The debate of whether or not abortion should be legal has been a very hot topic for a while now and I am very interested in it. Abortion is a black and white issue for the most part - Pro-Choice or Pro-Life. People can view it as either a "terminating medical procedure", or murdering an unborn infant. I became interested in the debate on abortion for two reasons. One, because at my high school, this was a huge issue. Many of my classmates got pregnant anywhere between our first day of 9th grade and our graduation day, but not all of them decided to keep the babies. With that, there came a lot of discussion, peaking my interest. Two, because growing up in a church, there was always a list of things that the pastor would discuss that made some of the congregation shift in their seats - abortion being on that list. I have no personal experiences with abortion myself, but having been exposed to the debate so heavily throughout many years, my interest on the topic grew, and I eventually took a stance.

The first source I found in my research is an article titled, "Answers From Pro-Lifers". This article is in the form of a transcript of interviews with women who are on the pro-life side of the abortion debate. The women were asked several questions about aspects of abortion and gave their opinions and possible solutions. The portions of the article that caught my attention the most were when the women proposed the solutions of being on birth control to reduce abortion rates, and that men should learn to "control themselves" more to prevent inconvenient pregnancy. The author of this article, Katha Pollitt, is a feminist essayist, known for writing on abortion. Pollitt's bias can go either towards, or away from abortion, because the feminist view on abortion varies from person to person  Feminists can either support the "woman's right to choose", or they push for the life of the unborn child.

Another source I found to aid in my research, is titled, "Fact #8: Less Than 1% of All Abortions Are Performed To Save the Life of the Mother". This article explores the statistics and research from Planned Parenthood personnel along with doctors, to make a point that most abortion procedures are not performed in order to save the life of the mother, and convenience abortions and abortions for health reasons are definitely not the same issue. A major value I found in this article was that abortion for the sake of saving the mother's life was legal up until abortion for convenience was legalized. According to the source, it would most likely remain legal, even if abortion were made illegal again everywhere. The article has several authors and contributors, and all of them seem to be highly credible. Among the contributors, there are Alan F. Guttmacher, an obstetrician/gynecologist who also served as the president of Planned Parenthood. Being the president of Planned Parenthood, there will definitely be some bias from Guttmacher, given that their stance on abortion is that women facing an "unintended pregnancy" should have access to legal abortion.

The source that stood out the most to me was an article entitled, "When is an Abortion Not an Abortion". This article discusses the differences between multifetal pregnancy reduction (MFPR) and abortion and argues that the two procedures should not be viewed in the same way because they are not exactly the same. The major point of this article is to make the point that MFPR and abortion should be viewed in separate spheres to avoid negative views on MFPR because in actuality, the two procedures are completely different, despite being linked so strongly. When a woman undergoes MFPR, she will remain pregnant, while giving herself and her unborn child or children a better chance of a healthy, safe birth. "Abortion" is just the termination of the entire pregnancy, and can sometimes leave damage to the mother in the future. Kimberly Mutcherson, the author of this article, is a Vice Dean, Professor of Law at Rutgers School of Law and her work focuses on family law, health law, and family ethics. Having all of this to her advantage, makes Mutcherson a very credible source for the topic at hand. Being that bioethics is part of her work, that would make her slightly biased against abortion due to the moral aspects of it.

My research question is a very arguable topic because instead of being a general question of whether or not abortion should be illegal or legal, it is a more specific question of abortion for convenience sake should be legal or not, which I think causes more in depth thought on the issue. With pregnancy, there are many aspects to think about -  most importantly, the health of the mother and the child or children. One thing that all of my sources agree on is that abortion is either a way to help save a life, or a way to just get rid of an unwanted pregnancy. Prior to reading these articles I stood strictly on the Pro-Life side of the argument, but after reading these articles, my definition of "Pro-Life", along with my views, have slightly changed. The second source about the small amounts of abortions being performed to save the mother's life changed my whole perspective. I understand that there are certain circumstances that may arise due to pregnancy, and being "Pro-Life" is not just about the life of an unborn child, but to the life of the mother as well. Getting an abortion just because having a child would be an inconvenience to the mother should not be legal.

