Abortion is a complex issue that has been the subject of contentious debate for decades. Abortion is defined as a procedure to end pregnancy through the termination of an embryo or fetus. Due to the controversy surrounding this topic, many television series often shy away from it. Fortunately, Degrassi has consistently addressed heavy topics youth can relate to, including teen pregnancy, and has been a source for entertainment and education for generations. Over three incarnations of Degrassi: Degrassi High, Degrassi: The Next Generation, and Degrassi: Next Class, it has depicted the complex issue of abortion in a reasonable, accurate, and educational way. It sheds light on the challenges of teen pregnancy to foster empathy and understanding, …show more content…
In Degrassi High, Erica's class has a debate on this issue, with many classmates being against it, which makes Erica more uncomfortable and guilty. Her own sister was saying it was murder in this debate; students were saying the baby has rights; several of them were anti-abortion, which shows the harsh opinions people have on this topic and little support for people making the decision to abort the baby. When Erica goes to the abortion clinic after the debate, she is greeted by protesters who are trying to block her from going, telling her to not go there and saying she would not have been born if the abortion building was there 16 years ago. This further shows the judgment and lack of support people who choose to have abortions get. In the Next Generation, Manny's best friend Emma is very unsupportive of her decision to have an abortion. Emma tells her she cannot do that. She tries to convince Manny to keep the baby, and when she doesn’t listen, she just leaves. The next day at school, she ignores Manny, not wanting to be associated with someone who is thinking about abortion. Manny is also too afraid to tell her mom she's pregnant because last time her cousin was in this situation, she ended up being sent to the Philippines. Her mom did not end up being mad, but knowing what happened to her cousin, she wasn't interested in testing her parents. She truly believed her parents would have a harsh opinion on this and chose not to support her. In Degrassi: Next Class, at the beginning of the abortion episode, Lola's friends are in the washroom with her while Lola takes the pregnancy test. When they think that Lola isn't listening, her friends talk about how embarrassing it would be and how they would die if this happened. This results in Lola lying to them about it being negative because she feels like her friends would not support her. Through the
“10 Arguments in Favor of Pro-Choice Policy.” Advocates for Youth. N.p., 2010. Web. 18 Mar. 2010. .
...trop, K., Brown, J., & Ortiz, R. (2010). “Science Says #45: Evaluating the Impact of MTV’s 16 and Pregnant on Teens' Attitudes about Teen Pregnancy”. https://thenationalcampaign.org/resource/science-says-45 (accessed March 25 2014)
Teenagers who become mothers have harsh prospects for the future. Teenagers obtaining abortions are 20% and girls under 15 accounts for 1.2%. They are much more likely to leave of school; receive insufficient prenatal care; rely on public assistance to raise a child; develop health problems; or en...
For some, abortion is a touchy subject like politics and religion. In America, abortion has always been a controversial topic of discussion. The Supreme Court in the case Roe vs Wade case set the way of guidelines and the right for women to have an abortion if she chooses. In 2015 abortions is still an ongoing debate amongst religious groups, politicians and normal citizens. People that are for the rights of women to abort are often criticized and ridiculed for standing up for their personal beliefs. There are people who have conditioned their minds to think that women should not be allowed to have abortions if she was not raped or a result of incest, which I strongly disagree with that type of thinking. However, it is the law of the land, it is a women’s right to choose and she has to live with the psychological effects of her choice.
An issue that has flared up in today’s society, abortion is a highly debated topic that has sparked some of the most violent discussions. The rapid growth in teenage pregnancy has only increased the amount of attention that has been drawn to abortion and whether it is ethical or not. While some say that a woman is in power of her own body and can make choices based on her best interest, some take much offense to that and demand that a baby is a baby no matter how small it is and that abortion is never okay. It is important to know going into this debate that to argue one side, one would have to be 100% consistent with that decision because of all of the grey areas that come up regarding abortion. With that being said, I still believe that a mother should take responsibility of the situation and recognize that, even though it is minuscule, a baby is a person the moment it begins to develop inside of her.
In my freshman year of high school, I had taken an ROTC class. My instructor brought up in a discussion on opposing abortion or not. The students in my class disagreed with the right of abortion, while I quietly sat back and listened to their opposing views. They thought of abortion as murder, and considered that there are other alternatives to take other than that route. Later on, I remember my mother and I both agreed to abortion having its reasons to be considerable. That the reality of keeping a child is being able to financially support the baby, house-hold family issues that abide by certain morals by life’s standards, and the mother of the child may still being school, which leads to a stressful environment. Later on the discussion of abortion was brought up again when attending Bowie State in my health class. By watching a video, I learned how more people involved in a group called pro-life opposed abortion because it was looked at as a form of murder. I disagree because the baby isn’t fully born yet, and if aborting a chil...
In the United States, there are about 1.5 million abortions that are performed each year. This averages out to every one in four pregnancies ending in abortion. Out of all the women that get abortions, eighty percent are unmarried and sixty-three percent are between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four (Misra and Panigrahi, 1998). The younger group (fifteen to seventeen) is comprised mostly of white teenagers whereas the older group (eighteen and older) is made up of more African American teenagers (Ezzard, Cates, Kramer, and Tietze, 1982). With abortion becoming such an important subject based on its commonality and significance in the political sector, it is no wonder why social scientist have done so much research on it. Researchers have fo...
Being a mother is a lifelong job that requires copious time, energy, and money. There are myriad different reasons in which a woman would consider getting an abortion. The decision is often tragic and painful for the mother. It is one of the biggest choices a woman will make. Many people have strong beliefs about abortion, and if a mother makes a decision that they do not agree with they sometimes turn against the mother, and enkindle egregious feelings about their decision for the rest of their life. Indeed a woman may not get an abortion for selfish reasons or out of convenience, but out of a desire to protect certain important values such as her own health or a decent standard of living for the other members of the family. Additional intentions for having abortion include rape, financial difficulties, obligation by family members, or danger to the baby’s health (Roleff
Many people don’t actually want to have the abortion but are just too afraid to take that first step into pregnancy and especially parenthood. Very many influential people have voiced their opinion on this topic trying to get through to others like the couple in the story. George Bush once said, “I do not believe the promises of the Declaration of Independence are just for the strong, the independent, the healthy. They are for everyone-including unborn children.” Although his quote does lead to another argument of when are baby’s considered people, he believes that all walks of life, both born, and unborn are entitled to liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and
The abortion debate has long been a contentious issue, but has been the most polarizing topic in society today, with passionate arguments on both sides. Proponents of abortion rights argue that a woman should have autonomy over her own body and the right to make decisions about her own reproductive health. On the other hand, opponents of abortion believe that life begins at conception and that terminating a pregnancy is morally wrong. “A New Start, Part 2,” an episode of the popular 80s Canadian show Degrassi High, dives into this controversial topic as one of the characters, Erica, faces an unplanned pregnancy and must make the difficult decision of whether or not to have an abortion. As the storyline unfolds, moral, ethical, and personal
Social 30-1 Perspectives of individualism. Source 1: There is a quote by Roger B. Butters establishing his view on capitalism. Capitalism is an economic system in which people or businesses own the resources necessary to produce things or provide services. It involves competition among multiple market actors with the goal of producing a profit.
In America, one million teenagers get pregnant every year (National Abortion Federation, 2003). Of these pregnancies, 78% are unplanned because these teenagers start having sex at a very young age and are unaware of ways to prevent pregnancies. Thirty five percent of the pregnant teenagers chose to abort, as they fear that the consequences of the pregnancy might cause significant effects to their lives. The problems that come with teenage pregnancies include dropping out of school, receiving inadequate prenatal care, developing health problems, relying on public assistance to raise a child, and probably divorcing their partners. In most states, the law allows pregnant teenagers to take their babies for adoption without consulting their parents. The same laws allow the teenagers to have an abortion but require parental notification or consent before carrying out the procedure. These laws prove biased as they favor one resolution over the other, as they force some to bear babies they do not want by restricting their options.
A 52% of women getting abortions performed on them are younger than 25 years old and 19% are teenagers. The abortion rate is highest for those women aged 18 to 19 (56 per 1,000 in 1992 pregnancy centers.org).the reasons for this alarming rate are various and vary from person to person. But the most common decision to have an abortion is to postpone childbearing. This decision is mostly picked by the older group of women in this statistic. Another alarming fact is that a percentage of women are been pressured into abortion. Either by peers or by them realizing that they could no longer do the things they did before they became pregnant and that is when they encounter a struggle with their values. Since there is also a considerate percentage of teenage girls having abortions they are at high risk for developing serious emotional and psychological problems following abortion. Such as the impact abortion can have on a minor's emotional health, physical health, fertility, and future pregnancies. All these factors can play an important role in the future of that teenager. All of this wouldn’t have been possible without the Roe v. Wade case which in 1973, the Supreme Court decided the case of Roe v. Wade, and made abortion legal for the first time in the United States. This decision allowed women the choice to decide if they are going to terminate a pregnancy, and it allowed women the right to get a safe and legal abortion. From 1880 to 1973 abortions were illegal, and many women were having illegal and very unsafe abortions-often causing permanent damage to their reproductive organs or sometimes even death from i bleeding or infections. Since the decision was handed down by the Supreme Court, women's access to abortion ha...
While it is true that statistical trends have declined over time within teen pregnancy, but glamorization of the subject has increased. According to the OAH, “roughly 40% of females in the U.S. will become pregnant before their 20th birthdays.”(OAH) “Half of these pregnant teens give birth each year, while around 45% receive abortions. Around 85% of these pregnancies are unplanned and 7.2% do not receive medical care.”(OAH) Teen pregnancy has become a trend in the United States. The widely viewed MTV franchises, 16 and Pregnant and Teen Mom, showcase the lives of pregnant teenagers during the end of their pregnancies and their days of motherhood. While the show advocates for the use of contraception and abstinence, there is still much speculation as to whether or not this is helping or harming society. The NBER Bulletin on Aging and Health reports that
The problem with teenage pregnancy is it requires intervention from society. This debate is from the perspective of teens, and absent from the medical, ethical, and political views on teen pregnancy. According to Jewell, Tacchi, & Donovan, (2000), teen pregnancy is not a problem for teens themselves but more of a problem for society. The large numbers of unintended pregnancies are among unmarried teens.