The Controversy Over Abortion Essay

Before 1820 abortion was legal and practiced, despite the fact that it was a dangerous procedure and more often than not resulted in the death of the mother. it wasn't until after 1821 that abortion started to become regulated and laws were set in place (lewis 2011). in 1879 the first law to be set up was in Connecticut, it was targeted towards merchants that sold poisons to cause miscarriages and drugs to prevent pregnancy and banned the use of the products. By the late 1800s even though abortion was illegal in most states it was still done under the table. Most people didn't get persecuted for illegally performing an abortion, mostly because of a lack of proof that the abortion was performed. the fetus was often disposed of and without

The topic of abortion is one of the most controversial and sensitive for the society and myself. The debates and confrontations between two opposite groups of opinion are long and sometimes even brutal. Both sides have strong supporting arguments: pro-lifers base on moral principals, which is life before birth, while pro-choicers defend political and social rights, such as right to privacy and right of choice. Neither side can be absolutely right or wrong; basically it is a matter of personal opinion. Mine is that although the abortion is originally wrong, in many cases it must be a legal option.

Church courts imposed more severe sanctions than secular courts, and were more concerned with unborn human life and abortions that occurred earlier in pregnancy. The first abortion legislation enacted in the English-speaking world was an English law of 1803 that punished whoever acted “to cause and procure the miscarriage of any woman then being quick with child.” Later enactments more strictly imposed liability on pregnant women themselves, and because proof that women had been “quick with child” was often difficult to establish, the offense was redefined as occurring whether women had “quickened” or not.

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

Roe v. Wade was a decision made by United States Supreme Court regarding abortion in 1973. It was, and still is, one of the most controversial decisions the Supreme Court has ever made. Abortion is defined “the ending of pregnancy by removing a fetus or embryo before it can survive outside the uterus”. The appellant was a single, pregnant woman from Texas who wished to get an abortion. Prior to the court’s decision, abortion was illegal under Texas state law except in cases where the abortion would save the pregnant woman’s life. The appellee was Henry Wade, a lawyer defending the Texas state law. The court ruled on the side of Roe, with a 7-2 decision. The Supreme Court “ruled that the Texas statute violated Jane Roe's constitutional right to privacy”, and argued that the “Constitution's First, Fourth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments protect an

Wade trial. “Since 1973, when Roe v. Wade legalized abortion across the United States, states have enacted more than 1,074 laws to limit access to the procedure” (CNN). This case was first brought to the court by Norma McCorvey, also known as Jane Roe against Henry Wade. Mr. Wade “enforced a Texas law that prohibited abortion, except to save a woman’s life” (gale cnn). This entire case was about whether the Constitution embraces the right of a woman to have an abortion under the Fourteenth amendment and in a 7-2 decision, it fell within the right to privacy. Ultimately, this decision affected 46 states, leaving them to decide how they would regulate abortion during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy. Thirty years later, in 2003, Norma McCorvey filed to have the case overturned and for the court to consider new evidence that abortion actually hurts women. She even included 1,000 affidavits from women who say they regret their abortions (gale cnn). Fortunately, a three-judge panel agreed to have the 1973 case overturned. McCorvey, after thirty years, changed which side she was on in this debacle. Originally, she was for pro-choice, sued Mr. Wade for his enforced laws, then changed her mind when she became pregnant and gave her child up for

Abortion is an exceedingly controversial subject that has been continually argued over for hundreds of years, and still is an

The United States Supreme Court rid the country of every abortion law on January 22, 1973. Roe v. Wade played a huge role in the successful event. The landmark case of Roe v. Wade made a controversial impact on today’s world.

In 1973, the United Stated Supreme Court made a critical decision on abortion laws. This decision was made because of Roe, a pregnant woman. She brought a class action suit challenging the constitutionality of the Texas abortion laws. These laws made it a crime to obtain or even attempt an abortion. The defendant was county District Attorney Wade. Roe won her lawsuits at trial. A three-judge District Court panel tried the cases together and “held that Roe had standing to sue and presented justiciable controversies, and that declaratory relief was warranted.” The district court also held that the Texas abortion statutes were void as vague and for over broadly infringing the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendment rights of the plaintiffs.

When it comes to abortion one can not state that there is simply a conflict between a woman’s right to privacy/autonomy of her body (i.e. the right to choose) and the right to life (particularly the right of the fetus to be born). It is also not adequate to claim that the alternating theories of when life is created is at the core of the conflict over abortion, because the definition of the creation of life does not determine when and why the state will protect the right of the life of the fetus. The overlying issue is a combination of both claims. By carefully analyzing the moral and empirical claims surrounding the abortion issue, we believe that the best position for our candidate is one of pro-choice

While it is easy to trace the history of abortion, it is harder to use this information to find any means of resolution. Developed almost 5000 years ago, the first form of birth control was utilized by the early Egyptians. Religion played a crucial part in the view of abortion centuries after its creation. During the 13th century, Catholic doctrine was the driving force in the lives of the people, shaping their lives and ideals. Pope Innocent III decreed from the moment of the “quickening”, or the point when the woman first feels the movement of the fetus, the fetus was officially alive and could not be terminated. Pope Gregory upheld this decree until 1869, where Pope Pious IX threatened all abortions with excommunication, possibly as part of an agreement to obtain more papal power (Childbirth Choice Trust) (Hope). From a legal standpoint, abortions were not considered a crime until a law was passed in England in 1803, with which the United States followed suit. The law changed to allow abortions when the woman’s health was in danger and in the early 1900’s in the U.S., the procedure could only be performed if two or more physicians agreed to it. Throughout this entire time, women would still find ways albeit dangerous ones to have illegal abortions (Childbirth Choice Trust). Women’s activists like Margaret Sanger promoted

The practice of abortion has been around since the beginning of time we have evidence of abortions performed as early as 1550 BC by Egyptians. At this time abortion was a respected choice and a normal thing for a woman to do. The practice of performing abortions spread rapidly and eventually America adopted this practice too. Women could freely get an abortion until the early 1800s, at this time people began to question if abortions were morally right. In 1821 Connecticut became the first state to oppose abortions

Abortion has been practiced for most of human history. The ancient Greeks and Romans practiced it, although not all ancient thinkers had the same views on abortion. Ancient Greek “father of medicine” (Britannica) Hippocrates was against the procedure; in the Hippocratic Oath doctors had to swear, “To not give a woman an abortive remedy.”(University of Virginia) Ancient Greek thinker Aristotle believed that fetuses gained a soul 40 days after conception for male fetuses, and 90 days after conception for female fetuses, a process of which he termed “ensoulment”(BBC) “The Bible” is inexplicably quiet on the issue.(BBC) Jesus said nothing about the practice of abortion neither did the apostles; It is through early Christian writings such as “The Didache” (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 7.) that abortion was inexplicably condemned by the fledgling Christian Church and in turn all of Christendom.

In the United States, abortion were illegal from the 1800s until 1973. According to National Abortion Federation, women would often get “back alley” abortions, meaning they were illegal and unsafe, and were performed dangerously. Before the legalization of abortion, it is estimated that “between 200,000 and 1.2 million illegally induced abortions occured annually in the United States” (Merino, Noel 53). This initiated a medical movement that prevented women from dying or injuring themselves from unsafe abortions. A movement of public, health, legal, religious women organizations that successfully urged one-third of state legislatures to liberalize their abortion statutes (Merino, Noel 53). This is where Roe v. Wade began. The decision that acknowledged women to their right to make childbearing choices, and the woman's right to decide whether to continue her pregnancy or terminate it under the privacy between herself, and her doctor without any legal consultation within the state. On January 22nd, 1973, the decision was legitimate nationwide in making abortions legal in hopes of creating a safer

(U.S. Const.)" Personal civil liberties have been derived through these amendments and have been used in cases that deal with the right to privacy, reproductive rights, and the right to abortion.These ancient abortions often had to do with the termination of unplanned pregnancies, and since medical procedures were not as advanced at that time, often led to the death of the mother. Nevertheless, these laws set the precedent for more modern rulings on the legality of abortion. In the firth century, St. Augustine declared abortion should be legal until the "quickening" of the soul, which is the first point during the pregnancy that the mother can feel the kicking of the baby in her womb; however, in 1869, Pope Pius IX of the Roman Catholic Church declared that abortion is considered murder. In the United States, from her Founding until 1821, when Connecticut passed a law criminalizing abortion, abortion was legal if performed before