Oxford Dictionaries defines abortion as “the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy.” Abortion is an issue that has been dividing American’s for decades. There are those who are pro-life, who believe that abortion is morally unjust. And those who are pro-choice, who believe that the decision to have an abortion and choosing what to do with your own body should be a natural right given to women. While it is currently one of the most controversial issues in the United States, it wasn’t always so politically contentious. Netflix’s documentary, Reversing Roe, takes us through the journey of the increasing politicization of abortion through interviews with physicians, politicians, historians, religious leaders, and advocates from both the pro-life and pro-choice sides.
In the history of the United States of America, early anti-abortion laws were not implemented due to ethical, moral, or religious concerns. Abortion providers of this time were typically untrained, so these laws are thought to have come only from concern about the safety of the procedure. Roe v. Wade was a historic case seen in the Supreme Court in 1973. With a 7-2 majority vote for Roe, The Court ruled that abortion was a fundamental and Constitutional right under the Fourteenth Amendment. At the time, the Supreme Court only consisted of white, middle-aged, conservative Justices, four of which were appointed by Republican President Nixon. If pro-choice legislation was willingly put into power by presumably pro-life supporters, how did we end up so divided as a country? Abortion historian Linda Green states:
From the perspective of today, I think it’s important to remember that abortion was not always so partisan, and it wasn’t always a requirement for the Republicans to be pro-life. In fact, to took years of cultivation by very smart Republican strategists. It took years to bring about that kind of party realignment, the placing of abortion front-and-center as a social, cultural issue in our politics. And it was accomplished in the 1980’s, by this coalition of social and religious and political conservatives. And it was done with the rise of Ronald Reagan (00:50:00).
1972 Gallup Poll of Republicans. 68% of Republicans believe abortion should be an issue handled between a woman and her doctor.
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A view that largely differs from their standpoint today, pre- Roe v. Wade Republicans strongly argued that the decision to get an abortion should be one made solely between the woman and her doctor. While serving as the governor of California, Ronald Reagan (R) signed the “Therapeutic Abortion Act” in 1967. Therapy abortions are carried out in situations where the mother’s health is at risk or if the fetus is unviable, but could also be carried out simply at the request of the mother. This was seen as one of the most progressive acts signed into law for the pro-choice supporters. Despite this, Reagan had since stated that if he could have gone back in time, he would not have signed it.
During the 1980 election, Reagan said, “I believe that when you interrupt the pregnancy, you are taking a human life”, which officially shifted his stance, cementing himself as a pro-life supporter (00:54:43). The pro-life community saw the election of Reagan as a huge step towards reversing Roe v. Wade. A strategy used by pro-life supporters, such as evangelical christians, is that if they want the Supreme Court to rule in the favor of overturning Roe v. Wade, they needed to convince Reagan to change the justices. Reagan appointed 3 pro-lifers to the Supreme Court during his time as POTUS: Sandra Day O’Connor, Antonin Scalia, and Anthony Kennedy. When George H.W. Bush came into office, he had stated that he wanted to overturn the 1973 decision made in Roe v. Wade, and also appointed pro-life justices to the Supreme Court, yet another promising sign to Republicans and pro-lifers.
Bill Clinton was elected President in 1992 and had stated that he was a pro-choice President right from the start: “It makes a difference whether the President believes in a woman’s right to choose. And I do” (1:06:15). He appointed Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court in 1993. Physician and abortion provider Dr. Colleen McNicholas reports the following statistics: 88.7% of women who have an abortion will have it during the first trimester (8-12 weeks). About 10% have the abortion during the second trimester (13-20 weeks). After that only a small 1.3% have an abortion during the third trimester (21+weeks).
The pro-life community decided that the smartest strategy to advance their message would be to focus on that 1.3% who have what they coined “partial-birth abortions”. This non-medical term, known in the medical community as intact dilation and extraction, is a surgical procedure had in late-term abortions and late-term miscarriages that removes an intact fetus from the uterus. Troy Newman, president of the pro-life group Operation Rescue says partial-birth “took off like wildfire inside the pro-life movement” (1:07:25). The images his group displayed of partial-birth abortions at protests were so graphic and shocking that it created a loss of respectability for Planned Parenthood and abortionists. Newman says of this: “We had to educate the public. We made it an issue. We forced it on America.”
Operation Rescue protesters carried graphic posters of “partial-birth abortions” and showed them to anyone passing by in order to horrify and shock them into becoming pro-life supporters.
In 1995, the Republicans introduced the “partial-birth abortion” law, and use words such as “murder,” “baby killers,” and graphically describing the process of intact dilation and extraction, which furthered the advancement of the pro-life movement. Newman claims:
You always go after your enemy where they’re the weakest. And they know that, once we win, in the ninth month, the rest of the card house comes crumbling down. We destroy their arguments (1:09:30).
They were experts in creating language and imagery to further their viewpoints. This lead the pro-choice movement to have President Clinton meet with mothers who would have been effected by the ban criminalization of late-term abortions. President Clinton vetoed the bill. However, President George W. Bush signed the “Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act” into law in 2003.
President Barack Obama came into office in 2008. Tony Perkins, President of the Family Research Council says:
Evangelicals have been under constant attack by the Obama administration. And quite frankly, they’re tired of it… And under Barack Obama, this heavy hand of government tried to force society to accept things like abortion and the redefinition of marriage. These things run counter to nature. They run counter to the moral law of God.
The most recent President to come into office is President Donald Trump in 2017. When leaders of the Evangelical christians were deciding who their best choice was to vote for, the final presidential debate and Las Vegas that set their choice candidate in stone. Hillary Clinton showed strong support for abortion and women’s rights and would fight to protect everything that Roe v. Wade stands for. Trump answered with:
If you go with what Hillary is saying, in the ninth month, you can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb of the mother. Now, you can say that that’s okay, but its not okay with me. Because based on what she’s saying… You can take the baby and rip the baby out of the womb, in the ninth month, on the last day! And thats not acceptable.
The issue of abortion rights and the arguments and counterarguments surrounding it have always been present in some form or another. Its presence became more evident since the Supreme Court case Roe v. Wade in But now, with each new presidential era, a situation that should be able to be settled in a medical setting becomes increasingly political. As long as there is still an open-book on what rights are and are not granted to women concerning abortions, this trend of rising political and social tension will only get worse.
Works Cited
- https://www.netflix.com/watch/80192834?trackId=13752289&tctx=0%2C0%2Cb9edfe6188fc686ebb1a2862427e828984b49a5a%3A0d0084b1313a415a2b1302e67f715f4450defe10%2C%2C
- https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/abortion
