ENGL1302-Cecilia Herrera-WP3

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Cecilia Herrera
Professor Meredith
ENGL 1302: Sec. 2470

09 May 2016

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Table of Contents
Writing Project 3 Topic ...................................................................................................... 2
Original Image .................................................................................................................... 3
Annotated Bibliography...................................................................................................... 4
Annotated Bibliography Continued .................................................................................... 5
Annotated Bibliography Continued .................................................................................... 6
Revised Image..................................................................................................................... 7
Essay ................................................................................................................................... 8
Essay Continued.................................................................................................................. 9
Essay Continued................................................................................................................ 10
Essay Continued................................................................................................................ 11
Works Cited ...................................................................................................................... 12

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Her Body is A Battleground
My project will discuss the issue on the morality of abortion; I will use my visual
argument to argue that in ten years from now, abortion will still be present in our cultural
literacy because society depicts abortion as either good or evil following with supporting
and contradictory evidence from the polemical Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision in
1973.

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Original Image

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Annotated Bibliography
Baby Boom. Dir. Charles Shyer. Perf. Diane Keaton. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home

Entertainment Inc., 1987. Film
This image captures actress Diane Keaton holding a baby. It is inspired by the
baby boom period, which took place in the 1950s at the end of World War II. At
the time people in America were ready to reconstruct and form a family; the
phenomenon of a massive increase in births was an outcome of it. This particular
image was displayed as the front cover of the movie Baby Boom in 1987,
however, there exists a modern unpublished image in which Keaton replaced the
baby for a Kate Spade purse, and the text “boom” was substituted for the word
“free”, suggesting she is “baby free”. My project will discuss the issue on the
morality of abortion; I will use my visual argument to argue that in ten years from
now, abortion will still be present in our cultural literacy because society depicts
abortion as either good or evil following with three different sources on
supporting and contradictory evidence from the polemical Roe vs. Wade Supreme
Court decision in 1973.

My visual argument claims that a woman has the right to choose. A woman
should be in control of her own body, and have the freedom to decide whether or
not she will continue her pregnancy. My visual argument illustrates actress Diane
Keaton, a middle class working woman, holding a Kate Spade purse with the text
“Baby Free” in the background. Perhaps, one common similarity between babies
and purses may be that just like babies, some purses like the brand Kate Spade
could be expensive. While purses may include a returnable price tag, babies do

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not come with one. In contrast, various differences that distinguishes one from the
other, besides not ever having to feed or bathe a purse, is that a woman is able to
choose any purse she desires. Unlike purses, babies are final sale. Hence having a
baby is not like buying a purse, there are no return policies, so it should be taken
seriously. Therefore a woman should make the ultimate decision when it affects
her body and whether or not she want to become a mother.
Abraham, Laurie. “Abortion: Not Easy, Not Sorry.” Elle. Culture/Career-Politics, 14 Oct.
2014. Web. 02 May 2016.
According to an Elle online magazine article titled, “Abortion: Not Easy, Not
Sorry”, by Laurie Abraham, she illustrates that abortion is not easy, yet in her
point of view not regrettable. Abraham expresses that there is always a right time
for everything, and sees abortion as not an easy way out, but the only way out.
Abraham describes that we are slowly going back to the time before Roe vs.
Wade Supreme Court decision; “right now poor women are in effect being denied
abortions because they can't afford them, or can't afford the gas to get to a clinic
that is hundreds of miles away". To better explain Abraham feels that women’s
rights are not being fully respected when it comes to abortion. A woman should
feel free to make her own decisions when it comes to her body.

ProCon.org. "Abortion ProCon.org." ProCon.org. 7 Mar. 2016. Web. 2 May. 2016.

According to ProCon.Org, abortion is a controversial issue that continues to
divide Americans in present day. There are pros and cons on whether abortion
should be legal or illegal. Some of the cons include; life begins at conception, and

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unborn babies are human beings with a right to life too. On the other hand, some
of the pros include; lower crime, and that a baby should not come into the world
unwanted. Pro.Con.Org states that “three in ten US women will have an abortion
before age 45”. After the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision from 1973
through 2011, there has been about 53 million legal abortions in the United States.
Abortion is such a controversial issue, that it may forever divide individuals that
are shaped by self-moral, personal experience and other public opinions.
Saunders, William L., Jr. “Embryology: Inconvenient Facts.” First Things. N.p., n.d.
Web. 10 May 2013. Web. 6 May.
According to “Embryology: Inconvenient Facts” by W. L. Saunders, every human
being deserves to live. He perceives abortion as unfair for those unborn creatures,
and relies on genetics to prove it, “Every human being begins as a single-cell
zygote, grows through the embryonic stage, then the fetal stage, is born and
develops through infancy, through childhood, and through adulthood, until death.
Each human being is genetically the same human being at every stage, despite
changes in his or her appearance” (Saunders). In other words, abortion is still
infanticide, a killing of a living human being, despite the fact that the child is still
in the womb.

Ultimately, issues like abortion will always be controversial because there will
always be the moral of good vs. evil. What is really good, and what is really evil
fully depend on each individual’s perspective and perception. Abortion is a two
sided coin; society flips the coin and picks a side. Which side do you pick?

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Visual Argument

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Her Body is A Battleground
The ample controversy over the divided issue on abortion has created enough
discord for the woman’s body to become a battleground since the late 1900s. An abortion
merely refers to the induced end of a potential human life, with it raising a grand number
of ethical issues along the way. Distinct opinions on this issue are, have been, and will
always be, shaped by opposite moral beliefs of whether abortion is good or evil. This
essay will discuss the issue on the morality of abortion; I will use three different sources
with supporting and contradictory evidence, along with my personal experience, to argue
that ten years from now abortion will still be present in our cultural literacy, because
society depicts abortion as either good or evil.
According to ProCon.Org, abortion is a controversial issue that continues to
divide society among the world. Since abortion simultaneously involves the termination
of a probable human life, the debatable question over this issue is: when does life begin?
There are pros and cons on whether abortion is moral or immoral. Some individuals
believe that life begins at conception, yet others argue that before four weeks into
pregnancy the product “is just a group of cells” (Pro.Con.Org). The individuals against
abortion are known as pro-life, while the individuals in favor of it are known as pro-
choice. The pro-life viewers believe that a fetus is a person from the moment she/he is
conceived, and therefore should have the right to live. The pro-choice viewers believe
that at conception the offspring is just a cluster of cells, and that a woman should
embrace the choice of whether or not to maintain her pregnancy. Pro.Con.Org states that
“three in ten US women will have an abortion before age 45”. After the Roe vs. Wade
Supreme Court decision from 1973 through 2011, not considering the illegal abortions

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“there has been about 53 million legal abortions in the United States” (Pro.Con.Org).
Abortion is a polemical war being fought by the pro-life and pro-choice promoters even
before the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court case decision in 1973, thus it may forever divide
individuals that are shaped by self-moral, personal experience and other public opinions.

According to an Elle online magazine article titled, “Abortion: Not Easy, Not
Sorry”, by Laurie Abraham, she illustrates that abortion is not easy, yet in her point of
view not regrettable. Abraham expresses that there is always a right time for everything,
and sees abortion as not an easy way out, but the only way out. Abraham describes that
we are slowly going back to the time before Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision;
“right now poor women are in effect being denied abortions because they can't afford
them, or can't afford the gas to get to a clinic that is hundreds of miles away." To better
explain, Abraham feels that women’s rights are not being fully respected when it comes
to abortion. A woman should feel free to make her own decisions when it comes to her
body.

According to “Embryology: Inconvenient Facts” by W. L. Saunders, every human
being deserves to live. He perceives abortion as unfair for those unborn creatures, and
relies on genetics to prove it. He argues, “Every human being begins as a single-cell
zygote, grows through the embryonic stage, then the fetal stage, is born and develops
through infancy, through childhood, and through adulthood, until death. Each human
being is genetically the same human being at every stage, despite changes in his or her
appearance” (Saunders). In other words, abortion is still infanticide, a killing of a living
human being, despite the fact that the child is still in the womb.

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Considering my personal experience, being a mother I could not imagine how it
would be not having my daughter in my life. Though abortions are often seen as an
option for women who, due to various circumstances, do not want to give birth to a baby,
it is perhaps the cruelest choice, in my opinion a mother can opt for. Abortion is the
deliberate killing of the weakest and most defenseless among us. No matter how a child
looks like in a womb, no matter how underdeveloped its consciousness and nervous
system is, it is still a human being that has a right to live just like you and I. In the case of
rape or an unplanned pregnancy women should give their babies off in adoption to sterile
couples with the desire to be parents, but that cannot conceive for various reasons. That
solution would be a win and win situation. My heart struggles to understand how
desperate a woman can be to make the ultimate choice and annihilate part of her being.
As I am strongly convinced that an abortion is the worst choice, because it not only
harms innocent babies, but mothers too. A woman who chooses to terminate her
pregnancy, will forever have to live with that decision and its consequences. Abortion has
to be evil, because murdering a defenseless creature simply cannot be good.

Ultimately, in ten years from now, abortion will still be present in our cultural
literacy because society depicts abortion as either good or evil. Ten years from now, a
woman’s body will still be a battleground over unwanted pregnancies as a result of rapes,
and unprotected sexual encounters. Ten years from now, there will still be poverty that
impedes low income women to terminate their pregnancy leading to future debate. Issues
like abortion will forever be controversial because there will always exist the moral of
good vs. evil. What is really good, and what is really evil fully depend on each

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individual’s background, perspective, perception and personal experience. Abortion is a
two sided coin; society flips the coin and picks a side. Which side do you pick?

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Works Cited

Abraham, Laurie. “Abortion: Not Easy, Not Sorry.” Elle. Culture/Career-Politics, 14 Oct.
2014. Web. 02 May 2016.

ProCon.org. "Abortion ProCon.org." ProCon.org. 7 Mar. 2016. Web. 2 May. 2016.
Saunders, William L., Jr. “Embryology: Inconvenient Facts.” First Things. N.p., n.d.

Web. 10 May 2013. Web. 6 May.