There are two different types of people when it comes to abortion, pro-life and pro-choice. Pro-life people believe that every child deserves a chance no matter what the circumstances and that the governent has the right to refuse an abortion, while pro-choice people believe that an individual can make their own decision and do what they want (Head).
Nearly half of all pregnancies are unintended, and about 4 out of 10 of these are terminated. The percent of abortions in all pregnancies is 22 percent. Each year about 2 percent of women between 15 and 44 have an abortion, half of which has already had an abortion before. Women in their 20s make up more than half of abortions obtained. Teenagers between 15 and 19 make up only 18 percent of women obtaining abortions. 54 percent of women who had abortions had used some form of contraception (Guttmacher Institute).
Making abortion illegal in the United States does not eliminate the procedure. This is because it does nothing to reduce the main cause, unintended pregnancy. Making abortion illegal only has a greater impact on the circumstances of how the procedure is obtained than on its incidence. By 1900 abortion was considered to be a criminal offense. Doctors were not concerned about the saftey, and it lead to abortions being done by untrained midwives or other providers. In Guttmacher, Abortion in Women's Lives, they state "the criminalization of abortion did not eliminate the procedure, but instead put many women's lives in jeopardy by forcing them to seek clandestine precedures. Many were preformed in unsafe conditions." (Boonstra 13).
A decade before it became legal, abortion was only allowed if the womens life was endangered or in cases of rape. A physician could lose their ...
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...abortions causes stress. According to the American Psychologial Association, stress was found to be greatest before an abortion. Also, there is no evidence of post-abortion syndrome. Abortions are usually done withthin the first trimester, during this time a fetus can not physically exist outside of the womb, it is health dependent on the mother (Lowen).
Works Cited
⦁ Boonstra, Heather D. "Abortion in Women's Lives.", New York: Guttmacher Institute, 2006
⦁ Guttmacher Institute. " Facts on Induced Abortion In the United States." In Brief, New York: Guttmacher Insititute, October 2013.
⦁ Head, Tom. "Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice." Civil Liberties, About.com
⦁ Lowen, Linda. "10 Abortion Arguments: 10 Arguments For Abortion, 10 Arguments Against Abortion." Women's Issues, About.com
⦁ Stacey, Dawn. "About Abortion, Abortion Facts." Contraception, About.com. 22, June 2011
Oddly, physicians brought abortion into the public’s eye. These physicians formed a pro-life movement arguing the moral knowledge that the public didn’t seem to have (12, Luker, Abortion and the Politics of Motherhood p. 000). According to the source, women didn’t understand that the embryo is a living being. With their lack of knowledge about things, they came “murderesses” and the only way this could be solved was to outlaw abortion. They kept the idea that abortion was murder, but, at the same time, they also said that only they could decide when an abortion should occur. With their accomplishment, in 1900, every state had a law that stated that abortion is illegal except for when the mother’s life is in danger. But the weakness of this was that the law didn’t specifically define the danger a mother should be in.
Haugen, David, Susan Musser, and Kacy Lovelace, . Abortion. Farmington Hills, MI: Greenhaven Press, 2010.
Until the mid 1800s, abortion was unrestricted and unregulated in the United States. The justifications for criminalizing it varied from state to state. One big reason was population control, which addressed fears that the population would be dominated by the children of newly ...
Abortion is a very controversial and sensitive topic in today’s society. Two different sides to this argument is pro-life and pro-choice. Pro-life proponents believe in the right to life for unborn fetuses saying that abortion should be considered murder regardless of how far along in the pregnancy the woman is. Pro-choice advocates people who believe the woman carrying the fetus should be able to make her own decision on aborting the fetus.
The majority of women who follow through with getting an abortion receive it in the first trimester of their pregnancy, this causing less of a stress to the body since it has not had a fertile egg in the body for a long time. Studies show that less than one percent of women who have an abortion have future medical problems. Research has showed and proved that the only risk of death and future medical problems would be if the procedure was conducted by an inexperienced person, who does not do the procedure correctly (Cohen,
To answer this question, we must first understand the basis for both sides' positions. Misunderstandings have long been the major block to meaningful discussions. The pro-life camp's position is often thought to stem from a hidden agenda to suppress women, whereas the pro-choice position is often linked to loose morals and little emphasis on responsibility. These ideals or traits may be held by a limited number in each group, but they are not indicative of the majority. Most pro-life and pro-choice advocates sincerely believe in their convictions and have legitimate arguments to back up their beliefs. Actually, the arguments of both sides are rooted in the same key principles. The first is an understanding of the worth of the fetus, and, based...
The practice of abortion should be banned in society because it terminates the life of an innocent unborn child, causes long-term emotional effects, as well as major health risks for women who opt for abortion. The debate on abortion continues to be a controversial problem in society and has been around for many decades. According to John 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 in American history. Beginning in the 1900’s, legalized abortion became a major controversy.
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.
In 1900 a law was passed banning women from having an abortion. Before 1900, abortions were a common practice and usually performed by a midwife, but doctors saw this as a financial threat and pushed for a law making abortions illegal. From 1900 until 1973, when the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a women’s right to have an abortion, women who wanted to have an abortion did so secretly. These secret abortions were performed
It is essential for a woman to have the option to have an abortion. For example, Sandra Jones “was at high risk for ovarian cancer and recurrent breast cancer” (Katz and Wright 2006, 1) when she found out she was pregnant. Doctors warned that her pregnancy was extremely dangerous to her own health because of her risks for cancer. If Jones chose to continue with her pregnancy, her life and the future of her other two children were at stake. Unfortunately for Jones, there was no official abortion clinic near her home. However she soon found Dr. LeRoy Carhart's Abortion and Contraception Clinic of Nebraska, a clinic in a small town that is one of the few providers of abortion in Nebraska. Carhart has helped women from miles around to receive an abortion. If it was not for Dr. Carhart, many women would be stranded and confused as to what they should do next. Dr. Carhart provides a safe and reliable clinic that ensures the health safety and comfort the woman. ...
Hinman, Lawrence. “Abortion: A Guide to the Ethical Issues.” May 13, 2010. University of San
Abortion Information 2014, Feminist Women's Health Center. Pro-choice. prochoice. abortion. right to choose., accessed 3 May 2016, .
Abortion has been a controversial topic in the U.S ever since it became legal in 1973 after the Roe v. Wade case. Abortion is defined as the, “the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy.” Pro-life supporters believe that abortion is unethical and argue that it is the mother’s responsibility to own up to her actions. They also argue that there is always the option of adoption, and that abortion could be very dangerous. I am pro-life and believe that the government doesn’t have the right to decide what a woman can or can’t do with her body.
Warren, Mary Anne , and Mappes and D. DeGrazia. "On the Moral and Legal Status of Abortion." Biomedical Ethics 4th (1996): 434-440. Print.
Pendergraft, Dr. "Abortion Statistics, Facts About Abortion In The US." Abortion Statistics, Facts About Abortion In The US. Orlando Women's Center, 25 Jan. 2013. Web. 18 Mar. 2013.