For the last several decades, the arguments concerning the rights of a woman to have an abortion have run rampant. It is currently one of the most prevalent arguments in swing states, with 39% of the polled women from the swing states ranking the debate of abortion as their most important consideration in the election.
Both ends of the argument seem to have reasonable ideologies- both focusing on the right of the individual, the difference being which individual receives the spotlight—the fetus, or the mother carrying the undesired creature.
In a nation-wide poll
conducted by CNN, over half of the nation’s population (52%) said that
abortions should be illegal in all or most circumstances. Of that 52%, only 15%
claimed that it should be illegal in all circumstances, while the remaining 37%
claimed that it should just be outlawed in most circumstances. When looking at
the other side, of the 44% which claimed that abortion should be legal in all
or mostly all circumstances, 9% also agreed that it depended on the reasoning for the abortion.
With this in mind, we
can examine the main Presidential candidates' positions on the
subject. The general summary is the following:
- Obama believes that abortion should be allowed in all cases, and that the morning after pill should be available to all girls over 16 years of age. Additionally, he argues that everyone should be allowed free access to birth control, which would be federally funded.
- Romney believes that birth control should only be
provided in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother's life. He does
not want to federally fund birth control.
When looking at these their ideals, it is valuable to note what the majority of Americans claimed to be their feelings concerning abortion. According to CNN's polls, 99% of the population opposed the use of birth control when used for "convenience, social, or birth control reasons." One should also compare that to the 88% of those polled who agreed that if a woman's life is endangered then abortion is an acceptable solution.
In cases of rape or incest, or when the woman’s health is in danger 83% of the poll group agreed that abortion should be allowed. From looking at the nation’s averages, it seems clear that abortion is considered something which should be avoided if possible, but in extenuating circumstances is acceptable.
(Click here to see the Vice Presidential debate on Abortion)
Although both sides of
the debate are understandable, it seems as though, judging through the lenses
of these third-party political polls, what Romney offers on the issue is
what the majority of Americans desire. Obama's proposal would include spending
cash the government doesn't have to do something that the vast majority of tax
payers don't want to have happen. Considering that a president is someone who is supposed
to act on behalf of his people, it seems that, on this issue, Romney
best represents Americans’ interests.
Related Articles:
http://www.mercurynews.com/presidentelect/ci_21880724/obama-and-romney-where-they-stand-issues
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/swing-state-women-rank-abortion-as-top-issue-in-2012-race-gallup-poll
http://www.lifenews.com/2012/08/24/cnn-poll-majority-of-americans-want-abortions-prohibited/
I really like that you introduce the reader to the topic with an unbiased opening and then draw them into your argument. The fact that you said both sides have valid and moral reasons for their views was refreshing and effective.
ReplyDeleteI was a little confused by this point:
“Romney believes that birth control should only be provided in case of rape, incest, or danger to the mother’s life. He does not want to federally fund birth control.”
When you say “provided” you don’t explain who is providing it. It makes it sound like you are saying people should not be able to by birth control at all. I have not done any research, but I am fairly certain this is not the case for Romney. So if that is the case, you must be saying that insurance would only cover it in those cases. Ok, but then you say that it would not be federally funded, which made me confused again. So, people with government health care can’t get birth control but everyone else can? Your argument would be stronger if you clarified what Romney’s plan is, because otherwise your point that his plan is what American’s want falls flat.
I understand your point; I should have used the word “allowed” instead of “provided” when speaking about the birth control. Romney does not believe that birth control should be federally provided (and his stance is actually that the guidelines concerning whom should be allowed to have an abortion should be dependent on states rather than the federal government, and part of his plan of president is to overthrow the supreme court case which said that abortion is a federal topic.)
DeleteThe point about whether or not the government would fund it has a lot to do with Planned Parenthood- Obama desires to increase federal funding to Planned Parenthood whereas Romney would like to cut off the federal money stream. Government health care would still provide birth control when the need was necessary, which of course would be dependent on each individual case.
This post provides an interesting view on abortion and how both the Obama and Romney campaigns address it. The video clip was especially interesting as it gave specific discussion straight from the sources of the running vice presidents. I saw similarities between both Biden’s and Ryan’s opinions on the relationship between law, abortion and government intervention. Although they both agreed that abortion is not morally correct in most every case, I thought that Biden’s rational was a bit faulty. His opinion fell through when he said that the choice should be given to women as to whether they want to abort a baby, even though he admitted to saying that life begins at conception. It is interesting that he would then allow women to “kill” their baby. This may be biased, but it brought this contradictory point up I thought.
ReplyDeleteI agree; when one considers the positions of Republicans and Democrats, it is amazing to see how many similarities there really are. There are actually more similarities than differences in my opinion, which is strange when one considers all of the arguments which surround all of the political debates—in my opinion, it just supports that neither side is the “evil” which the other would like to label it as being. Biden did come off as hypocritical—it’s great that he does not want his religion to influence his political decisions, especially since he needs to appeal to a traditionally more atheist / agnostic audience, but he sacrificing his integrity to do so seems to unnecessary and would only lessen his ethos with voters.
DeleteA majority of Americans will not support Romney on his stance towards abortion. His official position is not necessarily the problem, since (like most of his proposed policies) it is vague and non-committal. The issue is that voters do not trust Romney to actually do what he says. As a 2002 gubernatorial candidate in Massachusetts, Romney forcefully declared that "I will preserve and protect a woman's right to choose." Fast forward to 2008 and 2012: as a national Republican figure slugging through two series of bruising primaries, Romney has asserted that he is avidly pro-life and against abortion. This is completely contradictory. The Christian Right is suspicious that Romney will revert to the same positions he had as governor. Liberals think that his bout of conservatism will continue to satisfy the Republican base. Regardless of what he would do as president, I don’t think abortion is an issue voters will rally around to support Romney. He gives no reason for citizens on any part of the political spectrum to resolutely believe his current convictions.
ReplyDeleteChristina, I thought that the methodical approach you took to make your point was effective. I like how you presented the polls. You said that it was important to note the polls of the people who are opposed to birth control with regard to abortion, but I was struggling a little bit to see why that is important. I think it would strengthen your argument to focus more on why that group of people is particularly important.
ReplyDeleteI thought your conclusion was pretty solid, but America was designed as a republic so that the voice of minorities would be valued. It would help your argument if you explored this issue and then refuted it to say that in the case of abortion the majority opinion is important. I don’t think it would be wise to say that the majority should be viewed with as much more numerical weight than the minority as the statistical discrepancy would suggest, just because it is such a hot-button issue. Nonetheless, you could certainly make a case that the majority is very important.
It is important to look at the number of people who do not approve of abortion because, while America is a place where every opinion is freely represented, in the end where the votes fall is where the decisions will be made. It is important that some people believe that abortion should not be allowed at all (which neither Romney nor Obama support) but what is more important for the presidential debate is what the majority of Americans feel about this topic, because they are the ones who will decide on the next President. While it is true that enough of a minority can undermine a presidential candidate, enough of a majority can guarantee him a position.
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