Abortion should be illegal in the U.S - Term Paper Example

This simplistic belief is accepted by some women but it is a flawed argument particularly when the compared to the realities of abortion. Research has shown that the majority of women are coerced into committing this heinous act, the killing of a living human being, and that the legalizing of abortion makes them a safe procedure as many are led to believe is very misleading. Pro-abortion proponents usually say that non-living tissue have no rights and that the fetus is not able to feels pain.

This paper exposes these falsehoods and others that have been commonly thought are facts. It also speaks to the Constitution’s intent for the legal and ethical direction of American society. Women that are experiencing an unwanted pregnancy have little freedom of choice, especially now that abortion is legal. Under most circumstances women want to have their baby. Other important influences in her life such as friends, parents and especially husbands and boyfriends are usually the ones who put pressure on her to end the pregnancy.

In many cases it’s the abortion, not the baby that is unwanted by the woman. More often than not, it’s the father of the child who is not wanting to accept responsibility who coerces the women into having an abortion. They may even threaten a woman until she consents to the procedure. “45 percent of men interviewed at abortion clinics recalled urging abortion, including 37 percent of married men. Men justified (this) being the primary decision maker, regarding the abortion.” (Shostak, McLouth, 1984).

This study as well as other research has clearly shown that most women “choose” abortion against their own principles. A myth advocated as fact is that the fetus is nothing more than a collection of cells, a small piece of tissue unable to experience pain. A growing embryo has a distinctive set of fingerprints and a unique genetic pattern, different from its mother. It is a person. If society defines death as the heart stopping and murder as the intentional stopping of the heart then abortion must also be considered murder.

If the beating heart is legally defined as life, then nearly all abortions should be illegal because the heart is fully formed before the third week in the womb. According to a British medical journal when an eight-week-old fetus is stuck with a pin, its mouth automatically opens up in a crying position and it instinctively pulls his hand away indicating pain. “By week five, eyes, legs, and hands begin to develop. By week six, brain waves are detectable, mouth and lips are present and fingernails are beginning to form.

By the eighth week the baby can begin to hear. Every organ is in place, bones begin to replace cartilage, and fingerprints begin to form” (National Right to Life Foundation, n.d.).  ‘Pro Choice’ proponents claim that women should be allowed access to safe abortion procedures, which the government should not force women to resort to unsafe self-abortion procedures. They are working from a false premise again however. Nearly 100 percent of women say they feel extreme pain during the abortion procedure even with local anesthetics.

“Despite the use of local anesthesia, a full 97 percent of women having abortions reported experiencing pain during the procedure, which more than a third described as intense, severe or very severe. Compared to other pains, researchers have rated the pain from abortion as more painful than a bone fracture, about the same as cancer pain, though not as painful as an amputation.” (Wells, 1991). Although the word “abortion” is not in the Constitution, the country’s principal legal document remains the source for precedence for this and all other issues.

The Court decided to rule based on the