Abortion Essays (2519 words) - Abortion, Free Essays, Term Papers

Abortion LaTeisha Davis SOC 203: Social Problems Melissa Reed April 12, 2012 Abortion Abortion is the expulsion of the fetus or embryo from the uterus before it is due for delivery. It arguably tops the list among the controversial issues of our time. It is rightfully so because what is at stake is the health of both the unborn baby and the mother. This issue has been made even more controversial by the involvement of politicians who have tirelessly campaigned to win some groups for their positions. In the American political system, Democrats and the people known as liberals are known to be strong supporters of the right of the woman to choose what she wants as far as abortion is concerned. Conservatives and Republicans on their part believe that it is not about the right to choose but the right to life for the unborn. In this respect, they oppose abortion indiscriminately. In between these two groups are people who believe that abortion should not be done for the sake of simple reasons such as the woman not being ready to give birth. Instead they support abortion in cases where the mother and the baby?s lives are at stake. In this paper, the ideas put forward by all the sides will be considered so as to support the thesis that abortion should not be declared illegal in all circumstances neither should it be available for everyone other than cases where the lives of the mother and her unborn child are in danger. Such a condition should be determined by a qualified medical doctor who will be required to demonstrate that indeed the pregnant woman?s life and that of her unborn baby are at risk, and therefore an abortion is necessary. In the vindication of the main argument, the prolife stance will be examined first followed by the prochoice. The rational position that is central to the claim made in this paper will then follow. Beginning with the anti-abortion stance, people who are strongly opposed to abortion argue that abortion is a violation of the individual?s right to life. Kapp and von Herzen (2009) point out that in some cases, abortion is carried out when fetus is in the third trimester, meaning that chances of such a child surviving after birth are very high. In fact, there are several children who live to be healthy adults even after being born prematurely, when they were on their sixth or seventh month in the womb. When a woman has an abortion during this time, it is not a formless mass of cells that is expelled from the body, but a human being. Intimately connected to this argument of the entitlement to life is the notion of the sacredness of life. Under this idea of sacredness, there is societal consensus regarding the respectful manner in which human life should be treated by everyone. It is clear that when a child is expelled from the mother?s womb at the sixth month, it is a life that is ki lled. The anti-abortion or the pro-life group members in society have made strong arguments regarding the inconsiderate destruction of life that takes place in such late abortions for whatever reason. The blame naturally goes to the whole idea of allowing abortions in the first place. They therefore take the position that if all abortions are declared illegal, the women who get the chance to have abortions in their sixth or seventh month of pregnancy will not have this chance and thus the lives of these unborn babies will be saved. With all the good intentions of the pro-life people, a very important idea is left out, which is, in the process of trying to keep the pregnancy, there are circumstances where keeping the pregnancy will mean the death of pregnant woman as well as the child she is carrying. There are numerous medical conditions that are dangerous to both the two parties, that is, the unborn child and the mother, and in this case, the prolife group needs to think seriously about saving one of them or losing both. Since the chances of the unborn child surviving outside the womb in the absence of the mother is practically impossible, the rational option is to abort the

Global Climate Change in Australia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Global Climate Change in Australia - Essay Example The author of the paper "Global Climate Change in Australia" considers that climate change has obvious and glaring effects on Australia today. They are supported by empirical evidence and scientific studies. The ecological, economic and social impacts of these effects are the most threatening and that they perhaps outweigh the rationale for the current policy’s indifference to the global climate change accord. The Australian government through its climate change policy may be only exercising its right to support the country’s economic competitiveness and thereafter the general welfare of its people. However, in the long-run, failing to address climate change would have a more devastating effect on the Australian economy in comparison with the sacrifices it has to make in joining the current climate change accords. The issue about climate change involves the prioritizing the eradication of the global practices that are harmful to the environment. This entails a great dea l of sacrifice from each country and requires cooperation and compromise. It is, for example, imperative for any country, such as Australia to help forge a global policymaking environment that promotes the ratification as well as the implementation of multilateral accords about climate change. No single nation could address the problem alone. Not only because today is the so-called age of interdependence. Rather, in global climate change every nation has each own culpability and so each must shoulder the burden in addressing the problem.

The Character of Arnold Friend Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Character of Arnold Friend - Essay Example For this purpose, a mention would be made of both direct quotations from the story and also views of a renowned scholar and which add strength to the argument presented by this essay. Here, it needs to be specified that the scope of this essay is confined to solely understanding the character of Arnold Friend, and not to give a detailed summary of the story. Background It was sometime in the second half of 1960s that the author happened to read about Charles Schmid, a serial killer of Arizona who murdered several girls. All these girls were in their teens. In fact, the killer was named as â€Å"The Pied Piper of Tucson†, and Joyce did not take too much of time in deciding to write a story based on the serial killings, and the title of this story is â€Å"Where are you going, Where have you been?†As a matter of fact, the character of Arnold Friend in this story clearly resembles Schmid. Just like the latter, even Arnold Friend is short and attempts to look taller by stuf fing some things in his shoes. Most importantly, in the story, even Arnold goes on to intimidate a teenage girl who was trying to keep him at bay. But here, the author brought an entirely new dimension by adding an element of supernatural phenomenon to the story, and this is what is going to elaborately analyzed in the subsequent section. (1) Analysis The aforementioned supernatural phenomenon is obvious from the narrative of story strongly suggesting that Arnold Friend is Satan himself, in disguise. There are several quotations from the story, which add weight to this argument, and it would be very much apt in having a look at some of those. When Arnold sees Connie for the first time he remarks â€Å"Gonna get you, baby†. That is definitely not a respectable way of addressing ladies, and in fact, this also subtly hints that there is an element of evil in Arnold. (2) When Connie gets worried that her family members would return home, the following is the exact situation. â₠¬Å"Arnold says â€Å"Aunt Tillie’s. Right now they’re uh—they’re drinking. Sitting around,† he said vaguely, squinting as if he were staring all the way to town and over to Aunt Tillie’s back yard. Then the vision seemed to get clear and he nodded energetically. â€Å"Yeah. Sitting around. There’s your sister in a blue dress, huh? And high heels, the poor sad bitch—nothing like you, sweetheart! And your mother’s helping some fat woman with the corn, they’re cleaning the corn—husking the corn.† (2) From the contents stated in the preceding paragraph, it is evident that Arnold Friend possesses paranormal powers. He was vividly able to see the things taking place at a distant location. In popular literature, Satan is described as a combination of these powers and evil intentions, not to mention the ability to effectively assume any form. When Connie was worriedly resisting the advances of Arnold and was trying to make sure that the door gets locked, he remarks â€Å"But why lock it? It’s just a screen door? It’s just nothing.† These words subtly focus on another power of Satan where, locked doors and windows cannot prevent him from gaining entry into a place. Although he explains by stating that breaking a screen door is not an issue for anyone, yet, in light of the contents discussed up to that point in the story, it is but obvious that the power of the evil entity is being referred to. (2) When Connie was still adamant in not yielding to Arnold’s charm, he starts threatening her by saying â€Å"You don’t want your people in any trouble, do you?† That again is a clear reflection of his grossly evil nature- a nature which is characteristic of Satan! The manner in which the story reaches its end subtly points out that he kills