Final Presentation

For my end of the year research project, I chose the topic, abortion. I thought this topic would be a very beneficial topic for me to research because I’ve always wondered about the science and politics behind abortion and this gave me the opportunity to research these things. Throughout this assignment I have learned alot of information that I think will stay with me; and will probably have to say when abortion comes up in a conversation because now I have my own opinions about it, with good reasons behind them also.
I read The Cider House Rules, by John Irving, and if you’re into really long books, that will make you think you honestly might like it. That is, as long as you’re okay with reading about abortion and you can stick with a book that starts off really slow. For my interview/interaction I interviewed one of my friends that has had an abortion. I think the most interesting thing I learned about were the underground abortion clinics or the amount of people who got abortions done illegally, even though they’re very painful and risky.

I have decided that I personally, am against abortion, and wouldn’t ever get one myself, but could defiantly see why someone would chose to have one. I decided this because I don’t think that it’s worth the risks that come along with it and I’m already terrified of getting any kind of cancer so if your chances of getting breast cancer increases if you have an abortion then that’s defiantly not happening. The one thing I wish I would have done differently was probably do all my research on time and didn’t wait till the last minute. I’d also probably go more in depth with each of the controversies, because there’s always two sides to every story. But overall, I really enjoyed this research project and am very glad I had the opportunity to research something that I actually had interest in to do.

Interview/ Interaction

I interviewed a friend of mine, let’s call her, Suzie. Suzie wanted to stay anonymous for this interview, but I thought she’d be the perfect person to talk to about this topic, since she’s been through an abortion herself. Suzie is now 18, but was actually 16 when she had an abortion. Being that she wasn't 18, she had to bring her mom with her to the clinic. When I asked her what her first reactions were to knowing she was pregnant she said, “At first I didn’t want to believe it, but I think my second though would have been that I was worried about how to tell my mom…” she had only considered keeping the child a coupe times, she knew that that would have been a bad situation for both her and her child if she did decide to go through with her pregnancy. I asked her if she ever regretted having an abortionand she replied by saying “I just don’t think about it, it’s not like a can do anything about it now, but I’m glad I made the choice that I did.” I also asked if she thinks that there will be any effects from having an abortion later on in life and she simply replied with no.
I’m extremely thankful that I was able to interview my friend. I’ve always been curious about her experience, but I never knew how to talk with her about it. Although it was very difficult to talk with her, I’m glad I did. I don’t think I could ever have been so nonchalant with everything as she seemed, but everyone handles things differently, so you never know. I am also very glad that she’s okay with her decision because many people can have very negative outlooks after receiving an abortion.

The Cider House Rules

The Cider House Rules, by John Irving, was very thought provoking; although, very long and sometimes hard to comprehend, it turned out to be a very good book. Homer Wells, who is the main character of the book, is an orphan at the St. Clouds orphanage in Maine. Homer gets adopted many times, but yet always ends up returning to St. Clouds. When he gets a little older, he really just gives up and accepts the orphanage as his home. Another main character is Dr. Wilbur Larch. Dr. Larch oversees the orphans and the hospital as well. Dr. Larch delivers some ladies their unwanted children and tries to find them homes. But it’s a secret that Dr. Larch is an abortionist too. As time passes, Dr. Larch starts teaching him many medical things and soon Homer can deliver or abort babies.

Also, there are some minor character such as Fuzzy Stone who is a sick orphan. Later in the book, Candy and Wally visit St. Clouds to have an abortion. Homer ends up falling for Candy. Also, each year, Homer posts a list of rules for the cider house designed to keep order and safety, even though the workers don’t like the rules. This book is hard to recap, but those are just the main points.

This book was a very tough read and I wouldn’t normally pick a book like this. Although, I’m glad I did because it ended up being pretty good. I didn’t think that abortion and single parenting could be a good topic for a book, but it was. It also had a very good story line. The biggest theme of this book is probably abortion. Later in the book when Dr. Larch dies, he asks homer to take over for him Homer and replies to him with a note saying “"1. I AM NOT A DOCTOR. 2. I BELIEVE THE FETUS HAS A SOUL. 3. I'M SORRY" (513). While reading the book, I had sympathy for the women that needed the abortions, and for the boy who believed that it was murder. This book was set time when abortion was illegal; But It's pretty clear in the book that Irving, the author, defiantly agrees that it’s a woman's right to choose. The book made me realize the impact that an abortion, non-abortion, can have on someone's life.

I don’t know if I can really recommend The Cider House Rules because I don’t think I would have ever chosen to just read it on my free time, but honestly, once the book got started it ended up being a very good read. Also, I defiantly wouldn’t recommend If you're strongly pro-life, you probably won't find yourself enjoying this book either. Abortion is too much of an ongoing issue throughout the book. But don’t get me wrong, abortion isn't the only weighty theme here, others being: war, morality, laws-and-rules, incest, family, death, violence; etc. Concluding, The Cider House Rules is about the many rules of life: some written, others not; some meant to be broken; some need to be created. It's about how our decisions affect both our own lives and the lives of others.

Irving, John. The Cider House Rules. New York: Modern Library, 1999.

Planned Parenthood Videos

For my multimedia source I chose to watch two videos, both having to do with planned parenthood. If you don’t already know, Planned Parenthood provides reproductive health maternal and child health services. Although Planned Parenthood has helped many people, there’s been a few cases were they’ve been under investigation for multiple things, including: deceptive information and ignoring a sexual abuse case; both are the subjects of the videos I chose to watch.

In the first video, which takes place at a Kentucky abortion clinic, an undercover investigator was to say she was 14 and tell them her boyfriend was 31. The staff member who was helping the investigator ignored the signs of sexual abuse and also gave misleading abortion counseling.
In my opinion, it’s unbelievable that people can just let things like this go ignored. You could tell that when she talked about her boyfriend she seems afraid.



The second video shows another investigation on Planned Parenthood proving they manipulate people during counseling sessions. I really disagree with this. The people caught doing this should be fired and not be put in jail. This seems so wrong to me. An abortion is a huge decision and misleading information could really have a big impact on someone’s decision.



Ertelt, Steven. "Video Shows Planned Parenthood Abortion Center Hiding Sexual Abuse". Life News. April 14, 2010 .

The Abortion Industry

In Abortion –Facing the Issues, by Susan Terkel, I read “The Abortion Industry”. In this chapter, Terkel talks about how abortion clinics really work and the statistics and economic toll they take. She also shares that an illegal abortion, before abortion was legalized, would normally cost around five hundred dollars and sometimes as much as seventeen hundred. Another thing I found very interesting was about an underground abortion clinic run by feminists during the early 1970’s. During the running of this illegal clinic there were over 150,000 abortions performed each year. Terkel also talks about how many abortion clinics got bombed and received threats from opposing activists. In 1977, The Federal government paid 90 million dollars for approximately 300,000 abortions, which is about three hundred dollars per abortion. Now, the government even has financial aid that you can receive if you want an abortion.

When I read “The Abortion Industry” it was the first time that I had ever heard of an underground abortion clinic. That was very interesting, although I do wish it would’ve said the outcome of it, like if they were caught or anything, but Terkel doesn’t really go in depth about it shuting down or anything. I also had no idea that you could receive financial aid for abortions. And according to Terkel, “Most women who are in need of abortion are poverty stricken (65).” So that’s a very good thing.

Terkel, Susan. Abortion Facing the Issues . New York: Franklin Watts, 1988.

When does human life begin?

In the book, Abortion: Opposing Viewpoints, edited by Charles Cozic and Stacey Tipp, there are many controversial topics. One, extremely important one, would be “When does Human Life Begin?” In this book I found two opposite views of this very controversial topic. These two views are human life begins at conception, and human life does not occur at conception. An excellent quote against life beginning at conception is, “The procession of forty-six chromosomes does not make a cell a person (23).” An example for human life beginning at conception would be, “I accept what is biologically manifest- that human life commences at the time of conception (17).” This explains how biological man i the product of the forty-six chromosomes that combine when conception occurs. Most scientists agree that this (conception) is when human life begins.

In my research, I found a great deal of the information was mostly proving that life begins at conception. I think the information that most influenced my decision was the research done of twins that showed even when twins were in two different parts of the world they still normally have the same personality, jobs, and social standings. This information really made me want to agree with the theory that conception is the start of human life.

Abortion Facts - Video

In the video, Abortion Facts, it has many facts about abortion. It also talks about how unborn children can feel pain and has many opinions of doctors. In the U.S. 3,300 unborn children die everyday. It also says that over 92% of abortions are done for “social or other” reasons. One doctor, Dr. Paul Ranalli stated “At 20 weeks, the fetal brain has the full complement of brain cells present in adulthood, ready and waiting to receive pain signals from the body.” In Prostaglandin Instillation, the doctor injects the amniotic sac with chemicals , which triggers labor of a child normally too young to survive.
This video was very informative. Knowing that babies can feel the pain and STILL going through with those awful procedures is so incredibly wrong. It seems like whoever has gone through with the processes that this video talks about is cold and heartless. I’m just so blown away by the statistics and how people can just go have an abortion done and not feel guilty about it at all..




Another video, although very graphic, I found at prolife.com, which took me to this website that had the video: http://www.massmediamail.com/durarealidad/
I cried when I watched ^ this video ^ and was appalled at the pictures and facts..



denvergirlie , "youtube". April 4, 2010 http://www.youtube.com/user/denvergirlie#p/a/u/0/FAcCSnyP6tg>.

Risks of Abortion

In the book Abortion: Debating the Issues, by Nancy Day, it talks about the risks of abortion. There are many risks of getting an abortion, in both late term, and early abortions. These risks could include: blood clots, hemorrhages (which is extreme bleeding), tears or holes in the cervix or uterus, incomplete abortion (which means some fetal tissue may have been left inside), and infection. Most complications occur 1 in 100. The death rate from having an abortion has lessened significantly since
they’ve started because of medical advances, although, the death rate is higher among minority women and women over thirty-five. The passage also stated, “A seven year study… for the National Cancer institute found that having an abortion increases the woman’s breast cancer risk” (54). Though they are very rare, there are also emotional risks of having an abortion. Pro-life activists say there is a post-traumatic-stress disorder associated with abortion, but researchers say that the disorder doesn’t exist.
In my opinion, everything now-a-days has risks! Tylenol even does. Depending on if you think you won’t be that 1 in 100 or not probably has something to do with going through with the abortion. I was very surprised about your risk of getting breast cancer increasing; I guess I just never really thought about it. I do know, that if I was over thirty-five or a minority I definitely wouldn’t be getting an abortion because that increases your chance of death, and probably increases your chances for the other complications too.



Day, Nancy. Abortion- Facing the Issues. Springfield, MI: Enslow Publishers, INC., 1995.

Ending an Abortion

In the book Abortion: Debating the Issue, by Nancy Day, in the chapter “Ending a Pregnancy”, it talks about how there are some people who believe that abortion shouldn’t be allowed at all, and some, who believe that abortion is a legal right and when a woman wants one that there should be no questions asked. Mother Teresa said, “Abortion is a crime that kills not only the child, but the consciences of all involved” (34). There are some circumstances where legislation has permitted exceptions and specific conditions in which abortion can be performed. These circumstances could include: if the mother’s heath is in danger, if there’s fetal abnormalities, rape or incest, sex selection (only in cases where certain sex-linked diseases are carried), and a few more. There are also different methods used for ending a pregnancy. The most common is called vacuum aspiration (this method is used more than 98% of the time).
Also, the earlier an abortion is done, the safer it is.

In my opinion, I can easily see how certain circumstances could pressure you to want to have an abortion. For example, if you became pregnant after you were raped, you may not want to birth a child that would remind you of that, but you could also see it as a blessing and want to have the child. Also, I don’t agree with the whole “vacuuming” process. That process seems more inhumane than having an abortion in general. It’s even sad that it’s the most common way because to me, that just seems so wrong.

Day, Nancy. Abortion- Facing the Issues. Springfield, MI: Enslow Publishers, INC., 1995.

"Abortion: The Facts and the Reality"

Abortion is legally described as the loss/removal of an embryo/fetus before it can survive outside of the mother’s body. In the book Abortion –Debating the Issues, by Nancy Day, in “Abortion: The Facts and the Reality”, the author faces the true reality of two girls. Debbie, who decides to have an abortion, and Tanya, who chooses pro life; a decision that they both feel they have made correctly. Day states, “There are approximately 1.5 million legal abortions in the United States each year” (7). The most common reasons for girls to get abortions are either they aren’t mature enough or they don’t have the money too. Tanya, who is 19, decides against an abortion and claims to love her baby more than anything, though sometimes she admits it’s hard she says she couldn’t ever imagine if she’d have ever gone through with an abortion and is glad she didn’t. Debbie, who is a separated mother of a two-year old boy, claims that she didn’t want to have to marry the new baby’s father so she goes through with an abortion, and says that she also is very glad about her decision because she didn’t think it would have been fair to her only son. The problem is, Day talks about how later on in life you may have problems with the realities of going through with an abortion and it can be very hard on you, mentally.

This excerpt of Day’s book was very informative and I really liked how you got both sides. Although I didn’t agree with Debbie and her reasonings, I could understand why she didn’t want to put her son through all that. I was very proud of Tanya and have always wondered how anyone could ever be such a young parent, but yet still make it through college and work, which is exactly what she did and I really respect that. I also think that if I ever did something like this then I would be one of the people that had problems with it later on because I have such a bad conscious and for some people that really could end up messing with you mentally later on in life.

Day, Nancy. Abortion- Facing the Issues. Springfield, MI: Enslow Publishers, INC., 1995.