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Critical Reflection Essay

This article, “The RU-486 Abortion Pill Should Be Available to Women”, was written by Laura Fraser in 2001 for the Greenhaven Press. The issue involved with this article is whether or not the RU-486 abortion pill should be available to women in the U. S.. The conclusion Fraser came up with was yes, the RU-486 abortion pill should be available to women in the U. S. , and for plenty of reasons. For example, if mifepristone becomes available, it will remove political and practical barriers so women can get abortions and physicians will not have to perform complete abortions.

Also, 54% of all obstetricians and gynecologists who perform abortions would offer mifepristone if it were available, along with Mifepristone making abortion more accessible. Another reason would be, Mifepristone gives women the choice of a medical abortion and a surgical abortion. “Women who have tried mifepristone have been satisfied with the results and say it is less physically and emotionally invasive than surgery”.

Lastly, not only can Mifepristone can be used for abortions, it can be used for various women’s health concerns, such as fibroid tumors, difficult labors, and a type of brain tumor. Analysis: The RU-486 abortion pill (mifepristone) should be available for women in the U. S. because it gives them more options in terms of abortion. For example, “Women who have tried mifepristone have been satisfied with the results, saying they find it less physically and emotionally invasive than surgery.

Ninety-six percent of women in one U. S. linical trial said they’d recommend the medication to others who needed an abortion, according to a study published in the Archives of Family Medicine”. I think some people would share the same assumption because people like to have options and like to know they have something that fits their lifestyle. For example, some are embarrassed or like their privacy so if they can find a drug that can deal with an abortion that isn’t so invasive, I think it will most likely be used. Mifepristone is not accepted in the U. S. yet because of the controversy that revolves around the pill.

There are other options of abortion that clinics offer that don’t involve a pill, for example, “Several Planned Parenthood clinics now offer abortions induced with methotrexate—a cancer drug that works more slowly than mifepristone and is not approved by the FDA as an abortifacient. Also, more physicians are offering earlier, less invasive surgical abortions, using manual suction techniques and a syringe instead of a machine vacuum”. I think some people would share this assumption because some people don’t believe a pill should be distributed to women to get rid of a baby.

There are other ways to have an abortion done and another way doesn’t need to be placed in society, especially if it has side effects. I do not think the author wrote a completely biased article because she provided information and evidence from both sides of the argument. It is easy to see that she pinpoints more towards the pill being available, but she isn’t saying that every women who needs an abortion should take this pill and nothing else. The author’s intended evidence was for women who are thinking about options when it comes to abortion or anyone who is looking for more information on mifepristone.

Within this article, there are only slight forms of fallacies that I noticed. The one I noticed the most was appeal to pity because abortions are fairly invasive and she is trying to be on the side of privacy and making people feel bad about how much privacy a women needs and how much they aren’t getting Article 2: The RU-486 Abortion Pill Should Not Be Available to Women Summary: This article, “The RU-486 Abortion Pill Should Not Be Available to Women”, was written by Lawrence Roberge in 2001 for the Greenhaven Press.

The issue involved with this article is whether or not the RU-486 abortion pill should be available to women in the U. S.. The conclusion Roberge came up with was no, the RU-486 abortion pill should be available to women in the U. S. , and for plenty of reasons. For example, Mifepristone has misled people to believe it is safe and effective, but in reality the pill will engineer a monthly abortion, which means Mifepristone will cause an abortion for 18 months. Also, some forms of birth control can already block embryonic implantation into the uterus, so there is no point for another drug showing up in the United States.

He also mentions, as technology advances, surgical abortions with rapidly decrease, but the number of total abortions with rise exponentially. “Malpractice suits would be replaced by drug manufacturer lawsuits which are more lengthy, costly and more difficult to win. All in all, Mifepristone will increase public acceptance to abortion. Analysis: The RU-486 abortion pill (mifepristone) should not be available to women because there are already forms of birth control that can block embryonic implantation into the uterus and not cause an abortion for up to 18 months. This new redefining of the pre-embryo as less than totally human life affords not merely research on human embryos, but expanded use of abortifacients that destroy early life by killing the pre-embryo or blocking uterine implantation. (Remember: blocking uterine implantation leads to rapid death of the embryo).

At present, some forms of birth control (e. g. , intrauterine devices IUDs) and some versions of the birth control pills), already block embryonic implantation into the uterus. I think some people will share this assumption because if there are already forms of birth control that prevent any step of pregnancy without killing a baby, then it will be more likely to be used. For example, if a teenager had the choice between an abortion pill than can sabotage her body for a year and a half or a birth control pill that helps your body not get pregnant and she can stop taking it at any time, which would be the better option here? Mifepristone will become the favored method of abortion by the population.

In reality, the population will increasingly be deceived into accepting abortifacients as a version of effective birth control. ” I think people will share this assumption because people are followers and if a pill can stop a pregnancy, they are going to want to have it available to them. For example, no matter how bad the pill is for them, they will over look it because they are only thinking in the moment and not their future. I think the author is not biased because a man is writing this article on why the abortion pill is not a good idea and not a woman who is simply stating their own opinion.

The author has a lot of facts and also provides information from the opposing view point. The intended audience for this article is simply for anyone who may be contemplating the pill and also what having the pill can do to society as a whole. Within this article, there are only slight forms of fallacies that I noticed. The one I noticed the most was slippery slope because he is trying to make the point that if we allow this drug into the United States, abortion will be more accepted and values will take a downward turn.

Response: After reading both articles and thinking about each side of their arguments, I think the issue of whether or not the RU-486 abortion pill should be available to women in the U. S. is fairly well explained and supported. I think the issue is very relevant, especially in today’s society and reading what this pill can do to women was an eye opener. The arguments were good but think they could have been better from each author. Some of the information did not make sense on why it was in the article and that makes it hard to make a decision on who made a better argument.

There is a lot of controversy on abortion and abortion pills and considering the U. S. has yet to receive the pill, the authors could have put a little more detail to have their audience gain more information. I think I could use some information from both articles for a paper regarding the abortion pill because it gives good, credible facts. On the other side, I wouldn’t be able to get enough information out of the articles to really write a paper that provided a ton of facts and information to make my paper believable.

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