Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CJ-1010
Ellis
April 17, 2017
Abortion
Abortion has been an issue since the dawn of human society. Ever since women have had
unwanted pregnancies, there has been at least one woman who wanted to terminate the
pregnancy. Abortion can be defined as the termination of a pregnancy after the death of an
which is also called a miscarriage. Miscarriages occur during the first trimester and usually
because something is wrong with the embryo or because of a trauma. The other is an induced
abortion, which can be performed at any gestational age. They can be done for several reasons
including, saving the life of the mother, birth defections, rape, incest, or for social or economic
If you ask someone, I am sure they will have an opinion about abortion. It has been and will
probably always be one of the biggest religious and political debated topics, so much so that
there are movements for both prochoice and prolife. These debates also include the use of federal
money that fund such organizations, like Planned Parenthood, which just one example of a more
recent debates in the United States. The biggest difference between pro-choice and pro-life is the
question of when life begins, in other words, when does embryo or fetus becomes a person. This
is questioned on both a religious and a scientific side. People who agree with law and womens
right to choose, call themselves pro-choice. They believe that women should control their own
reproduction opinions and that the government should not regulation abortions. These
reproduction rights include birth control, abortion, emergency contraception, childbirth. They
also believe that woman may need an abortion due to personal circumstances to care for a child,
health reasons, rape, or incest. Those who disagree with abortions call themselves pro-life and
consider abortions morally wrong because life begins at conception, therefore its consider the
murder of a human being. They believe that in all cases, abortion should be illegal, including
In the early America era, birth control and abortion were acceptable by many under certain
situations, just as it is today, this also included in Jewish and Christian regions. They were
considered very dangerous because instead of being monitored by a licensed physician and under
anesthesia, they were often done by drinking herbal concoctions or by being stabbed in the
womb. In the 19th century, states started passing laws against abortion, for example, in 1829,
New York banned anyone, patient or doctor from attempting an abortion. Early into the 20th
century, Margaret Sanger, an obstetrics nurse in New York City was disturbed by the death rate
from illegal and botched abortions, which lead to her being an advocate for women and their
right to choose leading to a movement in the United States. She ended up opening a birth control
clinic, which later resulted in her being arrested. She ended up founding the National Birth
Control League in 1021, which later became a part of the Planned Parenthood Federation.
(Naden, 2008). Planned Parenthood is a non-profit organization, which is now 100 years old.
I think that if abortions were still illegal, the amount of botched abortions would even be higher
than they were in the early 1900s, as there are many people who feel so desperate they will do
anything they can. I often hear news articles about botched abortions happening to women who
are ashamed of having an abortion who result to these desperations even though abortions are
legal.
Abortion was not always a crime, during the eighteenth and early nineteenth century abortion of
early pregnancy was legal under common law, which was adopted from the British Common
Law. (Reagan, 2008) In 1969, Norma McCorvey got pregnant, she did not have the right to have
an abortion in Texas and was unable to travel outside of the state due to financial status. She was
unable before she was too far into her pregnancy and her child are adopted. Two lawyers took
her case, but the District Attorney enforced the Texas law. (Naden, 2008). It wasnt until January
22, 1973 that the Supreme Court ruled that states regulating abortion was unconstitutional. The
ruled that abortion violates a womens constitutional right of privacy, which is found in the
Fourteenth Amendment, nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property
The Supreme Court isnt like a normal court room. They make criminal justice policy in two
ways, through judicial review and through the interpretation of the law. Judicial Review refers to
the power of the court to review the actions of executive and legislative branches, and declaring
those actions unconstitutional. There is no evidence in Supreme Court. The decision is based on
the written record, oral arguments, concurring and dissenting opinions. (Miller, Gaines, 2013)
Although, there were many movements during the 1960s to legalize abortion, there were only a
few cases that were brought to the Supreme Court, but all cases were rejected until the landmark
case of Roe v Wade. Since this landmark case, there have been many more cases fought in all
If for some reason Roe v. Wade were every overturned, the law would fall again to the states
instead of being federal law. Each state would be able to regulate or forbid abortion within their
borders. Although, abortion wouldnt be illegal overnight by overturning Roe v Wade because
there are many states were the rights of the abortion aver high valued and supported. (Schmidt,
In 2013, there were 664,435 legal induced abortions that were reported to the CDC. This data
was reported from 49 reporting stations. The rate was 12.5 abortions per 1000 women aged 15-
44. This rate decreased from 2012 by 5%. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2017).
Although, abortion is legal in the United States by the federal government, there are still state
laws that can regulate or limit abortions. Some of these limits are; requiring a physician to
perform an abortion, limitations on gestational age, denied abortions from private insurance,
refusal from physicians to perform abortions, waiting periods, or mandated counseling. Yes,
abortion is legal, but with such limitations in place, I believe that women still feel pressured to
not have an abortion of feel discouraged jumping through hoops to have an abortion. While, I
think that its important that a women understand her options prior to making their choice, some
of these states law may prevent women from having an abortion. (An Overview of Abortion
Laws, 2017)
Being from Utah, I have researched Utah abortion laws, which I found that abortions are legal in
Utah if its performed before viability, meaning the fetus can live outside of the womb. They are
also legal if its necessary to save the womens life, if she is a victim of rape or incest, or if the
fetus has a diagnosable and lethal defect. The women has to give consent for the procedure and
the physician providers abortion information, which includes printed materials and video within
24 before the abortion is performed. There is also a 72 hour waiting period before consent can be
given and minors must inform their parents. After all of this, if the women consents to an
I grew up in a very conservative household, which lead me to believe what all the adults in my
house believed, which is based on the religious factor. This made me quickly jump ship on the
pro-life movement, even without the knowledge I have today. I think this is very common in the
United States and that there are many people who do not gather the facts prior to forming an
opinion. It was many years after moving away and living on my own that I researched and
gathered information to form my own opinion based on me being an independent women. I now
believe that I do have the right to choose and make decision regarding my own reproductive
health. This doesnt have to be a right of feminism, regardless of your gender, I dont believe that
the government should have any weight on the health of a person, as it does violate ones
privacy. I am so thankful for Roe v Wade and the impact and changes that it made in the United
States.
In conclusion, after all my additional research, I still stand on the pro-choice side. Of course, I
will always listen to other opinions and never close my mind, as throughout this semester, I have
found that many of my opinions have swayed a different directly. Regardless of ones opinion, I
feel that its important to always hear the arguments of the other side. Of course, abortion will
always be debated topics, I think that its important to continue with the movements, whether
youre pro-choice or pro-life. There has been so many advancements from what we learned about
abortions in early America from education, research, and these movements. It took over 100
years for the Supreme Court to rule that the states dying women the right of an abortion was
unconstitutional.
Work Cited
"Data and Statistics." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control
Miller, Roger Leroy. "8." Criminal Justice In Action. By Larry K. Gaines. 7th ed. N.p.:
Naden, Corinne J. Abortion. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark, 2008. Print.
"An Overview of Abortion Laws." Guttmacher Institute. N.p., 18 Apr. 2017. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.
Reagan, Leslie J. When Abortion Was a Crime: Women, Medicine, and Law in the United States,
"Roe v. Wade." Encyclopdia Britannica. Encyclopdia Britannica, Inc., 1 Mar. 2017. Web. 24
Apr. 2017
Schmidt, Steffen W., Mack C. Shelley, and Barbara A. Bardes. "3." American Government and
"When Critical Thinking Is Applied to the Abortion Issue." It's Easy to Be Prochoice (n.d.): n.