Theory Post

It is obvious that abortion is a binary issue, but there are many different ways that it can take two sides. One would be if you considered abortion murdering a child. That would mean if you considered the fetus a human or not. If you consider the fetus alive then you would be against it, and if not you would be for it. Another way abortion is a binary issue is if you think women should have the right to decide what to do concerning their own body. If you are pro-choice then you would be for abortions. If you are pro-life then you would be against abortions. Abortion has always been and always will be a difficult, binary issue to discuss and will always have ideas from those different sides collide with each other. This is a topic that people will NEVER agree on no matter how much time goes by and no matter what happens. These two sides both have very good arguments, but even so, people who have an opinion about it will more than likely not change their mind.

Self Analysis

From the beginning of this project I have stated that I am against abortion, however, I could understand, but not justify, a few situations. I still feel that way, but from the research I have done I don't feel that ALL abortions are murder anymore. I only feel that abortion is murder if the fetus has a heartbeat or if it had developed any limbs. If it has a heartbeat, then it is now a living person, therefore, deciding to take its breath away would be murder. I am still strongly against it, but I understand a few situations as I said before. If being pregnant puts the womans life in then danger then yes, that is understandable, the woman is simply not ready to die yet. If the woman was raped then she might not want that constant reminder of her past. I still don't think I would take my childs chance at life away because of that, but a lot of women may not be able to handle that. The last situation that I chose that I would understand was if the child was created out of incest. Although I know it would be the parents fault for being involved in such an act, they might not want the child to suffer because of their mistake.
Basically, I feel that I have grown a lot while researching this topic. I am still very much against abortion with a few exceptions, but I am now open to opinions of the other side. At first my posts about abortions were very much emotional and not really providing any facts. As time progressed I started to research more and provide information to prove or help out my opinions about abortions. I have to admit that in the beginning my posts were biased, but by the end they were not anymore. I think that I have grown in a positive way because I am now open to the other side and I can make a stronger argument of why I think abortion is wrong. I also learned things about abortion that I didn't know before and makes my opinion about it even stronger. I am still very much against abortions with a few exceptions, but I am now open to hearing the other side.

Side Effects of Abortion

There are many different side effects that women do not know about before deciding to have an abortion. After an abortion women can suffer from post abortion symptoms such as eating disorders, sexual dysfunction, substance of abuse, feelings of isolation, irritability, outburst of rage or anger, depression, and many more symptoms. In the website I found it was reported that recent reports showed that women who have had abortions show higher rates of later mental health problems than women who have not had any abortions. Past abortions can also cause miscarriages and premature births in the future. Another thing that people should know is that abortion affects more than just the woman. It affects the man too and even other family that may be involved. Men have a hard time with it because no one really thinks that they may need therapy like the woman. This information can be found at http://www.rirtl.org/site/page.php?s=01_01_05.

Abortion and Women's Health

Did you know that abortions increase a womans risk of getting breast cancer by 30%? That is only one health problem that is possible after an abortion. Abortions can also cause changes in the woman's behavior, cause them to need therapy, and sometimes cause them to commit suicide. As you can see abortion can have many negative affects on a woman after having it. Another thing I found out was that recent studies have connected a higher risk of cervical and ovarian cancers to previous abortions. I found this information at http://www.deveber.org/text/whealth.html.

Abortion: A Few Statistics

Did you know that about 46 million abortions are performed each year? Did you know that of those abortions about 126,000 are performed in a single day? Not only that, in a website I found it said that 95% of abortions are done as a means of birth control which means only 1% of them are because of rape or incest, 1% fetal abnormalities, and 3% mother's health problems. So 95% of unborn babies are robbed at the chance at life all because people don't want to take responsibility for them. This reason along with others, is why I believe that abortions should be made illegal with the exception of rape, incest, and endangering the mother's life. How can you just deprive an innocent of the chance of life just because you're too selfish to take care of your responsibilities? The website where I found this information is http://www.abortiontv.com/Misc/AbortionStatistics.htm#Change%20in%20Pro-Life%20Vs.%Pro-Abortion%20over%the%20last%205%20years

Abortion: My Overall Opinion On It

Over the past about two weeks I have stated that I am against abortion, but said I understood a few situations. Some people are getting that confused with me justifying abortion and that is absolutely not what I'm doing. I think that having abortions is wrong...period. What I mean by my recent blogs is that such situations as the mother's life in danger and rape are understandable to me. I still don't agree with it, but I could sympathize with the mother. That's a hard decision. I don't know what I would do in either situation. Now with the issue of incest I wouldn't get myself in that situation at all because that's wrong already on so many different levels. Basically what I'm saying is. abortion is punishing an innocent child that should have the same chance at life as everyone else. I am absolutely against it and by no means am I justifying it, but if you were put in any of those three situations that I mentioned, what would you do? You might think you know what you would do, but you really don't until you actually have to experience it.

Abortion: The Parents

I see that some people feel that if a couple or a woman has an unwanted baby, the baby will not grow up in a positive environment. I understand that, however, if you notice, that's why I said and I keep saying that "there is a such thing called adoption." If the parent(s) don't want the baby, then give it to someone who does. Yes, I know that the parents who are chosen may not always be the best parents, but at least give them a chance.

Links on the topic of abortion: Analysis

There are many questions that come to mind when you think of abortion besides whether or not it should be legalized or not. One is whether or not prisoners should have the option of making a decision about an abortion which there was a blog about at http://blog.aclu.org/index.php?/archives/295-Defending-Prisoners-Access-to-Abortion.html.
I also found blogs concerning past decisions about allowing abortions in general like at http://www.alternet.org/blogs/themix/32653 and http://www.myfoxcolorado.com/myfix/pages/News/Detail?contentld=2966294&version=/&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=TSTY&pageld=3.2.1. There were blogs of people's opinions about certain situations and abortions like http://www.democrats.org/page/community/blog/karabortion, http://www.elsnews.com/stories/2003/01/22/opinion/polls/main537570.shtml, and http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/2007/06/13/knocked-up-s-anti-abortion-agenda-is-this-where-we-re-heading.aspx. One blog I found talked about how a woman created one of the first ways to perform an abortion at http://feministblogs.org/tag/abortion-and-reproductive-rights. There were websites talking about what they thought the issue of abortion really was and questions about what would happen if abortions were made illegal at http://www.capecodtoday.com/blogs/index.php/Opinionator/2007/04/22/abortion-thoughts and http://www.raisingthem.com/blogs/view/100960/Abortion.html. Here is a list of some other sites about the many different questions and concerns about abortion and statistics:

* http://www.knowledgeisempowering.com/
* http://www.plannedparenthood.org/birth-control-pregnancy/abortion/choosing-abortion.htm
* http://www.abortionfacts.com/
* www.abortion.org/Resources/fastfacts.html
* www.reachoutforlife.org/abortion_facts.htm
* www.biblebelievers.com/jmelton/abortion.html
* http://abortionprolife.com/
* www.friendsoftheunborn.org/html/abortion_facts.html
* www.prolifeamerica.com/Abortion_Facts.cfm?ID=60
* www.abortionprolife.com/pro-life-abortion-Controversy
* www.lifedynamics.net/Abortion-Prolife/Abortionist_Info

Abortion: Is It Murder?

I have not done the research yet about whether having an abortion is murder, but I do know that technically it's not as long as the unborn baby has not developed a heartbeat and has not developed any limbs. If the child has not developed any limbs and does not have a heartbeat then having an abortion would not be killing the baby, but it's still taking the chance at life away from an innocent child. I don't think it's fair to punish the underdeveloped child because of your misake. Like I said before, I believe that all children were created for a reason. Technically, you may not be murdering a child by having an abortion in some cases, but you are murdering its chance at life. However, in many cases, I would consider abortions that women have murder because the baby has developed at least one limb. Check out this link I found about whether or not abortion is murder. What it's claiming is very severe, extreme and is very graphic, but it's just an example of how some people may feel about abortion. It shows a side of abortion that many people have never seen before. http://www.jesus-is-savior.com/Evils%20in%20America/Abortion%20is%20Murder/abortion_is_murder.htm.

Abortion should be made illegal: With a few exceptions

Earlier I said that I was completely against abortion, but there are a few cases where I could understand it. If the mother's life is in danger because of this pregnancy than yes, I could understand an abortion. The woman is not ready to die yet. I also said that if the woman was raped I could understand her decision to get an abortion. Often times, victims of rape do not want a constant reminder of being violated in that way and being pregnant and then even having the baby would do just that. Personally if I were a victim of rape and got pregnant I believe that I would still have the baby because I believe that all babies were created for a reason, but some women are not strong enough to handle that. My final exception was if the child was created out of incest. Now let me make myself clear; I am not justifying abortion if the child was created out of incest, I'm just saying that it is understandable. Most if not all children of incest will be born with some type of birth defect if given the chance at life because the DNA of the parents are similar. Therefore, people may see it as better for the child not to have a chance of life at all then to let the child grow up in an unhappy childhood because of whatever birth defect they have. Even if the child was lucky enough not to have a birth defect, they would still be scared mentally finding out that their father is also their brother, their aunt is also their mother, and so forth. That's not something that you can just put in the past. Therfore, if were up to me, I would make abortion illegal except for the three exceptions of the mother's life being in danger, incest, and the mother being raped.

Abortion: Is it Right?

First off let me say that I do understand some of the reasons for abortions like a woman being raped, incest, or the mothers life being put in jeopardy. Those, however, are the only reasons I could understand for getting an abortion. I still don't think it's right, but I could understand it. So with that being said, I am obviously AGAINST abortion. People try to justify abortions that young teenagers have by saying that they were not ready to be a parent. Well that may be true, but if they thought they were grown enough to have sex in the first place then they are going to have to be grown enough to face the consequences of their actions. It's not right for you to punish an unborn baby because of your decision. Even if it really was an accident, babies are created for a reason. If you don't think that you are mentally or financially stable enough to take care of a baby, there is a such thing called adoption. I'm not trying to sound mean, that's just how I feel.