The Toughest Compromise

After I complained to my fourth period class that they agree with each other too much, and that I find that stifling, they requested a chance to blog on something more controversial. “Like what?” I asked.

“Abortion,” they said.

I suspect that people will be discussing the legal and moral implications of abortion more often now that Pres. Trump has placed two justices on the Supreme Court. Consider this, dear bloggers, an opportunity to contemplate a perennially divisive topic in a civil forum. However, I do have one rule: that discussions aim to produce a compromise between pro-life and pro-choice factions. How can we craft laws that respect the reproductive rights of women, and what should those rights be? At what point should the government recognize the legal rights of a fetus, and what should those rights be?

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45 Responses to The Toughest Compromise

  1. Kai says:

    For one, this issue has seen so much negativity on both sides and there can never be an solution that is 100% correct and fair for all sides. My personal standpoint on abortion is pretty conflicted. Growing up my parents went through incredibly extensive lengths to make sure that any thought of teen pregnancy, or even boys in general were vacant from my thoughts. They succeeded but it ended up making me believe having kids at all was too big of a sacrifice within itself because I was a product of their adolescent hormones and having me difficult. Now I know that having a child is a blessing because I know that every birth is for a reason and everyone has purpose within their lives. A part of me is pro life because whether getting knocked up was an accident or not, it’s a life. Well, a potential life. Every life is precious. But another part of me is pro choice because if men and women were made to carry a child for 9 months then there would be no conflict. Some men have so much to say about what they can never physically experience, although I do understand their standpoints when it comes to the children they helped make. How can the world miss something that it had never seen or felt?

  2. Erin says:

    Abortion is such a sensitve topic. There are so many different views you could look at abortion from, and some people refuse to see it from anyone else’s perspective. In one side of my mind I believe women should only be offered the option to abort if they are raped. If a child is born to someone who can’t take care of the child, they should just give it up for adoption.
    On the other side of my mind, I believe that women should be able to abort if they want to. But, some people would take advantage of that opportunity by doing the nasty without protection as much as possible simply because they know if it ends in a pregnancy, they can get rid of it.
    There are several possible solutions to the abortion stuff, but they all depend on how the topic is viewed. In other words, it’s complicated.

  3. Catherine says:

    I agree that women should be able to choose what they want to do. If a child grows up in an environment with a mother or father that doesn’t want them, that makes the child’s life miserable. Although I think that if they don’t want their baby or can’t support one, they can give it up for adoption. To avoid the issue with women abusing the right to choose and having unprotected sex, there could be a law preventing abortion when the baby has developed to a certain extent. However, I don’t know what that extent would be.

  4. Samantha Broussard says:

    As a Catholic School Survivor, all I have ever heard was how awful and terrible abortion is, and that it should just be outright illegal. I believe that we should look at this topic with open eyes, but it seems like people are either pro-choice or pro-life with absolutley no gray area. My beliefs mostly line up with pro-life, maybe because that is all I have learned. A baby is a baby, no matter how undeveloped or small. Every life has a meaning and purpose, and to terminate that before even giving the person a chance is not moral. If the woman knows she doesn’t want children or knows she won’t be able to handle having a child, adoption is a perfectly acceptable option. You’re giving the baby a chance at having a life and thriving, while when abortion is chosen, you never give that baby the opportunity to live life. I believe that even unborn fetuses should have the same rights as fully grown adults, because they are people too. Just because they can’t speak for themselves or do anything, they deserve everything that the people who are alive and living are allowed. Yes, this is a complicated topic, and yes, everyone has their different views, but I do belive abortion is not right and that more rights should be given to unborn babies that cannot speak for themselves who could very well be destined for greatness if given the chance.

    • X says:

      What is your opinion on those who are raped? According to rainn.org, 15% of the population between ages 12-18 are raped each year. Do you expect those children, those teens, to carry babies until birth? It is better for THEIR health to abort the child early when symptoms show. I disagree with your opinion that abortion is not right. If you are raped pregnant, it was not consent. Therefore, you should have a choice to choose abortion, especially when you’re a 13 year old girl in middle school. Around that time, the body is going through puberty, and it is not fully ready to give birth to a child.

    • Alice Calvert says:

      I believe as though to classify a baby as a person is misleading. This is due to the fact that most abortions occur within extremely early first trimester. You are comparing something which cannot think, feel, or experience pain to someone who is fully developed and can and has experienced all of those things. They do not possess any sort of brain or cognitive processes, a basic mammal has millions of time more brain power than 90% of all abortions which occur.

      You, putting forth the fact that these things are totally equivalent is not something founded in anything but personal religious views, which should not be subjected upon the general public.

  5. Linda Arnoldus says:

    I think there is a simple way to solve problems on both ends of the polarized abortion spectrum. Women’s reproductive rights should be summed up in 4 words: “her body, her choice.” Pro-lifers can have their babies and chose how to proceed, and pro-choicers will choose whether to abort, continue the pregnancy, etc. There should be a line to when abortion becomes illegal (when the fetus is already developed), which represents a compromise. However, women’s reproductive rights are exactly that. WOMEN’S and RIGHTS. Of course, life is important and in some religion, sacred, but having the line be that abortion can not happen after the fetus is developed satisfies that.

  6. Alexandra Magee says:

    Reproductive rights, like any natural born right, should be made by the decision of a human of either sex. There are many misconceptions and falsehoods about reproduction. Abortion, birth control, and sexual education should be readily available to all individuals. Voting for the future of the country is a private choice, the reproductive choice of a female should be a private ordeal, also.
    A fetus is an unborn baby. According to the cleveland clinic, a developing baby is not a fetus until 8 weeks of pregnancy. However, brain activity begins around the 6th week. A fetus does not start to feel pain until 20 weeks. The fetus begins to become conscious of surroundings at 6 months of pregnancy. One of the characteristics that makes humans innately different from other organisms is the way the environment is processed by the brain. The government should recognize fetal rights when the baby becomes conscious. Though minute to the lucky humans already alive, little discoveries such as a mother’s voice may be revolutionary to a developing baby. The rights of a fetus should be the same as any child: access to a safe and loving home.

  7. Collin says:

    Abortion is maybe one of the most sensitive topics in the media at the time. If anyone slightly mentions abortion, a fury or arguments erupts. There are two stances: pro-life and pro-choice. As someone who was grown up under the Catholic Church, I believe abortion is not okay. Once the egg is fertilized, it is a life, and it is not morally okay to take a life. However, as a man, it is not my choice. It is the women’s body, therefore it is completely her choice. I am pro-life, but it would be better for the woman to have a choice. It may be wrong in my eyes, but it does seem like the right way to go about this. However, there still should be laws preventing abortion after a certain point. That point could also spring up a large argument. Should it be when the baby has a heart, a brain, or a sense of pain. I don’t believe abortion at any point is okay, but if I had to choose a certain point, it seems most reasonable to prevent abortion past when the baby either has a brain or a sense of pain. This seems like the most reasonable compromise between pro-life people and pro-choice

  8. Dylan says:

    Why is death such a tragedy for humans? Because we feel empathy for the person on their end of life. The reason we feel this empathy is because humans are sentient beings; such is the reason why the death of an animal isn’t as tragic. Fetuses in the womb are not sentient therefore are like the death of an animal… the only thing separating a fetus’s death from an animal’s is that a fetus has a chance of becoming a sentient being (a human). By aborting a fetus, you are ending a person’s chance to become before-said sentient being. This is the morally incorrect part of abortion. But does this aspect outweigh a woman’s ability to decide whether or not to birth the child. There are many scenarios in which not allowing the woman the ability to abort is immoral: rape victims, birth defects in the child, accidental pregnancy, etc. Such is why abortion is morally correct. Why should you birth a child into parents that are not ready for that responsibility just so they get a chance at life… an objectively poor one at that. Why would you birth a kid just for them to go into a childhood of foster care? Is that morally correct? Just so they get “a chance at life”. In my opinion, no life is far better than a horrible life. The only time abortion should be not allowed is if the conception was negligent towards having a child; however, it is nearly impossible to assess this therefore cannot be put into law. Ideally, you would be able to allow abortion on a case-to-case basis but this is not feasible. The tangents that cause abortion to be moral in the sense of the woman and the future of the child outweighs the immoral ones… this is why abortion should be federally legalized.

  9. B says:

    In my opinion, women should have their own rights to say what to do with their OWN reproductive organs. Honestly how many women would actually want to abort their babies. But let’s look at the pro-life point of view. they say if women are allowed to abort their babies they are taking a life. That is not necessarily the truth. There are restrictions by the doctors on how many months the fetus can be to be able to abort it. There are many other things, not just abortion, that doesn’t allow women to be in charge of and degrades women’s intelligence and capability to handle things in their reproductive system. Such as women aren’t allowed to ” tie their tubes” without all these requirements all involving men. SO the bigger issue isn’t just abortion but women’s right to have their own say on their health and reproductive system and to be able to reach out knowing that they would be safe to go to the doctors to talk about those issues they are dealing with.

  10. T says:

    Women should be able to decide if they want to have an abortion based on extreme circumstances like rape and life threatening conditions. I understand that women should have complete control over what happens with their body, but abortions are not the solution for careless behaviors. The government should recognize the legal rights of a fetus once it develops a heartbeat.

  11. Ryan Holdiness says:

    If a women wants an abortion let her get one. For years before proper clinics were available women did it dangerously and often had a high mortality rate. It is no one’s choice but hers. However, there should be a certain point at which a women is no longer allowed an abortion. Within the first two months of the pregnancy is when an abortion should be allowable, since at that point it would be unethical. Where the legal rights of a fetus should begin at 22 weeks. From that point a baby could theoretically be born, and if the mother had waited that long for her abortion it should then be considered murder. In no way will an abortion affect a grown person that would have never potentially been in that child’s life. So why should they have a say?

  12. Mykailla Foster says:

    In my opinion, women should have the right to decide whether they want to bring children into the world or not. Many refuse to see it from a woman’s perspective. If a woman is raped and is carrying the baby of the man who violates, I feel that she has the right to abort the child and not be judged by it. If a woman is so unstable that she can’t keep herself together, I feel like she has the right to abort and not be judged. And some might say why not just put them in the system until they find parents? Well only about 59% of children find homes or get adopted while the other 41% are left in the system. I don’t think abortion is a bad thing.

  13. Xavier Lucas-Cooper says:

    This debate in today’s America will never be completely agreed upon, so is there really a point to a compromise? Yes, there is. Whether or not one agrees with the opposite opinion or not, there should at least be a discussion on whom the opinion affects. It should be not about the morality of the situation, but the question of does it objectively benefit all of those involved.

  14. KT says:

    Abortions usually happen when a couple isn’t trying to create new life. When a child is accidentally conceived, it can bring a lot of fear into the minds of everyone involved. I do not believe that abortions should be the first choice in preventing unwanted children. When better sex education and birth control is more readily available, the likelihood of conception is decreased. If there is proof that these measures were taken, it might decrease the amount of people who get an abortion just because they can. If birth control fails or a fetus is the product of rape, abortion should be perfectly okay. There are easier methods of preventing an unwanted child, but that doesn’t matter. A woman’s body is hers and hers alone. She should have the right to do with it what she wants.

  15. Kinsey says:

    I really do not see abortion as one of the current political issues that I believe cannot reach a compromise. There is not a gray area. One side wants dead children while the other wants living children. You cannot have a half alive, half dead kid.
    That said, Abortion is less about the female reproductive rights than it is about the future of a child. Abortion is murder – never anything less.

    • N says:

      How can there not be a gray area? It is not as simple as wanting death or life. Abortion is not just murder. It can be giving the mother another chance at her own life. It can be taking misery from what would have been a child. It can be preventing illness for the mother.

      The kid might not be half alive, half dead, but there are other circumstances that could arise. The kid might be alive, but the mother feels dead. She could’ve been raped. Having the child could’ve harmed her. They might be physically alive, but what is the point if the child will only be neglected and will not have the proper support and care? Abortion can hinder more problems from arising later on.

  16. Ellen Overstreet says:

    Women should be allowed the freedom to do what they want with their bodies. If a woman becomes pregnant, whether it was consensual or not, she should be able to decide if she keeps the baby. Pro-life supporters use the argument that you would be harming the fetus, but they don’t stop to think about the life of the mother. The baby has not lived a full life like the mother. The mother could fall below the poverty line because the expenses that come with having a baby. This could lead to the baby growing up in a bad environment. The mother could also be harmed while giving birth to the baby that she didn’t ask for. It is also said that the baby could be given up for adoption if the mother doesn’t want it, but foster care organizations are already overloaded with kids. They don’t have enough resources to raise the kids that are already there.

  17. William Sutton says:

    Abortion is a difficult topic to unravel, but I feel like people get mixed up what is their right and what is not their right as person. Sure, if this pregnancy will end in the death of the mother, or the pregnancy is the result of incest/rape, there is some leeway to debate over if abortion is the right decision or not. If; however; the abortion is for pure convenience of the mother, then at that point it is completely wrong. The National Health Organization has clearly stated that life begins at conception, so following this statement once an egg has been inseminated that egg has the right to life and that life is no longer the decision of the mother to decide whether or not the child has the right to live or die. Even without this statement, we as people have to make the decision whether or not we value all life, or find no value of life. Because, despite what many say, a zygote is very much alive and should have a chance to grow. Its not the child’s fault that the mother does not want it, if you did not want the responsibilities of being a parent at that time either do not have sex or have protected sex. You can not have your cake and eat it too, its either have sex and risk having a child, or don’t sex, but do not blame an unborn child for something it did not do. If it is question on what is the best thing for the mother, women who have abortions are least three times more likely to suffer mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, and drug and alcohol abuse. So have the baby, if you do not want it there a thousands of couples who want to have a child and cannot. There are other ways to still preserve the well being of a mother and a child without just killing an unborn baby.

  18. Alice Calvert says:

    Women should have the full right to decide to have an abortion performed on them so long as the baby has not developed a system for which to feel complex pain and thoughts.

    We find that most abortions occur within the first trimester, with 91% occurring before the first 13 weeks. Citation: https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/data_stats/abortion.htm

    Despite the fact that neural tubes develop within the first week, and basic nerves are created relatively early, the most conservative estimate for when a fetus can begin to feel the most basic version of what we might consider “pain” does not happen until the first 20 weeks. However, pain is subjective, but the pain that we feel as developed human beings is extremely complex. Such complexities cannot occur in even the first or second trimester, but rather the third, occurring near the 27th week, the third trimester.

    The elementary system of ‘pain’ found in the 20th week of development is much more similar to that of the alarm system we see in very basic organisms, such as insects. Dr. Anne Davis (OB/GYN) discusses the fact that the routes needed to fully feel pain are not connected until this trimester. Citation: https://www.livescience.com/54774-fetal-pain-anesthesia.html

    As for the legislation, we have already decided to not allocate funds to abortion, and all funds that go towards Planned Parenthood and other such locations cannot legally fund abortion in any capacity, this is due to a piece of legislation called the Hyde Amendment. Therefore, any argument about this issue is null in terms of the law.
    Citation: https://www.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/142

    Many prolife proponents try to argue the fact that abortion is the act of murdering a child. This is incorrect. A fetus at the stage at which the overwhelming number of abortions occur is incapable of thought, pain, suffering, emotions of any sort. It has not made friends, connections, or any impact on the world personally. To compare this to the fact of murder on a living and breathing human being, who’s brain allows for complex emotions and pain sensors, is ludicrous. It is simply a difference between a lack of brain complexity.

    Many, when presented with this argument, try to argue the fact that the value of the fetus is found in its potential to become a human life. If this is the case, it is equally as immoral to masturbate, or to menstruate. Both an egg and a sperm have this hypothetical potential to become a human life, they both hold this capability and in killing them by not transforming them into this human life, pro-life proponents are performing equally as immoral acts as people who perform abortions.

    In response to the fact that the fertilized egg has ‘more’ potential, I would simply respond that this line is arbitrary. The opponents of abortion are stating completely arbitrarily that a fertilized egg’s potential is more important than that of a sperm or egg for whatever reason, there is no real reason besides the fact that to accept the fact that eggs and sperm have just as much potential would cripple many of their own daily happenings.

    They state a fertilized egg is a human but a sperm or egg is not. The point that is made is often “egg’s cannot become humans by themselves”, but fertilized eggs cannot become human without nutrition. Both require some form of action to become a human life, so they are equally as valuable in the eyes of the twisted logic performed by the people who argue against abortion.

    So I present this statement:

    If you believe abortion is truly the killing of an infant due to the sanctity of human life, males may never masturbate and females may not menstruate, they must be constantly pregnant. If either of these actions are performed, they are equally at fault as those who get abortions.

    Religious arguments that are made on purely the basis of religious principal cannot be considered valid in terms of legislation. Despite the fact that your personal religion may call for you to live your life a certain way, you cannot dictate the way others live in legislation. Your right to religion is not in fact your right to force your religion on others. This is made clear in the first amendment “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…”

    You are not required to get an abortion, nobody is asking you to do such a thing, this is the point of pro-choice, as opposed to pro-abortion. You may govern yourself by your own religious practices, but the moment you try to force said beliefs upon others is when you violate the very basis of the constitution.

    Imagine, for example, that a religion such as Islam tried to mass regulate the clothing of women so as to ensure the rules of their religion are followed by all. There would of course, rightfully, be public outcry. People are allowed to do what they wish so long as they do not violate the rights of others.

    When the dust settles, a women’s choice is her own. A fetus at the stage most of them are aborted are less sentient than the insects we kill daily. Its potential to become a life is no more or less than that of a sperm or egg, and a persons religious views cannot be forced upon the general public.

    Abortion is a heated issue, and one which should be treated with care and caution for the various complications that may arise, but when the dust settles it is simply a matter of human rights.

    And as Nelson Mandela put so elegantly in his first speech to the US Congress

    “To deny any person their human rights is to challenge their very humanity. “

  19. Om Chimma says:

    Abortion had always been a sketchy topic that people discuss. It always seems that people who are aguing are always taking the extreme ends and fail to meet a middle ground on which both parties can agree upon. On one side where people are, pro-abortion say that abortion should be treated as a case of parasitism where the fetus is a parasite that feeds on the mother and abortion should be allowed until the 9th month. But that is stupid to think that a fetus with no intelligence could be feeding off its mother intentionally. On the other hand, Republicans, think that it should be banned permanently since it is the taking away of a life, in a case like murder. But the counter-argument to that is “How about rape victims?”. My personal belief is that abortion should only be reserved for rape victims and only if that pregnancy is in the earlier stage of the 9 months.

    • X says:

      Pro-abortionists are just people in favor of abortion. You cannot generalize that all pro-abortionists see their fetus as a parasite. That could be one of the reasons why a person would want to abort their child, but not all. Common reasons, like you said, would be for rape or unintentional pregnancies.

  20. J says:

    In a poem called “the mother” by Gwendolyn Brooks, she highlights the tale of a woman who has received many abortions at a time where it was illegal around the 1950s. From my perception, the young woman’s reasoning was that she could not bring a black child into the world to suffer from the effects of the racism going on at that time, however she kept getting pregnant, most likely due to rape or molestation.

    As early as the 1930s, women began to fight in the pro-choice movement that it was the women’s right to have a choice on whether or not to have an abortion. The United States was built on the ideals to guarantee American citizens to have the right to make a choice and the freedom to pursue “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” The women’s rights movement to legalize abortion was to fight for the right to decide, most women felt and still feel that the government should not control what they do with their bodies. And I for one agree. The issue that comes in with the idealization of abortion is that everyone wants to shove their belief system down the throat of another human being. When truly, we are not viewing the bigger picture. It’s about the liberty and freedom of women having a choice to decide. In addition, women who truly want an abortion, even if it is unlegalized, will go to strenuous and more dangerous efforts to receive an abortion. Abortion is controversial and a tense topic for all individuals, that’s why it’s not up to us or anyone else to decide what a person should do with their body. I, myself, would never choose to have an abortion because of my beliefs that there is potential in the life I may end, however my decision to not get one shouldn’t pre-determine whether other women who feel as if they cannot do it can receive an abortion or not. Although, I believe after the fetus has developed a heartbeat, abortion should not longer be ethical. It’s a little thing called minding your business and letting others make the best decisions for themselves. We live in a country of different racial backgrounds and belief systems, it would be hard to determine one set of ground rules for abortion. Because if they aren’t legalized, like I stated before, people would still perform them in more dangerous ways such as the old clothing hanger method. All in all, give women their choice, because after all, it’s not up to us to decide what’s best for the lives of others even if we feel like we are deemed so.

  21. Talle says:

    What about the life of the mother? Not all women are in stable enough positions to care for children, so how does that affect the future of the child. People who argue that abortion is only “right” if the woman has been raped is merely stating that a woman only has rights to her body when she has been violated. Majority of abortions are done in earlier stages, and abortions in the later stage are not conducted for the safety of both the mother and the child. A woman should not have to justify what she wants to do with her body, especially if it’s a safe and legal procedure.

  22. M says:

    I, in all regards, disagree with abortion. I believe that abortion is a crime and quite frankly wrong in more than one way. I do understand that people make mistakes, and sometimes the consequences result in a new life. I think a solution that people who are pro-life pro-choice and anywhere in between would agree with is the proper teaching of sexual education. Implementing a comprehensive sexual education program in schools would not eradicate unintentional pregnancy, but it would minimize it. There are so many young people,some of which go to MSMS, who know the benefits of birth control and contraceptives, yet they still continue to not use them properly if they are used at all. Nobody likes abortion, even those who are pro-choice. By minimizing the number or unintentional pregnancies, we can minimize the number of abortions.

    • G says:

      I do agree with you that by implementing better sex education programs in schools. This will allow people to become more educated on the matter and understand the risks. However, there are more ways to be impregnated. Reckless teenagers having sex and neglecting risks and ways to prevent them is not the only way. There are tens of thousands of children who are brutally raped every year, most of which is done by people they know. In 2016 alone, over 57 thousand children 17 and under were sexually abused (https://www.rainn.org/statistics/children-and-teens). Of those, nearly 20 thousand are under the age of 12. How can you expect someone to have a child when they themselves are a child? They are ignorant of the world. It’s like someone trying to teach a game without knowing the rules. Cases like these especially need the help of abortion for them to continue their lives without the burden of an unwanted pregnancy, let alone a child. Nobody likes the idea of killing a baby, yes, but not everyone likes the idea of having one, either.

  23. Davan Reece says:

    There is nothing else that causes a Southern Baptist, sweet tea-sipping, collard green cookin’ grandmother squirm more than the utterance of the word “abortion.”

    Women’s reproductive rights have long been a polarizing issue in American politics. We live in a state where women have access to only one abortion clinic, and they could be crucified by protestors should they be seen walking into the premises. It is so polarizing that both sides refuse to label themselves as “antis.” You have pro-choice and pro-life. Abortion stances tend to be drawn along religious lines: Christians and other religions believe that life begins before birth, thus abortion is murder, as you are killing a helpless little baby and taking a life. Others believe in a “my body, my choice” mentality, establishing the idea that all women should have the right to decide what happens in their body.

    Personally, I am not a huge fan of the idea of abortion. However, I have to recognize that I am not a woman, and I will never face this decision. I also must realize that a government should not be able to tell people what they can and cannot do to their bodies. Once we lose the freedom of our body, we lose the freedom of everything we cherish. Some may claim that it is not their body, but that is simply not true. The fetus is functioning inside THE MOTHER’S BODY, it gains its nutrients from THE MOTHER’S BODY, and it will be born from THE MOTHER’S BODY should it not be aborted.

    I will never know a mother’s reasons for having an abortion, but that is her business. Not mine, not yours, and definitely not the governments. So, I guess I’m “my body, my choice,” too.

    • Guillermo says:

      In my honest opinion, an abortion is something to be used in the event of an unwanted pregnancy. The mother’s choice would be to either bear a baby she did not wish to bear, or cease to bear said child.

  24. Whitney Fairley says:

    One way that we can craft laws regarding women’s reproductive rights is by realizing that the issue isn’t as black and white as it seems. Abortion may be considered an issue to some, but in my opinion one of the underlying issues is people who don’t have a uterus telling women what they can and cannot do with theirs. Personally, I am pro – choice and I think abortion clinics should be readily available to all women. Before women even had reproductive rights, cheap abortions were a serious issue for people that couldn’t afford to have children. Many women died so that the women today could have reproductive rights. I feel that trying to limit what we can do with our bodies sets women’s rights back many decades. *There are probably several grammatical errors in this reply

  25. Kelsey Hollingsworth says:

    Abortion is a controversial topic and it is really difficult to find a way to make every side satisfied. Personally, I am pro-life and I could never see myself getting an abortion unless my life was endangered or the pregnancy was the result of rape or something like that. However, just because I believe that for myself doesn’t mean that I want to project my beliefs onto other people because if someone doesn’t want to have a child, why should we make the child suffer in the home of a parent that doesn’t want them? Or why should a 16 year old who made a mistake have to go through missing months of school they can’t catch up on and the pain of giving up their child when there is an easier fix? Biologically, it is politically and morally incorrect for the mass of white males we call the government to tell an individual woman what she can and can not do with her body when they will never have to experience it and they will never know her story.

  26. T says:

    No one but the mother should be deciding whether or not she gets an abortion.

    If it doesn’t affect you, why should you have a choice? Maybe making that decision is better for her health and better for her life. Many people believe once the egg is fertilized, it is a life and it is a human. They say abortion takes away any chance it had in this world. By not allowing women to have the abortion, you are inflicting an unhappy life on the child and the mother. Unless given up adoption, the mother will be forced to devote the next 18 years raising this child, preventing her from what she could have been. In addition to this, this unwanted child may live neglected by his/her parents. Like Dylan said, no life is better than a horrible one. He/She will not have that “chance” without the proper care and support. Adoption is always an option for those who don’t wish to raise the child, but carrying the fetus for 9 months may not be a feasible option for the body of an 8 year old.

    Another thing people must understand is by outlawing abortions, only safe abortions are prohibited. Like everything else, just because it is against the law, doesn’t mean people will not find a way to still do it. Women who feel that they absolutely need an abortion will find a way to not have the baby whether it is safe for themselves or not. An unsafe abortion is as simple as prodding into a woman’s cervix with a thin stick. This can lead to perforations, infections, and even death.

    Many times, having an abortion isn’t just a choice a couple decides to make for the sake of not wanting a child. Health issues, both physical and mental, should be taken into consideration before telling a woman, “no.”

    Improving sex education programs in school settings and actively promoting safe sex is one way to potentially reduce the numbers of unwanted pregnancies. Another is to make effective contraceptives more available at a lower cost.

    Let me lightly suggest a cutoff point for abortions: 27 weeks. This is when the third trimester begins. The fetus is not capable of feeling pain until this point (https://www.livescience.com/54774-fetal-pain-anesthesia.html). This is because the nervous system (through which pain is experienced) is not developed until the third trimester. Although nerve endings and sensors are developed earlier on, the system is not complete, and the fetus does not have brain activity until then.

  27. Guillermo says:

    I believe abortion should be allowed, for the sake of women’s health. However, if I were to create compromise, I would add certain conditions upon which an abortion could be had.

    I think an abortion without question is warranted in the event of rape or if a contraceptive fails, e.g. a broken condom or something of the like. The only third condition I can envision for getting an abortion is the mother changing her mind about having a child during the pregnancy. I think the last one should be the debated one, because if a woman is willingly impregnated and nourishes the fetus for a while, and decides she doesn’t want to have a child, the fetus’s legal rights should be considered.

    • X says:

      Does the fetus have legal rights though? I understand that all citizens have rights if they are in the United States, but there should be a limit as to what age they do receive it. For example, the fourteenth amendment says “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.” Notice it says “born.” Is a fetus inside the body considered “born?”

  28. Khytavia Fleming says:

    I believe there should be a compromise between abortion and pro-life. Being raised in the south, from a young age I was told that having an abortion was a sin and told that, “God makes no mistakes.” However, women should not be pressured into having a child with these, “You’re going to hell. You’re killing a person.” sayings. I honestly believe that if you are not the one pregnant, if you’re not going to raise that child, and especially if you do not know what that person is going through, then they should not be judged, and they should not be forced to have a child they don’t want. However, I do agree with there being a certain time limit to getting an abortion because as the fetus grows it does start to feel and understand things like a human.
    Futhermore, I believe the government should start recognizing a fetus’ rights once the opprotunity for a legal abortion has passed. In my opinion, if a law was to be crafted about abortion and pro-life, majority of the deciders should be women. Only women know what its’s like to give birth to a child and to abort it as well. Although, men play a great part when it comes to pregnancies, it’s the woman in the end who makes the final decision of whether to have a baby or not.
    Finally, a compromise must be made because I don’t believe abortion will ever go away and pro-life supporters either. This is one of those issues that will still be being discussed in a 100yrs.

  29. Elijah Dosda says:

    I personally feel that the way we should proceed in a strict but fair manner. We should consider the preservation of human life to be a top priority, but I feel like there are a couple of moral exceptions.

    Abortion should not be legal in cases where both parties have had consensual sex, as when having consensual sex, they accept the inherent risk of producing a child. It’s a simple cause and effect, and though there are options to mitigate and 9 times out of 10 prevent the effects, by having sex they have biologically set themselves down the road to parenting. It would be similar to the consequences of smoking or doing drugs and alcohol, where the people doing those substances accept the risks and proceed (dumbly) anyway.

    However, I do believe that if the woman should be held accountable, so should the man. The man should still continue to pay child support and be present throughout the child’s life through legal pressure if he does not willingly want to accept his child as the consequence of his sex.

    There are a few exceptions where I feel that abortion should be legal, one in rape cases, another when the mother is not in good health to take care of the baby without possibly harming herself in the pregnancy period, and of course if the women is well below the age of reasonable consent (16-onward is where we completely understand the ramification of something like sex.)

    In those cases, when the mother is in personal harm, it is reasonable to for abortion to be used. However, in cases where it is just stupid teenagers or young adults trying to not be accountable for their actions, the law should not budge.

    There are several arguments that I respectfully disagree with.

    If the parents are afraid of the child growing up in a non-healthy environment, adoption is looked at as a secondhand option compared to abortion. The argument is made that the child will live a miserable life, but the thing is that the by killing the baby, you’re taking away the possibility for the child to ever make themselves into a successful and happy individual. While their childhood may be a little rough, there is still happiness in this world and joy that they can experience.

    I understand that a woman’s body is entirely her own, but in the same way if you were drunk driving and caused a car crash (a choice that a person made while being fully in control of their body), they’d be forced to deal with the ramifications of that crash.

    I also firmly believe that the blame should be placed evenly between the man and the woman. The woman should not be left with the baby alone, the man should be legally bound to helping that baby succeed, as he was just as responsible, perhaps more so, for causing the baby to be born.

    Personally, I feel that their is no way that someone could look at a baby as only a fetus, a parasite when it’s of their own blood. That baby will grow into a person one day, live a life of it’s own, learn to love, hope, laugh, cry, and depriving a baby of living it’s life that’s ahead of them because both the mom and the dad don’t want to accept the consequences of their sex life is a deep immoral tragedy.

    I understand that my opinions can cause controversy, but we do not become better people by only yelling at each other what we believe is right. We become better people by listening to everyone’s points and creating a path that compromises, learning and shifting our morals with new information and perspectives that we learn.

  30. Alyssa says:

    I feel as if abortion should be mainly left up to a female, because it is her body and she knows what she does and does not want to do with it. That being said, if said female is married I feel as if some consent should come from the husband if that child belongs to him. But I feel as if this decision should not be able to be done by a husbands decision alone, because some women are urged to terminate their birth if it put their health at risk and they might want to save the mother and not the child. Both should parties should come to an agreement. It is better to have abortions legally, because then they are safer and won’t cause women to get deadly sick or contact diseases. Most people that have bad experiences with abortions were one that were either forced, or were traumatized by going to an illegal clinic. I do stand by the rule of only a certain number of abortions, because sure maybe one or two could be prevented, but after that there really should not be an excuse.

    I feel as if a fetus should have no legal rights. Because the government can’t make sure that the majority of children that were orphaned or given up for adoption can grow up in a safe environment, and not in and out of the legal system. Also in the cases of mothers that do have the baby that could have costed them their lives, the government does not feel any pity to the woman that cannot work to pay off the bills of her and her child. They would not hesitate to cease the treatment of either of them.

  31. Zakkaria Reaves says:

    Honestly, I can not pick a side in abortion debates. Yes, I believe it to be a sin, but I also believe a child should not be brought into a world by parents who do not want, or need in some cases, them. Yes, they could be put up for adoption, but I believe if you carry a child for 9 months, you may as well raise he/she physically. However, in another mind, I believe if a child is conceived out of irresponsibility, the decision to choose to not have protected sex, then you should hold yourself accountable and birth and raise the child. In other instances, such as rape, I would totally understand one choosing to not want to carry their rapist’s seed. OVERALL, if I had to choose a side, it would be to give the woman the right to decide what she wants to do with the baby. However, after a certain amount of weeks of being with-child, especially if their body parts have fully been developed, the baby is, at that time, no longer just a fetus, but a human; I would hope the woman decides to keep the child.

  32. Catherine says:

    The decision to abort a fetus should be completely up to the mother. It is her body, so it must be her decision. If a mother isn’t in a place to raise a child and is forced to give birth to it anyways, when the baby is born and put into the foster care system or up for adoption, there is always a chance the baby’s life wouldn’t be ideal as the adoption process takes a long time and many foster care systems are already overpopulated. The average child stays in the system for around 3 years. Why should a child have to be born inevitably in a situation like that? It is painful for both sides as no parents want to give up their child because they can’t raise them due to whatever their circumstance is. You can’t say you’re pro-life when life for the baby will be hard based on the realities of the foster care system. I admit there are some cases where both sides would need to compromise, but in cases of rape or in cases where the mother’s life in danger, abortion must always be an option for the mother. I also agree that abortion before the fetus is able to feel pain should be 100% allowed.
    No white MAN in government should have the ability to decide whether or not a WOMAN should be able to abort her child that is going to be in her body. The psychological impacts of having a baby you can’t raise or keep after being pregnant for nine months affects the mother the most, so whether or not she goes through that or not is her decision alone. It just doesn’t make sense any other way.

  33. Samaria Swims says:

    Women should be able to do anything they choose to do. Abortion is a sensitive topic because many people have their own opinions about it. You can not tell a person what to do with their body. Its that person own choice. Women should be able to get an abortion if they want to. People should consider that they can not get in other people business and tell them what to do.

  34. Sophie Tipton says:

    As much as I want to say I can go either way on this, I have my reasons. First of all, men in high up places should not control what I do with my reproductive organs. Until a man gives birth and knows what the pain feels like as well as the status of being pregnant, he shouldn’t be able to make laws about it. As much as I support and realize that its a human being growing inside of you and has a life that you should not make the decision yes or no for, it should also be looked at that we are overpopulated and are tearing apart our planet because of it, some people should probably just go anyway. But then again, it is a person that didn’t have a say in being born. I mean maybe it wanted to die, but no one will ever know that since probably 9/10, it wouldn’t. With all that said, I also think that if your stupid butt got yourself pregnant than that was your fault, I mean it can be blamed on the man too, but if it was consensual sex, and you ended up with one more person leaving the room, you’re at blame and should live with your mistakes. This is why they make condoms, plan B, birth control, abstinence, and so many other things to help you avoid getting pregnant. But, in my mind, where it gets tricky is that I also believe that if it wasn’t consensual and you were forced or raped, that’s a different story. You didn’t ask to become pregnant and have a fair case to get rid of it. we don’t need products of child molestation running around us, nor do we need all the rape victims to start their own families without wanting it. That being said, I think if it’s consensual, you need to keep that sucker since that was your fault. Now, if you were raped or didn’t plan to partake in that, then an abortion should be a possibility for you. Of course, the hard part is that laws can’t discriminate like that from reasoning. Although, I also see it from the point that becoming pregnant could kill the mother. There’s a good chance with my health issues that I would not even be able to carry a child long enough without causing lots of harm to myself and that’s even worse for a lot of other people to the point it would kill the mother and the baby. So honestly there is no fair way to do this law. I think a law over reproductive issues like controlling a woman’s uterus is stupid and unfair. When there are still luxury taxes over pads and tampons while Viagra is given out like candy and with no strings attached, then we have more problems to talk about first with these related issues.

  35. Aubrey Ward says:

    Abortion is a subject where compromise is difficult because any sort of limitations on the freedoms of women’s reproductive rights is essentially a win for the other side. There cannot be a compromise on the freedom of women’s bodies. Women should not have to be given freedoms from men; they should just have those freedoms already. The issue of women using abortion as a form of birth control may be an issue, but limitations on the law can’t be made. Instead we should make birth control more easily accessible to women. If people see abortion as an issue, then they need to find others ways to combat these unwanted pregnancies among people who cannot really afford or find access to birth control. Women deserve this freedom on their own, and it should be the personal decision of that woman on whether to get an abortion or not. Abortion will always exist, and making it legal would make it more safe.

  36. Taylor says:

    The woman is the one that gives birth and has to face the consequences and effects of giving birth. I personally feel that since it is a woman’s body and she is the one giving birth, she should be in control of what happens. It’s her body and she has complete control of it. No other man or even other woman should be able to tell a woman what she has to do with her body. No woman should feel obligated to give birth or even to have the abortion. Either way, it’s the woman’s choice.

    However, there does lie a problem in this. While the woman should have complete authority over what she does with her body, she should not use abortions as a form of birth control. Abortions should not be used carelessly and to fix a mistake. From this, I feel that there are different scenarios in which abortions are okay or not. I understand that this is confusing, and there’s really no way to place laws on this controversial topic. If you outlaw abortions, people will be mad. If you allow abortions, people will be mad. Sadly enough, there’s no in-between. While I wish that abortions could only be permitted in certain situations that are deemed as legitimate reasons to take a human life away, it seems there is no possible way to do this. A doctor cannot tell one woman she is allowed to have an abortion and deny another woman the same right simply because she has a different reason. Basically, as of right now, there really isn’t a middle between pro-abortion policies and anti-abortion policies. It’s either one or the other until we can find a civil way to politically and morally fix this issue.

  37. Samaria Swims says:

    Abortion is a very sensitive topic to most people. If someone brings the word up, an argument wold get started. I think women should be able to choose what they want to do when it comes to abortion. A woman should be able to do what she wants to do with her body, and nonone should make that decision for her. Women should have complete control over their bodies.

  38. Victoria W says:

    There are a lot of things that can be said on this topic, but a lot of my opinions have been previously stated by other pro-choice students, so I wanna bring up a different sort of way of looking at those who are pro-life. I think that with such a huge focus on abortion in today’s society, especially with the incredible demonization of mothers who choose to abort by pro-lifers, should also increase a focus on the foster care/adoption system. We all know that pro-lifers care /a lot/ about the unborn fetus, that a life is a life and it is murder to kill a soon-to-be-baby, but what about after the child is born? One argument used by pro-lifers is that a mother who doesn’t want/can have a child can always give it up for adoption but,,,,, is that really that amazing of an option? Yes the fetus will live, but to live to be a emotionally damaged child who is tossed around in a foster care system that doesn’t really care about them, without parents to love and nurture them and help them grow into functioning members of society?? I can’t just accept that. I think that almost everyone, pro-lifers and pro-choicers, can agree that the foster care system could use a lot of work, so with this controversial abortion debate, why don’t we go ahead and talk about the corruption and abuse that runs rampant throughout foster care? Because its pretty tragic for someone to fight for a fetus to be born into a system that will completely screw them over and leave them to suffer. just saying. (also its called pro-choice and not pro-abortion for a reason,,,, women should be able to chose and pro-life takes that choice away:)

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