each day. The term “typical use” is how most women take the pill,

which is only about 91% effective. Neither of these uses contain the possibility of missing a

dose. The pill is designed to maintain a certain level of hormones within the body, but if a does is

missed, these hormones can drop very quickly (Timmons, Can you get pregnant on the pill?

2016).

Many anti-abortionists preach the alternatives to abortion, but in some cases, abortion is

the best, if not only option. Abortions are done because the mother doesn’t have the necessary

resources to properly care for their future child and because the pregnancy or child may suffer

many complications. In many instances, the fetus is diagnosed with a severe disorder that would

cause the child to live a very difficult and painful life. Some of these diagnoses can even lead to

early death. It is a woman’s right as a mother to be able to have the decision to determine what’s

best for her child, despite society morals, religion, or state leaders. It is wrong to deny a mother
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of her rights in deciding whether to put her child through the pain and suffering (Jones, Top 10

reasons abortion should be legal 2019).

Fetuses are not independent, self-determining beings, and abortion is the termination of

pregnancy, not a baby. A person’s age is calculated from birthdates, not conception, and fetuses

are not counted in the US population data. The word “person” as used in the Fourteenth

Amendment, does not include the unborn.

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References

Grace Panetta, S. G. (n.d.). The latest point in pregnancy you can get an abortion in all 50 states.
Business Insider. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from
https://www.businessinsider.com/latest-point-in-pregnancy-you-can-get-abortion-in-50-
states-2019-5

How many women die from unsafe abortions? MSN. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2022, from
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/how-many-women-die-from-unsafe-abortions/ar-
AAWTETi

Jones, C. (2019, August 27). Top 10 reasons abortion should be legal. List Land. Retrieved
November 15, 2022, from https://www.listland.com/top-10-arguments-in-support-of-
abortion/

Nancy S. Jecker Professor of Bioethics and Humanities. (2022, September 13). What is
'personhood'? the ethics question that needs a closer look in abortion debates. The
Conversation. Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://theconversation.com/what-is-
personhood-the-ethics-question-that-needs-a-closer-look-in-abortion-debates-182745

Timmons, J. (2016, October 18). Can you get pregnant on the pill? Healthline. Retrieved
November 15, 2022, from https://www.healthline.com/health/birth-control/how-to-get-
pregnant-while-on-the-pill#causes

Yahoo! (n.d.). Abortion clinic escorts say work is becoming a 'war zone'. Yahoo! News.
Retrieved November 15, 2022, from https://news.yahoo.com/abortion-clinic-escorts-
becoming-war-075854490.html