Argumentative Essay On Henrietta Lacks

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks written by Rebecca Skloot tells the story of a woman named Henrietta Lacks who has her cervical cancer. It further goes to tell the audience how Henrietta altered medicine unknowingly. Henrietta Lacks was initially diagnosed with cervical cancer in 1951; however, the doctors at John Hopkins took sample tissues from her cervix without her permission. The sample tissues taken from Henrietta’s cervix were used to conduct scientific research as well as to develop vaccines in the suture. Her sample tissues were known as HeLa cells. Skloot purpose is to create awareness among the audience about

Abortion has been performed for a long time. It was legal in the United States from the beginning it was created/founded. “At the time the Constitution was adopted, abortions were openly advertised and commonly performed.”(History of Abortion) But in the mid-to-late 1800s some states began passing laws that made abortion illegal. The motivations for anti-abortion laws varied from state to state. But in 1973 the supreme court “recognized that the constitutional right to privacy extends to a woman’s right to make her own personal medical decisions — including the decision to have an abortion without interference from politicians.”(Planned Parenthood Roe) This was called Roe v. Wade. So abortion is federally legal in the U.S. but different states may ban it or not for their own personal reasons. This topic is very controversial because many different people have different opinions on this topic. For example the two main opinions are called pro life and pro choice. The people who support pro life believe that all life is important and that an abortion should never happen unless to save the mother. The opposite opinion of pro life is pro choice and these people believe that it 's the woman 's choice to decide whether or not they want to have an abortion.

How can you take cells from a human being and treat them as clothes that you’re just selling. In The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot told the story of the woman behind the famous cell line and the fact that her family did not know about Lacks’ immortal cells until more than 20 years after her death. Some believe it was legal to take Mrs. Lacks cells, while others disagree and say it’s illegal. It was definitely illegal for the doctors and scientist to take Henrietta’s cells without her consent. Taking cells was not a part of her surgical procedure. Henrietta was a human being that should have been treated with respect. But mainly, George Gey treated her with everything but that. Taking 20+ years to tell her children

30year old Henrietta Lacks underwent radiation treatment for cervical cancer at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore In 1951. During her treatment, George Gey the surgeon who performed the procedure removed pieces of her cervix without her knowledge and sent them to a lab. Her cells were used to develop the polio vaccine, used in the first space missions to see what would happen to human cells in zero gravity. Henrietta’s cells were the first human cells ever cloned, some of the first genes ever mapped. They have been used to create some of our most important cancer

Henrietta Lacks is the first African American woman to have the first immortal cells. She was born August 1, 1920 and grew up in Virginia with her six siblings. Henrietta is most known for her cell line used by thousands of scientist across the world. Today people refer to her cells as HeLa cells, this is short for Henrietta Lacks. Scientist could not understand how her cells became immortal. Her cells made it possible to make thousands of vaccines for diseases. During Henrietta’s life she would create a cell line, adjust laws in the medical field, and create medical advances.

Imagine your mother, sister, wife, or cousin was diagnosed with cervical cancer and you believed the doctors were doing everything in their power to help her. Only later you discovered her cells were used for research without consent and she was not properly informed of the risks of her treatment due to her race. This story happened and is told by Rebecca Skloot in The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Skloot use of narrative and her writing style enhances the understanding of the story. Henrietta Lacks was a young black woman who was diagnosed with cervical cancer at John Hopkins Hospital. Her doctor collected cancerous cells and healthy cells from her cervix and gave them to the cancer researcher, George Otto Gey, who was trying to keep cells alive for more than a couple days. Henrietta endured intense radium treatments, but she still died at the age of 31, leaving her husband and five children behind. An amazing discovery was made Henrietta’s cell were immortal. Racism is prevalent in this book through the limited availability of healthcare, unethical behaviors of the doctors, and how racism affected her family.

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was an intriguing book. It not only discussed scientific thought but also other subjects as well. The book shows both the scientists point of view and the family’s point of view. In the scientists point of view the families and Henrietta’s consent was not needed. However; the family very strongly disapproves of their research ethics. The book discusses Henrietta’s contribution to science and of the ups and downs of research with HeLa. Scientists around the world used and are still using the cell line today and while they were essential to many experiments they also contaminated other projects. The book also shows the struggle of Henrietta’s family before her death and after her death. Henrietta’s

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks tells the story of Henrietta, an African-American woman whose cells were used to create the first immortal human cell line. Told through the eyes of her daughter, Deborah Lacks, aided by journalist Rebecca Skloot. Deborah wanted to learn about her mother, and to understand how the unauthorized harvesting of Lacks cancerous cells in 1951 led to unprecedented medical breakthroughs, changing countless lives and the face of medicine forever. It is a story of medical arrogance and triumph, race, poverty and deep friendship between the unlikeliest people. There had been many books published about Henrietta’s cells, but nothing about Henrietta’s personality, experiences, feeling, life style etc. This caught Rebecca’s

Some people believe Amelia Earhart didn’t die because she made a perfect landing allowing her to land on a nearby island. While others believe Amelia was a secret agent working the U.S government which points to her close relationship with the Roosevelts. People suggest that the plane crashed after she intentionally deviated from her course to spy on Japanese-occupied islands in the Pacific. They also believe that Earhart and Noonan could have landed on one of the islands and were taken as prisoner. Another theory holds that Earhart returned safely to the United States and changed her name. They say she lived a long life in obscurity, but I believe the real reason and most accurate reason is Amelia Earhart ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean and died of impact. This reason sounds the most accurate because they never found any body remains. She was flying across some of the deepest and longest parts of the ocean, which can lead to them not finding any plane remains or body remains. They also can’t say she landed on a island because when they found remains they were of an man.

On January 22, 1973, in a 7-2 ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down it’s landmark decision in the case of Roe v. Wade, which recognized that the constitutional right to privacy extends to a woman’s right to make her own personal medical decisions — including the decision to have an abortion without interference from politicians (Planned Parenthood). There are many moments in history when Roe v. Wade has been so close to being overturned, yet it is still in place. Abortion should stay legal, or not overturned, for the health of women everywhere.

Rebecca Skloot develops the idea that poverty comes with many difficult situations, in the book, "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". True, Henrietta and her family were poor, could barely afford their medical bills, and they didn 't get the extended care that they deserved. You will learn how being poor can change your life and what is done with it .

The pro-choice/pro-life is a major argument in politics in the United States today. However it is not so simple as pro-choice and pro-life. Pro-choice has been coined to mean that women should have the right to choose abortion and it should be a legal option. Pro-life has been connected with the banning of abortion and looking at a fetus as a life so abortion is basically murder. However this pro-life view has gotten very convoluted. Often times recently people who believe in pro-life do not care about the child after they are born. Their lives are not cared for past birth. Pro-birth is a new term has been made for people who believe in the banning of abortion but not any of the legal aid to help the children and their families after the child is born. With the introduction of the term “pro-birth” pro-life’s meaning is slowly evolving. It is not only pro-life but “pro-woman, pro-adoption,

Family, for most people, is defined as a sort of safe haven for people to go to. For others, families may be fragmented, split, or may have wrong ideals as a whole. Broken families, while they may have a long lasting effect on the spouses, can also have a detrimental, long-lasting effect on the children of these marriages which can lead to certain mental illnesses. For example, in the story of the Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Deborah faces the emotional effects of her mother’s death. Other stories such as “A Rose for Emily”, show how Emily 's fathers parenting techniques and a lack of a mother figure burdened her future. Into the Wild explores the emptiness of love which affects the life choices of a man named Chris. All of these situations

Jost, Kenneth, and Kathy Koch. "Abortion Showdowns." CQ Researcher 22 Sept. 2006: 769-92. Web. 27 July 2015

“He wanted to take you from me,” Sergei says, almost crying.” This quote is from the text What, of This Goldfish do you Wish. You can tell that Sergei has a relationship with the goldfish that seems very important to him, just as we do to with a loved one or a simple friend. His relationship with the goldfish influences who he is, just like the people we see on a daily basis influence us on who we are and how we act as a person.