Lancaster 1

Emily Lancaster
Mr. Geist
HELA 10
16 February 2016
Step Towards Life
There has been much debate recently on the topic of abortion. The focus of many a
presidential candidate debate, candidates have spent at least a portion of their time discussing the
various stances and actions they plan to take, but which stance is the right one? The many
opinions stated by prominent voices in the media create a blurred, muddy, puddle of information
that is nearly impossible to distinguish from. The answer, however, is quite simple. Abortion
should be illegal with a few rare exceptions because killing a child, albeit an unborn one, is not
an option that should be readily available to the public, the child has a right to live, though it is
much too young to understand it, and because, no one not even the childs mother should have
the power to make the ultimate decision on whether it lives or dies.
A key factor to remember when pondering the issue of abortion is that this procedure is
ending the life of a child before it even had the chance to live and in a gruesome fashion none the
less. Some may argue that because the child isnt born yet, abortion is ethically acceptable
because the child is just a fetus and therefore not a real human being. That argument, however,
heavily depends on how early the abortion procedure is performed. In the very early stages of
pregnancy the fetus hardly resembles a human at all, and scientists hypothesize that it is not
developed enough to feel pain, however a life is still being ended. Also the later the abortion is

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performed, the closer to life the child gets, the more painful and inhumane the procedure
becomes. Last week in Colombia a women was allowed to abort her fetus at 32 weeksonly a
month before its due date (Goodstein). A child almost 8 months old was legally allowed to be
murdered. The longer a woman waits to get an abortion the more a fetus develops and the closer
it becomes to being a living breathing baby. Absolutely no abortions should be allowed after 24
weeks when a child is developed enough to feel pain and actually be able to survive outside of its
mothers womb. Last week's report suggested that the nerves of a fetus are not fully connected
to its developing brain until 24 weeks, however, advances in medicine mean that babies can now
survive outside their mother's womb at 24 weeks, a point when abortion would still be legal
(Better An Abortion that a Mass Grave?). Abortions before 24 weeks are by no means justifiable,
though they are slightly more humane than abortions after 24 weeks. Still, certainly no one in
their right mind would allow the public execution of 6 or 8 month old babies so why should the
public be allowed to execute 1 or 2 month old fetuses?
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and
the pursuit of Happiness (Jefferson). As our famous founding father said, all people are
endowed with the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Is a child an
exception? While it obviously cannot comprehend these ideals, as a human being, even an
unborn one, it does still possess at the very least the right to live. Abortion essentially sends the
message that because a fetus does not yet possess a voice to argue over its impending death and
to fight for its right to live that it is acceptable to extinguish a life that has yet to begin. It has
been said that silence is the most powerful scream and it is time people were aware that even
though the victim in this situation cannot stand up for itself, that does not mean that it is

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acceptable to continue murdering these innocent beings. Abortion is quite frankly against the
very document that this county is founded upon. It takes away the most basic rights of the human
existence and as the Declaration of Independence states, those rights, the rights to life liberty and
the pursuit of happiness, should be absolutely unalienable for every human being.
Now many in favor of abortion argue that a woman has the right to do whatever she
wants with her body and that ultimately it is her decision on whether or not to get an abortion.
However, while it is the womans choice that does not mean it is the correct decision or that the
woman should have the choice to essentially murder her own child. Also, the decision to get an
abortion does have consequences for the woman as well as the child. The guilt will stay with the
woman for the rest of her lifeDr. Lenise Garcia (The Ugly Face of Unsafe Abortion). It is
only perhaps feasible that in one case scenario abortion be allowed (although not justified), the
circumstance that an abortion might be the only option in which the mother survives the
pregnancy. For example, a woman with cancer who desperately needs treatment could possibly
be allowed to get an abortion, but in that scenario the decision rests solely with the woman and
how much she is willing to sacrifice for her child, and it is still not a guilt free decision. Would
she rather give up her own life or the life of her child without its consent?
In conclusion, abortion is a cruel procedure, ending the life of an unborn child in a way
that violates the very treaty our country was built upon. It is a moral and ethical disgrace and
because the public execution of children is an atrocity, all human beings have the right to live,
and women should not be able to decide whether their children live or die, abortion should be
illegal in the United States. The only exception would be a woman whose life is put at risk by her
pregnancy but that is a very rare, extreme case. These children desperately need a voice to speak
up for them so take a stand and step towards all children being able to have a fair chance at life.

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Grading

Criteria
Content
and Ideas

Organization

Description
Clear argument about social issue
Support uses
- ethos
- logos
- pathos
4 or more credible sources used
Antithesis addressed and refuted

Diction/
Syntax/
Convention
s

Publication
/
Appearanc
e

Effective introduction and

conclusion include hook, thesis, and
final statement
3 organized paragraphs include
claims, explanations, and transitions
Sequence is logical

Writing is all in 3rd person

Quotations are embedded and
properly cited within the essay
0-3 Errors in grammatical structure

Creative title/rough draft ready on

editing day 2/16-17
Proper MLA formatting; heading
that includes student name,
instructors name, class, and date
Works cited page is appended.

Points
0 10

20

30

40

40/40 PEER Allie Siegwald- the argument

that she was making was clearing stated
and supported by ethos, logos, and pathos.
Also, the sources were intact
35/40 PEER 2 April - Needs sources and
evidence
37/40 Self grade
0 10 20
30
=
28/30 PEER Allie Siegwald The thesis
was very clearly stated, but I felt like
some of the arguments made were too
similar to one another
30/30 PEER 2 April - good thesis and
intro
30/30 Self grade
0 5 10
15
=
13/15 PEER Allie Siegwald there were a
few grammatical errors, usually with
commas, and I felt like there could have
been more quotes embedded within the
essay
13/15 PEER 2 April - needed work on
grammar
12/15 Self grade
0

10

15

15/15PEER Allie Siegwald MLA format

is all the way it should be
12/15 PEER 2 April - Good title, needed a
works cited
12/15 Self grade

Lancaster 5

Works Cited
Goodstein, Laurie. "Despite Zika risk, church firm on contraception ban." International New
York Times 15 Feb. 2016. Global Issues In Context. Web. 19 Feb. 2016
"Better an abortion than a mass grave?" Independent on Sunday [London, England] 27 June
2010: 44. Global Issues In Context. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.
"The Ugly Face of Unsafe Abortion." Africa News Service 16 Feb. 2016. Global Issues In
Context. Web. 19 Feb. 2016.
Declaration of Independence http://www.archives.gov WebMD. WebMD, 4 July 1776.
Web. 25 June 2009.