For hundreds of years, the United States of America has been a country defined by its promising opportunities and freedom. However, America has proven many times it is not the promised land that many residents of other countries have viewed it to be. Issues like euthanasia, death penalty, freedom of speech, and abortion have given rise to questions of the freedom in America. Abortion has proven to be one of the more tenacious issues that has brought controversy to America. In the Encyclopedia Britannica, abortion is defined as “the expulsion of a fetus from the uterus before it has reached the stage of viability” (Encyclopedia Brittanica). In simple terms, having an abortion is a pregnant woman choosing to not deliver her child. The Guttmacher Institute provides that there are 6.6 million pregnancies in the United States each year, and 51% are unintended (Guttmacher Institute). Further facts from the Guttmacher Institute states that around 358,000 women die per year because of pregnancy and the United States accounts for 60% of those maternal deaths (Guttmacher Institute). There is an estimated over 1 million abortions in the United States per year (Worldometers Real Time World Statistics). Death is one of the reasons of why women decide to have an abortion. More reasons in modern society include fear of parents, unplanned pregnancies, and financial instability. The controversy surrounding abortion is revolved around the two opposing sides which includes pro-life, the argument that abortion should be illegal, and pro-choice, in which people argue women should have the choice of whether or not to have an abortion. People in favor of pro-life support their decision with many arguments. They state that a fetus is considered a h... ... middle of paper ... ...s." Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health 39.4 (2007): 216-25. ProQuest. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. Dyer, Justin Buckley. Slavery, Abortion, and the Politics of Constitutional Meaning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. Print. Noonan Jr., John T. The Morality of Abortion. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1971. Print. "Roe v. Wade Supreme Court Decision" Women's History. About. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. "Reasons given for having abortions in the United States." Johnston Archives. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. "Pro Choice Abortion." All About Popular Issues. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. Senanayake, Pramilla, and Karen Newman. "The Politics of Abortion in the Modern Age." Conscience 23.3 (2002): 12. ProQuest.Web. 27 Feb. 2014. "Abortion." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Academic Edition. Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2014. Web. 27 Feb. 2014.
Click here to unlock this and over one million essays
Show MoreHaugen, David, Susan Musser, and Kacy Lovelace, . Abortion. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2010.
Frohock, F.M (1983) Abortion: A Case Study in Law and Morals. United States of America: Greenwood Press. Retrieved on June 9, 2008.
3.) Kaufman, K. The Abortion Resource Handbook Simon and Schuster Inc. New York New York 1997
Hinman, Lawrence. “Abortion: A Guide to the Ethical Issues.” May 13, 2010. University of San
2. Life in the Balance: Exploring the Abortion Controversy, Robert N. Wennberg, Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 1985.
Noonan, John T, Jr. A Private Choice: Abortion in America in the Seventies. Collier Macmillan Publishers, London: 1979.
Abortion - Medical. (2010, November 21). National Institutes of Health. Retrieved July 27, 2012, fromhttp://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/007382.htm
Francis J. Beckwith Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Abortion laws and arguments have been continuous since the 1820s when abortion was forbidden after the fourth month of pregnancy. Early feminists such as Susan B. Anthony promoted prevention. They believed that men drove women to aborting the baby. Later on down the road, femi...
Garfield, Jay L. and Patricia Hennessey. Abortion, Moral and Legal Perspectives. University of Massachusetts Press, 1984.
Abortion has long been a divisive issue in American culture and politics. Matters such as fetal viability, economics and women's health were evaluated within medical, legal and government institutions.
Webster's New World Dictionary defines the word abortion as, "any spontaneous expulsion of an embryo or a fetus before it is sufficiently developed to survive" (Webster's 1988; Pps. 3- 4). Assuming the reader of this essay agrees with the above definition, I will explore the following thesis, and support my answer with appropriate, adequate documentation, from "Conversations":
At current rates, about one in three American women will have had an abortion by the time she reaches age 45. Moreover, a broad cross section of U.S. women will have an abortion. Abortion is a very sensitive topic these days. There are two opposing sides that have a significant amount of information to prove their view-points. The biggest debate is if it should be banned. This is an issue that has been going on since the early 1970’s through a court case that started it all. Much controversy has arisen due to the debating of whether abortion was a fundamental right and each state has had the chance to vote accordingly.
Abortion has been a scientific controversial matter in many societies through time religious, moral. ethical, practical and