Essay on "Abortion Rights: In Dew vs. Brownmiller"

Essay 3 pages (1042 words) Sources: 3

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Abortion rights: In Dew vs. Brownmiller, the debate rages on if every woman were to follow pro-life activist Diane Dew's logic in her essay "It's a child, not a choice," than she would be obligated to have as many children as possible -- every potential child could be the next Michelangelo or Edison, writes Dew. According to Dew's point-of-view, convenience -- including the ability or desire to have a child -- should play no role in determining whether a child should be brought to term. Quality of life is meaningless, both for the mother and for the child. What matters is life itself. Equally disturbing is Dew's line of argumentation based on a Christian perspective, which states that a convenience should have no role in determining whether a child should be brought into the world, as Christ's birth was not convenient for the Virgin Mary. This is despite the fact that the United States is not a Christian nation, merely a nation that tolerates the practice of Christianity -- and all religions -- within its borders.

Dew certainly had the right, under the laws of the land, to choose to have a child despite her husband's unemployment. But pro-choice activists would ask why should she have the right, based upon her fundamentalist Christian principles, to dictate other women's reproductive choices? Even with the legal prerogative to have an abortion, Dew did not choose to do so, undercutting her own logic that every woman with the option to choose abortion will invariable decide to terminate the pregnancy. Dew is proud of the fact that she risked giving birth to a child with severe deformities, after suffering the German measles during pregnancy. Her living quarters at the time exhibited conditions that might cause some social workers to intervene to protect the welfare of a child: "No running water. No heat. Canned goods froze in the cupboard. Water in the sink (from snow I had melted) became solid overnight. I was 1,000 miles from family and didn't have a friend in town…after one beating that put me in bed for weeks, I almost lost the baby. My husband left shortly after the baby was born." Dew argues that because she sees bringing a new life into the world under such conditions as noble, others should do the same. What if Dew had other children? Would it have been fair to them to add another mouth to feed to the family?

The feminist Susan Brownmiller points out that abortion has always been practiced in the United States and elsewhere. The question is if abortions shall be done safely or unsafely, legally or illegally. When women face dire and desperate circumstances, Brownmiller states that they should not be forced to risk their lives to exercise control over their reproductive health. While Dew condemns the amount of money abortion doctors make, Brownmiller points out that unscrupulous practitioners often made far more when abortion was illegal in the majority of states of the union, and they often harmed the women who sought their services. Other women used makeshift means, such as wire hangers or bleach, to have abortions.… READ MORE

How to Reference "Abortion Rights: In Dew vs. Brownmiller" Essay in a Bibliography

Related Essays:

Abortion Donna Only Half the Patients Term Paper

Abortion

Donna

Only half the patients who go into an abortion clinic come out alive."

Author Unknown 1980

Abortion is immoral, cannot be justified under any circumstances and is associated… read more

Term Paper 5 pages (1652 words) Sources: 1+ Topic: Abortion / Pro-Life / Pro-Choice

---

Bible and Law Abortion Research Paper

Bible and Law - Abortion

Bible and Law

Abortion has been defined as an act of voluntarily terminating pregnancy, which leads to the embryo's death. Abortion has become a very… read more

Research Paper 11 pages (4111 words) Sources: 15 Topic: Abortion / Pro-Life / Pro-Choice

---

Abortion and Women's Rights Research Paper

The ability for a woman to control her body is critical to her civil rights.

For most women, pregnancy does interfere with her ability to work or attend school. Society… read more

Research Paper 7 pages (2461 words) Sources: 5 Topic: Abortion / Pro-Life / Pro-Choice

---

Abortion Including Rape and Incest Essay

Abortion, Including Rape and Incest:

One of the major, contentious moral issues facing the modern American society is the practice of abortion that attracted huge debates and controversies. Much of… read more

Essay 4 pages (1381 words) Sources: 3 Topic: Abortion / Pro-Life / Pro-Choice

---

Abortion Rights Research Paper

Patriarchs are willing to go to any unethical length to preserve their social structures, including even murder. As Chamberlain and Hardisty point out, radical anti-choice organizations have plotted to murder… read more

Research Paper 3 pages (975 words) Sources: 5 Topic: Abortion / Pro-Life / Pro-Choice

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>