This document discusses abortion from multiple perspectives in an attempt to provide an unbiased view. It addresses religious arguments citing passages from the Bible indicating life begins at conception. It also discusses potential medical risks of abortion and notes adoption as an alternative that could benefit both women seeking alternatives to pregnancy and couples struggling with infertility. Statistics are presented showing a decline in adoption rates following legalization of abortion. The document concludes there are valid arguments on both sides of the issue and compromise is needed.

1. Alex Peterson
Jennifer Courtney
October 21, 2015
Pro-Life
Someone gets drunk at a bar late one weekend and she gets raped and becomes Pregnant,
she wants to get an abortion is that okay or not? Abortion and the decisions about it is something
that has been a big issue for years, and it honestly will probably be for years to come. The thing
that comes up most Frequently Pro-Choice or Pro-Life. What do these phrases mean to us with
abortion? Pro-choice is the woman’s decision to carry the baby to term or to abort it as a fetus
because its not a human and its the woman’s body. Pro-Life is that the baby is alive the moment
it is conceived and deserves to live. The woman needs to live with her choice of getting pregnant
and carry the baby to term.
I don’t want to seem like someone who is biased towards Pro-Life, though I am definitely
against abortion. So to help not seem super biased towards abortion, I looked into it from all an-
gles. I found some points from a religious perspective, a medical perspective, a adoption per-
spective. I feel like these are the three areas that most commonly get brought up on the subject so
it they’d be good ones to address in here.
"1

2. Religion is one of the biggest factors in this, because sexual activities outside of marriage is
against God’s plan for us. Sexual intercourse is meant to be use within the bonds of marriage and
fulfill scriptures. “ 28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply,
and replenish the earth, and subdue it” (see ref. 1). Now I know not everyone believes in the
Bible, though I do and if we’re trying to see this issue from all angles then the Bible is a valid
source. Because some people believe in it so it wouldn’t be an unbiased paper if I didn’t include
it for the people who do believe it.
If people perform abortions they are ignoring the commandment from God written in the
Bible. Yes a lot people who are Pro-Choice don’t believe in God necessarily and so in their de-
fense they don’t want some mysterious higher power telling them what they can and can’t do
with their lives. Still other people myself included do believe in God, and while I understand
some people do I deserve to have side considered valid. A Catholic group called TFP (Tradition-
al, Family, and Property) They bring up an interesting point that they call in this article. It is their
last point called “A Slippery Slope” they mention where doesn’t the line get drawn. At one point
abortion was labeled as murder and now its up for debate. Currently euthanasia is illegal in the
United States because it is defined as a form of murder, but how long till that is debatable. If we
keep letting things become debatable how long until murders definition is up for debate (see ref.
2). Obviously that is a bit extreme but it brings up a very valid point that needs to be considered.
In 1973 sometime after abortion was legalized here in the United States the LDS church
released this statement. “The Church opposes abortion and counsels its members not to submit to
or perform an abortion except in the rare cases where, in the opinion of competent medical coun-
sel, the life or good health of the mother is seriously endangered or where the pregnancy was
caused by rape and produces serious emotional trauma in the mother. Even then it should be
done only after counseling with the local presiding priesthood authority and after receiving di-
vine confirmation through prayer.”(see ref. 3) The LDS church doesn’t agree with abortion, but
understands that are a few medical cases where abortion is better then the alternative where the
mother and or child would die. This is something that I feel can push everyone towards a neutral
ground if we find the exceptions for all groups.
There isn’t really a medically good reason to get an abortion, at least not what I could find
while researching the topic. The Co founder Georgette Forney of the organization called “Silent
"2

3. No More Campaign” a campaign to shed light on the effects that an abortion has on women after
they have the abortion. She lists eight reasons why it is bad for a women to have an abortion, a
lot of these reasons medical. The second and three reasons on the list go over the physical dam-
age to the body an abortion does as well as how women have a high chance of dying from an
abortion then from childbirth. She uses a story of how a woman back in 2002 died from an abor-
tion because they clinic didn’t have an established procedure of how to decide if someone is a
good candidate. The woman had blood pressure problems and they punctured her uterus doing
the abortion. Between those two problems she died, this is just one example of it. The author lists
several other examples of women dying from abortions (see ref. 4).
From a slightly different medical aspect we also have to consider people that have medical
issues that prevent them from having kids and they want kids. My aunt and uncle fall into that
category where they have issues that prevent them from having kids almost. They have been on
an adoption list for years while trying to get medical treatments to let them have their own kids.
The adoption waiting list is long enough for them to more likely fix their medical issues and
have their own kids before an adoption would become available. There is plenty of couples out
there that have this issue.
"3

4. I found these statistics in an article that I found interesting. The article talks about the
change of abortions rates with the legalization of abortions. “Between 1989 and 1995, 1.7 per-
cent of children born to never-married white women were placed for adoption, compared to 19.3
percent before 1973. Among never-married black women, relinquishment rates have ranged from
.2 percent to 1.5 percent.” That is a major percentage change in the number of available adop-
tions from before it was legal in the United States and after. Another quote from it that same pa-
per I want to tie to the adoption rate it states “In the USA, there are approximately two million
infertile couples waiting to adopt, many times regardless of the child’s medical problems such as
Down Syndrome, Spina Bifida, HIV infection or terminally ill.” (see ref. 5) That is a crazy num-
ber of infertile couples, I never had imagined it was that high until I read that.
This is something that both sides need to start to look into more as a possible neutral
ground that could help compromise both sides. Women who didn’t intend to get pregnant or can’t
handle a kid in their lives could get rid of them. Well the couples who want to have kids, but
can’t have them for whatever reason. You can make multiple lives happy with changing abor-
tions to adoptions.
As I said in the beginning abortion is something that has been an debate in the country for
years. It will probably be a debated issue for many more years. There isn’t a completely valid
reason abortions shouldn’t be legal. Yet there isn’t a completely valid reason they should be legal
in the United States. Morally I believe they shouldn’t be allowed because I see few reasons why
they are ok. Also a lot of evident out there points that it shouldn’t be legal in non religious ways.
Yet I know there are a few cases though that it is okay, and thats what we need to work on.
Everyone needs to take a step back and try to first find the neutral ground that both parties can
work up from to reach the best compromise.
1. The Bible Gensis Chapter 1:28
2. https://www.mormon.org/faq/church-position-on-abortion
This gives a major church in the nation’s opinion on a very religious matter
3. 10 Reasons why abortion is evil and not a "Pro-Choice
http://www.tfpstudentaction.org/politically-incorrect/abortion/10-reasons-why-abortion-is-
evil.html (Links to an external site.)
"4

5. by TFP student action 2014
I feel like this is a good start because it talks about it from a religious perspective. The pa-
per is very bias which doesn't make a great position paper but, it gets one groups views. My aim
is to get sources from various different groups and make a melting pot in a sense, covering all
bases.
4. ”Eight reasons why abortion is bad for women"
http://www.metrovoice.net/www.metrovoice.net/2007/0207_stlweb/0207_articles/
eight_reasons_abortion_is_bad.html (Links to an external site.)
by Georgette Forney 2005
I like this one because while this lady is a Religious person she doesn't once use a reason
about religion. Also she has seen both sides of the fence, she mentions near the end about having
an abortion herself. She explains how many issues it has caused for her later on in life. Also all
the reasons she gives are medical.
5. “Why do more people choose abortion over Adoption"
http://www.lifenews.com/2012/05/17/why-do-more-people-choose-abortion-over-adoption/
(Links to an external site.)
KRISTI BURTON BROWN MAY 17, 2012 | 12:02PM WASHINGTON, DC
I like this article because it shows a better options then just ridding the world of that unborn
child. It lets both the mom give the child a good home and gives couples a chance to have a fam-
ily. Because health problems would keep those families from happening.
"5