Abortion : Pro Life Or Pro Choice?

Abortion has been a heated debate in the United States for decades. Since before the ruling on Roe v. Wade, it is clear that this is an issue that is far from ever being decided upon. Between those who are pro-life and those who are pro-choice, scholars from both sides work on disproving the morality of the other side. With the evolution of abortion laws and regulation through the decades, it is difficult to imagine the United States without conflict pertaining to abortion. Despite pro-life and pro-choice agendas, the country is in ever-changing opinion when it comes to abortion.

The abortion question raises a number of issues that form the core of the abortion debate. Opponents and supporters of abortions have been battling over this particular problem for decades and still cannot come to an agreement. Being one of the most common and most controversial medical procedures, abortion tends to affect people on psychological and sociological levels. But while the discussion of the morality of abortion is an ongoing debate, the social issues surrounding abortion in most cases stay unnoticed. The social aspect of the issue is centered on the abortion policy. The main question of the abortion policy is whether the law should permit abortions and, if so under what circumstances. The other is whether the law should put the life of an unborn child first and legally protect it. The peculiarity of the abortion policy is that its measures are highly dependent on different public opinions.

Abortion has been and still is one of the most controversial topics in American culture. The reason for the controversy is the different viewpoints of this very personal matter. Some believe that abortion is the same as murder. Others believe it’s a personal choice which only they have the right to make. Due to the nature of the procedure and the concerns associated with ending a pregnancy, abortion will continue to top the list of “touchy” subjects in American politics and culture. As a pro-choice advocate, it is important for the right to have an abortion to be established and protected.

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)

Pro-Life or Pro-choice is the highly debatable question that is discussed when the topic of abortion is brought up. Abortion is one of many controversial topics in America. Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy. Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines abortion as; “the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus: as a: spontaneous expulsion of a human fetus during the first 12 weeks of gestation b: induced expulsion of a human fetus c: expulsion of a fetus by a domestic animal often due to infection at any time before completion of pregnancy (Merriam-Webster).” When a woman elects to end her pregnancy, she has two options depending on how many weeks

Pro-choice has been a major topic ever since the women’s movements started in the early 1970’s, a question sometimes asked is that, if part of the population are so pro-life and worry about protecting a fetus, how come when the child is conceived they suddenly bash at you for having that unwanted child anyways, and that is hypocritical. In this essay, details include would be why people choose to be pro-choice, NARAL Pro-Choice America, the battle for reproductive justice for women and their right to make decisions for their body, advocates that are pro-choice, proposals for a pro-choice government, and Tomi Lahren being fired for stating she was pro-choice.

Before Roe v. Wade, women lived in consistent angst and fear of their own bodies, the consequences that were brought by unwanted pregnancies, and the very dangerous back-alley abortions. Preceding 1973, unwed women who got pregnant were fired from their employments. The younger women were sent to maternity homes for mothers who were unwed, and their children were put up for adoption (Gielow). Pregnant women who were married had no choice but to continue to carry their pregnancies to term, nevermind their situations and circumstances. They were forced to carry the unborn child if even if they had many other children to care for and couldn’t possibly afford caring for another child. The women were forced to continue carrying their pregnancies, even if they had cancer, or the fetuses couldn’t survive outside the mother’s womb (Gielow). Roe v. Wade was a dark time. Women were desperate to find an abortion. The methods that were used were both dangerous, and many times, not effective. Desperate women were driven into the back alley, where they endured danger and abuse, sometimes sexual. The “They jabbed into their uteruses with knitting needles and coat hangers. They 'd try to insert chemicals, drain cleaner, fertilizer, radiator-flush, and miss the cervix, corrode an artery and bleed to death” ("Abortion ProCon.org."). Regardless of the legal status of abortion, its fundamental underlying cause, unintended pregnancy, has been a continuing reality for American

Out of all modern social controversies, perhaps the most heated controversy is that of abortion. In today’s society you are either a Pro-life or a Pro-choice, there is not a middle ground. Pro-life are individuals who believe abortion is immoral and should be stop for the wellbeing of women and unborn babies. In contrast, the Pro-choice individuals do not necessarily promote abortion, they just believe women should be the ones to make decisions over their bodies and health. Although the two main sides of the abortion debate have concerns for human life, pro-life activists worries more about the fetus and morals, a clear difference from the pro-choice that worries more for the women and their rights. Based on the points I explored, the pro-choice arguments are stronger than pro-life arguments. Most of both groups arguments comes from peer-reviewed researches from well-known sources to support each individual concept. Effects on women,socio-politics, and fetus are some of the main point of conflicts between the pro-life and pro-choice advocates.

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.).

Prior to the landmark case of Roe vs. Wade, abortion was legal in the United States under common law and with several stipulations. It was legal under the advice of medical personnel or in the attempt to save a mother’s life. Though abortion were widely available it was considered a secretive and “back alley” procedure that threatened the life of the patient and the persons conducting the abortion. In 1965, illegal abortions made up one-sixth of all pregnancy- and childbirth-related deaths. A survey conducted between 1965 and 1967 found that 8 in 10 low-income women in New York City who had an abortion attempted a dangerous self-induced procedure (planedparenthood.com).

The restrictions and the debate that surrounds the issue of abortion has changed dramatically throughout the course of history and it continues to change until this very moment. All around the world and in every known society, women have used abortion to control their reproduction, regardless of it’s legality. Abortion used to be exercised freely in the United Sates, up Until all the states started to ban It and place a lot of restrictions on it. They stated that a woman can not abort except in extreme cases in which the mother’s life might be in danger. After the restrictions caused a lot of health issues and raised concerns on women’s health, The Government abolished all the restrictions. In this paper I will analyze and discuss three main positions on the issue of abortion. First, there are those who associate themselves with the title “pro-life”. These individuals are anti abortion, birth control, embryo research or anything that can control or cause any harm to the fetus. Second, there are those who at the other end of the spectrum who firmly believe that if a woman decides to abort, then it is her constitutional right to do so without any interference from the government. Third, are those who believe that if a woman is raped or her life is in danger, then abortion should be completely and solely up to the woman, but other than that, abortion should be illegal. This group of individuals are also for birth control and do not oppose educating

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

The argument whether abortion should be legal or not has been raging for years. In America where democracy rules and the right to freedom of choice are set at a high priority among citizens, it’s not hard to see pro-choice and pro-life ideals going head on. In this paper I will explain some of the major reasons woman have abortions, as well as how if we are truly a democratic society and we do have freedom, then pro-choice and legalizing abortion is the answer. I will also talk about ethical issues, and how the effect of legalized abortions has affected other countries, as opposed to countries where abortions are illegal.

In 1972, the year before Roe v. Wade was decided in court, there were a counted 586,760 abortions in the United States. In 1973, Roe v. Wade was decided in January of this year, there were 615,831 abortions; this was an increase of only 4.95 percent. However, after Roe v. was decided in the Supreme Court, the number of women who died from having abortions decreased dramatically. In 1972, 65 women for every 100,000 reported abortions died. In 1973 to 2004, when abortion was legal, 439 women died from having abortions, that is about 14 women dying per year. The decrease from 65 women dying in one year to 14 women dying per year on average, was a 79.46% decrease in mortality rates (Centers for Disease Control). Modern abortion procedures are very safe, and less than .25 percent of modern abortions lead to lasting negative health effects. If the federal court were to overturn Roe v. Wade, women would continue to seek dangerous, illegal abortions, but more women would die from those

As early as 1550 B.C., Egyptians were performing abortions. Egyptians documented the techniques they used to perform abortions and by the Middle Ages, the concept of abortion had spread globally (PRB). Knowing the idea, of terminating a pregnancy, was being performed in 1550 B.C., the number of babies lost to this horrific death will never truly be known. Since 1969, the CDC started documenting the numbers of legal abortions obtained in the United States. Roe vs. Wade was the infamous court case that made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court, in 1973, that assisted abortion in becoming completely legal. The United National Library of Medicine published that since that day in 1973 abortion rates peaked but remained continuous through the