The Pros And Cons Of Abortion In Texas

By the 1960’s, states began to reconsider the legalization of abortion in response to the high rate of hospital admissions resulting from illegal abortions and a change in public opinion (“Abortion in Law, History, and Religion”). By the early 1970’s, 17 states had altered their abortion laws towards liberalization (“Abortion in Law, History, and Religion”). In 1973, the Supreme Court declared in Roe vs. Wade that most existing state laws were unconstitutional. The case ruled out any legislative interference in the first trimester of pregnancy and put limits on what restrictions could be passed on abortions in later stages of pregnancy (Sauer).

Abortion is never an easy decision, but women have been making the choice for thousands of years. It has become a large dilemma since 1973, when the U.S. Supreme Court passed a law making the procedure legal, and an even larger controversial issue. The controversy is divided into “Pro-Choice” and Pro-Life” views. Pro-Choice supporters believe that the woman should have to choice whether to abort or not. Pro-Life supporters believe that it should be illegal to abort and preformed. However, there are many ways for this procedure to be performed. Abortion still remains today a controversial issue, by who should determine if it is the right thing to terminate a pregnancy or not and by how the procedure should be preformed.

Since Roe v. Wade, the issue of abortion has sparked a symbolic war based on the religious, personal, and moral beliefs of two opposing groups: anti-abortionists,

The topic of abortion had always been debated heavily but Roe v. Wade sparked a wave of protests and new opinions. The argument over abortion prior to Roe v. Wade is similar to what it is today; there are those who support abortion (pro-choice) and those who don't (pro-life). Of course each has its exceptions to what is viewed as acceptable. Many supported abortion because women went to extremely dangerous lengths to terminate their pregnancies. ¨In 1965, illegal abortions made up one-sixth of all pregnancy- and childbirth-related deaths¨, (Planned Parenthood; Roe v. Wade). Many religious leaders and figures were anti-abortion because of their beliefs, ¨Doe v. Bolton [410 U.S. 179 (1973)] , the Supreme Court ruled that the unborn child is not a ¨person¨ at any time before birth...¨ (The Catholic Advance; A Non-Person).

Texas is a key state when it comes to looking at abortion policy, and the laws surrounding it. The fight for a women’s right of choice regarding her body came about in Texas in 1969 with the supreme court case regarding a women’s right to an abortion. Now, in 2016 the state of Texas continues to fight with congress regarding issues surrounding women obtaining an abortion. The HB2 bill, which people from all over the country are fighting both for, and against, is in the eye of the camera as Texas implements some of the strictest rules yet regarding who, when, where, and how abortions can be performed.

Before 1973, abortion access was determined by state legislature for each individual state with no consistency across the United States. Some states allowed abortions but most state statues heavily restricted or completely banned abortion. The restricted states would generally only allow abortion in the event of rape, incest, fetal anomalies, or the woman’s life is at risk. The state of Texas enforced a state statute that made it illegal for an abortion to be performed unless the woman’s

Although the pro-life side claims they’re defending the women of Texas, they truthfully don’t need protecting: abortions are one of the safest medical procedures to date. According to the latimes, “There is a less than 0.3% risk of major complications following an abortion, and the risk of complications arising specifically from first-term abortions is 0.05%”. Also, there are less invasive ways to carry out abortions. In September 2000, the FDA approved the drug mifepristone, which is used to block the production of hormones that are needed for the development of a fetus. While there are a few reported deaths by the associated disease sepsis, the risk is only about 1/100000 in women undergoing medical abortion (FDA). The most important point is that the pro-life side claims to fight for the protection of women, but they truthfully end up hurting them because they take away their entire say in the matter. By rejecting the notion that abortions can be at all good, the decision is immediately taken from the woman who is carrying the unborn child and whose life is being deeply impacted by that choice. Therefore, any restriction on abortion is disrespectful and wrong.

Texas continues to fight women’s rights groups for the life of the “unborn child” and has won on many levels. According to the Texas Abortion Laws, Texas includes mandatory ultrasound imaging and parental consent for minors, and women must make at least four visits to a doctor and receive an ultrasound. Women may only receive a third trimester abortion if it is necessary to prevent death or substantial risk of serious impairment to a women’s physical or mental health, or if fetus has severe and irreversible abnormality. Texas considers an illegal abortion if it destroys the vitality or life of child in birth or before (which otherwise would have been born alive); operating a facility without a license, failure to meet Board of Health standards, or failure to make reports to Department of Health; act preformed after pregnancy with intent to cause termination of pregnancy other than for purpose of birth of live fetus or removal

Our newly elected president reinstated “Global Gag Rule”, which forbids giving federal funding to any foreign organization that performs abortions or, in many cases, that even mentions them as an option to women. These types of restrictive abortion laws make it more difficult and costly for the modern women to obtain an abortion. The laws pose the idea that an increase in the cost of an abortion should in return cause the number of abortions to decrease. Yet, these antiabortion laws do not have a significant positive effect on unintended birth rates. According to Doctor Nancy Krieger in the peer reviewed American Journal of Public Health, US infant death rates declined most quickly in 1970 to 1973. In the 1960s, an average of more than 200 women every year died as a result of botched illegal abortions. In addition to those who died in the course of illegal abortions, many thousands more suffered serious illness or injury. Due to the humiliation associated with having an illegal abortion, many women who suffered complications were reluctant to visit a doctor for treatment. It is evident that these antiabortion laws to not affect the modern woman positively. Instead of women going out and getting an abortion that could ruin their bodies for the rest of their lives, an alternate solution the government could make could be to make

The issue of abortion is notoriously controversial. Since the Supreme Court’s 1992 ruling in Casey v. Planned Parenthood, states have enacted different restrictions on the procedure. These restrictions vary from state to state. Nineteen states currently have laws prohibiting partial-birth abortion, and forty-one states strictly prohibit abortions except in cases of life-endangerment. One particularly incendiary area of abortion law is that of public funding. However, as of this year there are only seventeen states that cover abortion procedures through public funding. In this paper we will discuss federal abortion legislation, while describing the laws and political ideologies of the following states: Texas, California, New

This is difficult for many abortion providers to achieve due to a majority of hospitals having religious affiliations which disapprove of abortions. HB-2 also sets clinic standards similar to surgical centers such as; specific doorway and room requirements, staffing and anesthesia regulations among other regulations that are not required in other outpatient clinics like birthing centers and plastic surgery clinics. The law also requires doctors to read a prepared script to patients in order to obtain “informed consent” while many of the scripts actually include medically inaccurate information like “abortions increase your risk of cancer” “those who have abortions have a higher risk of developing psychological problems and attempting suicide” and “during the procedure your fetus may feel pain.” (Dorf, "Verdict Comments", 2012) These claims has no scientific consensus and are rejected by mainstream medical organizations such as American Medical Association (AMA) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and are used solely to persuade patients against an abortion.

Pro-life is one side of the highly debated topic of abortion. However, by pro-life being viewed as the “God” side of the argument, abortion has more of a moral and ethical base to the discussion (ProCon). By understanding the views behind pro-life which aid in understanding the views and standpoints such as the role the government plays in how abortion functions in American, the role religious views and values play in how abortion is viewed from a religious standpoint, as well as how abortion is viewed from a medical standpoint, and finally a ethical and social view on the issue.

In many countries, abortion is illegal with harsh prison sentences for not only those who have undergone the procedure, but also the physician who performs the operation (Freedom House). As a result, illegal abortion practices

(4) In the vast majority of countries, to have an abortion woman has to pass additional procedural requirements. (4) It could be agreement of parents, the husband or third-party authorization, consultations, waiting period, categories of health providers permitted to perform abortions.(4) However, it is essential to notice that this statistic is not absolutely clear, because not all countries give full information about abortion

My purpose here in this term paper is to show forth view points of both sides of the