The Freedom Of Choice Act

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 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

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.

The Court held that a women has a right right in an abortion unchanged from the Roe v. Wade’s decision. The Supreme Court also upheld that the states has an interest in an unborn life and that at some point a women rights to an abortion can be restricted. The Court further rejected the trimester designation as an undue burden and used the term viable as to when the States can intervene in not allowing a women to have an abortion. Additionally, the SupremeCourt upheld parental informed consent and also allow for informed consent of a women seeking and abortion requiring a 24 hr waiting period. The States was also required to furnish the women with information about abortion, in addition religious organization could provide information that could counsel a women

In 1973, Roe v. Wade ruled a state law that banned abortions, except in the cases of risking the life of the mother, unconstitutional (Garrow 833). The Court ruled that states were forbidden from regulating or outlawing abortion performed during the first trimester of a woman’s pregnancy, could pass abortion regulations if they were related to the health of the mother in the second and third trimesters, and pass abortion laws protecting the life of the fetus in the third trimester (Paltrow 18). However, the primary concern would remain to be the mother’s health, regardless. Roe v. Wade, controversial since it was decided, divided America and continues to spark debates,

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

FACTS: in 1973 with the passing of Roe v. Wade, women were guaranteed, under a right to privacy in which the woman has the right to choose whether or not to get an abortion, however, this right was not confirmed to be absolute. Nearly 20 years later, in the case of Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the “central holdings” of Roe v. Wade were reaffirmed, by providing limits in which federal and state governments can regulate abortion. Unfortunately, conflict arose between Casey and Roe, when trying to ensure the woman still has a right to choose, which lead to allowing a prohibition of late-term abortions, unless the health of the mother was at stake. Next, in 2000, the case of Stenberg v. Carhart forced the court to consider a Nebraska state law that was passed banning late-term abortions and whether the statute was unconstitutional, which it was found to be, because the statute did not include an exception for the health of the mother and that the language used was so broad that it burdened a woman’s right to choose. Then, in 2007, the case of Gonzales v. Carhart raised the issue once again on a federal law that had been passed, the Partial-Birth Ban Act of 2003. The lower courts claimed it to be unconstitutional because of the lack of exception for the health of the mother. This Act however, was found to be constitutional and The Supreme Court decided to look once again at the precedent, under stare decisis

Beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, illegal abortion efforts differed between states. Medical procedures at this time are very dangerous and high mortality. Texas and many other states have a legal illicit abortion except for maternity life-threatening (History of abortion). In 1973, the case of the Supreme Court, Roe vs. Wade, concludes that it is the mother's choice when it comes to children and abortion has been legalized nationally. After Roe vs. Wade, there were a lot of riots and even hospital bombings (History of abortion). Then, in 1977, Hyde passed, prohibiting low-income mothers from paying for abortion with Medicaid unless their lives are in danger; they are raped, or pregnant as a result of the incest. By the end of 1991, a law was passed that prohibited doctors and councils in federal-sponsored clinics to advise or refer patients to abortion (history of abortion). A year later, the Supreme Court case, the Pennsylvania Parenthood Casey's Pennsylvania Parenthood Plan, allowed states to impose restrictions on abortion, as long as the restrictions did not place an "excessive burden" for women (history of

idea of “undue burden” was established in the decision (Seward par. 4). The idea of “undue

With repeated threats from Congress to defund Planned Parenthood and multiple states passing restrictive laws, reproductive rights—and abortion in particular—continue to be increasingly under attack in the United States. In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade that “a woman’s choice whether to have an abortion is protected by her right to privacy” and that any restrictions on that right must be under “strict scrutiny.” This means that by law, women have the right to get abortions without facing unnecessary restrictions. According to Roe v. Wade, the only time the government could enforce restrictions on this right was when there is a “compelling state interest” to do so.

In January of 1972, the Supreme Court made the decision to legalize abortion in the first trimester of a pregnancy. This new decision extended the constitutional right of privacy to a woman's right to her body. Prior to this new law, back alley illegal abortions were on the rise and were responsible for one-sixth of all pregnancy and childbirth deaths (Planned Parenthood). After abortions became legal, safe clinics were created and women are able to safely receive the procedures. However, the debate of overturning the court decision has been widely discussed with a new year and new president.

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?

In 1973, the US Supreme Court declared abortion a nationwide fundamental right through a trial called Roe vs. Wade and protected this right underneath the Fourteenth Amendment, more specifically, the right to privacy. A basic human right, especially one outlined by the Supreme Court, must never run at risk or threat chiefly because not everyone agrees with it. Under no circumstances should a pregnancy ever adjudge mandatory. Abortion is a Constitutional right and as a nation we must fight to give the right and freedom of safe abortions to women all around the nation, make birth control and sex education accessible to women, and raise awareness about the topic itself. (LawCornell)

But in January of 1973, when the Supreme Court announced their decision in Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court took on new life, as its decision pronounced the Court a maker of public policy. Through Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court created the blueprints for a national abortion policy. A policy that declared a woman’s right to an abortion unconditionally protected by the constitutional right to personal privacy. The framework, the general principle of Roe v. Wade was properly decided. The Constitutional right of personal privacy should be interpreted to include a woman’s right to obtain an abortion. However, some areas of the Court’s decision are flawed, particularly their decision to divide pregnancy into trimesters.