A Short History of Reproductive Politics in America Essay

Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy by removing a fetus or embryo before it can survive outside of the uterus. Once a women finds out that she is pregnant she does have a constitutional protected right to have an abortion in the early stages of pregnancy. Abortions are conducted by women from all forms of life. The typical woman who terminates her pregnancy may either be young, poor, or

Therefore, in Europe and Great Britain and of course many other countries, abortion was looked at in a very negative way and the women who got abortions were perpetrators. “Abortion was illegal in Britain under the 1861 offences against the person act. Any person, including the pregnant woman herself found guilty of attempting to procure abortion was liable to receive maximum penalty of life imprisonment” (Jones, v. 20.2, pgs. 283-298). Along with other countries the United States saw abortion as a wrong doings in the past. In the past before the 1800’s the United States did in fact allow abortions until of course laws were set in. This movement from abortion being legal to becoming illegal happened in the late 1800’s. Abortion was then outlawed in different states for many reasons. Due to abortion being illegal in most states, many women tried to have self-induced abortions which caused them many health problems (National Abortion Federation). Also, the National Abortion Federation gave statistics such as: “Between 1967 and 1973 one-third of the states liberalized or repealed their criminal abortion laws” (History of Abortion).For over 100 year’s abortion was illegal in every state and finally about forty-four years ago it was barely being made legal again.

Abortion is defined as an early termination of a pregnancy, willingly. It is one of the most controversial issues that is brought up because there are so many different views. This ethical issue today is usually split in two groups, one of these views being pro-choice, giving the option to have an abortion to the family of the fetus. The other main view today is pro-life, which states under no circumstance may a life be taken away. There are many concerns with abortion, the biggest being is the fetus an actual person yet? Many of us will never know the answer to that question. Two views I will go deeper into is the view of Immanuel Kant and the view of a Utilitarian.

Abortion has been a complex social issue in the United States ever since restrictive abortion laws began to appear in the 1820s. By 1965, abortions had been outlawed in the U.S., although they continued illegally; about one million abortions per year were estimated to have occurred in the 1960s. (Krannich 366) Ultimately, in the 1973 Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade, it was ruled that women had the right to privacy and could make an individual choice on whether or not to have an abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy. (Yishai 213)

For around $400 and a referral from a well-respected doctor, Dr. George Loutrell Timanus performed abortions from the 1920s until 1951 (Reagan 1997, 158). Dr. Timanus, like many private practice physicians in his specialty performed abortions for women who came to him with varying reasons such as “poverty, excessive childbearing, and illegitimacy” (Reagan 1997, 158). Despite the general disapproval of abortions, Dr. Timanus practiced out in the open and was available for those who needed him. Dr. Timanus’ execution of these operations showed that though abortions were illegal at the time, there were many doctors who were sympathetic with different maternal cases. His decision to do what he thought was morally correct over the few decades is significant because it shows a change in attitude towards abortions in comparison with that of the early twentieth century. However, in 1951 Dr. Timanus’ office was raided and he, along with those who worked with and for him, was arrested for illegally performing abortions. In the beginning of the 1950s, people started to question whether or not abortions should be legal, thus why Dr. Timanus believed that he was doing nothing wrong and was well within his rights as a physician. Despite the fact that there were people and doctors who had similar beliefs as he did, not one of Dr. Timanus’ colleagues came to his defense as he was trialed for his crimes (Reagan

As stated in the Merriam – Webster Dictionary (2016) and Abortion (/e-boar-sheen)” is the medical procedure used to end a pregnancy and cause death of the fetus.”

Angus McLaren, author of “Illegal Operations: Women, Doctors, and Abortion” demonstrates the life of an abortionist in the late 1800’s to the mid 1900’s. McLaren explains a series of affairs in detail with many different abortionists. Since abortion was illegal at the time, many women consulted midwives, or took the procedure of abortion among themselves, this at times resulted in their death.

victory with the Roe v. Wade ruling. This paper will analyze the rise and continuation of

Abortion refers to the termination of pregnancy at any stage that does not affect birth; medically, according to Oxford Dictionary abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a foetus or embryo by natural causes before it is able to survive independently. Abortion is a controversial topic that causes many arguments because of the different opinions that persons have. Abortion has two main proponents, persons that are for abortion and those that are against abortion. Those that are for abortions think that woman have the right to do anything with their body but those that are against abortion sticks to what the Bible says about taking a life of

What is abortion? An abortion is a medical or surgical procedure used to terminate a pregnancy. A medical abortion is an abortion that is brought about by taking medications that will end a pregnancy. (1) A Surgical abortion is an abortion which ends a pregnancy by emptying the uterus (or womb) with special instruments. (1) Some of the reasons for a woman to get an abortion may be that they can't afford a/another child, health reason of the child's or her own safety, social reasons such as unwanted child or not ready for having a child, and rape or incest. Abortions performed in the seven to nine weeks of the first trimester are medical abortions. (2) All abortions after nine weeks are surgical abortions. Surgical abortions are

Such an interesting topic to discuss so many issues. The one that stood out to me was the politicalizing of reproductive rights. How did this become a political issue? While looking into the history of abortion in Canada I found that the law against abortion was successfully challenged by Dr. Morgentaler, after many previous convictions and appeals, under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms Section Seven "Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of the person and the right not to be deprived thereof except in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice" on January 29th, 1988. While reading, it was noted that the Canadian Health Act mandates provincial governments to fund abortions per the Charter of rights rulings. Today

Medical journals and local newspapers also printed articles passing judgement on women who sought “to pervert the highest function of woman’s nature” by seeking an abortion (Backhouse 1983; The Canada Lancet 1871). A renewed sense of legitimacy and authority produced by the formal establishment of professional bodies of physicians worldwide, gave rise to the belief that they were not just the physical guardians of the population, but the moral guardians as well. They themselves believed that “those who are the guardians of the public health are the guardians of the nation’s prosperity and greatness” (Falconer 2002; Garrett 1897). Physicians lobbied and publically pleaded for stricter abortion legislation in the hopes that they would prevent

Within the world of reproductive justice and politics, there is no such thing as “choice”. Every “choice” is intimately tied to a person’s class, gender, sexual orientation, and even geographical location. Choice is not something made by a person, but by the society they exist in. In mainstream America, having a baby naturally is an expectation while adoption is an unwanted backup choice. For these middle to upper class, predominantly white families, adoption means plan b, never the original and thus the children of this culture never truly feel one within their family, rather they are considered odd or not real. And that’s just when adopting from America. When transracial and/or transnational adoption becomes a part of the conversation the slope becomes slipperier as the choice becomes based in white savior and/or Good Samaritan rhetoric (Patton-Imani). These children are often “othered” by their families, their town, or their society as a whole. Or they are forced to assimilate with color and ethnicity blindness as an example of the perfect adoptee/immigrant. Their choice to adopt from these foreign countries is centered by their various privileged identities while excluding the children themselves due to their disadvantages.

Before a person makes a decision about abortions, they need to know exactly what it is. Abortion is simply what it sounds like. Getting rid of something, in this case it goes with getting rid of a fetus/baby. Which means, inducing birth to kill the fetus, or a baby before it is carried to full term. Sometimes in an early pregnancy, a woman will go to the doctor, and take a pill, and that will terminate the pregnancy. If a woman makes the choice later, then she has to have the baby surgically removed from her body. Now if it is too late, then she will not be able to have the procedure. Surgery can lead to a lot of bad things if it is not done properly, which in the process of killing the fetus can also cause internal bleeding to the woman. Most woman should look into abortion before just going to do it, having a baby isn’t always a terrible thing even it wasn’t what the woman wanted.

Abortion means the expulsion of a fetus before viability. Sometimes abortions are performed at up to 25 to 27 weeks. Some premature babies have survived being born as early as 26 weeks. (Encyclopedia of marriage and the family, volume 1, David Levinson) some reasons women may seek out an abortion are if they have gotten pregnant due to sexual assault or incest. They may also seek an abortion if it is medically dangerous for them to carry the baby to term. In all of my interviews, both men women and others all said they believe it is okay for a woman to get an abortion if