Communication Studies 20

Abortion Debate

An abortion is the deliberate act of terminating a

pregnancy, usually before the embryo or fetus can
survive independently. Only one person, the woman in
question, has the right to decide whether, when, and
under what circumstances, should she have an abortion.
A few reasons why women choose to have an abortion
are that they might be mentally unstable, or they might
have a physical or medical condition, they want to end an
unwanted pregnancy, they may not have the financial
needs to care for a child, or in some cases, their
pregnancy was resulted by a sexual assault or incest. A
new Ispos poll shows that 45% of Canadians agree
abortions should be permitted under certain
circumstances, and 6% agree that abortions should not
be permitted under any circumstances. 49% of Canadians
agree that it is the mothers choice, as it is her body and
the baby is dependent on the mother. By controlling a
womens reproductive rights, you are in fact, taking away
her civil rights. Pregnancy poses substantial risks to the
health and lives of women. Researchers from the San
Francisco-based Advancing New Standards in Public
Health discovered that 97% of women who have had an
abortion, do not regret it. As for the women who were
denied abortions, they were more likely to become
unemployed, to use public welfare, to be below the
poverty line, and 7% became victims of domestic
violence, compared to the 3% who received an abortion.
Women who are prone to domestic violence, are likely to
jeopardize their safety and health by self-inducing or
seeking a dangerous illegal procedure. Unsafe abortions
are common in many countries, including El Salvador,
Iran, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic.
 Rebuttal

Their Our Points

Points
Abortion is The concept of personhood is completely different
murder than the concept of human life. Anti-abortion
activists refer to the embryos as innocent babies,
unborn children, or undeveloped humans. Their
target is to make people believe that abortion is
murder. Despite what people may consider
embryos, the facts behind abortion should not
change, along with your opinions. There is a major
difference between an embryo, and a fetus. A
fertilized egg does not have a nervous system,
which means that they do not have consciousness.
The nervous system begins to develop later in the
pregnancy, therefore no consciousness is being
destroyed. According to the Abortion Rights
Coalition of Canada, based on 110,104 reported
abortions, an estimation of 90.6% were done in the
first trimester. In many medical procedures,
embryos that are so called people are often
 discarded during IVF treatments or PGD. Statistics
show that 3.5 million embryos have been created
since 1991, but 93% are never used. Is this murder?
If not, then how is abortion murder?

In conclusion, my partner and I believe that the mother,

has the right to decide the future of the fetus, and not the
government. Therefore, we are pro-choice supporters.
The government does not have the right to take away the
mothers reproductive or civil rights. We strongly believe
that an abortion can help change the life of the mother,
so she has a better future. With that being said, we hope
you, the judges, take our side on this very important
concept.