Page 52 - PowerE-L05-C

Lesson 13

Abortion

What is abortion? Abortion is defined as getting rid of
the fetus inside the mother’s womb before its time of
birth. When a woman decides that she is not going to

have the baby for one reason or another, she goes to

an abortion clinic, or takes an abortifacient to abort the
baby alone. For some people, the word ‘baby’ should be

replaced by ‘fetus’ because baby implies humanness which is an emotionally
charged language. Abortion is an issue that is fraught with emotions and moral-

ity. Nonetheless, sometimes it becomes a question of necessity and econom-
ics. Would I be able to love this child? Would I be able to bring up the child?

There are two opposing camps: the pro-choice and the pro-lifers. The prochoice

camp believes that we have a right to choose what we want to do with our bod-
ies. After all, it is our body not somebody else’s. The pro-lifers, on the other

hand, believe abortion is murder and that only God can take away life. In China
the government has implemented a policy called “the one child policy.” It en-

courages couples to use contraceptives to limit the number of children to just
one in order to reduce the population. Do you think this is a good solution for

overpopulation? In this case, abortion is a question of economics.

Comprehension

1. According to the paragraph, what is the definition of abortion?
2. What are the views of pro-choice and pro-lifers?

3. What does “the one child policy” mean?

Questions

1. What do you think about abortion in the case of an unwanted child?
2. Are you the pro-choice or pro-lifers?
Discuss abortion and debate about it.

Vocabulary & Expressions
fetus : a young human or animal before birth
womb : the part of a female’s body where her baby grows before it is born
fraught : feeling anxiety or worrying because of problems or it’s difficult to deal with
pro-choice : someone who is pro-choice believes that women have a right to abortion and uses
this word to describe their views
pro-lifer : someone who is opposed to abortion and uses this word to describe their views
implement : to take action or make changes that you have officially decided should happen
contraceptive : a drug, object or method

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