Why Supporting Abortion is a Pro-life Position Essay Example
A woman’s right to control her own body: this is a highly contested argument that is being had in the comfort of homes, classrooms, offices, government, and all the way to the supreme court. One such woman, author Danielle Campoamor, writes “Why Supporting Abortion is a Pro-life Position”, published in 2018 in an op-ed on CNN.com, and she argues that allowing women the right to a safe, affordable and relatively easy abortion will be beneficial to lower the rate of mortality in women, which will give women a better chance at life.
In this article the authors appeal to the readers on the decision of abortion and rather it is legal to deny women there right to a late term abortion. Campoamor Starts off by building her credibility with personal experiences and trustworthy sources, statistics, and
...citing convincing facts, and successfully employing emotional appeals; however, toward the end of the article, her attempts to appeal to readers’ emotions weaken her credibility and ultimately, her argument.
In her article, Campoamor set the stage by sighting her personal experiences with abortion and how it benefited her and her long term goals in life, “If you looked at my life on paper, you might very well wonder why this news is a big deal to me. I have a life in New York City, a 3-year-old son, a current, wanted, planned pregnancy, a rewarding relationship and my mental health. But I have these things because of the abortion I was legally, safely and affordably able to procure at age 23”. She also goes on to express her opinion on how women should not be restricted to access of any sort
to cut down on the unnecessary deaths of women across a country. Campoamor continue by describing more person scenarios that eventually lead her to her present career as an advocate for abortion rights.
Throughout her article Capoamor uses many strong sources that strengthen her credibility and appeal to ethos, as well as build her argument. These sources include,” a study in 1965 by the Guttmacher Institute on abortion deaths”, “a 2014 study by the American Journal of Public Health on abortion patients”, “a study in 2015 by the Guttmacher Institute on Title X”, “a 2016 report from the Texas Policy Evaluation Project, based at the University of Texas at Austin”, By siting these sources gave Campoamor credibility by showing a level of do diligence by doing her research and providing facts and statistics, as well as expert opinions to support her claim. She also uses her personally experiences to help support her writing, which shows she has a personal stake and first hand knowledge of the issue.
Campoamor also adds to her ethos appeal, she uses strong appeals to logos, with many facts and statistics and logical progressions of ideas. Campoamor points out facts and her personal experience with abortion and the way it saved her life, “In 2010, I walked into a Planned Parenthood in Washington state and had a safe, affordable and relatively easy abortion. I wasn't subjected to mandatory waiting periods, forced counseling or an abortion provider required to regurgitate state-mandated, inaccurate information. I didn't have to travel long distances, worry I was getting there too late in the pregnancy, find money to pay for child care or walk past angry or intrusive protesters. Instead,
I went in pregnant and, a few hours later, came out with my future back in my control”. “I was unaware at the time, but that future would eventually include life as a writer of a column dedicated entirely to abortion, lobbying elected officials on Capitol Hill and sharing my abortion story in front of thousands of people”. These facts help support the idea that Campoamor has a close and personal connection with the cause. Campoamor continues with many more statistics:
[A] study by Guttmachher, 17%of all deaths attributed to pregnancy and childbirth were the result of illegal abortions, and those were the deaths officials reported; the actual number of lives lost is undeniably much higher. …[A]ccording to UN experts, repealing anti-abortion laws would save the lives of nearly 50,000 women a year. …[In] 2014, poor women accounted for 49% of abortion patients, according to the American Journal of Public Health. …[W]orldwide, an estimated 68,000 women die of unsafe abortions each year, according to an obstetrics and gynecology study, and 5 million will suffer long-term health complication if they survive.
These statistics are a few of many that logically support her claim that it is a substantial and real problem that if women aren’t allowed adequate access to an abortion it would result in more deaths of women. The minutiae and statistics build an appeal to logos and impress upon the reader that this is a problem worth discussing.
Campoamor also make another appeal to pathos when she talks about the positive aspects of her abortion, but she also touches on some negative points as well. “I was unaware at the time, but that future would eventually include life as a writer of a column
dedicated entirely to abortion, lobbying elected officials on Capitol Hill and sharing my abortion story in front of thousands of people”. “I had no idea that it would include another pregnancy, a difficult labor and delivery, and a healthy, beautiful baby boy. But it also brought me death threats, promises of eternal damnation, severed relationships with conservative or evangelical childhood friends and daily online attacks from anti-abortion zealots; all 'consequences' of my choice to procure and advocate for abortion care”. With these emotional experiences evokes a negative emotion towards those who are pro life advocates, making the reader sympathize with the woman that is looking to have an abortion. Another feeling that Campoamor reinforces is fear, “State Sen. Rick Bertrand, an Iowa Republican, said during a debate on Senate File 359 that it would be a 'vehicle that will ultimately provide change and the opportunity to overturn Roe v. Wade,' because the measure is likely to be challenged in court and potentially appealed by either side to the US Supreme Court” in the quote she is telling the reader that if any form of legislation is passed abortion will be illegal. She also included facts about death rates during birth, and that people of color were more likely to die do to lack of reproductive care.
By the time I reached the final paragraph in the article I realized that Campoamor was being to sound quit bias in her writing. She used statistics that were one sided such as “In the United States, between 700 and 1,200 women die from pregnancy or childbirth complications, the World Health Organization reports, and black women are three to four times more likely
to die from such complications than white women”, “In El Salvador, a total ban on abortion has resulted in the automatic suspicion of any woman who doesn't carry a pregnancy to term. Some women who endure miscarriages or stillbirths are sent to prison, such as Carmen Vásquez, who was sentenced to 30 years for aggravated murder after giving birth to a stillborn baby”, Campoamor was writing to a sympathetic and neutral audience trying to sway them in one direction without giving an apposing viewpoint. She never mentioned the statistics or research of the benefits or outcomes of not having an abortion. She also showed her bias and that she was slanted to one side of the argument by stating “To advocate for restricted access, to ban abortion services before women even know they are pregnant or to destroy access entirely is to endorse the unnecessary deaths of women across a country that claims to value all life. And I cannot enjoy my life while women are losing the right to live theirs. “Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director turned anti-abortion activist, told LifeSiteNews, a so-called 'news' website, in response to Williamson's comments, 'As pro-lifers, we must preach mercy, not condemnation. We believe that abortion is the ultimate violence against women and their unborn children. We must not, in turn, respond with violence against those who are misled and living in spiritual blindness'. Campoanor reiterates with the quote, “A fine sentiment, to be sure, but one dripping with hypocrisy”. While her personal situation and the plight of other ladies appealed to the ethos and personal credibility, it worked well in the introduction and drew the
reader in, it lacked the strength and bipartisan voice to prove that her agreement in a fair and un bias way. Campoanor could have approached the subject with a different tone and less bias. In the article “Abortion” Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, Gale, 2018”, it gives an in depth look at the subject without the bias, and gives an equal amount of information to both side of the argument
Although Campoanor began her article by effectively persuading her readers of the unfair treatment of women when it came to reproductive rights, she lost credibility towards the end where she needed to grab the reader. She places too much emphases on the the positive aspects of abortions and not enough on the negative aspects of abortion. Her article was deliberated leaning towards the readers of her publication and not enough to be considered balanced. She drives home the point that abortion should be a woman’s choice and should not be regulated at all, and it leaves a lot up for debate.
