Eating Animals 1

At the beginning of this year I decided that I would read Eating Animals for my independent reading book in Issues. At that time, I had been a vegetarian for several years and a strong supporter of that lifestyle. However, recently, under my doctor's recommendation I began to eat meat again; only organic, white meat... This transition has been awkward for me. Aside from getting used to meat again, I kind of felt like I was having an identity crisis. I have identified with this lifestyle for so long that transitioning this was very difficult for me. I am just beginning to read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer and I am excited to see how his transitions from being a vegetarian to an omnivore and vice versa have been and to see the parallels in my own life.

Death Penalty Final Response

“It is better that nine guilty men be set free than for one innocent man to be convicted.” The abolishment of the death penalty in Illinois was without a doubt just. Before this abolishment, the ability for innocent people to be convicted and executed was too likely. In his speech given in regards to the death penalty abolishment Gov. George Ryan explained how seventeen wrongfully convicted men had been condemned to death in Illinois, “together they spared the lives and secured freedom of 17 men who were wrongfully convicted and rotting in the condemned units of our state prison.”
It is not fair to allow the possibility of condemning wrongfully convicted inmate to face the death penalty. According to The United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, statistically 8% to 12% of all state prisoners are either actually or factually innocent. Even though that is a low percentage when factoring in the entire population of our nation, any amount of innocent people sent to death wrongfully is too large of a number. We must do everything in our power to prevent this from happening.
While watching the film The Execution it became clear that several of the men that were on death row along Clifford Boggus believed that they were innocent. It made me wonder how many of these people who claimed innocence were actually innocent?
Our nation’s court system has a lot of loop holes and I think our main priority should be to solve the issue of wrongful convictions rather than having the initiative to swiftly convict the accused. With the present loop holes, and the margin for mistake, it baffles me that some states still have a capital punishment law instigated. It seems barbaric and completely unjustifiable.

Abortion

I think that NARAL has a better website in general because it is visually appealing; it has a lot of colors and presents a picture of a woman that shows a lot of emotion. Another thing that I like about this website is that it presents its opinion on the matter right away on the site. I think that in general the pro-choice side is winning this debate in our country because of the influence of young people in politics recently. As we saw in the 2008 elections, the real power in America is within the young population. I think that most young people today in our country are pretty liberal and thus support the concept of pro-choice.
The age of consent in Illinois is 17, I think that if you are allowed to make the decision to have sex without parental consent then you should be able to make decisions regarding reproduction health on your own as well.
In regards to the abortion laws in Illinois, one that really bothers me is the rules regarding insurance company involvement with abortion. I think that insurance companies, and state coverage, should cover an abortion in full. If a woman is making a decision to get an abortion it is obviously because she is not ready for motherhood, this law further restricts her capabilities to access the necessary health care she needs. I think it also could further jeopardize a woman’s health, in the sense that she may attempt other abortion methods if unable to access an abortion from a medical clinic. However, I think almost all of the pro-choice laws are just, including the ones regarding low income patients and emergency contraceptives.