Race and Abortion

Introduction

Abortion is a highly debatable subject that splits people into one of two categories; pro-choice or pro-life. People that support a pro choice feel that women should have the right to either keep or terminate their pregnancy. For them not being able to have that right is unconstitutional and results in women thinking that they have no control over their reproductive lives. On the other hand, those who are pro-life feel that abortion is a right that should never be exercised because the practice of abortion is murder of an innocent life. Most of this debate stems from the difference in the definition of life between the two groups. Pro-lifers believe that life starts at conception whereas pro-choicers believe that life does not begin until birth. Since 1973, when abortion was declared legal in the case Roe vs. Wade, the debate has intensified and has become a popular topic in all arenas from the classroom to the national presidential debates (Misra and Panigrahi, 1998).

In the United States, there are about 1.5 million abortions that are performed each year. This averages out to every one in four pregnancies ending in abortion. Out of all the women that get abortions, eighty percent are unmarried and sixty-three percent are between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four (Misra and Panigrahi, 1998). The younger group (fifteen to seventeen) is comprised mostly of white teenagers whereas the older group (eighteen and older) is made up of more African American teenagers (Ezzard, Cates, Kramer, and Tietze, 1982). With abortion becoming such an important subject based on its commonality and significance in the political sector, it is no wonder why social scientist have done so much research on it. Researchers have fo...

... middle of paper ...

...ear of the study being completed.

Although race is continued to be studied as one of the main factors in differences of abortion, recent research suggests that the differences in opinion between the races is not as big as previously thought. One of the reasons for this is the movement against the traditional viewpoints especially in the African American population (Lynxwiler and Gay, 1994). This movement can be seen in the growth of the Democratic Party that pushes towards gender equality and a right to privacy (Strickler and Danigelis, 2002). As the younger generation strives for equality for all, race does not seem to be a factor as it once was. Even though this is a very convincing thought, this paper aims to prove that the racial gap still exists because of the opposing lifestyles of the two races and the differences in the family sizes between the races.