Abortion

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One of the most controversial and interesting topics that plagues American society today
is the topic of abortion. The Marriam-Webster dictionary defines abortion as "the termination of
a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo
or fetus" ("Abortion"). And a fetus is a developing child or human that has not been born yet.
Being a topic of much debate, often times individuals will post things discussing their opinion on
things such as blogs. One such author, Jill, argues that abortion is a good response to a bad
situation, since the reasons for having an abortion are always due to bad circumstances, and
abortion is a medically acceptable and beneficial response to said circumstance. I find that this
argument in the way it is displayed should not be considered a valid or sound one.

The author provides a few different reasons that support her opinion in favor of abortion;
I will be analyzing the third and fourth paragraphs, which argue that abortion is morally good.
The first reason to support the conclusion offered is that there is a "difference between the
circumstances under which a woman goes in for an abortion and the abortion itself." (Jill). She
argues that situations and circumstances that lead up to a decision for abortion are almost always
negative ones. In this list of negative scenarios she includes unwanted pregnancy, fetal
abnormality, pregnancy gone wrong, economic status, rape, incest, and partner violence. And
while these can definitely be considered damaging, they are not always the case of those who
have abortions. In fact, very few of the abortions conducted are due to things such as rape and
incest. According to research performed for abortions in the U.S. "1% of all abortions occur
because of rape or incest, 6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding
either the mother or child, and 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons" ("Abortion
Statistics"). These social reasons may include things like economic status, or simply not wanting
to have a child. The author for this argument has failed to do a sufficient amount of research on

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the subject, and while her circumstances for having abortions may be negative, they are actually
very rarely used as circumstances in which an abortion is wanted. The main reason for abortions
in the U.S. is due to unwanted pregnancy, whether that be for social or economic reasons. And
while she does mention these circumstances, a large amount of emphasis is placed on things such
as rape and incest, which is not necessarily true. Now one might argue that unwanted pregnancy
is not a valid reason for conducting an abortion. It seems that the author considers it a "moral
good" to conduct abortions, because of these negative circumstances. But unwanted pregnancy is
not actually a negative circumstance, it is simply a preference of the mother. It seems that this
author has deemed the desires and opinions of the mother as more important than the life of a
human being, which seems to be a rather vacuous claim. Simply because a mother isn't
responsible enough or does not want to have a child does not make this an unfavorable situation
which needs to be avoided, although the author deems it as such. While this reason supports her
final conclusion, it is a rather foolish, and was not well researched, which should deem it
unacceptable to her argument.

The second reason offered in support of her conclusion is that abortion can be a savior to
women, and is a positive choice. Her support follows that abortion is a medical procedure that is
preempted by a negative situation, like other medical procedures. As shown previously, a
majority of the abortions that occur are not due to negative situations, but rather personal
preference. While this is already a weak argument, she then goes on to describe what I feel to be
the weakest part of the entire argument. Claiming that abortion is a medical procedure, she
compares it to other medical procedures, asking if open-heart surgery or an appendectomy are
"tragic" in their nature. She states that the circumstances leading up to these procedures are
obviously bad, but the procedures are good responses to these bad situations, and likewise,

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abortion is a good response to a bad situation. The first problem with this statement is the
assumption that abortion is a medical procedure similar to open-heart surgery and an
appendectomy, however they are beyond drastically different. While open-heart surgeries and
appendectomies occur to save individuals lives from "negative circumstances", abortions
actually take away lives to resolve "negative circumstances". The former procedures benefit the
patient's by way of fixing a problem, but abortion removes a life to resolve a personal issue. By
this relation of abortions and other surgeries, she then states that abortions must too have
negative circumstances that prompt these procedures. And this is actually one of the most basic
forms of logical fallacy; affirming the consequent. By assuming that if there's a negative bodily
situation, then a medical procedure is to follow. She confirms that abortion is a medical
procedure, so then by her logic it must follow that it is due to a negative bodily situation. Just
because negative events cause medical procedures, it does not follow that procedures are
necessarily caused by negative events, they can often times be due to personal desires, such as
body reconstruction. This is an invalid way of reasoning, which can never be accepted as valid
or correct. The main flaws with this entire reason are that she first considers abortion to be a
medical procedure similar to others that save lives and better individuals, which it is not, and that
abortions occur due to negative circumstances since it is a medical procedure, when as stated
before it is often times due to personal desires. If accepted, this reason would support her
conclusion that abortion is a good response to a bad situation, but it is a rather incorrect form of
reasoning and should not be accepted.

There are numerous assumptions that occur throughout this entire argument for abortion
being morally good. One of the main ones being that abortion is the only means to solving a
problem of unwanted pregnancy or children. While this is an option, there are several other

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means of not having to take care of a child, such as putting them up for adoption. This would
spare the death of a developing child, but still provide the mother with the personal decision of
not having to take care of a child. The other assumptions that occur throughout the argument are
mostly explicit. She assumes that the reasons for having abortions are due to negative
circumstances, when actually a majority of the time it is due to personal preference. She also
assumes that abortion is a medical procedure similar to things like open-heart surgery and
appendectomies, which it is not. And she continues in assuming that since they are similar
procedures, the circumstances leading up to things like open-heart surgery are negative, so the
circumstances leading up to abortion must be negative as well. This was shown as a logical
fallacy, and cannot be accepted as a valid reason. With both of the reasons offering support in a
sort of chain argument (abortion is due to negative situations, then medical procedures fix
negative situations) proving even the first one incorrect makes this argument invalid, yet both
have been shown to be unacceptable. This deems this argument invalid and unsound, and not a
very well structured or supported argument in favor of abortion being a morally good procedure.

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Works Cited
"Abortion." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster. Web. 14 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/abortion>.

"Abortion Statistics." AbortionNO.org / The Center for Bio-Ethical Reform. Web. 14 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/fastfacts.html>.

Jill. "Abortion Is a Moral Good." Feministe. Web. 14 Apr. 2012.
<http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2007/02/23/abortion-is-a-moral-good/>.

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