Abortion vs. Driving Cars - Case Study Example

Running head: Abortion vs. driving cars Abortion vs. Driving Cars Introduction Abortion is a widely debated topic in United s because of the increased number of recent abortion cases. Some people argue that abortion should be prohibited by law since it is a kind of human right violation. Human right issues are applicable not only to the real people, but for the fetus as well. Fetus has both legal and ethical rights to enter the real world just like all the other human beings. But most of the rights of the fetus are violated in the current world by killing it using abortion various techniques. On the other hand proponents of abortion argue that pregnant women should have given the authority to take decisions about the future of the fetus since she is the one who ultimately needs to suffer the difficulties of pregnancy. Irresponsible driving or driving under the influence of alcohol is a common practice in American social life. Such driving often resulted in the killing of innocent people. Though the drunk driver may not intend to kill others, his immature actions may lead towards, somebody losing their life. He will escape from the laws because of unintentional killing with little penalties. In 2004, four countries (China, Iran, Vietnam and the US) accounted for 97 percent of all global executions. On average, every 9-10 days a government in the United States executes a prisoner. Since the 1976 Supreme Court decision that re-instated the death penalty in the United States, the governments of the United States had executed 1,136, as of December 2008(Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty - Capital Punishment) The mysteries behind the life and death are still remaining as a secret though science and technology has developed immensely in the current century. Though man doesn’t know much about the origin of life and also the life after death, still he is taking the life of others using different methods, some of them may have happened accidently and some others may be happened deliberately. Taking the life of a person is perceived in different ways by the society. Abortion is a deliberate act of killing a fetus which has supporters and opponents in the social life. Driving cars is an acceptable social practice even though the practice does kill people. Capital punishment is also accepted by majority of the American people, even though it is another way of taking the life of a person. In all the above three cases, the ultimate result is the loss of life by a person. Some of the above actions justified by the society while the others may not have the social backups. The purpose of this paper is to uphold the importance of life and to question the wisdom of taking life and giving approval for it by the society. Background information Most of the American women pregnancies are unintended which forces the women to think in terms of an abortion. In fact majority of the unintended pregnancies are aborted by the American women without having much emotions or feelings about killing a fetus. “Twenty-two percent of all pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) end in abortion. Forty percent of pregnancies among white women, 69% among blacks and 54% among Hispanics are unintended in America. In 2005, 1.21 million abortions were performed, down from 1.31 million in 2000. From 1973 through 2005, more than 45 million legal abortions occurred. Each year, about two percent of women aged 15-44 have an abortion; 47% of them have had at least one previous abortion Number of abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44, by year (Facts on Induced Abortion in the United States, 2008) The Denver Post recently examined 195 DUI crashes that involved a death since 2005 and found that at least 30 percent of the drunk drivers involved had multiple DUI arrests before they finally killed someone. That’s 58 deaths caused by a repeat offender. (A License to Kill? Drunk Drivers Keep On Drinking and Driving) “Car accidents involving alcohol kill someone every 31 minutes and every two minutes someone is injured. Over 17,000 people are drunk driving accident victims every year.(Seattle Washington Accident Law Blog) Arguments against taking the life of another person No science or technology has succeeded so far in unveiling the mysteries behind life. Nobody knows from where they come and where they go. In other words the mysteries surrounding the stage before birth and after death are still unknowns to human being. The force which is responsible for giving life and sending the human being to earth has definite plans and it is ethically wrong to act against the will of the creator. Humans don’t have the moral or legal right to take the life of another person even if he has committed serious crimes. Nobody has so far succeeded in giving life to a dead person and hence they don’t have the right to take the life of a living person. I strongly believe that criminals who are a liability to the society or those who do not live based on the rules of the society needs to be punished and in extreme cases they must be imprisoned on a life long term rather than taking the life of him. This will give enough time for the person to correct himself if he realizes his crime. Most of the crimes happening only because of the suitable environment and the animal like character appear momentarily. I don’t think even the cruelest criminal may not continue his criminal activities for his entire life span. Moreover as per the Christian belief even a lifelong sinner can attain a place in the heaven if he confesses his crime even at the last moment of his life. In US, as of April 1, 2008, the Death Penalty was authorized by 37 states, the Federal Government, and the U.S. Military”(The death penalty in the US). Executing a criminal, definitely denies the opportunity for him to attain salvation and in my opinion capital punishment cannot be justified in any case. Abortions and improper care of fetus is one of the main concerns of the modern world especially in United States. Crazy life habits and sexual habits quiet often resulted in unwanted pregnancies and abortion is the solution most of the people consider in order to overcome such situations. Nobody even think of the legal or moral rights of a fetus at the time of abortion. Society also has different opinions and concepts about abortion. Most of the people in America support abortion even though they are religious people. The term “killing” is not associated with abortion as per the views of many of the American public. Irresponsible driving is another way of taking life of a person which is considered sympathetically by the society since it is unintentional. It is not wise to justify the actions of a drunk driver by giving him the benefits of unintentional killing. Such drunk drivers must be punished severely by giving them long terms of imprisonment. Arguments in favor of taking the life of another person Capital punishment and abortions are socially approved acts of killing a person. Proponents of capital punishment believe that it is better to take the life of a cruel criminal in order to save the lives of other innocent people. In my opinion, it is better to keep such criminals in the jail for a life long term rather than killing them. Supporters of abortion believe that unwanted pregnancies may damage the physical and psychological health of the women and hence they should be allowed to abort the fetus. Unwanted pregnancies mostly happen through rape or sexual intercourse under the influence of alcohol. A momentary lapse of control should not be allowed to haunt the pregnant woman for her entire life as per the proponents of abortion. In my views the creator has certain plan about the course of our life on earth and we must accept that. It is not right to alter the decisions of the creator in any circumstances. Man has no control over his life. Nobody can predict what is going to happen at the very next moment. Even after aborting a fetus, that women may not get peace of mind because of her feeling of guilty. The memory of abortion may last till the end of her life. So abortion may result only in getting a temporary peace of mind, in the long run it may create more problems. Conclusions It is better to leave the right of structuring or restructuring of our life to the person/ force which is responsible for it. It is foolishness to repair a machine with limited knowledge about the parts and functioning of the machine. Same way man has limited knowledge about the way in which our body, mind and soul functioning. Nobody knows where our mind or spirit rests. But everybody knows that in order to function properly, our body needs the power from the mind or spirit which is controlled by some other entity. Though we are succeeded in repairing the physical parts of our body, the main parts like the mind and spirit which are responsible for giving life to our body is still beyond our control. In that respect, taking the life or killing of a person should be condemned even if it is case of abortion, capital punishment or killing caused by irresponsible car driving. References 1. The Death penalty in the US, Retrieved on 21 June 2009 from http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/dpusa.htm 2. Facts on Induced Abortion in the United States, 2008, Retrieved on 21 June 2009 from http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/fb_induced_abortion.html 3. Seattle Washington Accident Law Blog, 2009, Retrieved on 21 June 2009 from http://www.injurytriallawyer.com/blog/drunk-driving-car-accident-statistics-l-seattle-auto-accident-lawyer.cfm 4. A License to Kill? Drunk Drivers Keep On Drinking and Driving,2009, Retrieved on 21 June 2009 from http://www.coloradolaw.net/blog/drunk-driving/a-license-to-kill-drunk-drivers-keep-on-drinking-and-driving-866186/ 5. Pros and Cons of the Death Penalty - Capital Punishment,2009, Retrieved on 21 June 2009 from http://uspolitics.about.com/od/deathpenalty/i/death_penalty.htm Read More