The attitude towards abortion has always been and still is a heavily debated topic. The worldview on abortion has however changed throughout history. Abortion is a complex issue with two specific points of view and many opinions that overlap each other from both sides of the spectrum. No matter what either side has to say ultimately, it’s up to our nations as well as states leaders to put laws in place that surround this pressing issue.
The definition of abortion, according to Webster dictionary, is: “the termination of pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus.” There are two types of ways a woman could go about having an abortion if it were to be an option she chooses. One is an In-Clinic abortion. During this procedure, a doctor would use medical instruments and suction to remove the embryo/fetus from the womb. This procedure works more than 99% of the time and usually takes about 10 min to complete but the appointment time usually lasts a few hours. The second type is by taking a pill that would end the pregnancy, mimicking an early miscarriage.
The success rate for this method depends on how far along the mother is into the pregnancy, but even as far as 10 weeks the pill works 91-93% of the time. For this method, a doctor would give two pills to the mother and they will take these two pills up to two days apart, most of the time the abortion is over 24 hours after the second set of pills is taken. However, both of the procedures usually require the patient to go to a health center for separate visits, and abortions that happen later in the pregnancy may take longer and require more visits to health centers. Both the in-clinic and medicated abortions are very safe. According to planned parenthood, abortion is one of the safest medical procedures practiced. Serious problems after an abortion aren’t common, and in fact pretty rare. But like any medical procedure, there could be risks.
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After an abortion, most people feel fine within a day or two, but it’s common to expect bleeding to last for a week (sometimes several weeks if you choose to use the pill). Most even go about normal activities the next day, but will need as much rest as possible. There isn’t a right or wrong way to feel after an abortion. Each person experiences something different with a wide range of emotions from relief all the way to regret. If there were ever to be complications or emotional problems the procedure, doctors always give you after care instructions and a phone number just in case, not to mention there will be follow up appointments with your health care clinics. Overall the procedure is safe and there isn’t any risk to a patient being able to have children in the future.
It’s not just enough to know how the procedure works and the risks that could come about, but it’s important to know the history and laws that surround this social issue. Abortion and the debate of whether women should have the right to get an abortion have always been issue in the United States. Abortion has been performed for hundreds if not thousands of years. It was legal, even encouraged and advertised before the 18th century. During the 1800s, practitioners only had minimal requirements for what it took to become a doctor to perform surgical procedures.
Most, if not all surgical practices including abortions were not safe and seen as extremely dangerous. In the mid 1800s, states all across America outlawed abortion. “The strongest force behind the drive to criminalize abortion was the attempt by doctors to establish for themselves exclusive rights to practice medicine.” Law officials and licensed physicians wanted to put an end to “untrained” practitioners performing “back- alley”, or unsafe, abortions. Unfortunately, the criminalization of abortion didn’t stop women from seeking these practices when they needed them done. At one point, there were estimates as high as 1.2 million illegal abortions per year.
Many women suffered serious medical issues and some even resulted in death after resorting to self-induced abortions or going to untrained practitioners who didn’t have adequate skills or provide the care the mother would need for a procedure this serious. Hospitals treated thousands of women who either died or suffered from terrible effects of the abortions that were provided by midwives and apothecaries who didn’t have the education and skills needed to perform these operations. By 1910, all but one state criminalized abortion. They reserved this practice as “physicians-only” and only allowed abortion where doctors saw it necessary, such as if the mother’s life was in danger because of the pregnancy.
These laws stayed intact until the late 1960s when women activist groups with the help of doctors and law makers organized to reform the abortion laws in place. The National Organization for Women (NOW), fought for abortion law reform and states responded by actually reforming their laws against abortion, but this wasn’t enough. What we would call today as pro-choice advocates, kept fighting for women to have the access they needed to receive abortion services. However, the group we would call today as pro-life had other plans, arguing back that a woman’s right to reproductive freedom is no greater than the right of an unborn child being born.
The most famous supreme court case involving abortion is that of Roe vs. Wade. In 1971, a case filed by a 21-year old pregnant woman Jane Roe against a district attorney from Dallas Texas who was a strong protector of the Texas law stating that an abortion was prohibited except to save the life of the expecting mother. The whole case surrounded around the question of, “Does the constitution embrace the right of a woman to obtain an abortion, nullifying the Texas prohibition?” The decision was that a woman’s right to an abortion was protected by the fourteenth amendment, which states that. “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the U.S; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”
The ruling of Roe vs. Wade allows for legal abortions during the entire pregnancy, but there are guidelines and conditions set up for states to follow that regulate an abortion after the first trimester. During a woman’s first trimester states cannot interfere beyond requiring the procedure to be done by a licensed doctor in safe conditions. During the second trimester, a state may regulate the abortion if the woman’s health is directly related to the cause. And finally, during the third trimester, the state may prohibit an abortion unless it is vital to save the life of the expecting mother.
After Roe vs. Wade, the topic of abortion continued to arise. Pro-life advocates faulted the court for siding in Roe’s favor, while pro-choice advocates felt as though they had succeeded in their mission. The debate on the issue has continued to increase even as far as several abortion clinics being bombed and many states have made imposed laws making it difficult for a woman to get an abortion since they can’t outright criminalize abortion like in the 18th century. “Initially, the framework of Roe vs. Wade was the basis by which the constitutionality of state abortion laws was determined. In recent years, however, the Supreme Court has begun to allow more restrictions on abortion.”
Since the Roe vs. Wade supreme court decision, states have put together laws regulating and limiting whether and under what circumstances a woman can receive an abortion. Highlights of these laws can be found on guttmacher.com but just to include some of them. Physician and Hospital Requirements: 42 states require all abortions to be performed by a license practitioner, and 19 states require the abortion to take place in a hospital.
- Gestational Limits: 43 states generally prohibit a woman having an abortion unless it’s necessary such as if the woman’s life or health is at risk.
- Refusal: 45 states allow individual health care providers the right to refuse to participate in an abortion.
- Parent Involvement: 37 states require parent involvement in cases that involve minor’s. 26 states require one or even both parents to consent to the procedure.
Abortion is the number one responded to political issue on ISideWith (an online poll service to the most popular and most debated political issues of today) with 33,533,326 responses. From this website, 38% of the voters in America are pro-life, while 62% of the voters in America are pro-choice. And in Texas, 46% claim to be pro-life, while 54% are pro-choice. According to this website, it shows that a majority of the population of America sides with pro-choice. These two terms basically break down the debate to whether and individual believes abortion should be illegal or if it should be accepted. People who are pro-choice believe that individuals have the choice when it comes to their reproductive systems, and one the other end of the spectrum, people who are pro-life believe that the government should have the right to intervene and preserve all human life.
But the two opposites do have an overlapping point in that they both want to reduce the number of abortions. Of course, we can see that the pro-life movement doesn’t stand behind abortions because what they truly believe in is that a life shouldn’t be unjustly taken away, on the topic of abortion that life is an unborn child’s. “According to a study done by Guttmacher Institute, 73% of women who had abortions in 2004 said that they couldn’t afford to have children and they couldn’t provide the necessities they would need.” While a popular opinion about the pro-choice movement is that they are pro-abortion, this isn’t entirely true. Pro-choice encourage abstinence and contraceptive use to prevent pregnancy before it can lead to an abortion.
The debate between the pro-life and the pro-choice movement is on-going and each side will continue to fight for what they believe is right. The truth is that neither side will ever come to an agreement about the abortion laws in America. These laws will continue to change over time and the controversy will continue to evolve with them. The best thing each side can do is learn to understand the opposing sides point of view and continue to stand for what they believe in and work towards a common goal.
Bibliography
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- Parenthood, P. (n.d.). What facts about abortion do I need to know? Retrieved from https://www.plannedparenthood.org/learn/abortion/considering-abortion/what-facts-about-abortion-do-i-need-know
- History of Abortion. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://prochoice.org/education-and-advocacy/about-abortion/history-of-abortion/
- The Incidence of Abortion Worldwide. (2018, April 20). Retrieved from https://www.guttmacher.org/journals/ipsrh/1999/01/incidence-abortion-worldwide
- Abortion History in the U.S. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://family.findlaw.com/reproductive-rights/abortion-and-the-law-background.html
- Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. (2019, January 06). Retrieved fromhttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
- Roe v. Wade Fast Facts. (2018, April 15). Retrieved from https://www.cnn.com/2013/11/04/us/roe-v-wade-fast-facts/index.html
- Abortion History in the U.S. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://family.findlaw.com/reproductive-rights/abortion-and-the-law-background.html
- History of Abortion. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://prochoice.org/education-and-advocacy/about-abortion/history-of-abortion/
- An Overview of Abortion Laws. (2019, January 02). Retrieved from https://www.guttmacher.org/state-policy/explore/overview-abortion-laws
- Abortion Poll Results. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.isidewith.com/poll/965629
- Head, T., Head, T., & Aclu. (n.d.). A Look at What Pro-Life and Pro-Choice Supporters Believe. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/pro-life-vs-pro-choice-721108
