final paper

Should University Students Take Abortion?
Emma Wang
National Central University


















Abstract
In recent years, more and more young students have sexual experience, and their pregnancies become serious problems. Do they have enough financial capacity to support their children? Are they well-prepared to be parents? Are they mature enough to face the overwhelming pressure? Wang (2004) propose a lot of aspects of mental pressure when young girls get pregnant. Then why do some people are opposed to taking abortion? Famous law and psychology scholar, Ronald Dworkin, discusses this problem in his book «Life’s dominion». And in U.S, Roe’s case is the reason that made abortion legal, during the process, the Court had considered the necessary for girls to taking abortion. The main point I want to emphasize in the paper is that girls have the right to choose whether they want the child, and that they should not bear the stigma with taking abortion.
Should University Students Take Abortion?
Nowadays, with the concept of having open sex in Taiwan, pregnancy becomes a serious issue among college students. My side is against college students who give birth to babies. Below are my reasons. First, most of students have no capacity for supporting themselves, not to mention of their children. Even their parents could give financial help, their quality of life will become worse. They probably have to reduce buying their clothes or anything expensive and to sacrifice their time with friends in order to give their babies better lives.
       Second, though they are regarded as adults, it does not mean all of them are mature, especially mentally. Having a child needs the strong responsibility of parents, and it is not a short-time job. Furthermore, if the two students decide to make up a family, then it is not only a problem with children, but it also includes their marriage. If they get married just for their children, when they regret, it still becomes a problem. Third, the environment or the society is still not friendly to those mother-students. Before the law which forbids students studying in the university more than four years was modified, most of the students have to choose suspension or abortion. Although this law had been modified, which means now those who have to take care of their children can apply for more time to stay in university, most of schools do not have enough measures to deal with the demand of mother-students. For example, many restrooms are not equipped with nursery rooms.
       Besides these problems, mother-students may have to endure that people will treat them with unusual eyes or thoughts. People may think this girl probably has complex relationship or does not take care of her body so that she gets pregnant. Have a child and being pregnant are not bad things, but the stereotype in the society still exists. Some of students think a baby has its own right to come to the world, so we should not take abortion. But I think this decision is very serious and that it effects three groups- girl’s family, boy’s family and the two students with their baby. We have to consider whether it can grow up happily and parents’ mental health. Many students think they can understand the responsibility to their child and decide to make up a family by impulse, but that could lead to more problems. If students cannot shoulder the burden and conquer the stress, rather the baby goes and parents endure physical and mental pain, than no one is happy in the family, which adds problem to the society.
             Why Do Some University Students Rather Taking Abortion?
In the video of the TV program “College Talk”, there are two main points about why some university students do not want to give birth when they are pregnant.
First, university students would rather take abortion cruelly, than consider it reluctantly.
Second, since children cannot support children, a mistake will be a permanent regret
Another reason is money. “College students do not really have enough financial capacity. Some of them probably still have to ask money from family. If give a birth, then will you use the money that parents give to support your child or just ask your family to take care of it?” said a male student.
Still another reason is marriage. They think it is necessary for children to have parents, and it means they have to get married. However, the baby is unexpected, they haven’t considered whether the lovers are their spouses. They are afraid of regretting to get married. They do not want the child becomes the reason for them to get married or the trouble when they decide to get divorced. “The most important is, I think the relationship between students is still not that mature, you have to consider whether the person is the one you will live with forever, so will you marry him/ her?” said a male student. Some of students are mature in physical, so they have sex, but the truth is that in both of mental and their relationship, they cannot be responsible to the possible result that having sex would bring.
The external problem, like money, still can be solved; however, the mental problem cannot be solved in a short time. Furthermore, they do not really think it is a baby, most of them treat it as a trouble. Because being pregnant is unexpected, they think it is a fault. For example, in the video, the host asks a question: “Who will you tell if you are pregnant?” No one wants to tell their parents first, because they do not want to disturb them. Although they think they are able to deal with the situation, they treat it as a mistake subconsciously.
To sum up, those who support taking abortion tend to consider real life problems and their future. They all admit that they don’t have enough money and are not mature to have a baby. Accordingly, taking abortion becomes a way for them to escape these troublesome problems.
The Impact To Young Mothers
For those students who are pregnant, taking abortion becomes a serious problem, especially when they have not expected the coming of this child. Some people are against taking abortion because they think it is immoral to take away a life. Obviously, they stand on the side of the baby; however, I think people should not neglect its impact on the mother.
Wang (2004) has mentioned two aspects of the impact when young students get pregnant and if they give birth. Below are my summary and analysis about the impact in the article. First, those pregnant students have to face the overwhelming pressure from their family and during giving birth. In a traditional Chinese family, it is unacceptable for girls to get pregnant when they are not married. A girl’s family may not know what to do with her pregnancy. Moreover, they may be hostile to the incident. Wang (2004) made an important point: “Even if giving the birth, the young girls usually do not know how to do when they face changing their role and the duty of supporting a baby.” The young mothers probably do not know what their kids need, and they lack the experience and patience. Some of them cannot bear the stress then turn to ignore their children or even become violent toward children.
Second, whether the environment is suitable for the mother and baby is also a problem. Wang wrote, “When the young girl decides to give birth, she may endure the pain from the bad living environment, malnutrition, unemployment, not enough work or suspension, and not enough career training or dependency on financial support. The possibility that her life falls into poor is higher than those married mothers in their 20s.” It is not easy for a young girl to take care of herself and the kid, not to mention under the unprepared and immature environment. The situation may have influence on both of the mother and the baby.
Most of the students do not expect they will get pregnant. They have not prepared to be parents. Therefore, they have to receive many mental stress. They are students and parents in the meantime, if they go to work, then they will have less time with their kids, and that could result kid’s educational problem. What’s more, the unfriendly stereotype with students’ unmarried pregnancy still exists in the society. So if they cannot overcome these difficulties, I do not think giving a birth is a better way.
Keyword:
Malnutrition: healthy problem, someone does not get enough nutrition.
Is Taking Abortion A Murder?
      Why do some people disagree taking abortion? Why do they add a stigma on it? You probably think that because life is sacred and precious or that no one could take away the right for the innocent embryo to grow up. However, you should ponder that what is a life and that whether an embryo could have rights before protesting abortion strongly. The book« Life’s Dominion» which is written by Ronald Dworkin(2002), pointed out many questions about taking abortion.
      Ronald Dworkin is a law scholar and also a philosopher. He devoted himself to interpreting law and morality, and he wanted to find a way to solve the disputative issue about life by analyzing constitution, cases, and human belief. He divided those who object to taking abortion into two parts- one is derivative objection which means they think taking abortion is to deprive babies’ rights and benefits, while the other is detached objection, which means they believe that life is sacred and valuable.
From many surveys and cases, Dworkin proposed the contradiction to the two parts. First, how to define a start of a life? It depends. Some people’s answer is when the ovum got fertilized, and some people’s answer is several weeks after the ovum got fertilized. According to a public announcement of a priest of Jew, David Feldman, it said: “In Jew’s laws, an embryo is not a human. Until it quits the womb and comes to the world, it will become a human.” There is no clear and exact timing to define the start of life, how can you regard taking abortion as a murder? Women should not live in the nightmare of killing human and the stigma.
     The next problem is whether an embryo has rights. Dworkin said that: “Only if something owns, or has already had some forms of senses, and that is a kind of mental and physical body life; otherwise, it will be meaningless to suppose something has its own rights.” He even took Dr. Frankenstein for example. “If he could make the body come alive, then the stop of this experiment would be also seen as a way to take away its right. However, no one thinks that it is unfair to the body or that the body has rights. Therefore, the derivative objection is facing the contradiction.”
     Dworkin thought that detached objection could make sense, but it also faced challenges. He mentioned that people think it is acceptable for a mother to take abortion when the pregnancy is threatening her life or the pregnancy is resulted from a rape and an incest. However, if you ask a girl not to take abortion because life is precious, then is the life resulted from a rape or an incest not also precious and valuable? Why does the former have to be blamed, while the latter is acceptable? Is it fair that girls who want to take abortion have to shoulder the moral stress?
     To sum up, people who object to abortion could add stigmas on it, and form an overwhelming stress to women on the basis of unclear reasons. For those young girls who do not want babies, if taking abortion could release their pressure from money and responsibility or the environment which is not prepared for the coming baby, then it is cruel and unfair that you call those pregnant women as murderers.
Why Can’t I Take Abortion?
      January 22 has been seen as a depressing day by anti-abortion people in U.S, because taking abortion has been legalized in the country since 1973. It must surprise you, for we all know most of people in United States believe in Christianity. In the Bible, it sees unborn babies as children. According to Exodus 21-22: “If men, while fighting, do damage to a woman with child, causing the loss of the child….” And any murder is not allowed. According to Exodus 20-13: “Do not put anyone to death without cause.” However, the country also value freedom and fairness. How do they deal with it if women want to take abortion? Which one does the law have to protect, the unborn babies or women’ dominion of body?
      The legalization of taking abortion started with the famous case “Roe vs Wade” in the Court. In 1970, there was a poor girl named Jane Roe in Texas. Because she had not enough money, she wanted to take abortion. However, the laws in the state forbade taking abortion. As a result, she brought a suit to prevent the prosecutor from enforcing the state’s antiabortion laws. The controversial points were whether women’s right of taking abortion should belong to privacy, whether unborn babies should be protected by the constitution, and whether the antiabortion laws in Texas violate the constitution.
      Because of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Court announced that the antiabortion laws were violations to the constitution.
In the amendment, it said: “The Due Process Clause prohibits state and local government officials from depriving persons of life, liberty, or property without legislative authorization.” And the unborn babies are not the “persons.” The opinion of the court, Blackmun, even noted that “the state imposed a great burden “upon the pregnant woman by denying this choice,” subjecting women to potential medical harms, as well as financial and emotional harms.” He believed that there would be many of women like Roe shouldering the burden after giving a birth. In 1990s, most of states tended to legalize abortion.
      Why taking abortion is not like removing a tumor? People tend to give the assumption to unborn babies, and see them as humans. This assumption restricts women to take abortion and makes women stressful. As in the case, during the suit, Roe had no choice but to give birth and still had to give it up for adoption. People care about babies’ rights, but ignore pregnant women’ rights and force them to deliver unwanted babies. All in all, the society should give women the dominion of body, ceasing imposing restrictions on them, and respect their decisions.
      Conclusion
      Although taking abortion could hurt girls’ bodies, delivering is not necessary could solve the problem perfectly. We need to realize the difficulties if young girls have to support their children, instead of imposing moral restriction and stigma on them. If they do not expect and prepare to support a child, then delivering is just to toss an innocent person into depression. It is hard for an unprepared girl to shoulder the responsibility of unwanted baby. Pregnancy is related to mothers and children. When the girl wants to take abortion, people should not merely think about the unborn baby. Thus, girls should take abortion into consideration if the condition is not appropriate.  

Reference:
1. Zhi-Zhong, C. Boys can also have Parental Leave. Health Chinatimes. Retrieved (Oct.2.2013) from http://health.chinatimes.com/contents.aspx?cid=4,31&id=2649
2. ctitv (2011-05-03). 5/3 College Talk: If College Students Are Pregnant (part2). Retrieved(Oct.10.2013) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cn5nhnBMFg
3. Xiao-Wan, Z. University students get pregnant without marriage, and the ways they solve the problem are different. 48.7% boys will take the responsibility, and 38.6% girls will take abortion. Dept. of Journalism. Retrieved(Oct.2.2013 ) from http://jou.pccu.edu.tw/weekly/opinion/1038/04.htm
4. Wang Shu Qing (2004). The related factors of young unmarried girls’ pregnancy and the policy of prevention and guidance. E-Soc Journal,36, Retrieved(Jan.15.2014) from: http://mail.nhu.edu.tw/~society/e-j/36/36-43.htm
5. Dworkin, R. (2002). Life’s dominion: An argument about abortion, euthanasia, and individual freedom (Ya-Ru Chen,Zhen-Ling Guo, Trans.). Republic of China: Business Weekly Publications.
6. Paul Finkelman & Melvin I. Urofsky. Roe v. Wade. Retrieved (Dec 15, 2013), from http://science.jburroughs.org/mbahe/BioEthics/Articles/Summary_Roe_v_Wade.pdf

Transcription(3)

Emma&Ruby: Hi everyone.

E: And I am Emma.

R: I am Ruby.

E&R: our topic is Rare or Well-Done.

E: My side is rare, and rare means university students should take abortion.

R: And well-done means to deliver the child and I think university students should deliver their children. And before we start our presentation, we design a game for you. Emma, can you please tell me how to play this game?

E: then we will give someone a balloon, and you have to pass it on to the person who is next to you. And we will play the music, when the music stops, and you get the balloon, then you are assigned to receive a special mission.

R: And if you destroy the balloon, then it is you that you need to receive this mission. So does everyone know how to play this game?

Audience: Yes.

E&R: let’s start our game.

----------------------game time-------------------

E&R: Congratulations! Markenzy and Tim.

R: You got to receive a very special mission, that is, suppose the balloon is a baby, and you need to protect the baby until the end of our presentation. And at the end, we got some questions for you. So now, you just take care of the balloon. Ok let’s start our presentation.

E: ok, I want to ask a question to you. When do you think is the best age to have a child? And Roger? When do you want to have a child?

Roger: In my case, , I don’t know,I think ….. and that does count on an age. Sometimes a person, like is thirty years old, he doesn’t behave a good boy or person, I don’t know. I think that the person should be 25 old enough….

E: okay, it is our outline. But can you guys image that she, such a young girl, she is pregnant! And she is just merely 19 years old. Do you think she should take abortion?

Audience: No.

E: I think she should.

R: About this, I’m going to tell you the reason why I don’t want to take abortion.

Monica: Are you pregnant?

R: Just during the presentation. Few weeks ago, I watched a video on YouTube. The video was about whether college students should take abortion. A girl named Lin Lin argues that if she is pregnant, she will not take abortion because it is a life and she is reluctant to give it up. And she is also afraid of the unborn child becoming a ghost and following her after she takes abortion. And moreover, in the video, Dr. Chen says that university students are special groups. They have higher knowledge background. And so when we encounter pregnant problems, maybe we will solve the problem by ourselves. He also brings up a shocking data. That is, the average amount of abortion is twice as much as the amount of childbirth. And there are 20 percent babies aborted by mothers aged around 18 to 22 years old. According to this video, we can realize abortion may cause eternal mental fear and trauma to the person taking it. And if the baby in the uterus is not moved out completely or during the process of abortion, the doctor hurts the endometrium, it will lead to infertility forever. So, Emma, I got to tell you that after I watched this video, it strengthened my belief that I want to deliver my child.

E: okay, but I saw this video too. And some students think that it is improper for young girls to deliver their child, because their main points are money and marriage. So Ruby, do you have a full time job?

R: No

E: Now, open your purse.

R: What?

E: Open your purse. So does the money come from your family or you earn it by yourself?

R: The money come from my parents.

E: So, most of students even cannot support themselves, and how can they support a child more? And if you choose to deliver the baby, and will you build up a family? This is marriage problem. How can you measure that she or he is the right one?Ifyou just get married because of children, then children will probably become a serious problem when you want to get divorced.Just see the picture. This girl, she thinks that most of students do not have the financial capacity. And the boy even says that if you cannot afford the expense of milk powder, then how can you choose to have a child? And marriage could become a problem.

Let me show you the basic expense of supporting a child. First, delivering in the hospital costs NT20000. Baby’s bacterins cost NT18600. And how about the milk power and diapers? It costs 2000 a month. Do you think it is expensive? Just think it, all of these are just starting!

R: You brought up economical problems. But in 2008, the Article 26 of University Act was amended. It mentions that a student pursuing a bachelor degree or above may request for prolonging the studying term on account of pregnancy, childbirth, or childcare for the toddler under three years old. As for our school, the academic rules of NCU, students can apply for temporary suspension of study because of the abovementioned reasons. So the amended rules ensure students’ rights to education. And I think because of the rules, I can stop my studies at college now. Then I have more time to spend with my child and I have more time to earn money in order to support the economic needs. Moreover, I found a Maylasian case. In 2010, the chief minister of Malacca, Mohammed Ali Rustam, set up the first school for pregnant girls in Malaysia. The school not only provides normal courses, it also gives students a dormitory to live in which is translated into Home of Hope. In School of Hope and Home of Hope, students can receive religious counseling, medical check-ups and skill training such as cooking and baby-caring for the preparation of being a mother and a wife in the near future. And in the school, those girls can receive thoughtful care, nonstop education and most important of all, a shield from the outside gossip, so I think those girls can find hope for their lives and for their babies in the school of hope. And I find hope through their stories.

E: Hope? Nonsense. I think the problems young mothers have to deal with is not only the financial problem, but also the mental stress. The social scholar, Ms. Wang mentions the 4 aspects of the mental stress. From family, I think that you can image how terrible to tell your parents if you are pregnant. And if they cannot understand you and even blame on you, I think you will be very stressful and unhappy.From girls themselves, they are probably not mature in mentally, and it could hard for them to adapt themselves to change of identity- because they are mothers now! And from peers, peers must throw the strange eyes to those young girls. . From the society, some people will think the girl must has complicated relationship or she does not take care about her body, so that she got pregnant. So I think actually, delivering is not as simple as it seems. It means you are parents and you have to take the responsibility. If you cannot do this, I think the baby is more innocent to come to the world.

Here is a case in U.S. Roe was a poor girl in Taxes, and she wanted to take abortion, but the laws did not allow her to do so. She brought it to the Court, asking them to legalize abortion. After 3 years, the Court thought it is difficult indeed for those poor girls to support their children, and they thought that women should have rights of their bodies. Moreover, because the U.S constitution defined that unborn babies are not persons, the court decided to make abortion legal.

So why taking abortion is so disputative? One thing we have to define first. Is an embryo a person?

E&R: What is that?

E:Oh! I know this book, it talks about taking abortion. I can introduce the main points to you.

R: Ok. Maybe you can introduce it to me.

E: This book, Life’s dominion, it talks about taking abortion, and its author is Ronald Drworkin. He is an American law scholar and also a philosopher.

So why do you object to abortion? Do you think taking abortion is immoral? Or very cruel?

This author divided those who are opposed to abortion into two parts. The first part is derivative objection.They care babies’ rights. But actually is meaningless to suppose something has rights when it hasn’t had. Just take Dr. Frankenstein for example. If the doctor could make the dead body come alive, then could the stop of the experiment also be a way to take away the body’s rights?Do we think the dead body has a right?And the second part is the detached objection. They regard taking abortion as a murder and think life is so precious and valuable. But if the pregnancy is resulted from a rape? They will think it is acceptable. And they can even agree women to take abortion when the pregnancy is life-threating.. However, those young girls don’t want the children, and they will also have life difficulty. Now that life is so precious, why the former is acceptable, and the latter is guilty?

R: But I also found some paragraphs to fight against your points. On page 40, I found the ideas of typical liberals who are against abortion. Typical liberals insist that abortion is always the serious moral decision which was made at least after embryos' genetic qualities established and successful embryo implantation. From that time on, abortion means eliminating a human life that has already begun. And it is not allowable to take abortion because of tedious and trivial reasons. For example, a mother wants to take abortion because of a long-expecting journey to Europe. Or because she wants to have a boy, but the baby is a girl and. They are all trivial and tedious excuses. And decision of abortion involves moral aspects. When college students contemplate on whether taking abortion or not, we should take embryos’ benefits of living and the holiness of human lives into account. Even though somebody may think an embryo is not a complete life therefore does not equip with human rights, but it is out there, just inside mother’s uterus. So it is certainly being. It deserves the basic rights to continue living which nobody can deprive of.

So I think if college students can find ways to balance the economical needs and mental pressure, I think we should not give up our babies easily since abortion also make mothers shoulder ethical burdens and social judgments. So, Emma I got to tell you that abortion is not always the best refugee from the upcoming responsibilities. And here are our conclusions, and I think abortion influences mental and physical health. It is a brutal way to deal with the baby and from the amended law and the case in Malaysia, we can realize that there are still many solutions better than abortion.

E: My conclusion is that I think it is not proper for a young girl to have a child. Not only they will have to face the financial problem, they will also have mental stress during the pregnancy. And I think it is not fair that the stigma those girls have to bear when they want to take abortion. If they want, we should stand their side and respect their decision. Putting the overwhelming stress on them with those unclear reasons is too cruel.

R: And now, it is tim for Markenzy and Tim to make decisions. After listening to our presentation, do you want to kill the baby? I got knives. So you can decide.

Markenzy: I keep.

R: Thank you.

(Tim destroyed the balloon)    

E&R: Thanks for your listening, and enjoy winter vacation!

reflection2

Reflection 2       

Content description:

1.      The disadvantage of having children for university students-money and marriage. From the angle of reality, I will discuss the financial capacity of university students with showing the basic expense for delivering. Besides, when it comes to future, marriage is also a serious problem. If students want to take the responsibility to children, then they must take marriage to the consideration. It could be hard to decide who the right spouse is in such a young age.

2.      The impact on young mothers. Speaking of taking abortion, many people will focus on babies, but I think the impact on mothers should not be ignored. I list those young mothers would suffer mental stress from many aspects, like family, school, and society.

3.      The Roe’s case in the U.S. The reason I chose this case is because even if in the Christianity country, taking abortion had been legalized eventually. In this case, the Court noted that it is not easy for some girls to have children.

4.      General objections to taking abortion. I will explain why some people object to taking abortion and that their opinions have contradiction. By debating the situation, I want to make audience think twice about antiabortion.

5.      Conclusion: With showing disadvantage of delivering and difficulty to support children, I want to ask people stand mother’s side. Additionally, I want people to be aware of the stigma on abortion. 

Presentation structure:

      Ruby and I want to use a small drama to introduce our topic, and we will ask a question about what age is the best for a girl to have a child. In addition, we will play a game to let a student holding a balloon which symbolizes a baby, and in the end, we will ask the student to choose whether he/she want to kill it. During the presentation, both of us will use different color to divide our points.

In the drama, Ruby is pregnant, and she points out mental and physical harm to mothers, then I will use the disadvantage of delivering to persuade her to take abortion. After hearing my points, she will use the amended laws to argue the disadvantage I propose. Besides, she continues the Malaysia case: the school of hope, to show a way to address the problem in my statement.

      I will talk about the impact on mothers and Roe’s case to indicate the difficulty of young girls. After then, a student under the stage will threw the book which is talking about abortion to us, and I will introduce the objections in the book. I will ask students to think about whether an embryo is person, and Ruby will state her points from the book also. Finally, we will point out our conclusion and give time to that student choose to stab the balloon or not.

Revised annotation 4

Annotation 4             Why can’t I take abortion?

      January 22 has been seen as a depressing day by anti-abortion people in U.S, because taking abortion had been legalized in the country since 1973. It must surprise you, for we all know most of people in United States believe in Christianity. In the Bible, it sees unborn babies as children, (From Exodus 21-22: “If men, while fighting, do damage to a woman with child, causing the loss of the child…”), and any murder is not allowed. (From Exodus 20-13: “Do not put anyone to death without cause.”) However, the country also asks freedom and fairness, how to deal with it if women want to take abortion? Which one does the law have to protect, the unborn babies or women’ dominion of body?  

      In 1970, there was a poor girl named Jane Roe in Texas. Because she had not enough money, she wanted to take abortion, but the laws in the state forbade taking abortion. As a result, she brought a suit to prevent the prosecutor from enforcing the state’s antiabortion laws. The controversial points were whether women’s right of taking abortion should belong to privacy, whether unborn babies should be protected by the constitution, and whether the antiabortion laws in Texas violate the constitution.

      Because of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Court announced that the antiabortion laws were violations to the constitution.

In the amendment, it said: “The Due Process Clause prohibits state and local government officials from depriving persons of life, liberty, or property without legislative authorization.” And the unborn babies are not included the “persons.” The opinion of the court, Blackmun, even noted that “the state imposed a great burden “upon the pregnant woman by denying this choice,” subjecting women to potential medical harms, as well as financial and emotional harms.” He believed that there would be many of women like Roe shouldering the burden after giving a birth. In 1990s, most of states tended to legalize taking abortion.

      Why taking abortion is not like removing a tumor? Because people tend to give the assumption to unborn babies, and that see them as humans. This assumption restricts women to take abortion and that also makes women stressful. Just like in the case, during the suit, Roe had no choice but to give birth and still had to give it up for adoption. People care about babies’ rights, but ignore pregnant women’ rights and force them to deliver unwanted babies. All in all, the society should give women the dominion of body, ceasing imposing restriction on them, and respect their decision.

Source: Paul Finkelman & Melvin I. Urofsky. Roe v. Wade. Retrieved (Dec 15, 2013), from http://science.jburroughs.org/mbahe/BioEthics/Articles/Summary_Roe_v_Wade.pdf

Transcription 2

R: Hello everyone, I am Ruby.

E: I am Emma.

R&E: And we are going to talk about should university students take abortion.

E: And my side is to take abortion.

R: And my side is don’t take abortion

E: Hey Ruby, what are you reading?

R: I am reading Life’s Dominion.

E: Oh! But I remember this book talks about take abortion.

R: Yeah, but I just read it.

E: No, no way. Last time I told you to take abortion, haven’t you do that?

R: Of course not.

E: Why not? This book talks a lot of reason for you to take abortion.

R: Oh, maybe you can show me what you read from this book.

E: Okay, let me introduce the author to you first.

This book’s author is Ronald Drworkin. He is an American law scholar and also a philosopher.

So why do you object to abortion? Do you think taking abortion is immoral? Or very cruel? If you do, I will make you think twice. This author divided those who are opposed to abortion into two parts. The first part is derivative objection. They think, care babies’ rights. But actually is meaningless to suppose something has rights when it hasn’t had. Just take Dr. Frankenstein for example. If the doctor could make the dead body come alive, then could the stop of the experiment also be a way to take away the body’s right?

And the second part is the detached objection. They regard taking abortion as a murder and think life is so precious and sacred. But do you think it is acceptable when the pregnancy is resulted from a rape or incest? Incest means 亂倫. But most of people think it is acceptable, and they even can agree women to take abortion when the pregnancy is life-threating. However, those young girls also don’t want the children, and they also will have life difficulty. Now that life is so precious, why the former is acceptable, and the latter is guilty?

So the first thing we have to define is, is an embryo a person? Embryo means 授精卵, do you think an embryo is a person? Just think about it, and we will talk it later.

R:But on page 40, I also found the ideas of typical liberals who are against abortion. They insist that abortion is always the serious moral decision which made at least after embryos' genetic qualities established and successful embryo implantation. From that time on, abortion means eliminating a human life that has already begun.

It is not allowable to take abortion because of tedious and trivial reasons. For example, a mother takes abortion because of a long-expecting journey to Europe. Or because she wants to feel more comfortable when getting pregnant in other seasons such as fall or spring. Or she wants to have a boy, but the embryo is a girl and so on. They are all trivial and tedious excuses.

 Decision of abortion involves moral aspects. When college students contemplate on whether taking abortion or not, they should take embryos’ benefits of living and the holiness of human lives into account. Even though somebody may think an embryo is not a complete life therefore does not equip with human rights, but it is out there, just inside mother’s uterus. Therefore, it is certainly being. It deserves the basic rights to continue living which nobody can deprive of.

As a result, I think if college students can find ways to balance the economical burdens and mental pressure just like me, I think we should not give up our babies easily since abortion also makes mothers shoulder ethical burdens and social judgments. Abortion is not always the best refugee from the upcoming responsibilities.

E: okay, but in my annotation 4, it talks about taking abortion in the United States. Roe was a poor girl and she wanted to take abortion, but the laws in Texas forbade it. So, she brought the suit to the Court, and finally she won. Because of the fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution said that the local government cannot deprive persons of life, liberty, or property legislative authorization. But the word “persons” does not include the unborn baby.

So my conclusion is that I think it is not proper for a young girl to have a child. Not only they will have to face the financial problem, they will also have mental stress during the pregnancy. And I think it is not fair that the stigma which those girls have to bear when they want to take abortion. If they want, we should stand their side and respect their decision. Putting the overwhelming stress on them with those unclear reasons is too cruel. Just like the Roe’s case, in the end, she still had to deliver it, she couldn’t support the child, so she still had to give it up for adoption.

So, Ruby, I think you should be positive to abortion. If the abortion can make you take having sex more seriously next time, and it could also relieve your financial problem, why don’t you just take it?

R:Ok, but you talked about an example in America. I also got an example from Malaysia. In 2010, the chief minister of Malacca, Mohammed Ali Rustam, set up the first school for pregnant girls in Malaysia. The school not only provides normal courses, it also gives students a dormitory to live in which is translated into Home of Hope. In School of Hope and Home of Hope, students can receive religious, maternity healthcare counseling, medical check-ups and skill training such as cooking and baby-caring for the preparation of being a mother and a wife in the near future. The school of hope is a great support for pregnant girls. If those girls can receive thoughtful care, nonstop education and most important of all, a shield from the outside gossip, they will have greater willingness and courage to deliver their child and to take care of them.

And Emma, remember that I told you some information few weeks ago? Article 26 of University Act was amended. And according to the rule, students can apply for temporary suspension of study. Then they have more time to earn money for their child and have more time to stay with their child. Moreover, abortion harms women’s body. If the baby in the uterus is not moved out completely or during the process of abortion, the doctor hurts the endometrium, it will lead to infertility forever. All in all, I think I won’t take your advice to take abortion.

E: Why not?

R: I still want to deliver my child.

E: Okay.

R&E: And thank for your listening!

Annotation 4

Annotation 4             Why can’t I take abortion?

      The date, 22th in January has been seen as a depressing day by anti-abortion people in U.S, because taking abortion had been legalized in the country since 1973. It must surprise you, for we all know most of people in United States believe in Christianity, and the Bible does not allow women to take abortion. But the country also asks freedom and fairness, how to deal with it if women want to take abortion? Which one does the law have to protect, the unborn babies or the right for women to do what they want to do for their bodies?

      In 1970, there was a poor girl named Jane Roe wanting to take abortion in Texas, but the laws in Texas forbade girls taking abortion. As a result, she brought suit to prevent the prosecutor from enforcing the state’s antiabortion laws. The controversial points are whether women’s right of taking abortion should belong to privacy, whether unborn babies should be protected by the constitution, and whether the antiabortion laws in Texas violate the constitution.

      Because of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the Court announced that the antiabortion laws were violations to the constitution.

In the amendment, it said: “The Due Process Clause prohibits state and local government officials from depriving persons of life, liberty, or property without legislative authorization.” And the unborn babies are not included the “persons.” The opinion of the court, Blackmun, even noted that “the state imposed a great burden “upon the pregnant woman by denying this choice,” subjecting women to potential medical harms, as well as financial and emotional harms.” He believed that there would be many of women like Roe shouldering the burden after giving a birth. From then on, most of states began to make taking abortion legal.

      Why taking abortion is not like removing a tumor? Because people tend to give the assumption to unborn babies, and that see them as humans. This assumption restricts women to take abortion and that also makes women stressful. Just like in the case, during the suit, Roe had no choice but to give birth and still had to give it up for adoption. Now that a girl still cannot support the child and has to lose it, why we enforce her to deliver the child? Will it be better to keep the pregnancy for ten months and endure the pain while delivering but still lose it? Having an unwanted child makes women more relieved? I suggest that if the unwanted and unexpected children make those women’ lives distressful, then the society should not impose the pressure on them and just let them take abortion!

     Document citation:

PAUL FINKELMAN & MELVIN I. UROFSKY, Roe v. Wade, in LANDMARK DECISIONS OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT (2003), available in CQ ELECTRONIC LIBRARY, CQ Supreme Court Collection, http://library.cqpress.com/scc/lndmrk03-113-6441-348238

(last visited September 5, 2005). Document ID: lndmrk03-113-6441-348238.

Revised Annotation 3 Whether the fertilized ovum is a human?

Annotation3           Whether the fertilized ovum is a human?
      Why do some people disagree taking abortion? Why do they add a stigma on it? You probably think that because life is sacred and precious or that no one could take away the right for the innocent embryo to grow up. However, you should ponder that what is a life and that whether an embryo could have rights before protesting abortion strongly. The book« Life’s Dominion» which is written by Ronald Dworkin, pointed out many questions about taking abortion.
      Ronald Dworkin is a law scholar and also a philosopher. He devoted himself to interpreting law and morality, and he wanted to find a way to solve the disputative issue about life by analyzing constitution, cases, and human belief. He divided those who object to taking abortion into two parts- one is derivative objection which means they think taking abortion is to deprive babies’ rights and benefits, while the other is detached objection, which means they believe that life is sacred and valuable.
From many surveys and cases, Dworkin proposed the contradiction to the two parts. First, how to define a start of a life? It depends. Some people’s answer is when the ovum got fertilized, and some people’s answer is several weeks after the ovum got fertilized. According to a public announcement of a priest of Jew, David Feldman, it said: “In Jew’s laws, an embryo is not a human. Until it quits the womb and comes to the world, it will become a human.” There is no clear and exact timing to define the start of life, how can you regard taking abortion as a murder? Women should not live in the nightmare of killing human and the stigma.
     The next problem is whether an embryo has rights. Dworkin said that: “Only if something owns, or has already had some forms of senses, and that is a kind of mental and physical body life; otherwise, it will be meaningless to suppose something has its own rights.” He even took Dr. Frankenstein for example. “If he could make the body come alive, then the stop of this experiment would be also seen as a way to take away its right. However, no one thinks that it is unfair to the body or that the body has rights. Therefore, the derivative objection is facing the contradiction.”
     Dworkin thought that detached objection could make sense, but it also faced challenges. He mentioned that people think it is acceptable for a mother to take abortion when the pregnancy is threatening her life or the pregnancy is resulted from a rape and an incest. However, if you ask a girl not to take abortion because life is precious, then is the life resulted from a rape or an incest not also precious and valuable? Why does the former have to be blame, while the latter is acceptable? Is it fair that girls who want to take abortion have to shoulder the moral stress?
     To sum up, people who object to abortion could add stigmas on it, and form an overwhelming stress to women on the basis of unclear reasons. For those young girls who do not want babies, if taking abortion could release their pressure from money and responsibility or the environment which is not prepared for the coming baby, then it is cruel and unfair that you call those pregnant women as murderers.

Source: Dworkin, R. (2002). Life’s dominion: an argument about abortion, euthanasia, and individual freedom (Ya-Ru Chen,Zhen-Ling Guo, Trans.). Republic of China: Business Weekly Publications.