Should Abotions Be Legal?

Before women had rights to decide whether they could keep their baby, some states didn’t allow abortion, therefore requiring women to give birth to their child. In today’s current issues, abortion is still a controversial subject with millions of people supporting it or not supporting it. Every woman has the right to make changes to her own physical body, and those rights should not be taken away, according to the constitution. In the very famous case in 1973, “Roe v. Wade”, the United States Supreme Court legalized abortion throughout the first trimester of pregnancy. In the article, “Roe’s Pro-Life Legacy”, it is explained how after this movement, the right to abortion, lives have changed and led to lower abortion rates (Sheilds 2013.)

     Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy before birth. An abortion results in the death of the embryo or fetus and may be either spontaneous or induced. For years, abortion has been an extremely controversial subject. The history of abortion reaches back not just decades, but centuries, and even milleniums. Today, policies regarding legal abortion in the U.S. is being debated everywhere. Many myths and misconceptions confuse this issue. A better understanding of the history of abortion in America can help provide a context for an improved policy in the future.

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)

Abortions were widely used in the early eighteen hundreds and kept secret due public scrutineer. Not only were they considered against the law in some places but were risky due to high risk of infection from unsterile equipment used to perform the actions.” Without today’s current technology, maternal and infant mortality rates during childbirth were extraordinarily high. “(National abortion Federation, 2016) as time contained states changed and modified their laws to accommodate political agendas, these opposed to legal abortion had begun to fight absent any stated funded abortion clines. Then there was Roe v. Wade this was the first major Supreme Court battle based on abortion laws and ethics. Roe v. Wade decision of the courts said that they “considered the constitutionality of a Texas statute made it a crime to obtain an abortion except when it was necessary to save the life of the mother”. (Harris, 2014) There was another Supreme Court case that changed the views of the courts based on how they judge the frame work of decision on the trimester model. The ethics involved in this are not just solely left to the mother of the potential life but in the network of people

Before the 1973 ruling of the case of Roe v Wade, the estimated average number of illegal abortions every year ranged from 200,000 to 1.5 million. The methods used were violently dangerous including women ingesting toxic substances such as bleach and detergents which often times was ineffective. Women around the country were concerned that the anti-abortion laws conflicted with a person’s right to privacy and equal protection given by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments of the Constitution. Gale University’s William Sullivan explains ”The right to abort unborn children is not specifically protected by the Constitution, and prior to 1973, abortion legislation had been understood to be limited to the power of the states per the Tenth

Abortion has been legal and commonly practiced from the time of the earliest settlers. By federal law, abortion is legal, although many states have their own individual regulations and restrictions. Various states began passing laws to make abortion illegal in the mid-to-late- 1800s for fear that they would become overpopulated with children of newly arriving immigrants (national abortion federation ).Even though abortions can hold many risks today, they were especially dangerous in the 1800s where hospitals and antiseptics were not common (national abortion federation). Hospitals were not as common back then and doctors had basic training. Doctors wanted to criminalize abortion so that untrained physicians etc. could not steal their patients.

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

Roe vs. Wade case was a ground-breaking landmark case because it gave a woman the right to choose. Since then landmark cases and legislation restricted a woman from having an abortion. The rights of the unborn are the reason why a woman's rights to have an abortion are being eroded. In addition, violent events have occurred because a woman has a right to have an abortion. Clearly, this topic has affected the political, health, social, and religious, aspects of our society. Currently, women are choosing not to have an abortion. The sentiment is so strong that a Harris poll showed that 72% of Americans say abortion should be illegal after the first 3 months of pregnancy. To make this point, abortion rates are down in the states where the abortion

Abortions have been around for hundreds of years. In fact, the first abortion law was established in Connecticut in 1821. This law prohibited women to abort through poisoning. The most important abortion court case took place in 1973. The Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case ruled that women have the right to have an abortion since it is protected by the 14th amendment, which states that “no state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law”. Many years after the decision was made, a lot of people have been rebelling against the idea of abortion. Many believe, mostly religious and conservative individuals, believe that abortion begins at conception and therefore should be aborted. On the other hand, non-religious

Abortions have been around as long as people can remember. Abortions have been done safely and unsafely through out the years. In the women's history article author Jane Johnson Lewis stated in the late 1800s women healers in Western Europe and the United States done abortions and trained other women to do so without legal prohibitions. After came a turning point in 1973. In January 22nd of 1973 the Supreme Court

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

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

Abortion is an issue in the United States because more than 40% of women get one. Abortion was legalized in 1973 due to a women named Norma McCorvey who was unmarried and was denied an abortion under Texas law. She argued that a law violated her constitutional right to privacy. The Supreme Court agreed in a 7-2 vote and passed abortion as being legal. Now that abortion has been legal for about 45 years, 1.2 million abortions are performed a year just in the United States. Worldwide there are 20-30 million

One of the most controversial situations in the United States is abortion. A couple of decades ago when abortion was illegal, thousands of woman died for attempting to terminate the child’s life themselves or with unprofessional help. On January 22, 1973, in the Roe v. Wade case, Supreme Court legalized abortion in all 50 states. This has saved thousands of woman’s lives and should remain legal.

Abortion has been a topic of debate for centuries if not longer. Abortion occurs when a fetus is removed from a woman 's body before the fetus is able to fully develop. Before the 1800s, not many laws existed concerning abortion. It was not until 1973 that the Supreme Court listened to a case concerning abortion. In 1973, the Supreme Court struck down all state laws that had ruled abortion illegal in Roe versus Wade. However, many still argue that abortion should be illegal. Abortion should be legal and an option available to expecting mothers due to issues such as rape, life or death situations in mothers, and teen pregnancy.