Look Deeper. “The Decision Whether Or Not To Bear A Child

There is one remarkable legal battle that changed the American abortion laws to what they are now, Roe v. Wade. It took place in 1973 in Texas. Roe, Norma McCorvey, was an anonymous plaintiff against the State. The ruling, abortion is legal. It gives the mother the right of whether or not to terminated her pregnancy. However, that does not give the woman the right to terminate her pregnancy for any reason during all nine months. ?The court said that the woman may have an abortion until fetal viability, the time at which it first becomes realistically possible for a fetus to live outside the woman?s body. At that point the state?s interest

Abortion, the “early ending of a pregnancy” (“Abortion - Topic Overview” 1), was and remains a controversial topic all across the world. Most states, such as Texas, had made abortions illegal. However, Norma L. McCorvey was a Texas resident with an unwanted pregnancy. “At the time, Texas law only allowed for abortion in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother” (“On This Day” 1). With this, McCorvey was forced to give birth to a child she truthfully did not want; she could not afford to travel to a state where abortion was legal. Therefore, McCorvey, using the alias Jane Roe, sued a man named Henry Wade, a Dallas County State Attorney, who enforced the law of abortion.

The Roe v. Wade law disallowed abortion by fabricated means aside from when the mother's life was in jeopardy. The act was translated as a “nearly complete ban on abortion.” (Hoffer, Peter. Roe v. Wade: The Abortion Rights Controversy in American History, 2nd Edition (Landmark Law Cases and American Society. Kansas: University Press of Kansas. 2010. Print.) Roe believed that a woman had the right to end her pregnancy, while wade believed that our State had a responsibility to defend that unborn child . Disputed from the point it was discharged, Roe v. Wade politically separated the country tremendously, and keeps on to inspire intense discussions, legislative issues, and even brutality today.

The woman carrying the baby should be granted the right to choose whether she is capable of raising a child, rather than a group of male politicians. The average pregnancy alone causes stretch marks, stress, sickness, a 25-40 pound weight gain, a cost of $30,000 on average, and approximately 10 months, from conception, spent nurturing and trying to care for the unborn child. Other than simply not wanting a child, there are many reasons as to why a woman may want to terminate her pregnancy: pregnancy endangers the woman carrying the child, victim of incest or rape, and the possibility the child may be at risk of having AIDS, drug abuse, or malnutrition. The feminist movement has supported the “prochoice” campaign, believing women own the rights to their own body and should have the power to end or continue a pregnancy. A popular counterargument would be that terminating a pregnancy is “murdering a child.” Sure, it's a potential person, although if that is the only counterargument the use of contraception must also be considered—both abortion and contraception, birth control and condoms alike, are technically destroying a possible life. Although the embryo is growing, the fertilized egg has no nervous system and no consciousness. No conscience is being destroyed before the months of consciousness and nervous system

These illegal abortions were unsafe, and could be fatal to most women, and put their lives at risk. Jane Roe was a twenty-one year old woman that was pregnant, who represented all of the women who wanted abortions but could not get one. Henry Wade was a Texas attorney General who had defended the state’s law. The Supreme Court ruled for Roe and stated that America’s right to privacy included: the right for a woman to choose whether or not to have her child; and the right for a woman and her doctor to make this decision without state involvement within the first trimester of the pregnancy. It made it possible for woman to get safe, legal abortions from well-trained medical practitioners. Consequently, there was a dramatic decrease in pregnancy related deaths.

Abortion, the termination of pregnancy before the fetus is capable of independent life, has been practiced since ancient times. With records dating to 1550 BC, it’s no question that abortion techniques have been used throughout the ages as an effective form of birth control. Pregnancies were terminated through a number of methods, including the use of herbs, sharpened instruments, the application of abdominal pressure, and other techniques. In the 19th century, the English Parliament and the American state legislatures prohibited induced abortion to protect women from surgical procedures that were deemed unsafe. However, in 1973, abortion was legalized as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court rule in Roe v. Wade. This ruling made it possible

Regardless of the opinions surrounding abortion, a majority of people are familiar with the Supreme court cases of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. These two cases have played a tremendous role in regard to the abortion debate. In 1973, the Roe v. Wade case was ruled in favour of Roe and stated the stringent criminalization of abortion in Texas was deemed unconstitutional under the fourteenth amendment. The law violated the right of privacy, which implied the privacy of a woman’s decision to an abortion. Although the courts agreed with Roe, they also recognized the rights to an abortion are not absolute. Limitations to the right was based on the trimesters of pregnancy with the first trimester protecting the woman’s choice and the third trimester being acceptable for states to regulate or even ban abortions outside of therapeutic reasons.

Abortion is an issue that has caused dispute within the government for many years. Is a woman correct in wanting the choice to decide what shall happen to her body? In an article entitled Eggs and Abortion: “Women Protective” Language Used by Opponents in Legislative Debates over Reproductive Health, written by Sujatha Jesudason and Tracy Weitz, this statement was made, "The liberal feminist approach emphasizes choice and autonomy, premised on a core belief in individual freedom and with the primary goal of minimizing government intervention in women’s reproductive decision-making." This is a declaration I identify strongly with. A woman's body cannot be a matter the government should be entirely involved in. The man or woman that signs anything disallowing the right to choose what happens inside my body or anyone else's would be making a

A decision announced in 1973 by the United States Supreme Court is still debated today. That decision is known as Roe vs Wade. The Court decided that a pregnant woman can have an abortion (during and up to the first trimester of the pregnancy) without any laws made by the state in which she resides. The woman, Norma McCovey became pregnant while living in Texas. Ms. McCovey had other children she was raising as a single mother. She could not legally have an abortion in Texas and got a lawyer to sure the state under the name of Jane Roe. This landmark case, Roe vs Wade, became the law of the land two years after her case was filed. The child she carried was put up for adoption. The Court, in a length ruling, said, in affect that the law concerning abortion was unconstitutional and void.

Roe v. Wade was a decision made by United States Supreme Court regarding abortion in 1973. It was, and still is, one of the most controversial decisions the Supreme Court has ever made. Abortion is defined “the ending of pregnancy by removing a fetus or embryo before it can survive outside the uterus”. The appellant was a single, pregnant woman from Texas who wished to get an abortion. Prior to the court’s decision, abortion was illegal under Texas state law except in cases where the abortion would save the pregnant woman’s life. The appellee was Henry Wade, a lawyer defending the Texas state law. The court ruled on the side of Roe, with a 7-2 decision. The Supreme Court “ruled that the Texas statute violated Jane Roe's constitutional right to privacy”, and argued that the “Constitution's First, Fourth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments protect an

Wade trial. “Since 1973, when Roe v. Wade legalized abortion across the United States, states have enacted more than 1,074 laws to limit access to the procedure” (CNN). This case was first brought to the court by Norma McCorvey, also known as Jane Roe against Henry Wade. Mr. Wade “enforced a Texas law that prohibited abortion, except to save a woman’s life” (gale cnn). This entire case was about whether the Constitution embraces the right of a woman to have an abortion under the Fourteenth amendment and in a 7-2 decision, it fell within the right to privacy. Ultimately, this decision affected 46 states, leaving them to decide how they would regulate abortion during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Thirty years later, in 2003, Norma McCorvey filed to have the case overturned and for the court to consider new evidence that abortion actually hurts women. She even included 1,000 affidavits from women who say they regret their abortions (gale cnn). Fortunately, a three-judge panel agreed to have the 1973 case overturned. McCorvey, after thirty years, changed which side she was on in this debacle. Originally, she was for pro-choice, sued Mr. Wade for his enforced laws, then changed her mind when she became pregnant and gave her child up for

Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, 93 S. Ct. 705, 35 L. Ed. 2d 147 (1973). Roe V. Wade was a case that “divided the country into those who believed in an unborn child 's right to life and those who believed in a woman 's right to choose”(Kayla Webley). In 1970 a single Texas mother of two at the time by the name of Norma McCorvey (alias Jane Roe) was pregnant with her third child. She decided she did not want the weight of raising another kid, but in Texas at the time abortions were not allowed unless it was used to save the pregnant mothers life. They felt as if you were taking the life of an innocent child that isn’t going to have that chance at life. January 22, 1973 the U.S. Supreme Court ruling 7-2 under t fourteenth amendment was that it is a constitutional right to privacy, and is a woman’s right to make the decision if she wants an abortion or not. By the time the courts came to a decision Roe had already had her child and gave it up for adoption.

Before the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion in 1973, women would resort to self-induced abortions. Most people are aware of the infamous coat hanger abortion method. During this process, the woman, or the person assisting with the abortion will take an everyday wire coat hanger. Sterilized or not, she thrusts the hanger into her vagina, in hopes of reaching the uterus. Without some kind of anatomical knowledge, this step could easily be fatal. Since the end is not tapered, one can easily perforate into the uterus or kidney causing an immense amount of blood loss or eventual death. Even if the procedure is successful, most people who attempt it will run into complications afterward from infection because of the hanger itself. This horrifying method is still used today, and will indefinitely be used if women are not given the healthcare they need. Also, low-income individuals and those who are residents in a rural area will have no other

In today’s day and age, abortions are commonplace in most states, legal and readily available to women everywhere. But believe it or not, this has not always been the case. In fact, there was a time in history not too long ago where abortions were outlawed in nearly every state in the United States with the exception of extraordinary circumstances. Prohibitions of abortions were first passed in 1821 and by the end of the century, every state in the country, had laws on banning abortions. Up until 1973, abortions remained illegal. It wasn’t until a young lady by the name Norma McCorvey, under the pseudonym “Jane Roe”, filed a lawsuit challenging state laws which criminalized abortions, otherwise known as the infamous Roe V. Wade: The Supreme Court case which legalized abortions across the country.

Over the years, technology has changed the way medical procedure performs and has made abortion a safer option for women in all social and economic groups. During the 1880s, there were many surgical procedures that were found dangerous and risky for patients. Health professions and other people who were committed to providing abortion to women were not equipped with safe and sanitary surgical tools. They lacked skill, knowledge, and proper concern in abortion, which resulted in a significant number of deaths and severe health consequences for women. Groups such as the American Medical Association