Abortion : Too Choose Or Not?

By the 1960’s, states began to reconsider the legalization of abortion in response to the high rate of hospital admissions resulting from illegal abortions and a change in public opinion (“Abortion in Law, History, and Religion”). By the early 1970’s, 17 states had altered their abortion laws towards liberalization (“Abortion in Law, History, and Religion”). In 1973, the Supreme Court declared in Roe vs. Wade that most existing state laws were unconstitutional. The case ruled out any legislative interference in the first trimester of pregnancy and put limits on what restrictions could be passed on abortions in later stages of pregnancy (Sauer).

What subject has been more controversial for the last several decades than abortion? Since the decriminalization of abortion in 19731, thousands have been performed every year in the United States. Whether you are a pro-life or right-to-life supporter, or a pro-choice advocate, there are compelling arguments. Both sides use proven statistics, as well as emotional appeal to establish their points. Pro-choice groups speak to the rights of a woman to choose what she wants to do with her body as a matter of freedom. Aside from personal choice, they believe that there are certain circumstances where abortion may be required due to medical reasons. Pro-life proponents

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)

Women choose to have abortion for a lot of reasons some may believe that they are too young and do not have a lot of responsibility of parenting. They may not be in a relationship and cannot handle being a single mum. They may not be able to afford to have a child, they also may not want their life goals to be interrupted (hodesnauser,2011).

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 mid-1800’s, abortion was made illegal under most circumstances in most states. For decades following that decision, illegal abortions became the cause of death for many women in the United States. In 1930, 1940, 1950, and 1965, illegal abortions were the official cause of death for 2,700, 1,700, 300, and just under 200 women, respectively. Between 1950 and 1960, illegal abortion ranged from 200,000 to 1.2 million per year. Leading up to the court case Roe v. Wade, the only circumstance to get an

There are many reason why a woman may choose to have an abortion. Of the women who reported having an abortion, 21 % said they made the choice because of inadequate finances, 11% were too young and/or immature, 3% was due to the baby having possible health problems and less than 1% said they made the decision because of being raped or because of incest. There were also other reasons given. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there were 730,322 abortions reported in 2011.

Public opinion presents an important part when deciding a stance. Class, location, beliefs, age, and political affiliations contribute to the difference of opinion among people. According to an article printed in Political Behavior, authors Wlezein and Goggin suggest that public opinion on abortion varies little through the years with a large increase in the 1980’s that resulted in the majority of the public being in favor of abortion “as it is now” (Wlezien, 381). Since the decision of Roe V. Wade in 1973, approximately 23% of adults believe abortion should be legal in all cases, 19% believe it should be illegal in all cases and a majority of 56% believe it should be legal in some cases (Wlezien, 381). Wlezein and Goggin conducted a general social survey that indicated that an overwhelming majority of at least 81% proved that a legal abortion should be possible if the woman’s health is seriously endangered by the pregnancy, if she became pregnant as a result of a rape, or if there is a strong possibility of a defect in the baby (Witwer). Though this data is from 1989, a poll conducted in 1999

Away from politicians, abortion is also seen as wrong in the eyes of religious practitioners for beliefs that a child in the womb should as well have the rights to live. According to Guttmacher institute only thirty-nine states in the United States require a licensed physician to perform an abortion while forty-six states have the right to refuse to do an abortion. Also many laws affect minors a well as thirty-seven states require some type of parental notification. Also when looking at who is generally getting these abortions, women in their twenties are account for more than half of the abortions that occur and also most women that are receiving these abortions are single women. Also taking a look at the financial situation of many of the women getting an abortion forty-two percent of women are living below the poverty threshold. There are also many contraceptives to prevent one from having to have an abortion such as birth control pills, condoms, and other contraceptives. However when all else fails abortion has held strong for women in America when they are not ready to provide for a child or cannot. These statistics show how important keeping abortion legal truly is in the world.

Abortion is a hot topic in United States politics as of late, and rightly so. Though religion, costs, maternal psychological damage, and societal morality are often cited as reasons to oppose abortion, a woman’s right to make her own decisions should always prevail. Abortion should be nationally legalized during the first trimester of pregnancy because Roe V. Wade has declared abortion a “fundamental right” to women, fetuses are incapable of feeling pain during the period when most abortions take place, women should be given the right to choose what happens with their body, and access to legal abortions decreases the

The historical right of abortion can be examined through the geographic themes of location and place; the responsibilities of abortion are determined through the geographic themes of movement, human environment, interaction, and region. Place is the historical events that led up to the demand for abortion was Roe V. Wade and the Supreme Court ruling for the women who can experience negative effects after birth and finally made the decision to legalize abortion on January 22, 1973. Location is the demand in rights occurred when pregnant single woman Roe spoke up about her situation and pleaded for the Supreme Court to allow abortion to be legal because of the stability of her health. Movement is how people reacted in different ways. People created pro-life and pro-choice opinions, which described how they felt about the particular subject of abortion, Pro-life believes that abortion should not be allowed under and circumstances and argue that life begins at conception. Pro-choice believes that abortion should be entirely up to the mother and argue that it should be allowed for women who experienced rape or incest. Human Environment interaction is how abortion impacted people in a variety of reasons and mainly on the society. Women who have an abortion are 10% more likely to have mental health issues and 34.9% more likely to commit suicide. Those

There are many elements that can effect a person’s attitude towards abortion. We will be looking at a few demographics of people who decided to answer the question “Do you believe women should be allowed to have

During Roe v. Wade the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 votes in favor of it being the women’s decision to abort under the 14th Amendment. This was an enormous step towards women’s control over their parental right. According to the American Journal of Public Health, after Roe provisions moved from hospitals to non-hospitals clinics. This saw the percentage of abortions performed at non-hospital clinics rise “from 51% in early 1974 to 61% in 1976 and reached 95% in 2008” (Aksel, Fein, Kettener, Young & Backus, 2013). Many argued that women were no longer going to the black market for abortions but rather seeking professional help at safe places. This decision was a huge victory for the Pro-Choice movement. The Pro-Choice movement supports the statement that it should be up to the mother to decided whether to have an abortion or not.

Another reason why some women have abortions is due to medical problems that they think or know they can’t handle. The fetus might have been hurt by exposure to high levels of toxic chemicals, medications that might be dangerous to the fetus, alcohol, drugs, etc. They may cause the fetus to be genetically damaged. Some girls become pregnant at a very young age, when pregnancy can be dangerous. The fetus has a genetic defect or other health problem. Virtually all of the couples who find that the fetus suffers from Down's Syndrome, or a similar defect, elect to have an abortion. The woman may develop

On the other hand, there are the couples that think that they already have enough kids and cannot afford to have another one. About sixty percent of abortions are performed on women who are already mothers (Induced Abortion in the United States). In addition, abortion has become increasingly concentrated among poor women. Many women choose abortion because they are already at the poverty level; 42% of women that end the life of a fetus by aborting live below the federal poverty level (Induced Abortion in the United States). Unemployment, separation from a partner, falling behind on rent/mortgage, and/or moving multiple times are some disruptive events that lead many poor women to choose abortion (Moore).