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Legal and ethical issues surrounding abortion
Legal and ethical issues surrounding abortion
History of abortion essays
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Recommended: Legal and ethical issues surrounding abortion
Jessica Hernandez
Mrs. Akers
AA Junior English
03 March 2014
Abortion, “the ending of a pregnancy before the fetus can live independently outside the mother,” (Brown par. 1) has been practiced since ancient times. With records dating back to the “ancient Egyptians, Grecians, and Romans,” (History of Abortion par. 1) it’s no question that abortion techniques have been used throughout the ages as an effective form of birth control. Pregnancies were once terminated through a number of methods, including the use of sharpened instruments, herbs, manipulation, and other techniques. (History of Abortion par. 1)
“Laws against abortion have been around for approximately two hundred years though they have varied by state,” (Laws Against Abortion par. 1). In 1973, however, abortion was legalized as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court rule in Roe v. Wade. In this court case, the Supreme Court held that “the word ‘person,’ as used in the Fourteenth Amendment, does not include the unborn,” (McCuen 106). The ruling created a fundamental right for a woman to choose to have an abortion, no matter t...
Abortion laws first developed in the 1820’s within the United States. These laws were forbidding abortion after the fourth month of pregnancy (2). By the 1900’s, the American Medical Association and legislators outlawed the act of abortions and by 1965 abortion was banned in all 50 states(3). In 1973, the permissibility of “abortion” was innate with the proceedings of Texas’s “Roe v. Wade”. [410 U.S. 113 (1973)] which was the most consequential legal juncture on abortion.
January 22, 1973, a monumental ordeal for all of the United States had come about, which was that abortion was legalized. It was the Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade that made us take a turn into this political issue. In this case Jane Roe (Norma McCorvey) was an unmarried woman who wasn’t permitted to terminate her unborn child, for the Texas criminal abortion law made it impossible to perform an abortion unless it was putting the mother’s health in danger. Jane Roe was against doing it illegally so she fought to do it legally. In the court cases ruling they acknowledged that the lawful right to having privacy is extensive enough to cover a woman’s decision on whether or not she should be able to terminate her pregnancy.
No other element of the Women’s Rights Movement has generated as much controversy as the debate over reproductive rights. As the movement gained momentum so did the demand for birth control, sex education, family planning and the repeal of all abortion laws. On January 22, 1973 the Supreme Court handed down the Roe v. Wade decision which declared abortion "fundamental right.” The ruling recognized the right of the individual “to be free from unwanted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the right of a woman to decide whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” (US Supreme Court, 1973) This federal-level ruling took effect, legalizing abortion for all women nationwide.
Over the duration of the last century, abortion in the Western hemisphere has become a largely controversial topic that affects every human being. In the United States, at current rates, one in three women will have had an abortion by the time they reach the age of 45. The questions surrounding the laws are of moral, social, and medical dilemmas that rely upon the most fundamental principles of ethics and philosophy. At the center of the argument is the not so clear cut lines dictating what life is, or is not, and where a fetus finds itself amongst its meaning. In an effort to answer the question, lawmakers are establishing public policies dictating what a woman may or may not do with consideration to her reproductive rights. The drawback, however, is that there is no agreement upon when life begins and at which point one crosses the line from unalienable rights to murder.
The debate of abortion continues to be a controversial problem in society and has been around for many decades. According to Jone Lewis, “In the United States, abortion laws began to appear in the 1820’s, forbidding abortion after the fourth month of pregnancy” (1). This indicates that the abortion controversy has been debated far back into American history. Beginning in the 1900’s, legalized abortion became a major controversy. In 1965, all fifty states in the United States banned abortion; however, that was only the beginning of the controversy that still rages today (Lewis 1). After abortion was officially banned in the United States, groups such as the National Abortion Rights Action League worked hard on a plan to once again legalize abortion in the United States (Lewis 1). It wasn’t until 1970 when the case of Roe (for abortion) v. Wade (against abortion) was brought...
In the later half of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century, many states adopted laws against abortion because abortions were performed in unsanitary conditions, which made the operation dangerous for women. Plus, society believed killing a possible life was immoral. However, as time progressed and morals changed, people begin to question weather or not the government had the right to interfere with peoples’ carnal matters.
How would you feel if someone decided that you should never get a chance at life? That
Many may argue this topic of abortion and both have strong evidence on each side of the argument to say why they are correct and why you should agree with them; some people feel that teens should be allowed while others may disagree. This paper will focus on why teens should not be allowed to have abortions and the effects of it.
There are many limitations valued when it comes to the right of abortion. The news media still outlines the pros and cons of anti-abortion rights in certain-states-to soon, the entire country. My perspectives on the issue of abortion have been entitled from it to never be banned among citizen’s rights. The reproduction of pregnancy has been emphasized heavily on a mother’s decision to abort their child, but the father of the child plays an active role since he considers to that particular title. Through this current issue, majority of the people against abortion do not seem to have an open mind to how much it primarily affects the decision of the mother amongst her own views of considering abortion.
Abortion by definition means the way of ending pregnancy by removing fetus from the womb before it is able to survive independently. Abortion is an extremely debatable issue because while some people are completely against it, others believe that a woman should have the right to choose. Abortion decision is like killing own child or killing an innocent human life before coming out from uterus. I will explain how a human life is being destroyed, the process in which they destroy the fetus, and how to avoid this situation all together I believe that abortion is morally impermissible.
The topic I will be discussing is a major issue today in which our society has a major problem and tends to be a sensitive topic in every category which is abortion. The views on abortion can be easily one sided with only the women’s opinion because they are the ones going through the process of, quote on quote, killing a baby. Abortion is defined as the termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy, or in other terms the expulsion of a fetus from the uterus by natural causes before it is able to survive independently.
In the year March 1970, a woman dubbed Jane Roe took federal action against Texas abortion laws. These laws prevented Roe from terminating her pregnancy because abortions were only allowed in the scenario that the fetus was harming the life of the mother (Rosenbaum 63). Because Roe wasn’t in any way harmed by her pregnancy, she could not get an abortion. “Roe believed that TX statutes were unconstitutionally vague and that they abridged her right of personal privacy, protected by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments” (Rosenbaum 64). She wanted an abortion done professionally in a clean and safe environment (Rosenbaum 63). Women before the legalization of abortion would resort to unsafe methods to terminate their baby (Tribe 113).
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)
Abortion is an extremely controversial issue and one that is continually on the forefront of debates. Those who oppose the idea (Pro-lifers), thinks it is an act of woman playing “God” who live from who dies. Yet, whether an unborn baby constitutes a normal person is questionable; a pregnant woman, on the other hand, has the undeniable right to choose whether she wants to have a child or not. Therefore, the decision to have an abortion is the personal choice and responsibility of the woman, because prohibiting abortion impedes freedom of choice and endangers the physical and mental health of women.
Abortions can be traced back to ancient times; some were done by using sharp objects as tools, applying pressure on the lower abdomen, the use of herbs as medicine, and, beatings focusing