Victoria Richardson

November 18, 2014

US History (Corey)

Abortion: What Our Founding Documents Say

Abortion is an issue that has been debated since 1973 in the Roe Vs.
Wade case. Some argue that abortion should be legal, while others believe
that abortion should not be legal. Currently abortion is legal is 46 states in
the US. However, abortion violates the Article 3, Article 5, and Article 7 in
the Declaration of Human Rights, a document that states the basic rights
and fundamental freedoms everyone is entitled to. It also violates
unalienable rights written in the Declaration of Independence such as the
right to life and the right to the pursuit of happiness.
An abortion is defined in the Oxford Dictionary as the deliberate
termination of a human pregnancy. When a woman decides to have an
abortion performed she chooses to end the life of the fetus she is carrying.
The procedure of abortion violates article 3 of the declaration of human
rights which states that everyone has the right to life. Abortion prevents a
fetus from being able to experience life fruitfully, and for this reason abortion
goes against the universal right to life.
Similarly, abortion infringes on Article 5 of the Declaration of Human
Rights: No one shall be subjected to torture. According to Doctors of Fetal
Pain and Maureen, Associate Professor of Neurobiology and Anatomy of
University Of Utah, fetus can feel pain once they reach the 20th week of

pregnancy. Despite the fact that babies feel pain at 20 weeks of pregnancy
abortions are legal in many states up until the 24 weeks of pregnancy.
Abortions are performed in ways that would potentially cause a 20 week old
fetus to be immersed in unsubstantial amounts of pain. In Dilation and
Evacuation, an abortion procedure, a pliers-like instrument is inserted
through the cervix into the uterus. The abortionist then seizes a leg, arm, or
other parts of the body with twisting motion and dismembers the babies
body. Clearly this is a torturous experience and violates article 5 of the
declaration of human rights; the right to no torture.
Finally, abortion violates Article 7 of the Declaration of Human Rights
which states all are equal before the law and entitled without discrimination
to equal protection of the law. The U.S code states: Murder is the unlawful
killing of a human being with malice aforethought, meaning murder illegal.
However, the murder of a fetus is not illegal. Abortion is the essence of
killing, but abortion is legal. This violates Article 7 because unlike every other
party, fetus are not protected by this law. It is argued that fetus do not exist
outside the body;therefore, they are not protected. Some argue that being
born or age makes the difference. A toddler , for example, is protected by
this law;however, a fetus is not because of their location and age. This is
discriminatory and violates Article 7 of the Declaration of Human Rights .
In addition, to violating articles of the Declaration of Human Rights ,
abortion also violates the Declaration Of Independence

. Stated in the Declaration of Independence 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. Abortion violates the right to life because it takes
the life away from the fetus. It also violates the right to the pursuit of
happiness. A baby who never gets to experience life never gets to
experience happiness. Also according to Life News, 52% of women who got
early abortions, and 67% of women who got late term abortions were
diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which makes it evident that
abortion does not only deprive the baby of happiness but also deprives the
mother of happiness.
Some may argue that making abortion illegal violates a woman's
constitutional right to privacy. It may be argued that a woman's decision to
bare a child is a woman's private business, and interfering with that right is
unconstitutional. However, one is to say that it is a woman's private
decision to kill a fetus, one is essentially saying is it also a woman's private
decision to kill a newborn which is an illegal crimes. There is no real
difference between the the two besides its age and physical location. If
abortionist use the appeal that it is a woman's private decision to abort a
baby, them that same appeal would have to apply for a woman's decision to
kill a toddler. The constitution doesn't protect abortion in article that states
everyone has a private to privacy.

I believe that abortion should not be legal in the U.S for any
circumstance. Abortion violates the human right to life, the human right no
torture, the human right to be protected without discrimination, and the right
to life and the pursuit of happiness stated in the declaration of human rights.
Our founding documents prove abortion to be a contradiction of what
America stands for. If abortion is legal then murder at any age or
circumstance must also be legal in all fairness.