Abortion Essays (2047 words) - Fertility, Abortion, Gender Studies

Abortion One of the most controversial topics over the years, and still today, is abortion. Is abortion murder or not? When does a fetus become a human? There are no answers to these questions. Everyone individual has their own beliefs on whether or not abortion is justifiable. Abortions have been performed throughout many of centuries. Recently, there has been a number of court cases that has changed the legality of abortions, especially in the United States, for example Roe v. Wade. Even religions have changed their views on abortions over the course of the years. In the abortions wars there are two parties, pro-life and pro-choice. Pro-life believes that abortion is murder and is completely immoral. Pro-choice, however, believes that it is the mothers choice if she wishes to terminate the pregnancy or not. There are countless ways to perform an abortion. Some are obviously much safer. Even then there are some serious side effects that may happen during or after an abortion, both physical a nd psychological. This essay is just skimming the top of the abortion issue. Hopefully it will give you a general idea of how complicated this topic is. Before there was a legal system, as we know it, abortions were decided just by your religious beliefs. Judaism believed that the life of someone already born is more important then that of the unborn. Therefore is the mothers welfare is at risk an abortion is permitted. However it is not acceptable to terminate a pregnancy for any other reason. In Islamic beliefs a woman has the right to have an abortion, until the soul enters the fetus, between 40 to 120 days after conception. Buddhists believe that abortion is justifiable. They say that the fate of the unborn child is not to come into the world at this time. The Bible says in Num 5:27God mandates trial by ordeal for women accused by their husbands of adultery. The priest is instructed to make a potion, the accused is ordered to drink it, and if she miscarries, she is considered guilty.(Abortion in history) Early Catholics didnt believe that the soul entered the fetus until later, 40 days for boys and 90 days for girls. Only in 1869 did the Catholic Church declare that the soul entered the fetus at conception, therefore rendering abortion murder. Until the second half of the nineteenth century, the English Common Law was that abortions were permitted until the quickening, that is until the baby started moving. After that, with the new advances in the medicine field we came to understand more what happens to a womans body during pregnancy and abortions. The abortion laws were made to protect the women from uncertified abortionists. There is one remarkable legal battle that changed the American abortion laws to what they are now, Roe v. Wade. It took place in 1973 in Texas. Roe, Norma McCorvey, was an anonymous plaintiff against the State. The ruling, abortion is legal. It gives the mother the right of whether or not to terminated her pregnancy. However, that does not give the woman the right to terminate her pregnancy for any reason during all nine months. The court said that the woman may have an abortion until fetal viability, the time at which it first becomes realistically possible for a fetus to live outside the womans body. At that point the states interest outweighs the womans right. (Roe v. Wade) There are obvious exceptions to that law if the mothers health is at risk. And just as a passing comment, Roe has now changed sides. She was an active abortion activist for close to 20 years. Now she is just as involved in the opposing side. She has converted to Christianity and has been baptized. She is a lead er for the anti-abortionists. The methods of abortion are divided into early abortions and later abortions. The newest addition, just approved by the FDA, is the RU-486 pill. Also known as mifepristone or the abortion pill. It may be used from the fifth week until the seventh. It is a chemical that interferes with the function of the placenta, which in turn starves the fetus. The fetus is then expelled using misoprostol. The abortion takes place

Benito Mussolini Essays - Politics, Political Philosophy

Benito Mussolini Essays - Politics, Political Philosophy Benito Mussolini Benito Mussolini In my perspective, my biography is based on one of the most interesting men of the 20th Century. My biography would not have been done without the knowledge of Edwin Hoyt. He was the author of the biography based on Benito Mussolini called Mussolinis Empire. This 298-page book describes Mussolinis rise and fall of the Fascist Empire. Benito Mussolini also known as il duce, was born in Predappio, Romagna on July 29, 1883. His father Alessandro was a blacksmith, and his mother Rosa was a Schoolteacher. Mussolini followed in his fathers footsteps and became a devoted socialist. In 1901 he qualified as an elementary schoolmaster. In 1902 he went to Switzerland to find a job. They arrested him and kicked him out of the country because he was vagabonding. They took him back to Italy where he joined a staff of a newspaper in the Austrian town of Trento in 1908. Mussolinis contributions to society werent really contributions; they were more like threats to society. One of the biggest threats that he introduced was in March 1919 when he founded the Fasci de Combattimento. This brought him up for elections in 1919, where he failed to enter the parliament. In 1921, Mussolini was introduced to the parliament as a right-wing member. Italy was growing in revolutionary confusion, and it was up for the liberal governments to prevent the spread of anarchy because Mussolini gave his approval in strikebreaking, so that meant that the Fascisti also known as armed squads would be stagnant and not try to prevent any revolutionary agitation. The liberal governments failed to stop the spread of anarchy. Due to their failure the king had no choice but to ask Mussolini to form his own government. In 1925-1926 he was able to assume dictatorial parties and dissolve all other political parties. Now you might ask yourself How is this a threat to society? Well, this was not only a threat to society but also a threat to his society. This man had power to control the whole country. He was able to choose and make any rules that he w anted. Now if you ask me, this man was incredible. Started out as an editor of a socialist newspaper and ended up as a dictator controlling Italy. This man controlled the armed Fascist militia, this power gave him the ability to declare war and use them in any way he wanted. Now that their was dictatorship there was no need for the parliamentary system, so it was practically abolished, law codes were rewritten, teachers in schools and universities had to swear an oath to defend the Fascist regime. Newspaper editors were chosen by Mussolini himself. If you didnt have a certificate approved by the Fascist party you could forget about having a journalism career. All industries went from public to private ownership. Everything was under governmental control. As you can see Italys society was hit hard. I mean their whole history was wiped out like it was never there, and all of a sudden Italy was introduced to a beginning of a new era. Dictatorship also affected society itself outside Italy. In Mussolinis footsteps followed Adolf Hitler dictator of Germany. Mussolini had an imperial dream, and Hitler had no dream he just wanted to wipe out Jews and take over as many lands as possible. Everything was going well for Mussolini until 1943 when the Italians got defeated by Anglo-Americans landing in Sicily. After this happened Mussolinis colleagues turned against him at a meeting of the Fascist Grand Council on July 25, 1943. This enabled the king to dismiss and arrest him. Hitler being the subordinate partner of Mussolini ordered his troops to rescue him. Mussolini infuriated that his Fascist leaders let him down, he got some to get executed including his son in law, Galeazzo Ciano. Another conflict that he was faced with was trying to make it to Switzerland without getting caught by any Italians. In April 1945 just before the allied armies reached Milan, Mussolini along with his mistress Clara Petacci, were caught by Italian partisans as he tried to take refuge in Switzerland. Unfortunately they were both executed by getting Shot. Even after Mussolini got shot he got beat up.