Abortion And Women's Rights And Human Rights

Before women had rights to decide whether they could keep their baby, some states didn’t allow abortion, therefore requiring women to give birth to their child. In today’s current issues, abortion is still a controversial subject with millions of people supporting it or not supporting it. Every woman has the right to make changes to her own physical body, and those rights should not be taken away, according to the constitution. In the very famous case in 1973, “Roe v. Wade”, the United States Supreme Court legalized abortion throughout the first trimester of pregnancy. In the article, “Roe’s Pro-Life Legacy”, it is explained how after this movement, the right to abortion, lives have changed and led to lower abortion rates (Sheilds 2013.)

     Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy before birth. An abortion results in the death of the embryo or fetus and may be either spontaneous or induced. For years, abortion has been an extremely controversial subject. The history of abortion reaches back not just decades, but centuries, and even milleniums. Today, policies regarding legal abortion in the U.S. is being debated everywhere. Many myths and misconceptions confuse this issue. A better understanding of the history of abortion in America can help provide a context for an improved policy in the future.

One of the first moral issues addressed by both sides of the abortion debate concerns a pregnant woman’s so-called natural “right” to make “reproductive choices.” (“The Rights of Pregnant Women”) Anti-abortion advocacy groups claim that “the only way to actually protect the mother’s rights will be by enforcing laws that secure her child’s right to life,” (“Argument 2”) whereas pro-abortion groups contend that these laws “create a dangerous precedent for wide-ranging government intrusion into the lives of all women.” (“The Rights”) With two fundamentally contrasting viewpoints at odds with each other, it is apparent that one of the core issues concurrent with abortion is a woman’s rights versus the rights of her unborn fetus.

In every society whether it was legal or legal, abortions were used to control fertility. In the United States it was practiced legally until about 1880, by then most states had banned it except to save a woman's life. It was widely practiced through the entire period it was illegal. In the 1890’s there were an estimate of two million abortions per year and, one to two million annually during the 1920’s-30’s. Whether a

Abortion denies the embryo the right to life as a safeguarded in the US Constitution.By aborting these unborn infants, they are not allowing themselves to meet these new identities and unique personalities that one day they will become. These unborn infants are our new future, they are presidents, doctors, firefighters, soldiers who could be saving peoples lives, and the wellbeing of our country, but if we don’t save theirs, how are we setting the example to our society that killing is wrong, when abortion is still legal? The 14th Amendment protects the unborn children from harm. Jennifer Mason, communications director from the pro-life group Personhood USA, explained, “requires, equal protection under the law for everybody”, she asserted, “and so we believe that every human being regardless of their location,

For centuries, a woman’s right to abortion has been argued. Individuals with pro-life and anti-abortion beliefs think abortion is murder. While others feel it to be a women’s moral right, a personal privacy right that has been implied in the United States Constitution. I strongly feel that a woman has the right to an abortion. However, the termination of a pregnancy is not something to be taken lightly, I believe the states should have some sort of regulations in place to ensure the woman’s safety and welfare of the potential child.

The issue of abortion is one of the most controversial topics of our time, but recently the amount of public interest has grown exponentially. A number of bills regarding this policy issue such as Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015 and Child Interstate Notification Act have both greatly influenced the public’s opinion of abortion. Although, the issue of abortion hasn’t always been like this; according to Timeline of Abortion Laws and Events, an article from the Chicago Tribune, “The earliest anti-abortion laws were intended to protect women from untrained abortionists.” (Timeline) Since the 1973 passing of the Supreme Court Case, Roe V Wade, women have been able to obtain the abortion procedure in all 50 states, 46 of which were

In the 19th century, after tremendous progress in surgical processes, abortions were then conducted by surgeons on a wide scale, while medical abortions are used concurrently. However, as abortion technology prospers, legal restrictions came with it. In 1803, a English statute abolished the previously-legal first trimester abortions. The act “condemned the willful, malicious, and unlawful use of any medical substance when used with the intent to induce abortion” (Stern, 1968). In 1821, Connecticut enabled the first statute in the United States regulating abortions. Within 10 years, states like Illinois, Ohio, New York, Alabama, and others enabled abortion restriction statutes, and by 1968, 50 of the 51 jurisdictions in the United States have prohibited abortion except in the case women’s life is endangered (Ibid., at 3). In 1965, Britain, however, legalized abortion for “medical conditions of the mother, for socio-economic reasons, for eugenic considerations, and for pregnancies which resulted from rape or incestuous intercourse”, which is still law today (Ibid, at 4). In Canada, abortion has been legalized since 1969 through Bill C-150 if “a committee of three physicians determined that the pregnancy was a threat to the woman's life or health” (Norman, 2012). In 1988, Canadian Supreme Court struck down bill C-150’s provision requiring committee approval to receive an abortion in its decision R v Morgentaler, legalizing abortion across Canada for any reasons (Ibid.).

Roe vs. Wade case was a ground-breaking landmark case because it gave a woman the right to choose. Since then landmark cases and legislation restricted a woman from having an abortion. The rights of the unborn are the reason why a woman's rights to have an abortion are being eroded. In addition, violent events have occurred because a woman has a right to have an abortion. Clearly, this topic has affected the political, health, social, and religious, aspects of our society. Currently, women are choosing not to have an abortion. The sentiment is so strong that a Harris poll showed that 72% of Americans say abortion should be illegal after the first 3 months of pregnancy. To make this point, abortion rates are down in the states where the abortion

Since the Roe v Wade (1973) case, over 58 million pregnancies have been terminated. Many pro-life supporters have tried to get the Supreme Court to overturn the case because they feel as if the fetus should be covered by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution which states that all citizens born or naturalized in the United States have the right to citizenship. Pro-life supporters consider the fetus living, just inside of a different body. Having the case overturned will make abortion illegal and that would cause many problems for many women such as losing the rights to control their body. Although many people feel as if women should not have the right to terminate a pregnancy because there are people in the world willing to adopt a child, abortion should be legal because some women are unprepared for a child due to income, mentally unstableness as the aftermath of a rape, or judgement based on their religious beliefs.

The United States has been divided now over the issue of abortion for thirty-three years since the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade in 1973. As of today, over 45 million legal abortions have been performed in the United States. Pro-choice advocates hold these 45 million abortions as being 45 million times women have exercised their right to choose to get pregnant and to choose to control their own bodies. To pro-life, or anti-abortion, advocates these 45 million abortions constitute 45 million murders, a genocide of human life in the United States propagated by the court’s ruling in Roe v. Wade. The debate over abortion in the United States is thus a debate of two extremes. One side argues from the personal liberty of the mother. The

In 1973, the US Supreme Court declared abortion a nationwide fundamental right through a trial called Roe vs. Wade and protected this right underneath the Fourteenth Amendment, more specifically, the right to privacy. A basic human right, especially one outlined by the Supreme Court, must never run at risk or threat chiefly because not everyone agrees with it. Under no circumstances should a pregnancy ever adjudge mandatory. Abortion is a Constitutional right and as a nation we must fight to give the right and freedom of safe abortions to women all around the nation, make birth control and sex education accessible to women, and raise awareness about the topic itself. (LawCornell)

The issue of abortion is a controversial one; there are arguments on both sides of the debate. In 1973 the national case of Roe v. Wade, sparked political decisions that created a national right to abortion. Further, "Roe v. Wade declared that unborn children are not `persons ' nor are they entitled to the same constitutional protection as `born children '" (Baird, Rosenbaum, 2001). However, Roe v. Wade did not end the debate, nor, did it stop both sides for continuing the fight for their individual beliefs. On the one hand, pro-choice’s believe that woman are entitled to have abortions. Stating that an unborn child is under the rights of the pregnant women. On the other hand, pro-lifers believe that a woman should not have the right to obtain an abortion, stating that an unborn child is a human deserving the same constitutional rights as a child that has been born. The political goal most frequently mentioned by pro-lifers has been a Human Life Amendment (HLA) to thus, reverse Roe v. Wade. The HLA would declare unborn children to be "persons" deserving equal protection under the Constitution. From an ethical standpoint, one can take either side, for not only these reasons but also many more that we will further explore. I personally think that abortion is a decision that can only be made by the person in question, and not between that person and the government or an HLA. We well first look at the overall argument of the pro-choice side. After which, we will delve into the

Abortion rights are one of the most heatedly debates in society. There are many arguments for and against abortion. Each woman has the right to an abortion and the right to have a child. Women have the resources, rights, and respect to make reproductive health decisions that are best for themselves. (“Women’s”) We live in a free country and women should continue to have the choice to do whatever with their body, concerning women’s rights, health issues, and religious reasons.

Abortion is not only a woman's right, it is a woman's choice. Allowing abortion to e legal is immoral. A pre-born child is given the status of a product of pregnancy and never seen as the miracle only a woman can create. Compassion for the small one is drowned out under a demand for rights, but what about the rights for the unborn.