See comments at bottom of paper explaining why we consider this a B paper.
It’s My Child Too
Imagine that someone holds your child captive and is threatening to kill it. You may have not meant to create the child, but the child (or at least the potential for a child) exists and you are powerless to prevent its destruction. In some peoples view, this is the position of the man in the abortion decision. (Day 62-63)
The analogy that author Nancy Day has given on the man’s role in the abortion process is very true in today’s society. It is true because the mother is usually given the most control in the decision of abortion because it is her body. However, why does one party have to have more control than the other? Why is it that the man’s opinion and desires are not taken into consideration during the decision making process, but the woman solely makes the decision? Author Keith Yalen gives a few different reasons that are most commonly given. Many feel that it is the woman’s body and she should be able to decide what she wants for herself. Another reason is that men already have enough power, both in the real world and in relationships. Why should men be given the power to decide upon something that directly affects the woman’s body? And finally, the woman is the one who is directly affected by having the child, not the man (33). Even though this is the way that some people feel, many authors, including Joan Nelson say that the decision of abortion should be 50/50 (76). Because the man helped create the child, he should have a say as to what happens. Nelson also says that men should not have more control than the woman does, but his opinion should count. It would be better if both parents sat down and decided together, what is best for both, them and the unborn child (76). Many authors would agree that abortion should not predominately be the woman’s decision, nor should it exclusively be the man’s decision. Therefore, both parties should share equal partnership in the decision making process (Day, Nelson, Plite, Rosenblatt, Yalen).
On January 23, 1973 abortion finally became legal. Roe vs. Wade, a significant court case, legalized abortion nationwide on the basis of a woman’s right to privacy. (Tite 79). Despite the fact that abortions were illegal before Roe vs. Wade, the procedure was still performed on many women. Of course, more risks were involved and more complications arose. These facts of the danger that women could face became more and more prominent in the people’s minds, so something had to be done. As a result of these new discoveries, the case was tried in court. “The Supreme Court in Roe vs. Wade heard arguments that the woman’s right to decide for herself whether, when, and why to terminate a pregnancy is absolute” (Tite 79). After a lot of hard work, women got the right to have an abortion because it is “their right” (Tite 79). However, the father doesn’t appear to have any rights.
Roe vs. Wade is not the only case that altered abortion. Planned Parenthood vs. Danforth really changed the rights of a father in the abortion decision. Stevens says, “Years ago it was required that if a woman wanted to get an abortion, she had to notify the father of the child. They had to sit down and talk before the procedure was actually performed” (81). However, this all changed on July 1, 1976. The new law was that neither husbands nor boyfriends had veto power over their wives’ or girlfriends’ freedom to choose abortion. Rosenblatt says that many do not want men to be able to have veto power. They just want their opinion to count. Many men would just want their partners to take their feelings into consideration (87). However, how will this happen if the woman does not think that the man’s opinion is important?
It would be extremely difficult to come up with a formal solution to the problem of men’s absence in the decision of abortion. It would not be easy to just get a new law stating that men have to be included in the process. Author, Steven Plite states:
This type of law would require the consent of the pregnant woman’s husband or of the man who shares responsibility for the pregnancy before a woman seeking an abortion could legally be provided one. Although a spousal consent requirement, no doubt has some intuitive appeal-why should one partner be able to end a pregnancy caused by both? (70)
It is possible to get a law that states this, but it would be extremely difficult. There is only one sure-fire way that the problem of the father’s absence in the abortion process can be solved. Women have to begin to realize that fathers also have rights. Yes, it is the woman’s body, yes they are the one who will give birth, and yes it is her right, but it also the man’s right to have their opinion taken into account when making the abortion decision. Rosenblatt says that women’s rights should not be taken away and they should realize that no one is trying to do that. Men just want their desires to be taken into consideration; they do not want to have more control than the woman. Based on what the parents want they should come up with the decision that is best for everyone, not what is just best for one party.
Many authors say that in today’s society men barely have a say in abortion. Rosenblatt gives a few reasons as to why this is true. One explanation is because women feel that men already have a lot of power over them, in the real world. In today’s society men still receive more money than women in certain job fields. Men are still thought to be stronger and superior to women. And men still hold higher positions than women. Another reason as to why men barely have a say in abortion is because women tend to feel that men skip town when they find out that they are going to be a father. They feel that if the man is not going to be around anyway, then there is no reason to include him in the decision. Author Roger Rosenblatt does not seem to agree with this. He states, “Regardless of what some men may do when they find out that their lover is pregnant, they should still be included.” Some people may agree with Rosenblatt, but others may not. Others may feel that if the man is going to skip town, then it is useless to hear his opinion or take it into consideration (95).
Many couples try to make their relationship “50/50;” however, this is not always the case. Plite says that one of the partners in the relationship will have the upper hand whether they realize it or not. Usually the person that will have this “upper hand” is the man. He is usually referred to as “the man of the house” and is expected to do certain “manly duties,” that women “can not perform” (152). Women feel that since all of the above stated facts are generally true, that men should not have control over their abortion choices, as well. “Many women stated that if they didn’t have the power to control their own bodies, then their other rights would be destroyed. They believed that in order to control their careers, they had to control their pregnancies” (Plite 52). This quote shows that women feel that they need to continue to have complete control over their abortion decisions. They may tend to feel this way because of what they observe and how other women feel. Women just want to have this one thing and their question is, “Why can’t we?”
Plite says that a man should have a voice in the decision of abortion because he helped in the creation of the child, just as much as the woman did. With many constantly thinking that “abortion is a woman’s right” “[they] may sometimes forget, or appear to forget, that abortion always occurs in the context of sexual contact between a woman and a man” (Plite 67). This idea is one of the main reasons given as to why men should have a say as to what happens to the child that he helped create. Another good point that Steven Plite makes is that if men have to stand up to their responsibilities, they are going to have a hard time doing so if they feel they can not have an input in the abortion process. “If we truly want men to stand up to their responsibilities, in every aspect, then we should allow them to have some input in the abortion process. By allowing them to have some involvement it shows that they are truly a part of procreation” (68). Nancy Day feels that men should take care of their responsibilities regardless of the circumstances. However, the harsh reality of it is, “If men are not good enough to help decide what happens to their child, then why are they expected to stand up to other responsibilities?” (Day 99)
The decision of abortion often has negative affects on relationships. “Studies of abortion and its aftermath reveal that, more often than not, relationships do not survive an abortion: the majority of unmarried couples break up either before or soon after an abortion” (Day 101). This notion clearly shows that abortion in relationships can sometimes cause nothing more than negative effects. Of course there are the few that survive, but then there is the many that don’t. Keith Yalen says that perhaps if more fathers were involved in the decision of whether or not their wife or girlfriend should have an abortion, many relationships wouldn’t end so soon (63).
Author Keith Yalen says that even though the man’s opinion of abortion should be taken into consideration, they should not have complete control over the woman’s body. Although the argument here is for men’s right in the abortion decision, women’s rights should not be taken away (Yalen 78). Rosenblatt says that the main argument is for the man’s opinions and feelings to be taken into consideration. It is not for men to have utter control and veto power over the woman’s choice. It is just so that the couple can decide what they want to do together. If men were to gain complete control over women’s abortion decisions, not only would this not be fair, but it will put us right back to where we are now, except men would have the complete control (Rosenblatt 87). This is not what the goal is. The goal is for couples to sit down and decide what they want to do with their unborn child, not just for one parent to decide. Abortion is a “couple choice” (or at least it should be). However when couples are deciding what they want to do, they tend to forget about the most important person, the child (Day, Nelson, Yalen).
Many authors feel that men are not being given the chance to play a role in the abortion decision, which is not right. Their desires should be as important as the woman’s, after all they both helped in the creation of the child. Although it is important for the man’s decision to be taken into consideration, it should not be valued more than the woman’s. The best thing to do would be for the parents of the unborn child to sit down and decide what they both want to do with this new life. One party should not sit down by them self and decide what they want to do. It takes two to make a baby, two to raise a baby, and yes, even two to decide what to do with the future of the unborn child.
Works Cited
Day, Nancy. Abortion: Debating the Issue. Springfield: Library of Congress, 1995.
Plite, Steven. Reasons for Abortion. New York: Abbevile Press, 1997.
Rosenblatt, Roger. Life Itself. New York: Random House, 1992.
Stevens, Jonathan. Before Abortion. New York: Scholastic Press, 1995.
Tite, Sharon. Abortion In the American Mind. New York: Prometheus Book, 1995.
Yalen, Keith. Abortion. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 1992.
Here’s how we read the opening of this paper:
The introduction: From the start this paper is distinguished from a C, because the student has an argument that does not simply derive from the three texts in play in the paper. The student uses the sources in the paper in order to support her own, original claim: fathers should be more involved in the decision-making process when it comes to abortion. The student introduces the issues under consideration and out of them develops a clearly articulated thesis statement: “Many authors would agree that abortion should not predominately be the woman’s decision, nor should it exclusively be the man’s decision. Therefore, both parties should share equal partnership in the decision making process.” The student’s errors when it comes to MLA citation and the work with the texts, however, prevent this paper from being an “A.”
- The body:
Strengths:
Topic Sentences: The topic sentences are thought-provoking and create a curiosity to read more about the subject.
Transitions are attempted and sometimes work. The transitional phrases that are used allow each paragraph to flow freely into the other without an abrupt change in subject.
Paragraphs interrogate the issue in its complexity. It’s obvious from reading the text that the student has a very good understanding of the issues and accepts the fact that there are many threads to this problem.
Weaknesses:
Absence of statistical facts to support claims (such as the difference in pay between men and women) alongside a tendency to generalize too quickly. The essay also misses including some facts about who are actually raising the children.
The student spends too much time on producing research about abortion and summary of outside sources, instead of developing the argument. There isn’t enough articulate response from the student to the research within the essay. There also isn’t a balance between the author’s original ideas and those in the sources.
The conclusion is weak and not fully developed. The student could have used one of several conclusion types to close this essay but fails to do so. The most effective type of conclusion for this particular essay would have been to suggest one or more solutions. Using a conclusion like this would have left the reader with a sense that they have read something worth while. The last paragraph here does not push the ideas forward but merely repeats without any conclusion.
Other observations:
o The overall structure is good. The paper moves from a brief history of the issue to a consideration of different sides of the argument, while articulating the author’s position. There is also an understanding that this is a very complex issue with no clear-cut easy way of arriving at a solution that is agreeable to everybody.
o The student doesn’t push her argument beyond the initial claim: men should be involved; she doesn’t offer solutions. This seems to be an overriding problem throughout.
Applying the grade criteria:
This paper qualifies as a B because:
The introduction works well in getting the reader to read more. It is very attention-getting. But, there is a very obvious lack of statistical information which would have added a lot more weight to her argument. The student also does not spend enough time examining the research and responding to it. There is not enough critical examination of the research. Although there is room for research examination from the student, the topic sentences are very inviting to read more. And finally, the conclusion is weak and needs much development in terms of suggesting solutions and providing some final thoughts about the subject.