The underlying question behind abortion related topics is when human life, in actuality, begins; a question that appears to be subjective to anyone who approaches the topic. The focus of this paper is to address "controversial" topics regarding terminated pregnancy, but to address these topics from more of a logical reasoning standpoint influenced from a biological basis. Fundamental issues such as the question of when human life truly begins, biological implications, and the directly related question of is abortion proven to be murder shall remain the focal point of this paper.

I have personally liked to challenge difficult (controversial) topics throughout my writing career and have never really given abortion an in-depth investigation before. I have always believed it was wrong, as it is evident that a pregnancy results in a baby, a growing human life. It never seemed a question or controversial to me at any point nor do I think to this day it should even be a question. It remains common knowledge that pregnancy results in life and abortion is the termination of a developing embryo. But even with this fundamental understanding, society today begins to push further and further into more of a corrupt view. Society as a whole is a whole other topic to be addressed, which this paper will not cover. Many individuals think that there rights are being deprived when abortion is illegal within ones state, many of whom are amongst the uneducated population of American society.

What really opened up my eyes regarding this topic was the instance when my girlfriend told me that she may have been aborted, as suggested by her grandmother. I have never viewed this topic from a personal angle such as this before, and upon discovering this information I have never felt so relieved of something I would have had no control over. If she had been aborted, I probably would never have climbed out of the hole of depression and who knows where I would be to this date. If anyone has personal experiences regarding this topic, I am sure we share common viewpoints regarding this. To understand more of why I feel inclined to write about this topic, I am a first year college student focusing in the biological sciences field of study. Many of my biological classes toss around the idea of when life begins, but remained vague enough to where no professor or school would be faced with legal issues. 

The first source which brings an interesting conversation on its own is "The Case for Regime Change on Abortion" by James Taranto. This essay was written on the basis of a court trial accusing an abortion doctor for manslaughter and murder. The court case is interesting itself, but one or two things I would take away from this source is how the abortion doctor carried out his "surgical procedures" to terminate a pregnancy. The essay states that Doctor Gosnell (abortion doctor being tried) and his other "doctors" carried out such procedures through what he called "clippings," which means to cut the developing babies neck and spinal cord with a pair of scissors. This fact alone on how some of these procedures could be carried out should make even the most robust of us cringe, and call to question the ethical morality of such actions. The source itself seems to be credible, as the information used by Taranto came from document court cases and other credible resources.

An additional source that may prove beneficial is a letter entitled "When Does Human Life Begin?" written by Umberto Eco, addressed to Carlo Maria Martini. The letter itself seems to pose to position on the issue, or attempt to persuade. The position of the author is stated (pro-life) but Eco makes no attempt at formulating an argument. Instead, Eco seems to truly question the reader about where s/he stands upon the topic, and makes the reader really think about their position. Some values I took away from this article is that many people blindly state their beliefs being uninformed about what they actually believe. In my own essay regarding this topic, the use of questioning the audience may be used as I think it has its place and can be used to further involve the reader. Credibility does not seem to be an issue here as it is simply a letter to a friend Eco holds dear. The use of statistics or any information based claims will remain unused for this source as no citations were given and the author seems to possess no master status. The main point to take away from this article rather, is the ideological concept of making the reader question his or herself.

The final source is rather a scientific investigation, conducted by multiple medical doctors. The paper is entitled "Abortion Surveillance  --  United States 2012" and focusing mainly on gathering statistics and information regarding the different physical procedures associated with terminated pregnancies. The article seems to be stray from bias, but focuses more on the experiment that was conducted. I personally do not know if the doctors who conducted this experiment have any views on the topic as not a single reference was found. One interesting result that emerged from this study was that the majority of women who carried through with abortions was that they were illiterate. There are a number of credentials that give the paper authority on its own. One being that the experiment was carried out by a number of Medical Doctors, and another being that it was peer reviewed.

The research question I listed is arguable simply because people hold different beliefs on where they stand, whether informed or ill informed. Of the sources I have searched so far, none have been in conflict with one another as many were neutral but simply stating other thoughts about the matter. In the sources to come, I will have to incorporate sources that have been written strongly in favor of pro-choice to gain further insight. One thing I noticed from viewing these sources is that I may need to narrow my research question down to a more specific topic as mine right now remains vague. The last thing I want to do is appear scatter brained, as that will serve no persuasive value within any paper.
