The Pros And Cons Of Abortion

Abortions, ever since they became an option for women to terminate an unwanted baby either for personal or health related reasons, were always a touchy subject for people because on one side you are ending a possible human 's life, but on the other it is the woman 's body and her choice with what she wants to do with it. However, many abortions are done usually at the start of pregnancy and what the abortionist terminates does not resemble that of a baby at all. Partial-Birth abortions are different in that they are done in the second trimester on a fetus that, if not terminated, could live when extracted from the mother. This type of abortion is one of the most gruesome procedures that doctors have to do and after the passing of the Partial-Birth

Martin Haskell, a doctor who has performed over a thousand Partial-Birth Abortions, these operations usually take place when the mother is in her twentieth to twenty fourth month of pregnancy. Dr. Haskell states, “And I 'll be quite frank: most of my abortions are elective in that 20-24 week range. . . . In my particular case, probably 20% [of this procedure] are for genetic reasons. And the other 80% are purely elective.” (American Medical News) He goes on to describe that many of these mothers choose this procedure simply because it is the easiest on there body, and it is also fairly quick. The hardest part for Dr. Haskell is that during the 20-24 week range some of the babies or viable, meaning that they could survive if extracted from the mother, even if it be for only a short period of time. The point of viability, done in a 2003 to 2005 study, is 20 to 35 percent of babies born at 23 weeks of gestation survive, while 50 to 70 percent of babies born at 24 to 25 weeks, and more than 90 percent born at 26 to 27 weeks, survive. At this point he sees the baby as a child and thinks about a family that could possibly adopt the baby, but then he remembers that this decision is not his it is the mother

Bush signed the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act; which prohibited a type of late term abortion called Partial-Birth abortion. This was the first time in history, the two houses of Congress had passed, and a president had signed into law, a federal law criminalizing established medical procedures. Under this law it is illegal for doctors to knowingly perform a partial-birth abortion. If they do they will be looking at time in prison for no more than 2 years along with a fine. Those who support the ban see it as a stepping stone to ban more types of abortions. If they are able to ban something like Partial-Birth abortions then maybe they could continue to ban different types of abortions saving more babies lives. Pro-life activists claim that life is given at the time of conception and that according to law unborn children have the right to live. However, pro-choice activists claim that this ban is unconstitutional and that no matter what a woman should have the right to choose what she wants to do with her body and what is growing inside of