Marcie Frazier

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

embryo or fetus. (Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster). An abortion can happen spontaneously,

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

reasons. (Naden, 2008)

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

stem cell research that destroys embryos. (Naden, 2008).

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

without due process of law (Encyclopedia Britannica, 2017)

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

court systems in the United States.

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,

Steffen, Shelly, 2017).

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

abortion, it must be performed by a licensed doctor.

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

"Abortion." Merriam-Webster. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 01 May 2017.

"Data and Statistics." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention, 17 Mar. 2017. Web. 24 Apr. 2017.

Miller, Roger Leroy. "8." Criminal Justice In Action. By Larry K. Gaines. 7th ed. N.p.:

Wadsworth, Cengage Learnig, 2013. 266-67. Print.

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,

1867-1973. Berkeley, Calif: U of California, 2008. Print.

"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

Politics Today. Australia: Cengage Learning, 2017. N. pag. Print.

"When Critical Thinking Is Applied to the Abortion Issue." It's Easy to Be Prochoice (n.d.): n.

pag. Web. 22 Apr. 2017.