many legal and moral issues that appear to be unresolvable. For many centuries the abortion issue has troubled people because it is a complex issue of "life" and who determines when life begins or ends. Strong opinions exist and are expressed by the "radical" pro-life people and the "radical" pro-life people who represent the two extreme views of abortion. The majority of Americans fall in between the two extremes. The only way to protect everyone's rights is to find a balance between the two "radical" extremes. There are several major points concerning abortion and this paper will attempt to outline the most important ones and draw a conclusion from these arguments on the morality of abortion.

Personhood is when the newborn baby is considered alive. Many people believe that once you have decided Medical science has tried to delineate when life begins, however it has raised more questions than it has answered. Extreme pro-choice people believe that the baby is not a life until it is born while more moderate pro-choice proponets argue that the fetus is alive at the 20 to 24 week point, or point of "viability". Within the pro-choice group

92% The mother's health is seriously endangered.

In an opinion poll* even religious people, both Catholic and Protestant, 48% and 44% respectfully, believe the laws should remain the same and only 13% and 9% respectfully, believe abortion should not be permitted at all. People, who consider religion very important, 49% of Catholics and 49% of Protestants, believe that abortion should be legal in such cases as rape, incest and life of the mother. Politicians who consider themselves pro-life with these exceptions do seem to represent the majority public opinion. * CBS News/New York Times Poll, April1989.

*National Opinion Research Center, May-June, 1989

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Approximate Word count = 1587
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)