Should Abortion Be Legal?

For thousands of woman with heart disease, kidney disease, and other sicknesses that can be life threatening, the availability of legal abortion has helped avert medical complication that could have resulted from childbirth. Before legal abortion, many women’s choices were limited to dangerous illegal abortions, or dangerous childbirth.

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

Since the 1960s, the fight to receive accessible and affordable abortions has been a largely controversial issue in the United States. The case Roe v. Wade was the climax of that fight, for “the Court held that... only a pregnant woman and her doctor have the legal right to make the decision about an abortion” (“History of Abortion”). Although Roe v. Wade ultimately made abortions legal in the States, there are still setbacks for affordable and accessible abortions today, and many of these conflicts may be directly traced to state-by-state determination of abortion laws.

Women who are denied abortion are more likely to become unemployed, be on public welfare, and fall below the poverty line. A study done by the University of California at San Francisco found the women turned away from abortion clinics were three times more likely to be below the poverty than women who had received an abortion. According to the ASPE, the poverty line in the United States for a family of two, a mother and child, was $15, 930 in 2015. CNN calculated that it cost between $12,500 and $14,000 to raise a child, which consumes 85 percent of the poverty stricken family of two’s income. With legal abortions, single mothers do not have to raise children that will send them into poverty, thus lowering the national level of poverty. Also, implementing laws banning abortion and contraceptive services costs the government millions of dollars. The Guttmacher Institute states that by allowing women women with the contraceptive services they want, for every $1 invested in family planning services, $7.09 in Medicaid costs is saved. The effects of cutting off reproductive choices was displayed in Texas in 2011. State legislators stripped the $73 million funding for family planning services. With low-income families denied reproductive services, an estimated 24,000 additional babies were to be born costing Texans as much as $273 million due to medical expenses under Medicaid. After Texas lawmakers saw the numbers, both

Despite already being legal, most states have many restrictions that make it a complicated process to get a safe abortion. Government officials who are pro-life are trying to create more restrictions because of ethical and moral factors. Making abortion illegal won't stop women from getting abortions, it will only make them unsafe. We need to remove the restrictions and create more funding so clinics can stay open and available to women all around the United States. Planned Parenthood in the U.S. has had approximately 2.5 million clients in the last year and with more and more of these clinics closing down, it’s becoming more risky to get an abortion and it is also getting harder for women to get mammograms, birth control, and

Among all the issues that have been fought for or against in the United States, abortion may be one of the most popular issues that Americans are passionate about. Abortion is defined as the removal of the embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy. Thousands of abortions take place every single day, and yet public opinion remains at a standstill as to whether or not abortion is ethical. Everyone holds different opinions on abortion. The proponents believe that it is the women’s private right to determine the future of the baby in her body. On the other hand, the opponents think a woman does not have the right to decide whether the person that she gives birth should live or die. They believe that life begins at conception. In fact, a person’s stance on the issue is often determined by how he views the fetus: a part of the mother’s body or as a human being. I am an opponent, and I believe abortion is murder. Also, abortion should not be legal because it harms women’s health, affects intimate relationship, and women do not have the right to decide the baby’s right to live or die.

In 1973, the United States Supreme Court voted to uphold the legality of abortion. In the period immediately after the decision, small steps were staring to be made to make basic women’s healthcare available to all women in the country; regardless of race, religion, or income bracket. The role of pro-choice activists, however, quickly began to need to shape itself around countering antiabortion initiatives. At the front of the conservative agenda is the restriction of affordable contraception and pregnancy care. In the current political climate, for the first time since Roe v. Wade, for many women of all backgrounds, it is hard to receive an abortion safely and privately. Modern laws and policies have so greatly

As a woman who has experienced the horrific tragedy of rape and all of the trauma that comes with it, I personally find a woman’s right to have a say in her own reproductive rights to be of the utmost importance. Ever since the landmark Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade was decided in January of 1973, abortion has been deemed a fundamental right for women. Additionally, a woman’s right to access legal, safe, and professionally-performed abortions severely reduces the risk of death and bodily harm associated with less safe, unlawful abortions. Lastly, studies performed via peer review in 2013 found that women who denied abortions were more likely to suffer from mental health problems when compared to women who carried out the procedure. Furthermore, only 1 in 20 women who received abortions felt that they did not make the right choice in doing so. In other words, in order to ensure the health of women, both physical and mental, in the United States, it is vital that safe avenues for abortion remain available to the general public.

Before landmark case Roe V. Wade was passed in 1973, abortions were legal only in New York and California. David A. Grimes, author of Every Third Women in America: How Legal Abortion Transformed Our Nation, wrote that “tens of thousands of women living in the United States made interstate trips to get safe abortion care in the early 1970s.” These interstate trips “led to preventable complications and death.” In fact, in 1965, Planned Parenthood reported 17 percent of all deaths due to pregnancy and childbirth were a result of an illegal abortion. Today, adverse effects from an abortion occur less than a quarter of the time. Legal abortions have been shown to

For a very long time, women have sought abortions to rid themselves of unwanted pregnancies. These procedures were conducted in unsterile, illegal facilities and the risk of infection and death was high resulting in the deaths of hundreds of women. In order to maintain the health of women, abortions were legalized in 1973 in Rowe Vs. Wade and women’s’ choice became a reality.

Abortion is a topic that most people prefer not to talk about. Nonetheless, although it is a controversial topic, it is also an undeniable reality. Many women have practiced abortion and many more will continue doing it regardless of the laws allowing, restricting, or prohibiting this practice. According to statistics provided by Planned Parenthood 3 out of 10 women in the U.S. have an abortion by the time they are 45 years old. Abortion was legalized by the Supreme Court in its landmark 1973 decision Roe v. Wade. However, as the nation marked the 40th anniversary of this historical decision, lawmakers have enacted more than 130 laws limiting abortion rights (Abortion, 2013). Women are legally entitled to make their

Health care professionals have a significant role in the provision of abortion services. Health care professionals has an obligation to treat patients to the best of their ability and protect their privacy. Provisions of the Affordable Care Act states it is unlawful to discriminate against patients based on their sex, race, color, and other statuses such as medical history (Rehnstrom 2015). The ruling of Judge O’Connor blocks this provision of the Affordable Care Act. Which can have a detrimental effect on the health of the community. Allowing health care providers to refuse services to women who has previously had an abortion may create situation where patient will not truthfully disclose information about previous procedures and health issues which will affect the quality of care the patient receives. It will also reduce access to quality health care within the rural and low income community and may discourage individuals from seeking health care services.

Imagine a woman was raped and later became pregnant. Shouldn 't she have the right to abort the child or should she be forced to deliver? Put yourself in her shoes. Can you imagine the pain she might feel every time she looks at the child? Should she be forced to endure this? Women should be allowed to have abortions under circumstances such as these.

A common debate in the world today involves abortion, the deliberate end of human pregnancy, and whether or not it should be legalized. “Every year in the world there are an estimated 40-50 million abortions. This corresponds to approximately 125,000 abortions per day” (“Abortions Worldwide this Year”). On one side of the argument, people are not disturbed by this grotesque number, and on the other side there are people outraged and simply appalled. Although people attempt to deem abortion acceptable in society because of circumstances like the mother not being able to support the child or in instances of rape, it is still morally wrong.

Abortion is a deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. There are series of legal, moral and ethical issues which may arise about abortion. Most arguments about abortion are often focused on political insinuations and the legal aspect of such actions. Some frequently asked questions’ regarding the issue is if the practice should be outlawed and regarded as murder or should women have the right to practice it. For example, prior to becoming pregnant, some women feel that they would be able to choose the abortion option without trouble. However, even with reasons why having an abortion would be the best option, some women feel that this decision would not be right for them. On the other hand, some women have a strong belief that abortion is unethical prior to becoming pregnant.