Should Abortion Be Legal Essay

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Recommended: Dilemma with abortion

Sarah Monday
Period 5 Government
Mr. Doherty
March 26, 2014
Why Abortion Should Be Legal For All
Perhaps the most heated ethical debate of the twenty first century is the debate around abortion. Abortion is a medical or surgical procedure to end a pregnancy. Abortions are currently legal in the United States, although the laws differ from state to state. Abortions have a long history in the United States, and have been being performed here almost since the colonial settlers first arrived from England. For almost a hundred years, beginning in 1880, Abortions were made illegal almost nationwide. During this time, many women performed illegal self abortions that were often dangerous to their health. Many women were hurt or died from these self abortions, and those who sought out a different path suffered from the lack of proper medical care at small clinics. The prohibition of abortion caused nationwide protests, with protesters calling abortion a right a woman should have. By 1970, almost a third of states had reformed or repealed their abortion laws. Finally, in 1973, the Supreme Court struck down all existing laws prohibiting abortion in the Roe V. Wade court case.
The Roe V. Wade court case unfolded when in 1970 two women lawyers brought on a lawsuit on behalf of “Jane Roe”, a pregnant, single woman. They claimed that a Texas law that banned abortion except to save the life of the mother was unconstitutional. The case reached the Supreme Court in 1973, and the court came to the final decision that the law was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment’s right to privacy clause. This ruling affected laws in 46 states that banned abortion and cleared the way for women to receive proper medical treatment when pursuing abortions.
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...ure they did not choose. Abortion should be legal because women have “a right to privacy due to personal liberty” as decided in the Roe V. Wade supreme court decision of 1973. This right to privacy allows men and women to be equal. Another reason abortion should be legal is that women deserve full ownership and rights to their own body, thus giving them the ability to decide about their own futures. Abortion should also be legal because women deserve safe and sanitary medical care no matter what the procedure is. There is no reason that women like “Jane Roe” and Megan Padilla should be forced into childbearing and unsafe procedures when America is a free country. Those who oppose abortion cite the quick development of a fetus, but they do not think about a woman’s fundamental right to choose. Roe V Wade should stand and abortion should and will be available for all.

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