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Abortion; pro-life doesn't work, and more |
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I'm am vocally pro-choice. Just about everyone on Gaia who has read my journal, read any of my posts in ED, and just about every person I've talked to, I think, knows this. I want to make one big a**, huge, long journal entry about why its not bad, and why pro-choice is the only stance applicable in America today, and about the history of it, and why women deserve a right to their body. *cracks knuckles* Here I go.
Basic knowledge;
Roe vs. Wade - the ruling that made abortion legal.
feminism - the belief of equal rights between the sexes
human - anything with human DNA
person - anything with human DNA that holds personhood in the eyes of the law
First amendment; freedom of religion - "Two clauses in the First Amendment guarantee freedom of religion. The establishment clause prohibits the government from passing legislation to establish an official religion or preferring one religion over another. It enforces the "separation of church and state." Some governmental activity related to religion has been declared constitutional by the Supreme Court. For example, providing bus transportation for parochial school students and the enforcement of "blue laws" is not prohibited. The free exercise clause prohibits the government, in most instances, from interfering with a person's practice of their religion. " [1]
Ninth Amendment; privacy - "the enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people," [8]
chromosomal DNA - carrier of heredity DNA; 50% from the male, 50% from the female [2]
mitochondrial DNA - structure that transforms food energy into usable energy for the cell to use [3]; necessary for the zygote to develop into a fetus, and so forth.
zygote - cell resulting from fertilization [4] Goes through rapid cell division known as cleavage, or segmentation
embryo - being from the moment of fertilization, in humans, the first eight weeks of the pregnancy[5]
fetus - unborn with basic structure of its kind [6], all of pregnancy after eight weeks.
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History of Roe vs. Wade;
Roe. Vs Wade started rolling in 1971, on January 22nd, when 31 states had abortion completely illegal except in the case of mother's life being in danger. These laws were dated from the 19th century. Only two states had it legal if the mother was raped, if the child had defect, or for the mother's health.; these were California and Georgia. [7]
Justice Harry A. Blackmun, of Minnesota; in 1972, he wrote an opinion article that shook down all of the nation's abortion laws, which started an anti-choice movement that resonates still today. He stated that “[abortion] must be left to the medical judgment of the pregnant woman’s attending physician.”, at least in the first six months of the pregnancy.[7]
"Roe", of Roe vs Wade, was Ms. Jane Roe, actual name Norma McCovery, filed against Texas, saying that the abortion laws violated the rights of her and women everywhere (and rightfully so). "Wade" was the defendant, Henry B. Wade, of Dallas, Texas. On the same day that Roe vs. Wade happened in Texas, in Georgia, Blackmun stated a famous utterance - “all factors — physical, emotional, psychological, familial and the woman’s age — relevant to the well-being of the patient.”, on whether or not abortion was needed, in the case of Doe vs. Bolton. [7][8]
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Bodily Integrity [AKA: BI, or bodily domain]
This is just a really big term that says you and only you have the right to your own body. This is a philosophy of the law is enforced by the US, and no one is allowed to infringe on your BI. This argument is the basis for laws against rape, laws protection termination of pregnancies, and the ability to choose whether or not you donate organs.
The main case one thinks of when they think of BI is McFall vs. Shimp. McFall (197 cool suffered from a bone marrow disease, and needed a transplant in order to save his life. After many tests, it was decided that Shimp was the only person who could be the donor, and the law was going to force him to give the marrow. He refused, however, and it was decided that he could indeed do this; it was his body, and he had the right to. This ruling enforced the law of bodily domain. [9]
Other laws and rulings that protect bodily domain;
Roe vs. Wade
Duty to Aid the Endangered Act, Vermont Statutes, Title 12, Chapter 23 ;SS 519 [10]
The 14th Amendment; all humans must be born and naturalized in order to be considered a person in the US.
The Ninth Amendment; you have a right to privacy, physical and other wise.
Why we need bodily domain;
This is the right to your own body. Without this philosophy intact, then the government can lawfully take away parts of your body, force you to give blood, force you to give bone marrow, and rapists would have a fighting chance at being "right".
Bodily domain gives born humans with personhood the right to refuse something physical that they do not want to do; this falls under the Ninth Amendment, your right to privacy, which extends to your body. Under this, if you do not wish to donate an organ, then you are not obligated to; if you don't want to have sex, no one can force you; if you do not wish to go through with a pregnancy, then no one can force you. No one.
Abortion keeps this fully intact; would bodily domain make any sense if it allowed you to be forced into pregnancy, but not rape? Into pregnancy, but not donating parts of your body?
According to this philosophy of the law, and the ninth amendment, abortion is perfectly fine.
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Personhood vs. Human
A human is "of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or having the nature of people" [11]; by this definition, the fetus is, no doubt, a human. This is something that cannot be denied. Does this give it full human rights? No, human DNA does not opt to full human rights. Every single skin cell and hair follicle on your body has full human DNA, but my skin alone does not have rights as a full human being.
On the other hand, the fetus is not a person. According to the same dictionary, personhood is: "the state or fact of being an individual or having human characteristics and feelings" [12]. The fetus is a potential person, but does not have any personhood, since it does not have individuality beyond DNA (but, as I've said, the skin cells and hair follicles on your body have their own DNA), nor does it have human characteristics or feelings.
What is it that the fetus is lacking to have personhood? What is it that makes it lack full human rights? It lacks self-awareness and has a dependency for another human body. Self-awareness is that fine line between human and person, the sliver of ability that makes you and I different from a fetus. But, and I know you were about to point this out, neither does a born person until a year or so after birth. Independence upon another body is what defines this early person differently from a fetus. A new born baby does not need its birth mother to watch after it, it needs someone, but this is not a direct, physical dependency. Anyone can care for a baby and let it grow to self-awareness, and it does not have to feed directly off of the being; it is a dependent body. Without the mother taking in oxygen and eating, the fetus would die. A new born child can live whether or not his or her mother inhales and exhales, whether or not his mother eats. This physical dependence necessity is also why a comatose person is still a person; they do not have to live off of another human being.
All in all, there is a distinct difference between social dependency and physical dependency. Without physical dependency, the creature cannot be granted rights to personhood. The fetus is not a baby, because baby implied personhood.
This argument, too, is supported by the 14th Amendment, under the idea of "naturalization". [13] Because a fetus cannot display moral character, or any of the things that qualifies it to be "naturalized at all. Thusly, it is not a person, even under the laws of the US.
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Denying Pregnancy for cause of "Other Options"
Birth Control; America does not have social health care (aka; universal health care), and many cannot afford birth control. A sixty day order can be, at its lowest, eighty dollars [14], and for many women who are living pay check to pay check, having just enough to feed themselves and pay the bills, that is a lot of money. If the woman cannot afford to see a doctor, then how do you expect her to get the pills safely? Online? Getting pills online is not safe.
All birth control has a failure rate. All of it. A list of common birth control and its failure rate. Should a woman be punished for her medicine failing?
Adoption; abortion has to do, plainly, with pregnancy. Adoption deals with the born child, the person. This is a major flaw in this argument, because if you force a woman to go through an abortion, you are infringing on the first, ninth, and fourteenth amendments. Adoption does not make up for her lost rights.
Adoption is ridden with faults, anyway. One must first be forced into the social, mental, psychological, and physical ramifications of pregnancy before this idea can be used. Pregnancy alters brain chemistry, among other life-changing physical alterations, many of which are completely permanent.
Secondly, adoption does not ensure a happy life of the child. Adoption is, first off, extremely racist as to whom gets adopted.[16] "76 percent of householders with an adopted child list their race as white; 15 percent list African-American; Asians, other races, and people who list two or more races make up the difference. 9 percent are Hispanic (of any race). " Sadly, white children make for the smallest amount of children in the adoption system, but make up 76% of the children being adopted. Only 17% of all adopted families had a child of a different race living with them; justice is not blind. Futhermore, if the child is not adopted while under the age of five, chances are it won't be adopted at all. [17] 90% of adopted children are adopted under the five. In 1995, there were 100,000 people looking to adopt, but 1.5 million children in the adoption agencies. The statistic hasn't changed much over the years. Even less children who are special needs are adopted.
So unless you're giving up a white, newborn baby (preferably a girl, since they tend to be adopted faster), with no special needs, chances are they won't be one of the 1.5 million in the adoption agencies.
Forcing anyone into a pregnancy not only infringing on three different amendments and countless numbers of laws, but it can put a young woman in debt. Pregnancy can cost anywhere between $6,800 and $10,600; without health insurance, how can any young woman trying to support herself pay for that a place to live, food, and medications to keep her and the unborn child healthy? [15] Then there is the social stigma. Pregnant women are far more likely to be murdered than anyone else. [18][19] Ask any mother, of pregnant woman, how many people touch her belly; being touched without asking is just another social stigma.
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The Neutrality of Pro-choice stance
Pro-choice is not pro-abortion; it is pro-neutrality. We do not force you to have an abortion, we do not force you to carry to term. You live by your own morals, since it is unlawful by the first amendment to force one moral upon another, thereby making one more important than the other. Pro-choice doesn't do this. Choose abortion is you please. Choose life if you'd like. Live by your morals, rejoice in the first and ninth amendment, love your body, and make up your mind for yourself.
Re-cap:
Making abortion illegal doesn't work.
Shut up, pro-lifers, respect my 9th Amendment, and stop trying to push for something so utterly unlawful its painful.
References:
1. http://topics.law.cornell.edu/wex/First_amendment
2. http://www.reference.com/browse/chromosome
3. http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/chromosome=MT
4. http://www.reference.com/browse/zygote
5. MedLine Plus, medical dictionary, definition: embryo
6. MedLine Plus, medical dictionary, definition: fetus
7. http://hispanicpundit.com/2005/09/24/a-brief-history-of-roe-vs-wade/
8. http://womenshistory.about.com/od/abortionuslegal/p/roe_v_wade.htm
9. http://people.brandeis.edu/~teuber/lawmcfall.html
10. http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~ras2777/judpol/mcfall.html
11. http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=human
12. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/personhood
13. Naturalization
14. http://www.mybirthcontrolstore.com/
15. Pregnancy costs
16. http://cbexpress.acf.hhs.gov/articles.cfm?article_id=717
17. http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/FactOverview.html
18. http://www.now.org/issues/violence/043003pregnant.html
19. http://abcnews.go.com/US/LegalCenter/Story?id=522184&page=1
20. http://www.fda.gov/Fdac/features/1997/babytabl.html
I wrote 100% of this, other than what's in quotes. You may use whatever you like, I just ask that you link back to the journal. Feel free to discuss it with the me in the comments below.
 20 Shades of Crazy · Fri Sep 12, 2008 @ 05:14am · 3 Comments |
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