Position Paper On Abortion

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.

In the year 1970, it was illegal for women in many states to get an abortion. One day, a woman named Jane Roe wished to challenge those laws which kept her from getting what she wanted: an abortion. Her stand against these laws was, is, and will always be controversial among American citizens and people around the world. The historical court case in which this occurred was called Roe v. Wade, and was caused by the events of one woman and many factors of the country in which she called home.

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.

In the 1973 Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade a pregnant women, Norma McCorvey (also known as “Jane Roe”) seeked to end her pregnancy. Through the fight of the court, it was declared that most state anti-abortion laws were unconstitutional. However, many rules were set into place. In the first trimester of pregnancy (0-12 weeks), states could not interfere with any abortion. During the second semester (13-28 weeks) states could allow a regulated abortion in ways that are related to mental health or even a proscribed abortion. Within the third trimester (29-40 weeks) a women can only get an abortion if it is to preserve the health or life of the mother. Alongside Roe v. Wade, in the 1992 case Planned Parenthood of Southeastern PA v. Casey, the court ruled that a state could require a woman seeking an abortion to give informed consent and to wait 24 hours and in the case of a minor they need to obtain parental consent (Ayers). Throughout abortions long history of pro-choice and pro-life, modern society needs to be fully educated on the topic so they can see how terrible pro-choice is.

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

Norma McCorvey was a young woman who had dropped out of high school, divorced from her husband, and was raising her five year old daughter with very little money. She tried to obtain an abortion but was unable to under Texas law in 1969. At the time, Texas did not allow women to have abortions unless the mother’s life was in danger. McCorvey had no choice but to carry the baby full term and give up the baby she wanted to abort. Her lawyer also introduced her to two recent graduates of the University of Texas Law School, Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee. The three women decided to challenge the constitutionality of Texas’s law and McCorvey became “Jane Roe” in a test case against Henry Wade, the criminal district attorney for Dallas County, Texas. Wade appealed to the Supreme Court the decision of a three-judge federal district court striking down Texas’s law. Justice Blackmun finally handed down the Court’s opinion on January 23, 1973. The Court’s decision was seven to two, and the majority’s opinion was announced by Justice Blackmun. Chief Justice Burger and Justices Douglas and Stewart concurred; Justices Rehnquist and White dissented.

Ever since the case of Roe v. Wade in 1973, abortion has been one of the most contentious issues in our society. In some cases people think abortion is murder, in others, it’s reasonable for some cases. Then there are people who use it just to take advantage of it. The legal stance of abortion is a hot topic in today’s society.

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.

In 1973, a woman named Norma McCorvey used an alias, Jane Roe, to pursue an appeal to a state law in Texas declaring that she could not receive an abortion. At the time, the Texas law stated “only a life-saving procedure on behalf of the mother, without regard to pregnancy stage and without recognition of other interests involved.” The issue with this state statute, as claimed by the appellate Jane Roe, was that it violated her right to privacy, and the concept of personal liberty protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. After being denied an abortion, Jane Roe carried the child to term and gave it up for adoption, then proceeded to take her claim to the Supreme Court. After much deliberation, interpretation of the Constitution, and scrutiny of the Texas statute, the justices ruled that abortions, done within the first trimester and with the judgment of a physician, are legal. This overrules the Texas statute, and sets a new precedent for the regulations of abortions.

In 1965, illegal abortions made up one-sixth of all pregnancy and childbirth related deaths. Now, it has become one of the safest medical procedures in the U.S.- with a safety record of over 99%. The U.S. Supreme Court case Griswold v. Connecticut (1965) struck down a law that prohibited birth control. The Supreme Court held that the law violated the right to marital privacy. This case is important to feminism because it emphasizes privacy, control over one’s personal life, and freedom from government intrusion in relationships. Griswold v. Connecticut helped pave the way for Roe v. Wade. The case of Roe v. Wade began in 1970 when Norma McCorvey took federal action against the district attorney of Dallas, Texas, Henry Wade to ask: Does the Constitution embrace a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy by abortion?

There has been a terrible accident, your head is crushed and you are fighting for your life, but “they” know you won’t make it. The doctor should also be fighting for your life, but he isn’t. You realize this is no accident. This is a partial birth abortion. You are not a patient of the clinic, you are simply a fetus. Abortion, in today’s society, has almost become second nature. Women all around the world are aborting children because they “aren’t ready”. Norma McCorvey, better known as Jane Roe, was the defendant in the 1973 United States Supreme Court Case Roe v. Wade. That landmark case established a woman’s right to have an abortion, but it created serious implications for right to life in America.

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

A 21-year-old carnival worker, Norma McCorvey, claimed to have been raped which resulted in pregnancy. As McCorvey wanted an abortion, her doctor refused to perform the procedure and stated that it violated the Texas law. The law stated that it was a crime to procure an abortion unless it was necessary to save the life of the mother. As McCorvey was unhappy with the doctor’s decision she decided to fight the Texas law. McCorvey attorneys challenged the law stating that the law violated one’s privacy, women’s rights, and due process. The lower courts ruled in favor of McCorvey, however the case did not overturn the state law so McCorvey used her pseudonym, Jane Roe, decide to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. As the case argued the controversial topic of pro-life and pro-choice, many organization began to become involved and argued that abortion was a fundamental right under the Griswold doctrine. The states argument was that it had compelling interest in protecting human life. Furthermore, the court ruled in favor of Jane Roe and came to the decision that a women’s right to abortion was a right of privacy that was supported by the fourteenth

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

Abortion is the termination of pregnancy before birth, resulting in, or accompanied by the death of the fetus. ("Abortion," Encarta 98). In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, dramatically changed the legal landscape of American abortion law. The result of the ruling required abortion to be legal for any woman; regardless of her age and for any reason during the first seven months of pregnancy, and for almost any reason after that. ("Status of Abortion in America"). In the Roe v. Wade case, Roe (Norma McCorvey), had claimed she was gang raped and attempted to have an abortion in Texas. ("Roe and Doe"). After hearing the case, the Supreme Court ruled that an American’s right to privacy included the right of a woman whether or not to have children, and the right of a woman and her doctor to make that decision without state interference, at least in the first trimester of pregnancy. ("Celebrating 25 Years of Reproductive Choice"). The moral issue of abortion—whether or not it is murder—has been debated since it was legalized in 1973. Roe v. Wade has been one of the most controversial Supreme Court decisions of the 20th century. ("Roe No More"). More than two decades since the Supreme Court first upheld a woman’s right to abortion, the debate over the morality and legality of induced abortion continues in the United States. ("Abortion," Encarta 98). Abortion is one of the most divisive and emotional issues facing United States policy makers today. ("Economics of