Abortion and Ethics Essay -- Life Pregnancy Fetus Papers

Abortion and EthicsAccording to the Websters New arena Dictionary, the first definition of abortion is the spontaneous act in which the body expels an embryo or fetus before it is able to survive, miscarriage (Neufeldt & Guralnik, 4). Yet others adjust abortion as the termination of a pregnancy with resulting death of the human fetus, relating more to the planned procedures to produce this specific response (Ashley & ORourke, 141). In our inn we have taken on this second view of the meaning, rather than abortion being a spontaneous act, it is a deliberate procedure sought by the mother that removes an embryo or fetus. This deliberate act has arisen throughout a controversial history. Before the procedures were made legal, women used many primitive methods. Some of these methods accommodate jumping from great heights, having others jump on the pregnant womans abdomen, ingestion of toxic substances, and the use of invasive probes such as sticks, knitting needles, or wire hange rs (Callahan, 252). Although these primitive procedures might result in an abortion, they were unsafe for the women who endured them. Abortion in the United States was illegal until the early 1970s. Once legalized, abortions were localized to the coastal thickly populated cities, such as in the states California and New York. Abortion was legalized nation wide on January 22, 1973 due to the efforts the key court cases of Roe v. Wade, and zip v. Botton. Roe was an unmarried woman from Texas that wanted to challenge the abortion laws because she herself wanted to have the procedure to relieve the unborn child she carried. The second case, Doe v. Botton had a different outlook on the justification for abortion. Doe, a married... ...cities.com/ourlady_dal/abortion2.htmKnight, James, Joan Callahan. Preventing Birth Contemporary Methodsand Related Moral Controversies. University of Utah Press Salt Lake City, 1989. Kushner, Thomasine, David C. Thomasma. Birth to Dea th. Cambridge University Press Cambridge, 1996. depicted object Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke National Institutes of Health. 26Nov. 2002.http//www.ninds.nih.gov/health_and_medical/disorders/taysachs_doc.htmNeufeldt, Victoria, David B. Guralnik. Websters New World Dictionary third ed. PrenticeHall/Macmillan Company New York, 1994. Robinson. 26 Nov. 2002. http//www.religioustolerance.org/abortion.htm Shannon, Thomas. Bioethics, 3rd edition. Paulist Press Mahwah, 1987. The Abortion Law Homepage. 26 Nov. 2002. http//members.aol.com/abtrbng/pbal.htm