The Role Of Abortion In The United States

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)

As you would expect, before Roe v. Wade, abortions were considered to be illegal. However, it wasn’t like this from the get go. The first law banning abortions in the U.S.A was created in 1821 in Connecticut, 45 years after America succeeded from Britain. Now, this law was passed not to ban all abortions, but just to prevent the usage of a miscarriage-inducing toxin that was normally used around the 4th month

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.

Before discussing the Roe vs. Wade case, let’s first begin by presenting a brief history reflection of abortion in the United States. The history of abortion dates all the way back to the 1820’s-1830. In 1821 Connecticut passes the first law that would restrict abortion; numerous states followed Connecticut’s law and began to implement

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,

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

According the the 1973 Supreme Court decision in which Jane Roe faced Henry Wade in order to declare her constitutional right to have an abortion, women should be offered the right to abortion as they are offered to right to free speech (Gold 7). New York became the only state whose abortion laws were liberal enough prior to Roe v. Wade that they were able to remain untouched after the decision. In direct contrast, thirty-one states were forced to abolish their current

The decision in Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in the United States, had a very evident and profound impact on the social and political climates of the United States. Before the case, it had seemed that abortion was a settled issue in America: a majority of people opposed the practice, and a majority of states had abortion bans. However, by the 1960’s, political factions and campaigns were rising up and stirring the waters of reproductive rights. Abortion had changed during the courses of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, morphing from a private practice of the people into a great political divide. Abortion was actually easily accessible during the Nineteenth Century, but the rise of religious fundamentalism compelled citizens to become involved in either the protection of the fetus or the defense of reproductive rights. Roe v. Wade has been either labeled as the legal settling of the abortion issue or the igniter of change in regards to abortion. The decision not only affected the minds of the people, but the decision had also set a legal precedent that affected more than thirty Supreme Court cases that later dealt with abortion (Planned Parenthood).

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?

Leslie R. Reagan a professor of history, medicine, and women’s studies at the University of Illinois, brings attention and helps articulate the myth, that if abortion is made illegal then we could end all abortions. Reagan traced the history of abortion in her book, and reminds individuals that the law is not fixed, but, rather fluid. She mentions that in the early history of abortion, abortions were widely accepted and done in homes and offices of physicians and midwives. During the 1930’s this begin to shift and abortions were often done, in hospitals and clinics rather than homes and offices. However, in the 1940s, the acceptance of abortion began to decline and new methods and ways of controlling abortion were put into place. She mentions that, “As authorities prosecuted abortion with the same urgency as communism, prosecutors and the police systematically raided abortion clinics, publicly interrogated women who had sought abortions, and humiliated both clients and abortion providers in the courtroom” (Joffe, et al., 2000). When abortion become

The court also recognized that the right to privacy is not absolute and that a state has valid interests in protecting maternal health and protecting potential life. A state is allow to ban abortion after viability, except when it is necessary to protect a woman’s life or health. The ability to make this personal health care decision has also enabled women to pursue educational and employment opportunities that were often denied before the Roe case, The Supreme Court noted that “the ability of women to participate equally in the economic and social life of the Nation has been facilitated by their ability to control their reproductive lives” (Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, 1992). According to the Economist, "Roe v. Wade may have liberated many women; yet it has also trapped America in an irresolvable clash of absolutes. On April 18, 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court gave politicians the permission to interfere in the private health care decisions of women and families by creating the first federal law banning abortion procedures. The federal government made a decision to ban and criminalizes abortions in the second trimester of pregnancy . This ban affects more than just the women who need second-trimester abortions due to the fact that the Court's decision dismissed more than 30 years of precedent that prioritize women’s health when it came to laws that cast restriction on abortions. In the states that have passed laws similar to this, many women and their families were put into agonizing and tragic situations; being unable to end a pregnancy for serious medical reasons (Federal and State Bans and Restrictions on Abortion). As Politicians across the country succeed in restricting access to abortion, women are facing the consequences. Laws that restrict access to abortion hurt women's

From the 1960s through the 1970s a handful of states made laws making abortions easier to get. In 1965 the case Griswold v. Connecticut struck down a law from 1879, stating the possession of contraception was illegal.1 The court realized there is a right to privacy, which allowed court cases to grow. Right to privacy, and women’s reproductive rights were on display in the cases.

In the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade of 1973, they stated that a woman and her doctor may decide to terminate a pregnancy during the first trimester. State governments can restrict abortion after the first trimester with laws to

While most health related policies and laws aim to protect the health of women, some serve to impede access to health services and cause harm to women through a lack of access to care. The issue of women 's autonomy and ability to make their own reproductive decisions has been a polarizing subject since the dawn of the women 's rights movement. One of the landmark cases for reproductive rights is Roe v. Wade, in which an unmarried pregnant woman brought a class action suit against the state of Texas ' abortion laws which made it a criminal offense

Women have a history of fighting for their rights. Women reached a huge stepping-stone when they were granted the right to vote in August 26th in 1920, by the passing of the 19th Amendment. However, there are still many issues unsolved and unspoken by many, such as women’s health issues. If we go back in history, when Margaret Sanger did the “unspeakable” in 1916 and opened the first U.S. birth-control clinic in Brooklyn, New York and that moment became chaos. Despite her courage, she was arrested ten days later and her clinic was shut down. However, Margaret Sanger did not give up on what she believed was her rights and reopened the clinic in 1923 in New York City. This was the first time a woman set out to find “justice” in women’s health. Margaret Sanger took this further and founded the American Birth Control League, which later on in 1942, becomes into what we know it by today, Planned Parenthood Federation of America. In 1960, the Food and Drug Administration approves birth control, for one of the methods women could use to avoid being/getting pregnant. Then in 1973, after the results of the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade, women were granted the right to safe and legal abortions. Afterwards, in 2006 the Supreme Court bans the “partial-birth” abortion procedure, stating by Justice Anthony Kennedy, “The act expresses respect for the dignity of human life”. Finally, on June 27, 2016, the Supreme Court overturns the Texas law on abortion clinics, stating that it was