Arlyn Perez – JewellENG1101D325/C325

Abortion

Arlyn Perez

English 1101

December 4, 2019

Abortion, what is it? Well, it is the ending of a pregnancy by removing an embryo or fetus before it can survive outside the uterus, it can be performed in-clinic abortion locations or by taking an abortion pill. The most debatable issue the world we live in has faced for many centuries. The practice of abortion dates back to ancient times and has been performed illegally until laws were created to allow the legalization. Although today in some parts of the world, abortion is still considered illegal. The topic of abortion has always and still is controversial to many individuals. It is a highly sensitive subject, with people usually having strong feelings and divided opinions. A person actively for abortion believes that women should be allowed to make their own choice about what happens to their bodies and are entitled to their own freedom. On the other hand, a person who is firmly against sees it as a crime or is against their morals or religious beliefs. Women will do what they think is morally correct no matter what the outcome is. Though the question, should women have the right and accessibility to getting an abortion? Still remains as a personal opinion. However, I believe there shouldn’t be a limit to a woman’s right to control her own body. The two audiences I will be reaching out to about this issue are government authorities in states who are challenging the Roe v. Wade decision and Planned Parenthood. My message will be delivered as a speech to the government authorities to persuade them why this issue shouldn’t be challenged and needs to be the decision of the woman. As for my second message to Planned Parenthood, it will be portrayed as an open letter to discuss the importance of protecting abortion clinics, to continue keeping a safe and accessible way to get an abortion.

Speech-

Imagine that you are a woman who happens to be pregnant now you’re presented with a difficult decision of either keeping your unborn baby or getting an abortion. In all honesty, what would you do? What is my decision you might ask? To me that is a no-brainer, as a woman, I know that I am not mentally prepared or physically prepared for a child at the age of 18. I rather get an abortion, I’m a college student trying to study for a career I want for the future, I’m dealing with enough on my plate and adding a child would prevent me from that and could lead to me dropping out to be a full-time mother. However, this is one of the many reasonings as to why women would follow through with an abortion. According to the article on CNN, “Women have abortions for many reasons aside from rape and incest. Here are some of them” by Christina Zdanowicz, multiple women have spoken out about why they got an abortion using the hashtag #YouKnowMe to get their stories heard. A woman named Casey Duran tells her story “… 24 years old and making $15 an hour when she learned she was six weeks pregnant… on birth control and asked her partner to use protection… working as a receptionist and barely having enough to support herself.” This example here explains that even when a woman is taking precautions to ensure an unwanted pregnancy does not occur, contraceptives don’t always work and mistakes can happen. However, there are facts about what happens when strict laws are inflicted on women. According to “Debates over anti-abortion laws have raised common myths about abortion. These are the facts” By Holly Yan, recently states have been passing stricter laws on abortion making it less accessible. As evidence, Yan provides a map displaying the distance of the nearest abortion clinic with states like Wyoming and South Dakota having 1 clinic available between 90-176 miles away. Not only is transportation difficult, but the cost of an abortion has also increased due to the stricter laws. The same article I just mentioned by Holly Yan states “… with tougher state laws getting passed, more abortion providers are going out of service… means higher costs for abortions… clinics must fly in a physician each week to provide abortion care, raising the costs for patients.” So now that you understand why women should make the decision about their own body and should not be restricted to any laws. You might begin to think why is Roe v. Wade’s outcome being challenged? The New York Times article “Abortion Bans: 9 States Have Passed Bills to Limit the Procedure This Year” by K.K. Rebecca Lai, discusses how in some states, government authorities are proposing more stricter bills on abortion with most passing and being signed into existence. According to the article “Louisiana on Wednesday passed a bill to ban abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, making the state the ninth this year to pass abortion restrictions that could challenge the constitutional right established in Roe v. Wade.” I find this bill to be an abomination, it is unfair for a female to be restricted because at six weeks when the fetal heartbeat is detected, the body image of a woman for most the difference is not noticeable. Right now I want you to search up images of pregnant women at 6 weeks, if you don’t get any symptoms or appear pregnant and find out later you are it’ll be too late. So sometimes a female isn’t even aware that she’s pregnant and this bill prevents her from making her own decision on time, being left with a baby she does not want. I understand that although abortion is a horrible thing, a woman who is not ready to maintain a baby doesn’t have to keep it to satisfy the state’s law, it should be her own choice to make. The truth is that abortion needs to stop being challenged. Women are entitled to their freedom, body, and choice. Ultimately everyone should have the right to their own body and freedom without a high authority trying to control it.

Open letter-

Dear Planned Parenthood,

My name is Arlyn Perez and I am here to say that I stand behind your goals and believe that abortion clinics should continue growing to help increase the safety and accessibility for women. In the past, abortion in the United States, abortion was authorized to happen before quickening, or the start of fetal movements began (15–20 weeks) after conception but other states were completely against it, making it illegal. Illegal abortions are the ones that caused more damage to women sometimes resulting in death. According to the article “History of Abortion.” National Abortion Federation,https://prochoice.org/education-and-avocacy /about-abortion /history-of-abortion/, A lot of women died or suffered serious medical problems after attempting to self-induce abortions. Others went to untrained practitioners who were uneducated and performed abortions with dangerous methods often in unsanitary conditions. I don’t want women going back to these harmful methods because strict laws are being enforced to prevent abortion from happening. So I fully support planned parenthood or any other reproductive health service and will gladly donate to help women get access to a sanitary and secure abortion clinic. Although abortion clinics have been pushed to get their facility license removed in certain states, I’m glad to see that you are getting the word out by posting an open letter on your website to address why it is necessary to keep clinics around. The line “ We denounce the reckless actions of those who oppose reproductive freedom, and together with Planned Parenthood, will fight every attack that threatens access to reproductive health care” really stuck with me because it’s a bold and powerful statement saying we will not stop fighting until states stop challenging Roe v. Wade.

Works Cited

“History of Abortion.” National Abortion Federation, prochoice.org/education-and-advocacy/about-abortion/history-of-abortion/

Parenthood, Planned. “Open Letter to Protect Abortion Access.” Planned Parenthood of Nassau County, Inc., www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-nassau-county/blog/open-letter-to-protect-abortion-access.

Rebecca, K. K. “Abortion Bans: 9 States Have Passed Bills to Limit the Procedure This Year.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 15 May 2019, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/us/abortion-laws-states.html.

Yan, Holly. “Debates over Anti-Abortion Laws Have Raised Common Myths about Abortion. These Are the Facts.” CNN, Cable News Network, 18 May 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/05/18/health/abortion-myths-and-facts/index.html.

Zdanowicz, Christina. “Women Have Abortions for Many Reasons aside from Rape and Incest. Here Are Some of Them.” CNN, Cable News Network, 22 May 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/05/21/health/women-reasons-abortion-trnd/index.html.

Reflection

For my genre, I chose true crime, true crime is non-fiction literacy, podcasts, films, etc. which involves the author inspecting thoroughly a real crime and it’s detailing. A couple of trends that would reoccur in these true crime stories is spreading a moral message to the audience who consumes it. For example, if a crime were to happen in a specific neighborhood like in Forest Hills, Queens, the audience living there would be the ones who would mainly consume the details the case introduces and would take further steps to ensure that their neighborhood is safe and become more aware of their surroundings. Another trend that makes a good true crime story and gets the point across is typically putting the effort in the research, meeting with, spending time around, and interviewing people who were involved in the true crime case. In one of my sources “Charles Manson’s Own Story of Why the Manson Family Killed,” the author, Olivia B. Waxman, wrote an interview that Charles Manson previously had and interpreted to get the deeper meaning behind it. True crime stories also have a very neutral and unbias tone because the authors are here to inform the audience and to not influence them to think one way or another, that is for us to decide whether we agree or disagree with the case presented. Another key factor that goes into true crime stories is being respectful to the victim’s families and the case itself, authors need to make sure that everything they use to write about the true crime is facts. These true crime stories deal with real people, real events and real consequences, and the story you tell is being spread to multiple audiences interested in this topic so it’s best to not play around with the truth. As I researched my genre, I learned that there’s more to a true crime story than just gathering all the evidence and presenting it. There needs to be a tone, a moral message conveyed to the audience, extensive research such as traveling to somewhere for an interview with the victim’s families or with the actual criminal, making sure the truth gets out and not twisting it. However, one thing I want to know more about my topic is keeping a neutral tone throughout the storytelling, it is very easy to insert an opinion, making it one-sided than rather seeing the whole picture behind motives. Throughout this assignment, I learned that as a writer I always like to input background information before actually telling the story, it gives me a place to start and feels more organized. My strength in this assignment is that I can gather evidence and analyze it, breaking it further down to make it easier to understand. But I struggled with identifying the author’s main argument because true crime stories to me have the same structure, a victim; a crime; and the outcome. So I was not entirely sure where the main argument in my sources showed up. I think what could help me improve in this area is by looking at my peer’s annotated bibliographies or other ones online and seeing how they extracted the author’s main argument from their source.

True Crime

Arlyn Perez

English 1101

Hauck, Grace. “4 Homeless Men Were Beaten to Death in Manhattan While They Were Sleeping, Police Say.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 5 Oct. 2019

In this article, Grace Hauck argues that the homeless deserve the righteousness and protection that a home assures. “All five victims were men who suffered trauma to the head, police said. They appeared to have been sleeping when the attack happened just before 2 a.m. in the Chinatown area.” The victims were not harming or bothering anyone, they were simply doing what every other person does, resting for the night but were targeted at random. This shows that people, who are not homeless, do not care to consider the safety of homeless people and what could possibly happen to them. “Researchers say homelessness in the city has increased in recent years, driven primarily by the lack of affordable housing.” People have assumptions and judgments about homeless people throwing their life away and not caring about themselves but there’s also more to the story. In this detail it points out that people aren’t able to afford a home and as a result become homeless. Hauck wants to emphasize that homeless people need safety as well because a crime was committed for no reason.

Holcombe, Madeline, and Joe Sutton. “A 7-Year-Old Is in Critical Condition after Being Shot While Trick-or-Treating with Her Family.” CNN, Cable News Network, 1 Nov. 2019

In this case, a little girl who was only seven years old had been shot on Halloween evening and is now left in critical condition. The authors, Madeline Holcombe and Joe Sutton argue that you should take extra precautions when celebrating any type of holiday. “This is unacceptable. It’s a 7-year-old girl that’s trick-or-treating with her family out here and happens to get shot because a group of guys want to shoot at another male while there is a street full of kids trick-or-treating,” Alioto said.”Despite the fact that the little girl and her family were having a fun outing to celebrate Halloween, it is important to be aware of the surroundings and check to see if the neighborhood is safe for children at night. No one expected this to occur when it was a family outing to go trick-or-treating but many strange or horrendous things could happen during a holiday. In previous instances, Halloween candy had been rigged with drugs so it became important for parents to check any candy that looked suspicious in their kids candy pile.

Karanth, Sanjana. “Officers Arrest Texas Student For Bringing a Loaded Gun To Middle School.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 10 Oct. 2019

In this article, Sanjana Karanth argues that the incident at a San Antonio middle school demonstrates the state’s youth gun violence problem. “Almost 200,000 children in Texas live in homes with unlocked, loaded guns, the Brady Campaign reported.” This is a very serious problem because kids have access to these guns and are capable of doing anything once they possess it. They could accidentally fire at themselves or anyone around them and could seriously get hurt, any kids with suicidal problems find their easy escape or kids dealing with issues could potentially go on a shooting rampage. “Data from gun violence prevention group Everytown for Gun Safety shows that Texas had 25 unintentional shootings involving children who found a loaded firearm last year.” Sanjana makes a point by providing the data to show this is a serious issue and should not be pushed to the side. She wants to put it out there that any child who has access to these unloaded guns in their homes could carry out a horrendous crime putting themselves and others in danger. It needs to be stopped and become more stricter.

Nolasco, Stephanie. “Florida Man’s Former Escort Wife Tried Hiring a Hit Man: ‘I Was Praying It Wasn’t Her’.” Fox News, FOX News Network, 2 Oct. 2019

A woman named Dalia Dippolito was attempting to hire a hitman to murder her husband Mike Dippolito. When they first met everything seemed perfectly fine, Mike genuinely thought they were happy but made the mistake of getting married too fast. Mike in the past has been involved in previous crimes, pleading guilty to charges of organized fraud and unlicensed telemarketing but was already making up for it and to be on a clean slate. Stephanie Nolasco states that people cannot be vulnerable and trust the people around us all the time because occurrences like this case could happen to anyone. “According to police records, Dalia was planting drugs in Dippolito’s car in a failed attempt to get his probation revoked, the outlet shared. Then, detectives said, she tried to have Dippolito killed.” Looking at this detail in the case, demonstrated that Mike’s wife, Dalia, was attempting anything she possibly could to get her husband arrested. “Dalia wound up meeting a hitman – who actually was an undercover cop – and insisted she was “like 5,000 percent sure” she wanted Dippolito gone for good.” Regardless of who the person is in our life, we should always be aware that there’s always more to a person than what they choose to show to the world. This writer wants to emphasize that we should be aware of our surroundings.

Waxman, Olivia B. “Charles Manson’s Own Story of Why the Manson Family Killed.” Time, Time, 26 July 2019

Charles Manson was an American criminal and cult leader who led and formed a group known as the Manson family. Manson was a man who wanted things to go his way and if they didn’t, that is when the Manson family started with the murders. In this article the author Olivia B. Waxman was able to captivate the tone of the last interview Manson had, and argues that it is important to get the truth out. Manson told his side of the story that was not portrayed by the news or media in his last interview. “There’s this whole underlying story people don’t know, says Day, who, 50 years later, hopes to set the record straight…this story starts instead with a botched drug deal that took place July 1.” History tends to twist the truth as it is told from time to time. But by conducting this interview with Manson details could be revealed that will help the public understand his motivations and the big question of why? “Manson had ordered the murders, which was also the timeline that came out in the trial, Manson’s own version was that his followers orchestrated the whole thing, and he was only involved in a passive way.” Waxman wants to emphasize that, although Manson was an evil man who committed crimes with his “family” it is important to get all sides of a story, to finally know the truth and reasonings behind things.

Yang, Allie, and Sean Dooley. “Investigators in ‘Slender Man’ Case Discuss Chilling Interviews with 12-Year-Old Attempted Murderers.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 23 Oct. 2019

Two girls from Wisconsin named Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier carried out a plan to murder one of their best friends, Payton Leutner, in the name of “Slender Man”, who is a fictional character created from a website (Creepypasta). The authors, Allie Yang and Sean Dooley, point is to ensure parents are monitoring what their kids lookup online and separating the truth from lies. These two girls had an obsession with this fictional character and truly thought that “Slender Man” would come after them if they didn’t give him a sacrifice. “Anissa said that Slender Man strangles his victims with tendrils protruding from his back and that he targets children “the most,” according to what she learned on the website.” This shows that although the story of this fictional character was made up, she believed everything because it was put up online. Both girls were terrified. “I was really scared, knowing that Slender could easily kill my whole family in three seconds, Anissa added.” These girls felt the need to carry out this murder to protect themselves and their loved ones, so out of fear they did it. But, thankfully the victim Payton Leutner survived this horrendous attack. These details reveal that parents should monitor what their children are searching for online for their own safety. No one expected two young girls to thoroughly plan this crime and actually commit it.

Rhetorical Analysis True Crime

True crime is a non-fiction literary genre. It could often be discussed through literary, films, social media and podcasts. True crime has always captured my interest, at a young age I remember watching the tv show network Investigation Discovery and being fascinated with the cases and asking what was the motive behind these actions? A really famous case that most people heard of is the zodiac killer, the one who shook all of California with his infamous symbol the zodiac. He would mock the police with telephone calls, taunting letters, and encrypted messages. The letters would be sent to a local newspaper and of course at the end of every letter the zodiac symbol was left behind so the press gave him the name zodiac. He accepted the nickname and began to address himself as the zodiac. “Zodiac: The Shocking True Story of the Hunt for the Nation’s Most Elusive Serial Killer” by Robert Graysmith reveals unreleased facts, including the complete text of the killer’s letters. Many were able to crack the encrypted messages left behind because they were interested and wanted to be involved in some way. Despite the rigorous investigations, no one was ever arrested for the crimes and the case remains open.

The Lost Spanish

Junior year, I had the option of taking a Spanish class or French class, it was a no brainer which one I would obviously select but little did I know my Spanish was imperfect. Growing up “Antes a mi me gustaba hablar mas el Espanol que el Ingles” I remember traveling to Mexico and refusing to speak English over there. “Jajajaja” Laughter in the air, a cool breeze running through my hair those nights in Mexico were very precious to me, I was able to crack jokes, have a deep and meaningful conversation with my relatives in Spanish. But now that’s not the case, I wish I could still communicate with them as good as I did when I was younger, truth is I lost my Spanish.

As the years passed, English became my dominant language and lacked practice speaking Spanish which is something I’m not proud of. I felt a sense of guilt, I should be able to keep my language alive. Although Spanish is spoken in many countries, they all are different in their own ways. I’m Mexican, so my Spanish has a different accent, slang, and meanings. For example, Mexicans would say “no manches” to say no kidding or no way but to someone who is Dominican they would have no idea what that means. Sometimes us Spanish speaking countries use the same words but have different meanings, Mexicans use “chafa” to describe something cheap or of low quality but the Honduran term for “chafa” is the armed forces.

I sometimes think about the future and wonder will I be able to communicate with my people? Or will they think I’m just another American coming to Mexico for vacation knowing nothing about the Mexican slang or culture? I wonder when I speak do I appear from a different Spanish speaking country and not one of their own?

Taking a Spanish class Junior year, thinking it would be easy was very naive of me. My non-Spanish speaking friends, like Hermidine and Mahir, would come up to me and ask “hey can you help me with this?” But in all honesty, I didn’t know much either. It was a constant battle between what I wanted to write versus what I was capable of writing, adding accents was such a pain too. “Arlyn, Puedes leer la estoria para mi?” Slowly my face turns red, as I cough trying to clear my throat and tremble as I read the first word of the passage. The number of times I wanted to hide my face somewhere whenever I was asked to read aloud to the class in Spanish because I didn’t want others to know my struggle with Spanish. In my head, I could pronounce a word perfectly fine but when it came down to me saying it out loud I just sounded like someone who just started speaking the language. I didn’t want to be a person who’s from a Spanish speaking country who didn’t know the language at all. Although I know quite a few people who don’t speak it at all and would be called “gringo” for not knowing their native language.

I noticed that I didn’t get enough practice and so with time I started losing my accent and begin to stumble on words or give up and say what I meant in English instead of Spanish. I knew this Spanish class was going to be helpful for me but I definitely took it for granted. I would sit in the back of the class and fool around with my friends, making jokes not realizing I should’ve paid attention to the lesson knowing it would be beneficial. Although, my mother and my older sister have seen an improvement in my speaking and writing, so in some ways even if I felt like I could’ve done more to improve. It’s the little steps that are getting me there.

Personal Experience Resubmitted

Junior year, I had the option of taking a Spanish class or French class, it was a no brainer which one I would obviously select but little did I know my Spanish was very imperfect. Growing up I honestly do not remember which language I spoke first because I was mute, I refused to learn how to speak but I knew that Spanish was never my strong suit, sure I knew how to say things but it was never anything complex. I remember taking a Spanish class in Junior year, thinking it would be easy but I struggled not with reading but mainly with writing and sometimes speaking. It felt kind of embarrassing, although I knew Spanish I would always ask my friends Jessica and Ana for help. I feel like I just don’t get enough practice and so with time I started losing my accent and begin to stumble on words or give up and say what I meant in English instead of Spanish whenever I talk to my mother. I knew that this Spanish class was gonna be helpful for me but I definitely took it for granted, I would sit in the back of the class and fool around with my friends and make jokes not realizing I should’ve paid attention to the lesson knowing it would be beneficial. My family members would text me in Spanish and yes I understand it but I never know what to write simply because I don’t know how to say a lot of things in Spanish. Even having conversations on the phone I wouldn’t say much to a family member because I don’t want them knowing my Spanish isn’t as good as theirs, I would love to communicate with them more but I get frustrated and instead have my mom or my sister translate to them.

Sandra Cisneros Only Daughter – Resubmitted

The text “Only Daughter” by Sandra Cisneros was very interesting and relatable to many young women who try to pursue their careers but are told to do another thing. When Sandra said that her father told her, her destiny was to become someone’s wife that to me was very ignorant and it was not all that surprising because back in the older times, women at a certain age were told get a husband and have kids. I can somewhat relate to this not personally but from my country’s background, because in past Mexican traditions it was viewed as normal from a young age to get married and have kids, the man is supposed to take care of the woman while she does house chores. But of course, now times have changed and women can get careers however sometimes they do not have the support of their families or friends. Sandra wanted her father’s approval so badly that when she finally got it, she felt accomplished with what she has produced as a writer. I think this just shows how you shouldn’t be closeminded and explore the possibilities of what you’re capable of doing such as Sandra. She was told to be one thing from a family of six sons, to become a wife but came out as being a great writer.

Author: Arlyn Perez