Blogs I Enjoy

There were many blogs that I found very interesting, but I narrowed my list down to three that I consistently followed.

http://wartimeeffects.blogspot.com
I found this blog to be very interesting and informative. In this blog Wartime Communities discusses how the war is negatively affecting military families. Wartime Comminities' opinion can be noted in this blog, however, they back their opinions with factual information. This was good because I agree with the opinion in the blog, but I had never based my opinion off actual facts, just beliefs. I also enjoyed the cartoons that were used in the blog to discuss topics. They made the blog more interesting to read.

http://medicaltech-medtech.blogspot.com
I really enjoyed following this blog because the topic fascinated me, and the blog was very well researched. This Guy discussed in each post a new idea for types of medical technology that could be used in the future. The technology that was researched was unthinkable for this generation. However, if it gets enough funding it would not be impossible for the future. I plan to go to medical school, so these extreme possible types of medical technology fascinated me.

http://supertechblogger.blogspot.com/
Supertechblogger's blog discussed new "super weapons" of mass destruction. Supertechblogger's blog fascinated me greatly because of the technology they discussed and the entertainment that was discussed in relation to the technology. I enjoyed reading the weapon of the week entries. They were about ideas for these great weapons and how they could potentially be used. These entries, sometimes related to science fiction, were ideas that weren't really feasible but fun to think about. This blog was well researched and very informative.

Demographic Statistics Related to Abortion

I recently researched which demographic categories of women were most likely to have abortions. My predictions were that young, single, and low income minorities would be most likely to receive an abortion. For the most part my predictions were true. The low income, single, minorities were most likely to receive abortions because they believed they would be financially unable to care for the child. It was understandable that single, low income women would have more abortions, and usually these women are associated with a minority group. However, instead of young women having more abortions, I discovered that a higher percent of older women tend to have abortions. This finding astounded me. The only reason that could possibly explain this statistic is that in today's society young teens are becoming more well-informed about using contraceptives. This may tend to make them more cautious of having sex without protection. Also, possibly older women that get pregnant may think that they would be too old to have a child, and/or their "partner" does not think it would be appropriate to have a child yet.

As I have discussed before the new Pregnant Women Support Act that is being considered now would provide women that have a lower income with resources so that she would be able to carry the pregnancy full term. If she did not want to keep the child she could give it up for adoption, but all the pre-birth finances would be taken care of. This would lower the rate of single, low income, minorities that receive abortions.

Implications

Abortion is a topic that has always been controversial. The viewpoints of the pro-life and pro-choice supporters are so polarized that it is highly unlikely that this topic will ever be not controversial. Since our nation has become more liberal, it is also unlikely that the abortion issue will ever be solved. The reason for this is that abortion is a topic of morals and ethics. There is no logic or scientific proof to claim that abortion should be illegal. However, in this blog I have discussed how the two sides can compromise about some specific ideas related to abortion. Since I do believe that this issue will remain unresolved, I can only hope that these compromises will help to at least decrease the number of abortions.

The usage of contraception right now is increasing in the whole world. Many claim that abortions are decreasing because of this. If pro-life supporters will support and continue to support the idea of contraception, then I believe the abortion number will decrease. Also, many "crisis pregnancy centers" are being built near abortion clinics which discourages women from having abortions.

Abortion is going to remain a controversial subject related to ethics. This will prevent abortion from ever being illegal. Even though abortion will most likely never become illegal, I think the number of abortions will continue to decrease because the numbers have been steadily decreasing since 1990 (as you can see in this chart).


http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/facts/abortionstats.html
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4151508&page=1&page=1
http://www.mariestopes.org/Press/International/Global_abortion_decrease_%60uneven%60.aspx

Partial Birth Abortion

Many pro-choice advocates believed that if partial-birth abortion became illegal then all abortion procedures would become illegal. Partial birth abortion is a procedure where the intact fetus is removed from the uterus and aborted. This theory however, was disproved in 2003 when the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act was enacted. This meant usually that an abortion that occured by this means in the 2nd trimester would be illegal. The U.S. Supreme Court later upheld this ruling in 2007 by saying that Partial Birth Abortions were unconstitutional because it involved intact dilation and extraction of the fetus from the uterus.

Our current president, Barack Obama, voted against a Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act in 2001, and has said on many occasions that he stands by this vote. Many health care reforms that are trying to be passed now include coverage for abortion, as I have mentioned in previous posts. Many pro-life supporters fear that this much support for abortion by a president will bring back partial birth abortions. This would increase the number of abortions that occur. For the most part, Democratic representatives in Congress are opposed to partial birth abortions. However, the pro-choice supporters that are against this procedure need to work together with the pro-life supporters to ensure that this procedure remains illegal.

Annotated "Links"

http://www.nrlc.org/

This website was founded by the group the National Right to Life Committee. This group was founded in 1973, and they are a group of pro-life supporters. This committee has pro-life representatives from each state, and they work together to get legislation passed on a national level concerning abortion. They provide new information about legislation that was discussed in this blog.

http://www.prochoice.org/

The National Abortion Federation created this website to advocate the pro-choice movement. The National Abortion Federation is an association of abortion providers in North America. They support abortion healthcare specialists. This website was used in the blog to get many arguments from the pro-choice point of view.

http://www.abortionfacts.com/reardon/after_effects_of_abortion.asp

This website was created by the Elliot Institute. The Elliot Institute is a non-profit organization that publishes research, especially for topics of abortion. This website was used throughout the blog to statistically back up opinions and information in the blog about abortion.

http://www.democratsforlife.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=48

The Democrats for Life in America are a group of Democrats who are pro-life in the fight against abortion. They strive to elect more pro-life democrats into office, and they try to promote a pro-life stance in the democratic party platform. This website was used in the blog when the Pregnant Women Support Act was discussed because they advocate this act.

http://www.fertilitydr.com/

This the website of a Fertility Clinic in Utah. They provide assistance to women who are unable to become pregnant. They offer infertility treatment, fertility tests, and some surgical treatments. The Reproductive Care Unit was used in my blog to discuss healthcare related to abortion.

Self-Analysis

Since I have been writing this blog, I have learned more about issues related to abortion, which is the termination of a pregnancy. Because I have been doing research about this topic, I have learned about the arguments on both sides of the issue. Before, I knew mostly about the side of abortion that I support, which is pro-life. Now I know just as much about the pro-choice point of view. Even though I know more about the pro-choice stance, I still kept my same view points. Because I am strongly opinionated about this topic, it was hard for me to not be biased. I made sure that every opinion I stated was backed with factual information.

I knew from the beginning that I wanted my topic to be about abortion. However, I was not sure how I was going to argue that abortion should be illegal without bringing ethics and morals into question. I ended up arguing that there could be a compromise between the pro-life and pro-choice side of the abortion argument. I did not even believe there could be a compromise between the two sides on any topic because their viewpoints are so polarized. However, by researching both sides I found that they can agree on some smaller issues related to abortion. This in turn could help decrease the number of abortions. The first information that I found out was that the number of abortions have already been decreasing in the past few years. I learned that the use of contraceptives is being questioned more and more by the pro-life supporters. The most interesting information that I discovered was that there are some Democratic representatives that are trying to pass legislation to decrease the number of abortions. Also, I learned that more women suffer from Post Abortion Syndrome than I thought.

This blog has also helped me with my writing. I had never been really good at argumentative papers, and now I feel like I would do a better job because I have learned that in order to write a good argumentative paper, you have to understand both sides of the argument. Knowing the other side helps you to formulate your argument around their arguments. Understanding the ethics behind the pro-choice side of the argument helped me to find factual information to back up my pro-life side.

Democrats Taking A Legislative Stand?

Recently I have read about many legislative acts that are being supported by the Democratic party. One act that caught my attention was the Pregnant Women Support Act. This is an act for women considering abortion only because of lack of resources available to them. Mostly single pregnant women who are working, in school, or without a job are the ones who are involved in this situation and need help. This act includes many programs that will help pregnant women carry out their term.

The programs include providing pregnancy counseling, providing grants for medical expenses such as ultrasounds, providing house visits for new mothers by a registered nurse, and providing women with toll-free numbers so they can contact local places that provide support. If a woman only wants an abortion because she needs resources, this act will provide them for her. This way the woman would be able to have information and resources so that she could continue her pregnancy. It is logical for all sides of the political debate to support this act. The pro-life supporters would naturally support this act. The Democrats that support this act need to advocate it so that it can be passed.


www.usccb.org/sdwp/projects/2008PWSA.pdf
http://www.democratsforlife.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=48