Thought Paper: Debates

Allison Brown STATS 2000 Dr. Bird 13 April, 2020 Thought Paper 4: Debates 1.) The controversial topic I chose to discuss and research is that of abortion before 24 weeks into a pregnancy. Obviously, abortion has been a hot topic for many years but I feel especially lately with states placing legislation for equal access abortions and governmental moves to defund Planned Parenthood (which only 3% of their services are providing abortions) it has become more controversial lately. One side of the debate is pro-life, this view is essentially that “abortion is murder” and the right’s of the unborn child should be recognised. The basis for this often is religous ideas or the notion that life begins at conception, therefore an abortion of the feutus would count as murder. Another statement of their beliefs that have been built on lately is that during an abortion the feutus is able to feel the procedure taking place. Other ideas against abortion are that abortion should not be a form of contraception, abortion causes phsycological damage for the mothers, less adoptable babies are available, and even at the extreme end that abortion can take away the lives of “people” who could be successful in the future. The majority of anti-abortion activists are mainly concerened with the feutus’s rights as a “human-being” and the impacts abortion have on others, rarely discussing the impacts of an abortion or carrying a child to term for the mother/family of the child. The flip side of the abortion debate is that of pro-life. Activists on this side of the debate use the Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade (legalized abortion nationwide 7-2) to show that abortion is indeed legal and was decreed so by the highest court of the land. Additionally, the counter the argument that a feutus is able to feel pain and is a right bearing human being from the time of conception, citing medical research that at the stage of abortion from 24 weeks and earlier a feutus is unable to feel pain and at the earliest points is no more than a bundle of stem cells. The pro-choice side also tends to consider the right that a woman has to be able to have an abortion and views that choice as given in our society and as a basic right to have autonomy over your body as a human, regardless of your gender. They also take note of times and places where abortion is legal, when/where women were at much higher risks for attempting self-abortions and bodily harm, in the status quo today where abortion is legal this risk is greatly minimised. In short, people who are pro-choice are more likely to refrence the feutus as a group of cells/unborn being and more so uphold the choice that a woman is able to make regarding her own body. 2.) According to Joel Best’s Stat-Spotting in Chapter H this debate regarding abortion would best fit under what he describes as a policy debate. He states that, “ … these disagreements often focus on statistics, which are important in policy debates because they carry an aura of impartial truth” (Best 110). I think that especially in the case of discussing abortion statistics are a common thing, along with medical briefs/statements, utalized by both sides of the debate. This type of debate though, only focusing on what the numbers show can leave out another side of the debate that can be moral/more thought based than statistically relevant. 3.) I fall into the pro-choice side of the debate. I strongly agree with all of the reasons that those who believe in pro-choice posses that I outlined earlier. Ultimately, I think that if an abortion is before the 24 week mark (this has been proven multiple times by physicians to be the period where the feutus is unable to feel pain) is a human right that women should have, women, not the government should have the authority and autonomy over their own bodies to determine if they would like to carry a pregnany to term. I think that the United States compared to other nations like Canada and the United Kingdom is failing to provide equal and affordable acsess to abortions for women, moves like limiting funding of Planned Parenthood, banning certain family practices from performing the procedure, and states trying to limit where/when a woman can have the procedure is a gross violation of self-determination and in a way the government is valuing the “life” of an unborn/ unfeeling feutus over that of a working, tax-paying, and fully independent woman trying to excersise autonomy over her own body.