Abortion and Euthanasia: Two Controversial Topics

Abortion and Euthanasia: Two Controversial Topics

Ronald Dworkin brings up a much debated topic in his essay, “Life is Sacred: That’s the Easy Part.” The ideas of abortion and euthanasia have been intensely debated and argued over for a long time. Both sides of the argument refuse to change their views because each of them is stubborn and will not listen to any reason. Although I could be incorporated in this statement, I believe I have an open-mind when it comes to these issues and could argue either way. But, from a personal stand point, I believe abortion and euthanasia are not the worst things in the world.

In the case of abortion, think about a thirteen-year-old who was raped or sexually molested by her father. A little girl who knows nothing about pregnancy or being a mother is faced with a major problem. The pro-life position is telling her to have the baby and take care of it. This is a huge problem to deal with by herself. A thirteen-year-old girl was not meant to have a child. In another case, if the life of the mother is threatened, and she will ultimately die when the baby is born, this woman must have the choice to live or not. A twenty-year-old woman should have her whole life in front of her. She should be able to choose whether she wants to live or if she wants her baby to live. This is the problem with being completely anti-abortion. I believe in these cases abortion is called for and definitely needed. I’m not condoning the use of abortion whenever you need it. Men and women, who choose to have sex without protection and end up with the women being pregnant, should not just say, “Oh well, let’s just kill the baby.” A certain sense of responsibility should be taken with this action. An abortion is a huge deal and should not be taken lightly, but I believe a woman should have a choice to keep her baby or not. Most people say that a baby is a life and you must not kill a life. But I believe that in the first trimester a baby is only just forming, it is not really a full life.

Euthanasia is another touchy subject that has been debated. It got a lot of attention with the case of Terry Schiavo. Terry Schiavo suffered a severe brain damage after having a heart attack in 1990. For several years, doctors tried many efforts to get her back to her original self but she did not respond to anything. They put her on a feeding tube to get nutrients to her. For thirteen years she never responded to anything the doctors did. She had no brain activity going on, whatsoever. Finally, her husband, fed up with seeing the love of his life in a vegetative state, decided to let her die in peace. But Schiavo’s parents would not have that. They wanted their daughter to live so they petitioned the government, who got involved. The government jumped into the frenzy which they had no prior knowledge. They did not know Schiavo. They did not know how her husband had to go through thirteen years of seeing his wife on the edge of life and death. Along with the government getting involved, they brought the media into the picture. The media turned this whole ordeal into a circus. They put pictures of Schiavo on the television, which was not the right thing to do at all. This was supposed a family matter, but instead, everyone and their brother got involved. Technically, Schiavo was still living, but only with the help of a machine. That is not a life. She was in a vegetative state and was a complete drain on her family, emotionally and financially.

I have my own personal experiences in dealing with Euthanasia with both of my grandparents. My grandpa was a man who smoked heavily his whole life, and drank lots of alcohol. Later on in life, he realized what he was doing to himself. But it was too little too late. Eventually His liver stopped working and his lungs became weaker and weaker. He ended up in a nursing home when he was seventy-four. He was fighting his way back to better health. The doctors were weary about how much better he could actually get. He almost regained full health, but something in his body decided it was his time to go. He went downhill fast after that. Everyone in our family was scared for him. The only grandpa I ever knew was fading fast. I loved him a lot and I was always at his side. The doctors thought it would be better if they put him in a medicine induced coma. We agreed and I saw my grandpa slip slowly into a coma. It was the hardest thing I had ever seen in my life. For weeks we came and all we could do was look at him and tell him how much we loved him knowing that he would never respond. Eventually, we got so sad just staring at him that we were ready to let go. We told the doctors that he would not want to live like this and that they should go ahead and let him die. They let a couple of us stay in and watch him take his final