Self Analysis

After researching abortion over this period of time I have really grown as a thinker. I have learned that all online sources are not credible. The most credible sources are the ones that end in .net, .org, or .edu because they are more reliable. You should also consider the author’s credentials and if the website sources proper documentation. The website should have a scholarly writing style that includes citations, few grammatical and spelling errors, no logical fallacies and appropriate vocabulary. By using credible sources and by looking at both sides of the argument I was able to accumulate information and I re-formulated my own opinion about the issue of abortion. Even though it is not known when the fetus is considered to be alive, after seeing this picture my perspective changed because of how human-like it appears to be. Whenever I heard the word 'abortion' I would automatically just picture a blob of tissue, but after seeing that I have to question myself and wonder if abortions should occur this much. I learned a lot about abortion and never realized before how many long term effects it had with everyone involved. As a result, I am more moderate towards abortion now, whereas before I was pretty far left. I don’t think that mothers should abort simply because they made a mistake and use abortion as birth control. Abortion should not be done solely because the girl is too irresponsible to have a baby since there are other options like adoption and couseling. If they made the decision to have sex than they should be well informed about what can happen if they end up pregnant. I still believe that the mother should do what is best for her and her family but it is imperative that she plans out the pros and cons of the situation. I believe that before going to have an abortion women should be notified of the type of drawbacks that will be experienced. Also, in the case that the child that is supposed to be aborted ended up surviving the mother should know that it could be detrimental to that child later on in life. All information needs to be out in the open and so better choices will be made if people are more educated. My thoughts have not changed about the government not having any involvement with what to do with people’s own bodies. I think that religion and abortion will almost always be connected with one another because people usually turn to faith to help deal with their feelings and to look for guidance. I would like to thank this time now to thank you guys for staying tuned in and for making coments. It has really helped with my understanding of this topic and is greatly appreciated.

Is abortion an unresolvable issue? - Implications

The abortion debate has gone on long enough and needs to come to an end but unfortunately, I feel like the debate will never be fully compromised. Everyone has their own opinion, values and beliefs on life. The only way that the abortion debate could reach a common ground is if everyone thought the same way, which is highly unlikely. Nevertheless, we can try to get both sides closer to each other by finding things that both pro- life and pro-choice groups believe in. For instance, everyone believes that people should take care of and respect their bodies so that you won’t have to be in a situation where you would have to choose to get an abortion. Abortions would probably decrease, especially in teenagers, if birth control and the “morning after” pill were more easily accessible and free, as well as increasing sexual education classes . Also, if woman felt as if they were “equal” to men they will have more confidence in themselves and wouldn’t get pressured into doing things that they don’t want to do. Personally, I believe that abortions will continue to occur. even with people opposed to it, but will decrease over time. If by chance it does get resolved we will be better able to understand the way people think and how people think.

Class Links

There are a few blogs that I think you guys should check out. First off, if you want to learn more about abortion go to KGood’s site. KGood talks about both sides of the abortion issue from a neutral position but he also includes the importance of how the church and government is involved in this debate. The debate of stem cell research is similar to that of abortion because of its binary issue of whether or not stem cells from embryos are considered to be alive or not. Trailrunners is an interesting blog to look at because it offers information about whether or not people should use embryonic stem cells or adult stem cells to further the finding of cures for diseases. It also includes how religion plays a role on the outlook of each side of debate. Along the lines of this, Mike’s blog also discusses stem cell research. His discusses federal funding, cloning and the different viewpoints of the political spectrum.

Extra Information- Links

General Sites regarding abortion
http://www.abortionfacts.com-/ discusses facts , post abortion disorder, gives arguments to pro- choice and pro-life, effects. Everything you need to know and help you decide which side you agree with
http://www.justfacts.com/abortion.asp- talks about sciences, constitution, politics, media, women’s health, consent and population. Quotes different sources and is in bullet format so that it is easily understood
www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/sfaa.html - gives the state facts about abortion. Includes definitions and data sources of abortion, adolescents, contraception, pregnancy and services/finances
www.prochoiceactionnetwork-canada.org/abortioninfo.misconce.shtml - Site refutes common misconceptions about abortion. It has links to major media resources, press releases and position statements
www.criticalthink.info/webindex/abortion.htm - It has links to sites with both sides of the issue, facts, abortion laws, tv and important quotes

Pro- Choice Sites:
http://www.naral.org/
http://www.prochoice.com/
http://www.prochoiceresources.org/

Pro-Life Sites:
http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/index.html
http://www.prolife.com/
http://www.prolifeaction.org/

Current News about Abortion:
http://www.plannedparenthood.org/news-articles-press/news-articles-and-press-room.asp
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/abortion/
http://www.topix.com/news/abortion
http://abortion.capitolannex.com/

Here are some political cartoon sites that you might like: http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/A/Abortion.asp
http://www.conservativecartoons.com/cartoon.php?toon=422
http://www.cartoonistgroup.com/bysubject/abortion/byartist.php?id=55

A Theory

There are a couple of different reasons as to why abortion has become such a controversial issue in the world today. The role of religion in your life, the way you were brought up and the values that were instilled in you as a kid, your demographic area and the time period that you were growing up in, all affect a person’s outlook on abortion. If religion played a small part in your life than it is more likely that you and your family are not against abortion but if religion is a major aspect than you might see abortion as murder. Kids normally follow what the parents say and do regarding certain issues in life until they are old enough and are able to come up with their own decision. Until then, if the parents convey a negative attitude towards abortion than I am sure the kids will as well. In addition, if a family lives in a poor country it is more likely to be subject to abortion because they are economically insufficient and won’t be able to take care of the child the way that they want to, while in a country that is flourishing they are better able to support their children. People will have the same attitiude towards abortion if and only if people thought the same way, so people will not always agree with this issue. I will go into more depth about this later on.

The Politics Behind It

Partial abortion births have been performed legally in the United States for years but was banned in about 30 states. Partial birth abortions are supposed to be used in a small amount of cases but it turns out that it is done up to as much as 5000 times a year. Many researchers used the example of "if a new virus swept through neo-natal units and killed even 500 premature babies, that would be a top news story -- not dismissed as an event too "rare" to be of consequence. ” That quote just means that if one event killed 500 people it would receive a lot of publicity but more than 500 partial birth abortions are performed each year and people are considering that to be rare when it's quite the opposite. A little double-standard don't you think? The partial birth abortion ban act of 2003 signed by George Bush was a law that said partial birth abortion couldn’t be used if the child was a “living fetus.” Because of the choice of words that have been used, a couple of loopholes have been created to get around this law, so it wasn’t too effective. This is still an ongoing conflict and this law didn’t really fix much of anything and check this out. If the law is not followed your penalty is up to two years in jail. A worthy punishment? I think not!

An interesting note

A common misconception regarding partial birth abortions is that the anesthesia given to the mother is supposed to painlessly kill the baby, but the babies experience great pain during this procedure. If doctors see this in training for example, which some have, they are surprised that partial birth abortions are still being done, unless it is to save the mother of course. Witnesses notice the child kicking their feet and thrashing their arms. One witness said that once the child was jammed in the head with the scissors the child jerked, jumped and then was “rigid.” While the brains were removed from their skull the child went “completely limp.” Personally, I don’t think that partial abortion births should be performed at all. If the woman is going to have an abortion they should go all the way and completely do the procedure. The baby should not have to experience unnecessary pain. Your thoughts?