妇女有权享受安全堕胎的权利

Essay代写范文:“妇女有权享受安全堕胎的权利”，这篇论文主要描述的是在1973年以前的美国，女性堕胎是一件备受指责的事情，当时的堕胎诊所被大量关闭，社会上对于女性堕胎是处于完全静止的状态，当时的女性堕胎没有专业的器械以及医护人员，因此堕胎将有着较大的生命危险，直至罗伊诉韦德案官方开始注重起了保障怀孕女性安全堕胎的权利，开始使堕胎转向合法化。

The Supreme Court decision in 1973 on the case of Roe v. Wade was supposed to mark the beginning of privacy and safety for women facing unwanted pregnancies. But, as Anna Quindlen states: "The right to choose became the right to convince a judge that you should have an abortion because you couldn't dare tell your parents. It became the right to walk through keening demonstrators, strangers begging you not to kill your baby. It became the right to be treated by a doctor who the next day could end up dead, murdered because of his work" (Quindlen, 86).

The Christian Bible is silent on the topic of abortion. Why? Some suggest that it is because it would be unthinkable for to an Israelite woman to terminate a pregnancy. However, it is known that abortion was practiced in the ancient world. In Assyria, Israel's neighbor, there were rules concerning self-induced abortion. In both the Old and New Testaments, the Israelites condemn the unsavory practices of their neighbors, such as idol worship and sacred prostitution. But no mention of abortion is made. The commandment that "Thou shall not kill" also has holes in it as Biblical proof against abortion. The commandment did not apply to all living things indiscriminately; the Israelites were expected to kill animals for food and sacrifice, as well as to end the existence of their enemies, such as the Philistines. The answer, then, is not so cut-and-dried. A good question to ask: is the fetus a person, or when does it become one, and of what value in comparison to the woman who carries it (Ward)?

A zygote, or fertilized ovum, is a potential human life, but not yet an actuality. It is a cluster of cells far less developed or complex than a living, breathing person. The fetus is human in that every cell of it contains complete human genetic code. Also by genetics, a severed limb is human. But no one calls this a person. By this same logic, every egg that goes unfertilized, every sperm cell that does not fuse with an egg, is a wasted life. Again, these are potentialities, not actualities (Mollenkott).

There is a passage in the Christian Bible (Exodus 21:22-25) that brings up an interesting point to this debate. A pregnant woman gets caught up in a fight between two men and miscarries as a result. The penalty to be exacted for the loss of the fetus is separate from that for harm or death to the woman. The husband and judges determine a fine to be paid for the loss of the fetus. However, if the woman died, lex talionus  would be instituted. In layman's terms, and eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth. Not that the fetus is unvalued, the woman has a higher standing as a full human being (Simmons).

The Mishnah of the Hebrew Bible does deal with what is considered therapeutic abortion: if it is endangering the mother's life, the pregnancy should be terminated so as to preserve the existence of the living (nephesh) mother (Ward). This demonstrates religious backing for the idea that the already existing life is of greater importance than the potential life.

There are four major considerations for abortion in the Jewish tradition. One, what is the legal status of the embryo or fetus? Two, when does ensoulment occur? Three, under what conditions may a therapeutic abortion take place? And four, under what conditions may a non-therapeutic abortion take place (Zwerin and Shapiro)?

According to Jewish law, a fetus is simply not a person, it is without nephesh. The Talmud describes a fetus as being a part of the woman's body: ubar yerech imo, the fetus is as the thigh of it's mother. In the consideration of ensoulment, there are many interpretations that have placed its occurrence anywhere from the time of conception to as late as when the child learns to talk. Overall, ensoulment is accepted as a mystery of God that will not be revealed until the coming of the Messiah, and therefore is not truly a consideration in the abortion debate. As was shown in the preceding example, therapeutic abortions may be administered to save the life of the pregnant woman. In cases of non-therapeutic abortion, the concern is still most heavily on "the pain of the mother", though there are numerous considerations. The future well-being of the child, such as genetic defect, is not considered an acceptable reason for abortion. (Zwerin and Shapiro).

The concept of nephesh is an important one to consider in this debate, by both the Jewish and Christian standpoints (recall that Christianity is an offshoot of Judaism). The Christian Bible, when examined in its original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek, contains some nuances that are lost in the English translation. It is agreed among theologians that when considering personhood, nephesh is the important term to look for. A distinction is made between a body and a body with nephesh, a wholly living, breathing being. The roots of the term seem to be related to the verb "to breathe". The nephesh is the source of life. Because a fetus does not breathe, it does not have nephesh, and by that definition is not a person. "For just as the body without breath is dead, so faith without works is dead"; James 2:26 (Ward).

It may also be considered how human a fetus is by its human characteristics. This is perhaps a moral-based question that is independent of religious beliefs. Is a fetus considered human when its face becomes unmistakably that of a human being? This happens near the end of the first trimester. When the fetus is able to respond to stimuli, also at the end of the first trimester, does that make it a person? Does personhood come with quickening, at the middle of the pregnancy, or when the lungs are developed enough that the fetus could survive a premature birth (Sagan)?

Regardless of physical appearance, what sort of human consciousness does a fetus posses? Does a fetus feel? Can it think? If these things are possible, it becomes a little more difficult to view the potential life objectively.

"It is probable that an 18 to 20 week fetus can feel pain, and easily observed that a 22-24 week premature infant can...Even normal handling may traumatize the delicate skin of very premature infants, and the resulting bruises and abrasions are probably painful. Manipulation to a partial breech delivery by a gloved adult hand probably hurts the fetus before the brain is destroyed...From the viewpoint of a neonatologist, the procedure as described sounds cruel and gruesome, and probably hurts." William J. Cashore, M.D., Neonatology, Professor of Pediatrics, Brown University (RI)  (Fetal Pain and Partial-Birth Abortion).

Brain activity can be monitored by detecting brainwaves; different types of mental activity produce different waves. Not until the thirtieth week of pregnancy, near the beginning of the third trimester, is there any shred of evidence of thought processes in the fetus. At any stage younger, the fetus, though active and alive, does not have the brain structure to think. This may be connected to the Roe v. Wade ruling that pregnancies may be terminated up to six months after conception. After that point, it would seem, the fetus has taken on enough significantly human characteristics that it may be considered a human being and ending its life would be murder. Most importantly, the fetus would be viableable to breathe on its own if born prematurely (Sagan).

In the traditional Buddhism, abortion is thoroughly looked down upon. However, Japanese Buddhism has tolerated the practice with a more lenient interpretation. With a very broad view, one could compare the Buddhists' position to that of the Roman Catholic Church. Catholic officials who look to the canonical tradition disapprove severely. Nonetheless, there is a large number of devout Catholics who stand on the side of abortion and there are even some theologians and philosophers who deem abortion as acceptable under certain conditions (Barnhart).

Abortions, when performed by a professional, as opposed to illegal abortions or self-procedures, are safe. According to the National Abortion Federation, "complications from having an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy are considerably less frequent and less serious than those associated with giving birth." Claims by anti-abortionists that a woman who has had an abortion will become sterile, or deliver stillborn, become more susceptible to breast cancer, as well as some other supposed "side effects" have been refuted by a great deal of medical research (Safety of Abortion).

The so-called "abortion pill", developed in a French laboratory in 1980 by Dr. Etienne-Emile Baulieu, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in early October, 2000. Known in France as RU-486, where it has been available since 1988, mifepristone will be available under the name of Mifeprex in America. Half of the American population is pro-choice, but there is great opposition to the pill. It has been called "human pesticide" and "a chemical coat hanger". Pro-life activists have claimed to be ready to expose doctors who prescribe mifepristone one by one, which would put many a medical practice in jeopardy. The FDA's approval process is being called into question and proposals for stringent regulations of mifepristone are being made by conservative lawmakers (France and Rosenberg, 26-9).

The availability of mifepristone has incredible potential. Annually, 1.4 million abortions are performed in the United States, mostly in abortion clinics. The number of physicians working in such specialized practices is dwindling, and most of the two thousand doctors can be found in cities. This has made it easy for the anti-abortionists to effectively stage their protests and acts of violence. However, mifepristone would not be long confined to clinics and family-planning organizations. There are relatively few restrictions imposed by the FDA, but an abundance of state laws regarding the dispension of mifepristone are anticipated. "In theory, any doctor qualified to determine the length of a pregnancy (and who can refer a patient to a traditional abortion as a backup) can prescribe it. [And]...44 percent of women's health-care doctors are at least 'somewhat likely' to do just that" (France and Rosenberg, 29).

The anti-progesterone drug may be used within seven weeks of the woman's last menstrual cycle. She must make three visits to the doctor, one for a physical examination and prescription of mifepristone, a second two days later to determine whether or not the pregnancy was terminated completely, and a third visit two weeks after the initial exam to ensure that the woman is healthy.This is how mifepristone works: Three Mifeprex tablets are ingested, which block progesterone, a female hormone necessary to maintain pregnancy. Progesterone causes the uterine wall to swell so that the fertilized egg may attach to it. Without progesterone, the cervix softens and opens up, and the fertilized egg fails to implant in the uterine wall. At the second appointment, two misoprostol tablets are administered. This drug is normally used to treat ulcers; in this case, however, it causes contractions that result in a miscarriage within a few hours. Any remaining fetal tissue is expelled from the body by the contractions. The third appointment is to confirm that the abortion occurred completely; success rates vary around 92 to 97 percent. Those that do not abort by mifepristone must undergo surgical abortion (France and Rosenberg, 28-9).

Newsweek noted in the closing of its article that President Clinton

"hoped to put a clear message on the nation's medicine cabinet by calling on Americans to respect the FDA's ruling on mifepristone 'as the scientific and medical decision it was.' But that misses the bedrock fact about abortion: it's never just about science" (France and Rosenburg, 30).

In the United States, the question is not between abortion or no abortion, but of safe, legal abortion or unsafe, illegal or self-procedures. A question that real live women deal with. "You don't know them. You don't know what's in their hearts or their minds or their wombs. And, frankly, it's none of your business. The biggest mirage of all is that it is" (Quindlen, 86).

Mifepristone puts the choice literally in the woman's hands. However, a better solution would be to prevent conception altogether. In France, where RU-486 was discovered, surgical abortions are still more popular than the pill. But places, such as the Netherlands, where contraceptives are readily available and covered by health insurance, abortion rates are dramatically less.

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