Grace W.

Olympia, WA

06 November, 2016

The Next President of the United States

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Next President:

The issue that I feel most concerned about in our country is abortion, specifically late-term abortion. Taking the life of a viable fetus weeks before labor starts and the birth can happen is murder. It also can be very harmful to the mother as well. This needs to become illegal in every state.

I’ve recently read some articles about late-term abortion, and I was horrified. Doctors and scientists will make the argument that a twenty week old fetus is incapable of surviving outside the womb, but recent studies have shown that babies born at twenty-two weeks are more likely to survive outside the womb than originally thought. At this point the baby does have everything it needs to survive but needs medical attention for a while. To put this in perspective, ask yourself this question. Would you kill an elderly person who couldn’t feed himself or herself, go to the bathroom without help, or plainly couldn’t survive without the help of another human being? That is what you’re doing when you operate a late-term abortion. Killing a baby that has everything it needs to survive with just a little medical attention is equivalent to killing a healthy human being. Some politicians now want to extend the cut off date for the operation to thirty-six weeks. I was born at thirty-five weeks. That means that my mother could have changed her mind at the very last second and legally killed me the day before I was born and it wouldn’t be considered murder. If she tried to get rid of me after I was born then it would be considered murder.

Some people will argue that there are certain situations where a woman might need to get a late-term abortion, such as if the mother’s life is endangered or a fetal problem was diagnosed late in the pregnancy. However, the maternal death rate in the United States is 210 out of 100,000 live births as of 2013. That is a 0.0021 percentile rate. And most fetal problems occur during pregnancies due to the mother’s current health issues. In this case the mother can consult a doctor early on, resulting in not having to go through a late-term abortion.

With your help, we can change the country in a safe and positive way. Limitations on the state governments will help with preventing this procedure from happening, as would certain laws about late-term abortion with very specific guidelines. This will prevent a terrible event from happening and this will dramatically help women because late-term abortions can be very dangerous. The mother can get an infections from the procedure, which could lead to more severe consequences such as sepsis, hemorrhaging, and a ruptured uterus could all become outcomes from a late-term abortion. So in the long run, this will affect America in a very positive way by illegalizing late-term abortion.

Sincerely,

Grace W.

Works Cited

Ballaro, Beverly, and Geraldine Wagner. “Late-Term Abortion: An Overview.” Points Of View: Late-Term Abortion (2016): 1. Points of View Reference Center. Web. 31 Oct. 2016.

“Intact Dilation and Extraction Abortion.” Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society, ABC-CLIO, 2016, issues.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/958861. Accessed 1 Nov. 2016.

“Maternal Death.” Wikipedia, 6 Nov. 2016, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maternal_death. Accessed 6 Nov. 2016.

Mcatee, Martina. “Dangers and Risks of Late Tern Abortion.” LiveStrong.com, 10 Aug. 2015, www.livestrong.com/article/450694-can-i-exercise-after-surgical-abortion/. Accessed 6 Nov. 2016.

Nichols, Terri. “Abortion: Timeline.” Issues: Understanding Controversy and Society, ABC-CLIO, 2016, issues.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/914062. Accessed 1 Nov. 2016.

Westcott, Lucy. “Premature Baby Study Could Impact U.S. Abortion Debate.” Newsweek. N.p., 28 Mar. 2016. Web. 03 Nov. 2016.