Essay, Research Paper: Abortion

Abortion
During the past quarter century, abortion has joined race and war as one of the most
debatable subject of controversy in the United States. It discusses human interaction
where ethics, emotions and law come together. Abortion poses a moral, social and medical
dilemma that faces many individuals to create a emotional and violent atmosphere. There
are many points of view toward abortion but the only two fine distinctions are
"pro-choice" and "pro-life". A pro-choicer would feel that the decision to abort a
pregnancy is that of the mothers and the state has no right to interfere. A pro-lifer would
hold that from the moment of conception, the embryo or fetus is alive. This life imposes
on us a moral obligation to preserve it and that abortion is tantamount to murder (Kolner
5).
In the United States about 1.6 million pregnancies end in abortion. Women with incomes
under eleven thousand are over three times more likely to abort than those with incomes
above twenty-five thousand. Unmarried women are four to five times more likely to abort
than married and the abortion rate has doubled for 18 and 19 year olds. Recently the U.S.
rate dropped 6 percent overall but the rate of abortion among girls younger than 15
jumped 18 percent. The rate among minority teens climbed from 186 per 1,000 to 189 per
1,000.
The most popular procedure involved in abortions is the vacuum aspiration which is done
during the first trimester (three months or less since the women has become pregnant). A
tube is simply inserted through the cervix and the contents of the uterus are vacuumed out.
The most commonly used type of second trimester abortion is called dilation and
evacuation. Since the fetus has bones, bulk and can move, second trimester is not as
simple. When as much of
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