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Deshana Liyanage
PHL 201.01
12/1/2017

Abortion
Introduction

Roe vs. Wade. It’s a topic you’ve guaranteed to have seen or heard about once or twice in

the lexicon of American media. Ever since the inception of the case, the two parties in the case

link together to form a case which has never been forgotten, and seemingly will never be for the

test of time in legal policy. Many women have tried to abort the fetus or unborn baby late in the

term of the pregnancy, which led to the historical case of Roe v. Wade. The case became a

deliberate balance of the consideration of the woman with the pregnancy and eventually shifted

the “official” deadline for an abortion to be considered legal. Imagining the terror of having your

life potentially be turned upside down with a child while balancing the human right of a fetus to

live a brandished, lively adolescence is a difficult one for not only jurisprudence, but at a very

humane level. I feel that the priority should always be the choice of the person carrying the child,

in other words, I am known as a “pro-choice” supporter when it comes to the issue of the

abortion. I can understand the viewpoints against abortion and supporting the life of the unborn,

but socioeconomic considerations typically outweigh any legitimate claim against abortion. The

considerable changes in socioeconomic future and fiscal dependency are the strongest reasons

why abortion should be considered legal. Many detractors of abortion laws believe that abortion

laws run concurrently against the basic human action of murder – the taking of an innocent life

without their free will. The fetus is a person, no matter if they can fight or fend for themselves or

not. Another argument is a purely emotional one – adoption is always an option for the child,

rather than aborting it pre-term. There are millions of families across the United States who want

to adopt a child, and there is always a home for a child.

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Opposition Arguments

Abortion is Murder

It is commonly cited that abortion follows the same principle as murder. The life of an

innocent child who cannot protect themselves is taken, without the consent of the child. As a

result, many take the issue of abortion as serious as any topic in our society today. With such a

subject, it is hard to find middle ground – it is either murder in the eyes of some, or simply in

some times putting out a problem for the woman who is pregnant. It is a very serious topic,

considering that a life is being taken away.

In order to have an accurate discussion of abortion, we must first analyze what murder is

by definition. States and federal statutes both have different wording and ideas of what murder is

based on past legal precedent. According to the dictionary, murder is the unlawful killing of

another human being with malice aforethought” (Friberg 2014). In addition to the different

wording and ideas, murder has often been divided in criminal courts as first and second degree

murder, often with malice being cited as the difference between both kinds of murder (Friberg

2014). Punishments differ greatly for such a crime, as first degree murder is often seen as a

reprehensible act where the perpetrator has no chance of rehabilitating and re-entering society. If

such is the case for the person seeking the abortion, can their ability to contribute to society truly

be questioned as well?

It is important to designate that abortion has not actually been classified as murder in any

state in the country. The legal definition of murder does not capture the action of an abortion,
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which means that abortion is not unlawful and cannot be defined as murder at the current stage

of jurisprudence.

Each case in the legal system is considered independently. The act alone of abortion is

not considered murder, but it is important to distinguish situations in which malicious intent or

premeditation or lack of legal authority can come into play. These situations do not exempt the

seeker of the abortion, particularly when the situation can be absolved or in some way improved,

rather than terminate the life of the child. Legally, abortion has become legal in all of the United

States under the Roe vs. Wade decision. Despite the precedent in place, social conduct and

norms often become more mobile and thinking changes. Slavery, for example, was legal at one

point until social discourse eventually proved the inhumane and fundamentally violating way

that enslavement was not okay. This is not to say that that abortion is being compared to slavery

rather to express the idea of societal norms changes over time. Critics of abortion believe that

without a true way of measuring the social acceptance of abortion, biblical and laws of nature

should be examined for a conclusion to the idea of abortion. At the same time, it becomes

difficult to see when the “unjustified” qualifier in natural law and the Bible means for a society.

A Life Lived is Better Than A Life Never Lived At All

Planned Parenthood commissioned a report in 2011 which illustrated that the

organization performed “327,166 abortions and only 2,197 adoption referrals.” In simple

mathematical terms, this means that for every 1 adoption of a child, nearly 150 different children

are aborted during pregnancy. Many women see abortion as a quick fix to a big problem, of

having to commit the time and resources to a young child. Perhaps the carrier of the child is

young, in their teens – unable to take care of a child because they lack the educational capital to

do so – or a woman who simply does not want to have a child until she is established in their
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career. Rather than carry to term, women see abortion as a cheaper, confidential and long-term

solution for their problems.

Realistically, none of these stated claims is true. Abortions range from hundreds of

dollars to thousands of dollars, depending on the stage of pregnancy. The alternative method to

abortion, adoption, is completely free and the adoptees of the child absorb any costs for the

child’s future. Even in the case of a pre-determined adoption when someone is mid-term, the

adoptive family sometimes has the opportunity to offer the woman who is in term “life

expenses” – rent, food, utilities and transportation.

Proponents of abortion argue that the confidentiality of a private abortion is something

that only it can deliver. However, there are methods already in place for an adoption to be

completed confidentially, where any family or friends will not know about a pregnancy.

Agencies such as American Adoptions have been developed which help pregnant women adapt

their lifestyles to prevent attention from being pregnant, including living situations as well as

baggy clothing to prevent the sight of baby bumps.

Furthermore, abortion is an irreversible decision which can’t be undone. Emotionally

difficult choices in leaving a child or killing a child are never easy. When you abort a child, the

child’s life is over and you will never be able to see them live or entertain the thought of the

potential their life could have held. Adoptive families often maintain relationships with the

woman who is carrying the child, and are able to let them interact in some cases or even give

pictures for the woman to see their child. It has been speculated that abortions also contribute to

the development of postpartum depression and post-abortion stress syndrome (PASS). The

length or duration of these cases can lead to extreme, suicidal thoughts.

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Assessment

Like any social issue, there are multiple sides to every argument. You can come up with

100 different arguments that are valid conclusions to make based off the scope with which you

examine data. For the purposes of analysis, we will analyze recent reports for reasons that

women have cited for why they have abortions. A recent study done by a group of researchers

indicates that women cite unready for parental responsibility, unable to afford raising a child and

lifestyle changes as the main reasons why they do want to abort a child (Greasley 2017).

The first issue we will examine is the idea of not being ready for parental responsibility.

Most abortions are carried out by women between the ages of 18 to 30 years old. During the

calendar year 2011, women from the age of 20-25 carried out 55,909 abortions and had the

highest rate of abortion amongst women (Reitan 2016). There were approximately 42,321

abortions to women aged 25 to 30, and 33,923 to women who were aged 15 to 19. From this

population of people, the majority of women who choose to abort a child are within the 20 to 25

year age range.

These women are typically either just out of college or are in the midst of their first job.

Their priority in life is typically focused on getting their first job or moving up the chain of

command at their job (Sheldon 2015). It is commonly cited that a child costs a family about

$10,000 to $15,000 per year in income (Bennett 2017). Even if the person who is carrying the

child has a steady, well-paying job, this amount of costs per year early on in their career eats

away at their salary to the point that they have very little money to spend for their own health

and well-being. With this revelation, one can make the claim that a woman carrying a child to

term and taking care of the child not only puts the child at risk, but also the parent from

becoming insolvent and not being able to take care of themselves on their own.
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Many will cite that there are options for the parent than aborting the child, perhaps

bringing the child to term and then letting another family adopt it. On the first layer, many claim

that this allows the child to live and experience a life for themselves independent of the situation

they were conceived in. They can contribute to society and experience life to the fullest, rather

than having it stopped before it even began. A child’s formative years are often informed by their

personal perceptions of how their peers view them (Bennett 2017). Naturally, it would be

impossible for a child who is adopted to look or resemble anything like the adoptees who raise

the child. With the lack of social decorum that is often found in mature adults, the child would be

subject to teasing, verbal abuse and other bullying which would affect the child’s ability to truly

fit in with their classmates. At this point, the clauses from Casey vs. Planned Parenthood must

be introduced. Casey introduces the idea of the undue burden, which is similar to the financial

burdens experienced by the pregnant woman. When does it become an undue burden for a child

who was not wanted by the mother to have to carry the inevitable scarlet letter of being an

adopted child during their childhood? The costs would be absorbed by the family for raising the

child, but what would happen to the children who do not know how to deal with the knowledge

of being adopted (Sheldon 2015)? How they fit in relative to the rest of their peers? Resentment,

mistrust and abandonment issues may arise which lead the child into acting out by reaching into

negative peer groups, or even criminal activity. Financial backing also only reaches so far as if

the family who adopts the child is ready for it. Many of the families who adopt are often older in

age, having established careers and looking for companionship. Are they ready for the true rigors

of raising a child through adolescence and their teenager years as they enter retirement? A child

who is raised in an environment with parents who eventually grow tired of the child can be just

as negative an effect as being raised with the couple or mother who gets the abortion.
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Abortion is also cited as murder as a reason for reasons against it. There are social

situations where maturity is often cited as a reason for pre-determined action. We know not to

speed on the highway because it can lead to accidents. We know to put on a seatbelt in our car

because a car crash can exponentially become worse without it. In criminal law, we know that

self-defense is often cited as an acceptable defense in certain cases when someone dies in the

midst of an attack on another individual. Every situation is unique to the person who is

considering the abortion.

An abortion can be considered a defense of the person carrying the child. Despite the

claims of many of its critics, abortion is much the same as an adoption in terms of the “regret”

factor that many women who choose to abort children experience. In the case of Roe vs. Wade,

this case was decided based on this idea. Legal precedent through Roe confirms that abortions

are conducted by women for their “safety” (Garrow 2015). Their safety can entail not only their

physical health, but their future financial health (Lee 2014). Roe decided that the state legislation

could only enforce the third trimester as the deadline for the abortion, as it was medically argued

during the case that this was when health began to be jeopardized for the woman and the fetus

can be argued to have more human tendencies (Garrow 2015). As a result, one would argue that

Roe has proven that the women’s safety is more prioritized over the child that is being carried in

the case of health danger or risk (Lee 2014). Legal precedent was later established in Casey v.

Planned Parenthood when the carrier of the child was granted the undue burden clause which

legitimizes many of the claims presented in this paper (Kelso 2015). If the women felt that a

burden they were not ready for – emotionally or financially – then they were justified in getting

the abortion, even outside of the framework of Roe (Kelso 2015). When the woman relinquishes

the child to an adoption, they no longer have the ability to raise the child. The average age of a
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woman choosing to abort a child is between the age of 18 to 30. The median of the couples

looking to adopt a child is 40 to 45 years old (Greasley 2017). If the person who gives the child

up for adoption wants to start a family again by the time they reach this age, they will not be able

to raise the child they originally conceived. This regret lives on just as long as the decision of an

abortion made during their earlier years. Both decisions are irreversible.

While abortions have other options as opposed to killing the child, they present a

multitude of choices to the person choosing the adoption that need not be presented. The

conception of the child for a person seeking an abortion is the point where they lose control in

the situation and will live a life of regret despite the decision they make. Without the certainty of

the outcome of a choice, we can argue that anything could happen with the decision of a life to

be aborted. Consequently, these choices originate and end with the person seeking the abortion.

If they want to abort, they should be able to abort. If they do not want to abort, they should leave

the child for adoption. The choices are not and the same.
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Sources

Friberg-Fernros, H. (2014, May). Taking precautionary concerns seriously: A defense of a misused anti-

abortion argument. In The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy: A Forum for Bioethics and Philosophy of

Medicine (Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 228-247). Journal of Medicine and Philosophy Inc..

Greasley, K., & Kaczor, C. (2017). Abortion Rights. Cambridge University Press.

Reitan, E. (2016). Avoiding the Personhood Issue: Abortion, Identity, and Marquis's ‘Future‐Like‐Ours’

Argument. Bioethics, 30(4), 272-281.

Sheldon, S. (2015). The decriminalisation of abortion: An argument for modernisation. Oxford Journal of

Legal Studies, 36(2), 334-365.

Bennett, J. M. (2017). Beyond the Abortion Wars: A Way Forward for a New Generation.

Garrow, D. J. (2015). Liberty and sexuality: The right to privacy and the making of Roe v. Wade. Open

Road Media.

Casey v. Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania, 14 F.3d 848, 863

Lee, N. H. (2014). The Search for an Abortionist: The Classic Study of How American Women Coped with

Unwanted Pregnancy before Roe v. Wade. Open Road Media.

Kelso, R. R. (2015). The Structure of Planned Parenthood v. Casey Abortion Rights Law:'Strict

Scrutiny'for'Substantial Obstacles' on Abortion Choice and Otherwise'Reasonableness Balancing'.

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973)