Kayt WilliamsUS History

7/23/13Should Abortion Be Legal?

The debate over legalizing abortion has been a dividing factor between Americans for years, as we try to decide if it’s a fundamental right, or unconstitutional. I believe that abortion should be a woman’s own personal decision, and that criminalizing it is invading our right to privacy. The National Abortion Federation wrote their position in an article called Pro Choice and Proud: "The ability to access safe and legal abortion has been critical for many women as they seek to define and live their lives with dignity. Honoring women means honoring their choices, including the choice of whether and when to have children.”

Abortion has been practiced for thousands of years, and it was legal in the US from the time the first settlers arrived. However, in the mid 1800s, states began passing laws making abortion illegal. That meant that the majority of women who needed abortions got them from illegal practitioners, a “back alley” medical procedure. By 1910, all but one state had criminalized abortion, except in special circumstances. However, in 1973, the Cornstock laws prohibited the limits on birth control information and services, which made abortion more easily accessible.

One reason abortions should be legal is a woman’s right to choose abortion is a “fundamental right” recognized by the Supreme Court. In the Roe v Wade case in 1973, the Supreme Court extended a woman’s right to have an abortion. Another reason is because there are many injuries and deaths caused by illegal abortions. According to the World Health Organization in 2006, back alley abortions cause 68,000 maternal deaths each year. If abortion was legal, women would have access to legal, professionally performed abortions that would be safer for them. A third reason to legalize abortion is the separation between church and state. Anti-Abortion positions are usually based on religious beliefs, which shouldn’t be a foundation of law in the US.

A reason abortion should be illegal is that it is forbidden in the Hippocratic Oath taken by doctors while practicing medicine. The modern version of it, written in 1964, states, “Above all, I must not play at God.” Another reason it should be illegal is because abortion can be seen as going against the Founding Father’s right to life. In the Declaration of Independence, it states that “All men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." Abortion can be seen as taking away the right to life. The third reason abortion should be illegal is because it discourages the use of contraceptives. A study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that 19-25% of women who received abortions in 2006 had previously had one or more abortions. If abortions were illegal, women would be more likely to just use contraceptives.

An example of abortion laws playing a role in history is in the Roe vs. Wade case. Roe was a pregnant single woman, who was fighting Texas abortion laws, which made it a crime to get an abortion without medical advice to save the life of the mother. The defendant was District Attorney Wade. The Supreme Court ruling said that state laws criminalizing abortion were unconstitutional and violated the Fourteenth Amendment. It also stated that the Due Process Clause protects the right to privacy, which also applies to a woman’s choice to end her pregnancy.

Abortion laws connect to the major theme of Traditional American Values. One of the arguments against abortion is that it is unconstitutional. Many people believe that life begins at conception. Therefore, abortion could be a violation of the right to life that is protected by the Constitution. However, other people say that abortion does fall under the values of our founding fathers, because of the right to privacy.

Even though abortion laws will probably continue to be disputed over for years, I firmly believe in a woman’s choice to make decisions about her body on her own, without the interference of the government. Another quote from the article Pro Choice and Proud states, “Women should be trusted and respected to exercise the choices about their bodies and lives that are best for them, and not be forced by the government into personal reproductive decisions that are against their will."

Works Cited

"Abortion ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 July 2013.

"National Abortion Federation: History of Abortion." National Abortion Federation: History of

Abortion. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 July 2013.

"Result Filters." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of

Medicine, n.d. Web. 24 July 2013.

"Roe v. Wade – Case Brief Summary." Lawnix Free Case Briefs RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 July 2013.