This document discusses the debate around abortion, presenting arguments on both sides. It begins with definitions and background on the legal status of abortion in the US. It then presents three main pro-choice arguments: that abortion is a legal and private medical procedure, that banning abortion could harm women's health, and that termination should be allowed for fetal abnormalities. It also gives three main pro-life counterarguments: that life begins at conception, abortion is murder, and allowing termination for disabilities is discriminatory. The document concludes that the debate remains complex as technology advances.

1. Running Head: ABORTION 1
Abortion: Wrong or a Woman’s Right
Mariah Anne Lofgran
California Baptist University
Author’s Note
This assignment is being submitted on 22 November 2016 in partial fulfillment of the
obligations of Ethics and Issues in Healthcare, NUR 460 A.

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Abortion: Wrong or a Woman’s Right
Introduction
Abortion has been a long time ethical debate in the United States surrounding
Women’s reproductive health for close to half a century; half choosing to support the
woman’s right to choose with the other half choosing to support the life of which the
woman is carrying. According to Merriam- Webster abortion can be defined as “the
termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the
death of the embryo or fetus”. In January of 1973 the Supreme Court of the United States
declared under Roe vs. Wade that it was a Woman’s constitutional right to obtain an
abortion as long as it is prior to viability; this has only been a milestone in the long debate
over whether abortion is wrong or a woman’s right.
Advantages
The advantages for abortion are that it is legal in many parts of the United States
of America. As an abortion is legal in many states, the mother could have the procedure
done under a regulated facility that would allow for a setting healthier than an illegal,
unclean environment. There are also many professionally performed methods for a
mother to obtain the abortion. According to the book Brunner and Suddarth’s Textbook
of Medical –Surgical Nursing by Janice Hinkle and Kerry Cheever list methods available
for abortion procedures like vacuum aspiration, dilation and evacuation, and
administration of medications (p. 1637, 2010). With an array of methods for obtaining an
abortion it would be easier to elect to have one done versus the circumstance of having
one method available.

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Disadvantages
The disadvantages for abortion are that a baby that could have had a productive
and influential future no longer has that opportunity as it has been aborted. The mother
may also experience some regret or other emotional turmoil in the future should her
perspective change regarding her abortion. According to the book Fundamentals of
Nursing by Patricia Potter, Anne Perry, Patricia Stockert, and Amy Hall (2013) “When a
woman chooses abortion as a way of dealing with an unwanted pregnancy, the woman
and often her partner experience a sense of loss, grief, and/or guilt” (p. 678). Another
disadvantage to abortion is the potential to backlash from family and friends.
Presentation of the Argument
There is two side to this debate the first being those that are for promotion of the
woman’s right to choose in which they argue that the women has the constitutional right
to choose to have an abortion legally, that the right to have an elected abortion should not
be determined by government agencies or religious authorities, and that the right of
women outweighs that of the unborn fetus. Along with these main points to the argument
many in favor of the woman’s right to choose believe that by limiting access to abortions
or making abortions illegal will lead to women being forced to get unsafe and
unregulated abortions that will inevitably lead to a decline in the overall quality of
women’s reproductive health. The second side of this debate is the side that is in
promotion of the life of the unborn fetus and the potential life that is being created. Those
that deem themselves in the promotion of life believe that life begins at conception,
abortion is the killing of innocent life since life begins at conception in the view of this
side, that it is inflicting unnecessary suffering on the unborn fetus, as well as it is wrong

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to end life when there is numerous families that cannot have a child and would greatly
benefit from bringing these fetuses to term and giving them up for adoption.
Pro-Life vs. Pro Choice Argument 1
Life begins at conception.
According to an article presented by the National Association for the
Advancement of Preborn Children, the debate over when human life begins comes down
to one conclusion which is that life begins at conception. This article quotes Dr. Alfred
M. Bongioanni, a professor of pediatrics and obstetrics, stating that
“I have learned from my earliest medical education that human life begins at the
time of conception…. I submit that human life is present throughout this entire
sequence from conception to adulthood and that any interruption at any point
throughout this time constitutes a termination of human life… I am no more
prepared to say that these early stages [of development in the womb] represent an
incomplete human being than I would be to say that the child prior to the dramatic
effects of puberty…is not a human being. This is human life at every stage.”
(Alcorn, 2010).
In many instances the promotion of life argument looks to the Bible and that scripture has
to say about life at conception and abortion. In many cases in the Bible unborn children
are refereed to with great purpose and love from God even prior to their birth. In the book
of Galatians, Paul is speaking to the Church of Galatia in which it states, “God… from
my mother’s womb had set me apart and called me through his grace” (Galatians 1:15,
NIV). Another example in the Bible of life being created at conception is found in the

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book of Psalms, “You have been my guide since I was first formed . . . from my mother’s
womb you are my God” (Psalm 22: 10-11, NIV).
Life begins at the age of viability.
An opposing view to this is that life begins when the fetus reaches a gestational
age that is considered to by medical professionals to have a chance of viability. Viability
is the time at which the unborn human can live outside her mother's womb. Some have
argued that prior to this time, since the unborn cannot survive independent of her mother,
she is not a completely independent human life and hence not fully human. In reference
to an article entitled Survival at the Threshold of Viability, the gestational age at which a
fetus is considered viable is continuously evolving with the advancements of neonatal
intensive care. According to Charafeddine, Ammous, Kayle, and Arawi, this
advancement in technology as adjusted the grey zone of viability to be between 22- 25
weeks gestation (2014). In the argument made in Roe vs. Wade fetuses are neither
independent nor self-determining individual begins, thus abortion in the termination of
pregnancy (Roe v. Wade, 1973).
Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice Argument 2
Abortion is a fundamental right.
Since the passage of Roe v. Wade was passed in January of 1973, prior to the age
of gestational viability abortion is legal by a 7-2 decision that the constitution covers
certain areas of privacy, and one of those areas makes the woman’s right to choose
termination under this privacy (Roe v. Wade, 1973). In an excerpt from Our Bodies
Ourselves, it is discussed that women need the right to choose about pregnancy in order

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to maintain control over their sexuality, control over their lives, and ability to participate
fully in society. This article discusses the sheer number of unintended pregnancies in the
United States and states that “No one should have to remain pregnant or become a mother
against her will. Each of us must be able to decide whether or not to continue a pregnancy
based on what we believes is best for our own unique situation.” This article states that it
should be outside of the control of the government, religious organizations, or any other
individual, but solely in the hands of the individual woman to make the decision (Our
Bodies Ourselves, 2014). According to CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, JD,
stated that Roe v. Wade was "a landmark of what is, in the truest sense, women’s
liberation” (Tobbin, 2013).
Denying access to legal abortions can cause a serious decline in the overall
quality of women’s reproductive health. Having access to legal and safe abortions will
help to reduce levels of maternal death as well as death caused by unsafe abortions. If
there decreased access to safe abortions women will be forced to seek outside sources to
receive this service which leads to what is known as back alley abortions. According to
Daniel R. Mishell, Jr., MD, Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the
Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, before abortion was
legalized women would frequently try to induce abortions by using coat hangers, knitting
needles, or radiator flush, or by going to unsafe "back-alley" abortionists (Morrison,
2014). The World Health Organization estimated in 2004 that unsafe abortions cause
68,000 maternal deaths worldwide each year, many of those in developing countries
where safe and legal abortion services are difficult to access (Ahman & Shah, 2004).
Abortion is murder.

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Those in favor of the promotion of human life have a strong stance against
abortion as they believe that it is the destruction of human life. According to “the federal
Unborn Victims of Violence Act, which was enacted ‘to protect unborn children from
assault and murder,’ states that under federal law, anybody intentionally killing or
attempting to kill an unborn child should ‘be punished... for intentionally killing or
attempting to kill a human being” (Unborn Victims of Violence Act, 2004). According to
this act unborn babies are seen as Homo sapiens which are part of the human species, and
38 states have passed fetal homicide laws in order to protect human life (National
Conference of State Legislatures, 2013). In the Bible God calls us not to murder and that
we shall not kill (Deuteronomy 5:17, NIV). If the belief amongst those that are in
promotion of life is that the unborn child is a human being than it is considered a sin
against God to have an abortion because it is destroying human life; murder.
In these cases many of people that are in promotion of life view the alternative to
abortion is adoption. This gives the woman in need of an alternative to pregnancy and
having a child an option that does not include murder of the unborn child. According to
numerous adoption sites there is over hundreds of thousands of families each year that are
looking to adopt a child and bring them into their family to love and care for. This is an
excellent alternative for mothers who wish to bring the baby to term but do not wish to
parent the child, this would reduce the number of children that terminated through
abortion and elevating the standing of fetuses.
Pro-Life vs. Pro- Choice Argument 3
Termination based on abnormalities.

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In this argument amongst those that are in promotion of a woman’s right to
choose see abortion as a way to help end pregnancies that are carrying babies that have
some sort of abnormality. “Some fetuses have such severe disorders that death is
guaranteed before or shortly after birth. These include anencephaly, in which the brain is
missing, and limb-body wall complex, in which organs develop outside the body cavity”
(Reinhard, 2013). This article discusses how it would be very cruel to force a woman to
carry a baby to term that will potentially die of a fatal disease, this brings about the
cruelty and pain of both the mother and the child. Another aspect that this article
mentions is “even in the case of nonfatal conditions, such as Down syndrome, parents
may be unable to care for a severely disabled child. Deborah Anne Driscoll, MD,
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Pennsylvania, said "many
couples... don’t have the resources, don’t have the emotional stamina, don’t have the
family support” (Reinhard, 2013).
Discrimination in termination.
Those that are in support of the promotion of life believe that ending a pregnancy
due to the nature of fetus’ disability or diagnosis is considered discrimination against
those with disabilities. The National Down Syndrome Society states that "people with
Down syndrome live at home with their families and are active participants in the
educational, vocational, social, and recreational activities of the community. People with
Down syndrome are valued members of their families and their communities,
contributing to society in a variety of ways." This statement shows the importance that
those with disabilities are to their families, which represents the feelings of
discrimination that this could cause if the abortion is done. According to an article by

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Susan Hall, “it is difficult to make judgements about the relative burden imposed upon
the pregnant woman and her family under each of these sets of circumstances. However,
it is equally difficult to argue that, in every case, the birth of a disabled child clearly
imposes burdens that are of a far greater magnitude than those resulting from other
circumstances, to the extent that abortion is justified in the former case but not the latter”
(Hall, 2013). The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 provides civil rights protection
to people born with disabilities so they can lead fulfilling lives which shows how those in
favor of life see this as discrimination.
Conclusion
The ethical debate over whether abortion is wrong or the women’s right to choose
remains to be a grey and unclear decision even as many years has passed since the first
passage of Roe versus Wade in 1973. Each side of this dilemma presents valid arguments
over the humanness of the fetus, over if the woman is committing murder or simply
exercising her right since the fetus can’t survive without her, and if discrimination is
occurring when choosing abortion when fatal diseases or disabilities play a role in the
abortion decision. In this dilemma it is important for the virtues of not only autonomy be
considered on the side of the woman but also beneficence and nonmaleficence on the side
of the fetus when overlooking feelings on this issue and as technology in the field of
neonatal medicine advances abortion rights is something that must continue to be
evaluated.

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References
Ahnman, E., Shah, I. World Health Organization, Unsafe Abortion: Global and Regional
Estimates of the Incidence of Unsafe Abortion and Associated Mortality in 2000,
Fourth Edition, 2004
Charafeddine, L., Ammous, F., Kayle, M., & Arawi, T. (2014). Survival at the threshold
of viability: a nationwide survey of the opinions and attitudes of physicians in a
developing country. Paediatric And Perinatal Epidemiology, 28(3), 227-234.
doi:10.1111/ppe.12118
Hall, S. (2013). Is the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act Guilty of Disability
Discrimination?. South African Journal Of Philosophy, 32(1), 36-46.
Harmon, A. "Prenatal Test Puts Down Syndrome in Hard Focus," nytimes.com, May 9,
2007
Morrison, P. "The Coat Hanger, Symbol of Dangerous, Pre-Roe Abortions, Is Back,"
latimes.com, Mar. 25, 2014
Tobbin, J. "The People's Choice," newyorker.com, Jan. 28, 2013
Reinhard, B. "Should Mothers Be Forced to Bear Disabled Children against Their Will?,"
nationaljournal.com, Oct. 10, 2013
Roe v. Wade , US Supreme Court, lp.findlaw.com, Jan. 22, 1973.
Our Bodies Ourselves (OBOS, aka Boston Women's Health Book Collective),
"Reproductive Choices," ourbodiesourselves.org (accessed Apr. 22, 2014)

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National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), "Fetal Homicide Laws," ncsl.org,
Feb. 2013
Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004, gpo.gov, Apr. 1, 2004