For the past hundred years, women have been fighting to gain the right to vote, the right to join the workforce, the right to equal pay and the right to make their own medical decisions. Women’s rights have been a major controversial topic in society, and specifically, abortion has been a major issue in regards to women’s rights. Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy that results in the death of a baby fetus, and this process can only occur in the early stages of the pregnancy. Considering women are the ones to financially and emotionally take on the responsibility of raising a child, despite the fact that it may cause health risks, it is a women’s constitutional right to abort an early term child if she can not handle …show more content…
When women go through with a pregnancy, it can make the situation more traumatic for the victim after the assault. This is highlighted in the article “Rape and Abortion: A Double Injustice”, where Mary Meehan discusses how women who suffered abuse, describe their experiences and why they chose to abort. Many women worry that if they carry through with the child, it can lead to many flashbacks and memories that they wish they could forget. Scared teenagers and adults would hold on to this fear that the child would look similar to the father. Women would feel betrayed and scared of their own body, and they would still carry through with the pregnancy and holding onto the fear and betrayal (Meehan). To begin, women never wanted the pregnancy in the first place. They shouldn't be assaulted and “forced” to have the child. The mother would become afraid of their own child. When choosing to keep the baby after an assault, it can make the victim feel isolated. This could lead to a mother choosing to become a single parent, causing a negative impact on the child. “Some scared teenagers, as well as adult women, have shown such lonely courage in resisting peer pressures for abortion that gold medals should be struck for them” (Meehan). Some families wouldn't support the mother if they personally chose to keep the baby. Especially for …show more content…
In the article, “Sexed-Up Science,” Chris Mooney adresses how an abortion can lead to breast cancer and impacting a women’s mental health. Studies shown that when going through with an abortion, it can increase the chance of developing breast cancer. Abortion is known to be a “a safe medical procedure that carries relatively few physical or psychological risks.” Numerous colleges and scientists have proved that this statement is accurate, and causes a negative mental health (Mooney). If he mother chooses an abortion, it can provoke to the unborn child and the mother being affected. The mother's health risks would increase and the baby fetus receives death. Both lead to a negative outcome and if the mother carried the child, both would live a healthy, risk free life. Aside from the negative effects of an abortion, Women have the right to a safe and legal termination. Women should have complete control over this decision because the have to deal with the pregnancy and sacrifices, they should be able to choose what they want to do with their own body. This is shown in the article, “The Right to Safe Legal Abortion,” where Tim Anderson strongly agrees that an abortion must be an option for a woman and should be a fundamental right. Women have the protected right to choose their own decisions. The Supreme Court declares that the
Abortion, like any other medical procedure, carries some risks. When one considers, however, that “the risk of death associated with childbirth is about 10 times as high as that associated with abortion” (“Know the Facts”), the threat of abortion suddenly does not seem as perilous. Additionally, contrary to popular misconception, abortion does not contribute to future infertility or development of breast cancer. It is therefore safer and more prudent to have an abortion than an unwanted pregnancy.
Abortion is a controversial topic in today’s society as many opinions from different social groups on whether it should be legal or not create the big question: should the government be able to take away a woman’s reproductive right if it is to protect a fetus? In the United States particularly, much of the debate since the 1970s has focused on the Supreme Court case Roe v Wade, in which the court proclaimed women's’ rights to abortion but declared that the states could limit and regulate the procedure. That means that currently, the state of California allows abortions, but many groups against abortion, mostly called “pro-lifers,” still try to fight against it and want it banned. Women have a right to their own body and should
No other element of the Women’s Rights Movement has generated as much controversy as the debate over reproductive rights. As the movement gained momentum so did the demand for birth control, sex education, family planning and the repeal of all abortion laws. On January 22, 1973 the Supreme Court handed down the Roe v. Wade decision which declared abortion "fundamental right.” The ruling recognized the right of the individual “to be free from unwanted governmental intrusion into matters so fundamentally affecting a person as the right of a woman to decide whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” (US Supreme Court, 1973) This federal-level ruling took effect, legalizing abortion for all women nationwide.
Over the duration of the last century, abortion in the Western hemisphere has become a largely controversial topic that affects every human being. In the United States, at current rates, one in three women will have had an abortion by the time they reach the age of 45. The questions surrounding the laws are of moral, social, and medical dilemmas that rely upon the most fundamental principles of ethics and philosophy. At the center of the argument is the not so clear cut lines dictating what life is, or is not, and where a fetus finds itself amongst its meaning. In an effort to answer the question, lawmakers are establishing public policies dictating what a woman may or may not do with consideration to her reproductive rights. The drawback, however, is that there is no agreement upon when life begins and at which point one crosses the line from unalienable rights to murder.
Rape is a despicable crime against women. Opinions are heated, and it seems that everybody has something to say about pregnancy in the case of rape. The woman who suffered from the sexual assault are more likely to experience distress after or during an abortion. When a woman gets raped, it isn’t wanted. If one was in that situation they wouldn’t want to constantly think about the fetus and how and when it occurred. One should not be obligated to go through the particular child birth. Who would want to give birth to a baby that would suffer his or her life not knowing who the father
Abortion, which is defined as a deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, is one of the most controversial issues in society. Many people believe that abortion is unethical and morally wrong, while others believe that it is a woman’s right to decide what to do with her body. According to www.census.gov, “the number of abortions performed annually in the U.S. has leveled off at 1.2 million a year” (1). This statistic supports how many women are choosing abortion. Although abortion is legal in the United States, many people continue to voice their opinions on how it is a human rights violation and should be illegal everywhere. 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.
Controversy and arguments that were setbacks in the ongoing battle for women’s rights, specifically the right to an abortion, were put to slight a rest with the landmark verdict of Roe v. Wade. The revolution in reproductive rights caused by Roe v. Wade evolved from a spark in the hearts of women everywhere. When women claimed their rights as humans, that was when the face of women’s equality in all aspects started to change. The case of Roe v. Wade was the official legalization of a woman’s constitutional right to get an abortion in the United States, but the aftermath of any case is what makes or breaks the future laws and regulations. Through all of the restrictions, regulations, and loopholes, Roe v. Wade’s verdict stuck and continued to
the woman should be allowed to make her own choice, as it her body and
Even though the United States has ruled abortions to be legal, there is still controversy. One may say that this is a growing problem in our country. However, for every problem there should be a solution. Erika Bachiochi argues that: “The state's suppression of a woman's right to choose [was] simply a perpetuation of the patriarchal nature of our society...To free women from [the] gender hierarchy, women must have a right to do what they please with their bodies” (22). She says that women have always been suppressed of their rights, and men believe that they have more power than women. Bachiochi, as well as many other women, believe that they should have choice over something as simple as their own bodies. Having a right to their bodies helps make women feel free from the idea that men are superior to women. Women have always been told how to act in society, but when it comes to abortion they believe that their voices should be heard. If women have no other right, at least let them have a right over their own bodies. The solution may be simple, but getting there may not be so easy. On this issue Eileen McDonagh proposes that, “The right...
Since the early 1970’s abortion has been an important issue to the United States (Tietze 1). The problem begins with whether it is the woman’s choice to keep or terminate her pregnancy or the government’s choice. When this problem happens, a woman loses her right as a person. Most women argue about this issue, but if you look at it, it is the woman’s body, and she should do with it as she pleases. I believe that if a woman, under the right circumstances, should be able to make her own choices in life and not be influenced by family or the government.
With so many women choosing to have abortions, it would be expected that it would not be so greatly frowned up, yet society is still having problems with its acceptance. Every woman has the fundamental right to decide for herself, free from government interference, whether or not to have an abortion. Today, more than ever, American families do not want the government to trample on their right to privacy by mandating how they must decide on the most intimate, personal matters. That is why, even though Americans may differ on what circumstances for terminating a crisis pregnancy are consistent with their own personal moral views, on the fundamental question of who should make this personal decision, the majority of Americans agree that each woman must have the right to make this private choice for herself. Anti-choice proposals to ban abortions for “sex-selection” or “birth-control” are smokescreens designed to shift the focus of the debate away from this issue and trivialize the seriousness with which millions of women make this highly personal decision. Any government restriction on the reasons for which women may obtain legal abortions violates the core of this right and could force all women to publicly justify their reasons for seeking abortion.
Abortion is not just a moral or religious issue. It has an impact in medical field as well. It’s the cause for a disease to which name that bring the depression to each and every women on Earth- breast cancer is what it’s called. According to many professors and doctors, “abortion increases the likelihood that women will develop breast cancer.” For justification, let me tell you an interesting fact for the statement above. “At the early stage of pregnancy, breast grows in order to meet the needs for breastfeeding for the baby later on. But when the pregnancy is interrupted, the immature cells in women’s breast will increase the chances of having breast cancer” (“Russo”). Through this fact, we can understand that abortion is certainly the interruption of pregnancy. By this, the mother will most likely end up with breast cancer. If she doesn’t care about her child’s life, she might care about her own life, right? And is the reason of...
Abortion has been a complex social issue in the United States ever since restrictive abortion laws began to appear in the 1820s. By 1965, abortions had been outlawed in the U.S., although they continued illegally; about one million abortions per year were estimated to have occurred in the 1960s. (Krannich 366) Ultimately, in the 1973 Supreme Court case of Roe v. Wade, it was ruled that women had the right to privacy and could make an individual choice on whether or not to have an abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy. (Yishai 213)
Having children is one of the most amazing things in the world but some children are created with the wrong idea behind them. RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network) reports that there is “on the average of 237,868 people, ages 12 or older that have become victims of rape and sexual assault yearly.” Some of these rape and sexual assault crimes result in women becoming pregnant with a baby that they had not planned on. Women who become pregnant due to rape and sexual assault are usually very eager to get rid of their baby due to the fact that their child would possibly be a reminder of a part in their life that they would not like to recall.
To be raped is to be sexually assaulted forcefully and unwillingly. According to the Uniform Crime reports, of all serious offenses, rape is probably “the most under reported crime.” Victims of rape are not only violated physically, they are violated mentally as well. It is a very traumatic experience that woman have to deal with for the remainder of their life. They usually incur symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome, stress disorders, fear, constant memories of the attack, a loss of confidence, and shame. (Mary E. Williams) These effects alter the victim’s life severely and can interfere with their day to day life and relationships. Being raped is a horrific crime that no woman should ever have to endure. In many cases victims of rape may become impregnated by the perpetrator leaving the victim to another form of violation. According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, at least 9,100 abortions each year are attributed to pregnancies that occur because of forced sexual intercourse. (Irin Carmon)