Akin's Arguments Against Abortion

Pro-choice advocates would argue that the fetus can’t express feelings, feel pain and is not physically independent from the mother therefore they are not yet considered human.

In Olson’s article on “Was I Ever a Fetus” he states that even scientists prove that embryos are not persons, “embryologists tell us that a human fetus that is less than about six months old cannot remember or experience anything, and has no mental capacities worthy of the name… One's psychological contents or capacities could not be continuous with those of a being with no psychological contents or capacities at all…nothing could be a fetus-or at any rate a fetus that cannot yet think-at one time and a person later on. No person was ever a fetus, and no fetus ever becomes a person”. If we say that a fetus is a human then we are saying that an acorn is already an oak tree and a seed is already a flower, although these objects have the potential to become something, they are not yet actually connected to that future object and therefore are not the future object, they are a whole different type of form. So as Olson explained in his article, since a fetus is not a person, especially because it is not aware of what is going on because it has no psychological contents, then it wouldn’t even matter if it was to be aborted, because it is not feeling anything, the only person feeling a thing is the mother, the carrier of the fetus.

Caitlynn Thomas Mrs. Simmons English 3 H 14 December 2015 Rough Draft Late-Term Abortion is Not Wrong or Unethical (too informal?) Late-term abortion has been a topic debated over generations and is still seen as a vital issue today. A majority of the population views late-term abortion as morally and legally wrong, which is mostly due to the manipulation of the government and media. The Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act signed by George Bush places the lives and health of women and fetuses in danger, as well as puts doctors at risk for providing safe care (Feldt). As this ban still stands, people listen to the majority of society rather than their personal thoughts on the topic.

The biggest problem with this argument is that many do not agree that the embryos represent human life for several reasons. The first of these reasons is that embryos lack the physical and psychological properties that humans possess. The collection of cells does not contain a central nervous system, nor any way to communicate pain or suffering [2]. In fact, the required components of the central nervous system that need to develop in order for a fetus to feel pain are not formed until 20 weeks after conception [3]. Additionally, an embryo is not viable until it has implanted in the walls of the uterus.

Depending on the rape incident, she could experience being kidnapped then thrown onto the bed with the rapist hovering over her. The pregnant woman could also be feeling "on edge" all the time, be sleep deprived or may have random outbursts throughout the day. She may already have these so aborting the child may help her because she wouldn't have to worry about her child having sudden outbursts of anxiety or fear from the

But pro-life advocates argue that when a woman is pregnant, there is another body involved. They argue that the unborn body has the same rights as any other person and has the right to live. Pro-life advocates believe the presence of human life alone defines personhood. An unborn baby is a person just like everyone else that walks on the earth. They may be inside a womb and depended on their mother but they are still people.

Women who are victims of rape will always be in remembrance of their terrifying experience, which sometimes result in neglect and unfair treatment of the child due to the woman’s rape trauma syndrome. Women who are not financially stable that are pregnant and oppose abortion live in poverty. If abortions were banned it would increase illegal abortions which have critical effect to the woman’s health. Statistics estimate that the risk of death from an abortion is 0.6 in 100,000. The risk of death childbirth is 14 times higher, 8.8 in 100,000.

Moreover, it has been scientifically proven that embryos are considered alive. As a matter of biological fact, the human embryo consist of all of the human genes and it is strongly expressing those genes to advance as a unique individual human, setting the crucial foundation for further development (Catholic Bishops, 2008). This biological fact clearly proves that embryos are considered a living member of the human species. as embryos contain human genes. Also, the human embryo is still the same individual as the human organism, it is just at a different stage of development (George and Lee, 2009).

Abortions are sad and unfortunate, but they will continue to happen, that is the reality of the world we live in. However, if we as a society release abortion from the stigma surrounding it, we will be able to begin finding a solution that won’t have to do with the law, it will have to do with being ready to help the women in these positions. Unsafe and illegal abortions are even more sad than legal and professional ones. To reduce abortions, we should be focused on contraceptives and sex education, not punishing those in this horrible

However, in most cases it is the embryo that is aborted and not a fetus, which is the stage in which the embryo starts to develop. As such an embryo cannot be written in statistics as a life lived as it is dependent solely on the carrier, thus aborting at this stage technically should not be considered as the taking of life but as a decision on whether to facilitate this possible life. Personhood begins after a fetus is able to survive outside the womb, not at conception. Conclusion

This argument preaches that women who have been raped have the “right” to have an abortion without being criticized. However, this is completely sentimental. If the rape victim decides to have the child anyways, there 's multiple emotional things that could wrongly affect the child. Often, a child produced from a rape will be put up for adoption, which can affect their future and attitude. In other cases,

So, the question is if an embryo should be considered human or not? Religious groups hold that the embryo is already a human being. Arguments are mainly based on the concept that science cannot be allowed to control human being’s destiny, because “only God is supposed to be able to make those types of choices and decisions” (Hinman, 2006, p.6). Another concern is that “reproductive technologies almost always involve manipulating and destroying embryos, and it is immoral to destroy the embryo which causes many religious thinkers to believe that IVF needs to be condemned” (Hinman, 1996,

Rejection of the mother towards the baby. Almost always the woman who gets pregnant as a result of sexual abuse has to birth the baby because there is not the abortion law. For this reason these babies are going to suffer a lot a cause of feel the disgust of his/her mother. “Children born of rape pregnancy suffer the characteristics of unwanted children, presenting a high risk of malnutrition, child maltreatment, neglect and even infanticide.” (Lara, Garcia , Villanueva , Martinez, & Strickler, 2013).

Of course, giving up on children can be irresponsible, but where is the rapist’s responsibility in all of this? It is unfair for females to carry all the consequences. El Salvador has one of the highest rates of teenage pregnancy due to rape. After El Salvador 's government’s total ban on abortion, hundreds of pregnant females decided to commit suicide. Just because people criticise abortion without looking it from the victim’s perspective, it leads them to a tragic ending.

Within the United States an increase in pregnancies are being seen, along with pregnancies in younger people. Every year, an estimated 1.2 million women in the United States are choosing abortion to alleviate themselves of their pregnancy, while the other half choose to keep their child or place it up for adoption (Jones  & Kooistra, 2011). Abortion has become one of the most debated topics in today’s society, and focuses on whether or not the pregnant individual should have the right to end an unborn child’s life (Jones & Kooistra, 2011). In the eyes of many people in within the United States, the women who decide to have an abortion are looked at as though they have committed a crime and are judged by their actions (Jones & Kooistra, 2011).