The+Right+to+Abortion

ABORTION: The Controversy

By: Elizabeth Meade, Bela Bacidore, Brittany Hickman, and Peter Calac toc

=__Introduction__= Over the past 200 years, abortion views and laws have changed significantly. It has been a controversial debate since then coming of the infamous court decision, //Roe v. Wade.// Prior to //Roe v. Wade,// each state had their own specific laws in regards to abortion that were not regulated by the federal government. In cases in which it was illegal to obtain an abortion in that state, women would obtain them through means of a black market, which could lead to other health issues or even fatality. //Roe v. Wade// was a landmark decision because it marked a precedent that would spark a debate between pro choice and pro-life activists that each have their own detailed arguments in support of their side. In addition to //Roe v. Wade,// other cases have been decided upon based on the precedent set forth by the landmark decision.

=__The United States View of Abortion Over the Past 200 Years__ =

Before 1800

 * Occurred frequently in colonial America but kept secret

1800's

 * Laws against abortion become widespread
 * Abortion was practiced until 1880
 * In the late 1800's, the government was concerned about “race suicide” because of the decline in the birthrate nationwide

1900's

 * Abortion illegal everywhere by 1900 unless necessary to save mothers life
 * Some practiced physicians and medical practitioners risked the consequences to provide safe abortions before //Roe v. Wade//
 * By the 1960's, the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion created a referral service to help women find safer routes at obtaining illegal abortions
 * 14 states reformed and 4 repealed restrictive laws between 1967 and 1973
 * Abortion became legal in 1973 because of //Roe v. Wade//
 * New York first state to legalize in 1970 through first 24 weeks (Hawaii legalized until week 20 for state residents prior to NY) and was shortly followed by Washington and Alaska

2000's
3
 * Restrictions set in place in 2003 when House of Representatives and Senate banned late term "partial birth" abortions by signing the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act

3

Reasoning and Fallout

 * The government created legislation as a backlash against the suffrage and birth control movements in an effort to control women and to put an end to midwives who performed abortions
 * Prevention of legal abortion caused thousands of deaths and created severe health complications for the mothers who received abortions from incompetent practitioners or from one’s that were self inflicted

=__**What is //Roe v. Wade// and its effects?**__=

Roe v. Wade
The Court's decision
 * Under the 14th amendment and due process of the law, women have the right to an abortion because of the broadness of the issue, it can be protected under privacy of due process of the law. however, the Supreme Court denied the district court ruling of protection under the Ninth Amendment right to privacy
 * The Court created a trimester rule:
 * First trimester: a woman has an unequivocal right to an abortion
 * Second trimester: a state can regulate abortion in order to protect the health of a woman
 * Final trimester: after a fetus was defined as “viable,” meaning it could survive on its’ own without the mother’s womb, state laws were could prohibit abortion, except when the health of the mother was at risk

The breakdown of judges:
 * 7-2 decision
 * Majority:
 * Justice Blackmun wrote the majority opinion which was joined by Burger, Douglas, Brennan, Stewart, Marshall, Powell
 * Dissent:
 * White and Rehnquist
 * White:
 * "I find nothing in the history of the Constitution to support the Court's judgment." The decision made by the court was an "extravagant" show by the justices
 * The Court announced a new constitutional right in the documents without any core findings in the actual Constitution
 * Rehnquist:
 * The Court implemented something that was taken out of the Fourteenth Amendment, a right that was completely unknown to the Founders who wrote the Constitution
 * Abortion has been restricted by state laws since the 1800's
 * "The drafters did not intend to have the Fourteenth Amendment withdraw from the States the power to legislate with respect to this matter."

Effects of //Roe v. Wade//

 * In the 1960s, there was no federal laws regarding abortions, so women advocacy groups sought to make a change
 * Several states legitimized abortions, like California and New York, however, Texas outlawed it completely.
 * After the decision was made, the pro-women advocacy groups were thrilled but opposition immediately emerged, most importantly from the Roman Catholic Church who called it a “form of infanticide”
 * The decision has upheld, but there is still raging opposition from it

=__Arguments For and Against Abortion__=

10 Arguments for Pro-Life according to About News

 * 1) Since life begins at conception, abortion is akin to murder as it is the act of taking human life. Abortion is in direct defiance of the commonly accepted idea of the sanctity of human life.
 * 2) No civilized society permits one human to intentionally harm or take the life of another human without punishment, and abortion is no different.
 * 3) Adoption is a viable alternative to abortion and accomplishes the same result. And with 1.5 million American families wanting to adopt a child, there is no such thing as an unwanted child.
 * 4) An abortion can result in medical complications later in life; the risk of ectopic pregnancies doubles, and the chance of a miscarriage and pelvic inflammatory disease also increases.
 * 5) In the instance of rape and incest, proper medical care can ensure that a woman will not get pregnant. Abortion punishes the unborn child who committed no crime; instead, it is the perpetrator who should be punished.
 * 6) Abortion should not be used as another form of contraception.
 * 7) For women who demand complete control of their body, control should include preventing the risk of unwanted pregnancy through the responsible use of contraception or, if that is not possible, through abstinence.
 * 8) Many Americans who pay taxes are opposed to abortion, therefore it's morally wrong to use tax dollars to fund abortion.
 * 9) Those who choose abortions are often minors or young women with insufficient life experience to understand fully what they are doing. Many have lifelong regrets afterwards.
 * 10) Abortion frequently causes intense psychological pain and stress.

10 Arguments for Pro-Choice according to About News

 * 1) Nearly all abortions take place in the first trimester, when a fetus cannot exist independent of the mother. As it is attached by the placenta and umbilical cord, its health is dependent on her health, and cannot be regarded as a separate entity as it cannot exist outside her womb.
 * 2) The concept of personhood is different from the concept of human life. Human life occurs at conception, but fertilized eggs used for in vitro fertilization are also human lives and those not implanted are routinely thrown away. Is this murder, and if not, then how is abortion murder?
 * 3) Adoption is not an alternative to abortion, because it remains the woman's choice whether or not to give her child up for adoption. Statistics show that very few women who give birth choose to give up their babies - less than 3% of white unmarried women and less than 2% of black unmarried women.
 * 4) Abortion is a safe medical procedure. The vast majority of women - 88% - who have an abortion do so in their first trimester. Medical abortions have less than 0.5% risk of serious complications and do not affect a woman's health or future ability to become pregnant or give birth.
 * 5) In the case of rape or incest, forcing a woman made pregnant by this violent act would cause further psychological harm to the victim. Often a woman is too afraid to speak up or is unaware she is pregnant, thus the morning after pill is ineffective in these situations.
 * 6) Abortion is not used as a form of contraception. Pregnancy can occur even with responsible contraceptive use. Only 8% of women who have abortions do not use any form of birth control, and that is due more to individual carelessness than to the availability of abortion.
 * 7) The ability of a woman to have control of her body is critical to civil rights. Take away her reproductive choice and you step onto a slippery slope. If the government can force a woman to continue a pregnancy, what about forcing a woman to use contraception or undergo sterilization?
 * 8) Taxpayer dollars are used to enable poor women to access the same medical services as rich women, and abortion is one of these services. Funding abortion is no different from funding a war in the Mideast. For those who are opposed, the place to express outrage is in the voting booth.
 * 9) Teenagers who become mothers have grim prospects for the future. They are much more likely to leave of school; receive inadequate prenatal care; rely on public assistance to raise a child; develop health problems; or end up divorced.
 * 10) Like any other difficult situation, abortion creates stress. Yet the American Psychological Association found that stress was greatest prior to an abortion, and that there was no evidence of post-abortion syndrome.

=__Other Important Cases__= //Griswold v. Connecticut// (1965) //Eisenstadt v. Baird// (1972) //Doe v. Bolton// (1973) //Bigelow v. Virginia// (1975) //Planed Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey// (1992) //Ferguson v. City of Charleston// (2001) //Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of Northern New England// (2006)
 * Supreme Court struck down a state prohibition against the prescription, sale, or use of contraceptives, even for married couples. In, // Griswold v Connecticut //, the court held that the Constitution guarantees a “right to privacy” when individuals are making decisions about intimate, personal matters such as child bearing
 * Supreme court struck down a Massachusetts law limiting the selling of contraceptives to married couples only whose physicians had prescribed them such drugs. This decision established the right of unmarried individuals to obtain contraceptives
 * The Supreme Court overturned a Georgian law regulating abortion. The law prohibited abortions unless necessary to preserve a women’s life or health in cases of fetal abnormality or rape. The ruling also overturned that abortions be performed in accredited hospitals and a committee along with two doctors and the women’s personal physician must give their approval
 * The court ruled that states could not ban advertising by abortion clinics. Banning advertising violated the First Amendment’s guarantees of freedom of speech.
 * The court preserved constitutional protection for the right to choose whether or not one would undergo an abortion. However, it adopted a newer and weaker test for evaluating restrictive abortion laws. Under the “undue burden test” that was established, state regulations can survive constitutional review so long as they do not place a “substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus.”
 * Urged the Court to void a South Carolina public hospital policy that mandated drug testing of pregnant women before the abortion. The Court held that the Fourth Amendment does not permit the state, acting without either a warrant or individualized suspicion, to drug test women seeking prenatal care.
 * The Court reiterated that abortion restrictions must include protections for women’s health. The case began as a challenge to a New Hampshire law that required doctors to delay a teenager’s abortion until 48 hours after a parent was notified. The court saw this unreasonable in such cases were the teenagers life was in danger and urged states to void these laws.

=__The Government and Planned Parenthood__ = Planned Parenthood receives $500 million from the government annually. However, if funding stopped, as proposed by Republicans, here's what would happened: = = =__State Restrictions on Abortion__=
 * Preventative health care decreases for women and those who rely on things like Medicaid or do not have health insurance
 * 40% of women in 18 states receive contraceptive methods would be prevented from funding
 * According to the CBO, nonpartisan, there would be roughly 2.6 million unplanned births
 * **Involvement of Physicians and Hospitals**- 38 states require an abortion to be performed by a licensed physician, 19 states require the abortion to be performed in a hospital after a specified point in pregnancy.
 * **Gestational Limits**- 43 states prohibit abortion after fetal viability
 * “**Partial-Birth” Abortions**- 19 states have laws against partial-birth abortions
 * **Public Funding**- 32 states and D.C prohibit the use of public funds for abortions
 * **Coverage by Private Insurance**- 11 states restrict coverage of abortion on private insurance plans
 * **Refusal**- 45 states allow individual health care providers to refuse to participate in an abortion, 42 states allow institutions to refuse to perform abortions
 * **State-Mandated Counseling**- 17 states mandate that women receive counseling before an abortion on one of the 3; links between breast cancer and abortion, the fetus’s ability to feel pain, and long term mental health consequences.
 * **Waiting Periods**- 28 states require women seeking an abortion to wait a specific amount of time before the initial visit and when the procedure is performed.
 * **Parental Involvement-** 38 states require some type of parental in a minor’s decision to have an abortion (25 require both parents, 13 require one or both parents)

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The tables below can be used to see each state's breakdown of restrictions:



=__Sources:__=
 * 1) "Abortion in ancient History." BBC. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. <http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/legal/history_1.shtml>.
 * 2) Boos Abortion Contributors. "History of Abortin in the U.S." Our Bodies Ourselves. N.p., 28 Mar. 2014. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. <http://www.ourbodiesourselves.org/health-info/u-s-abortion-history/>.
 * 3) "Abortion." Gallup. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. <http://www.gallup.com/poll/1576/abortion.aspx>.
 * 4) Epstein, Lee, and Thomas G. Walker, eds. Constitutional Law for Changing America: rights, liberties and justice. 8th ed. London: Sage, 2013. Print.
 * 5) Lower, Linda. "10 Arguments: For and Against Abortion." About News. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. <http://womensissues.about.com/od/reproductiverights/a/AbortionArgumen.htm>.
 * 6) "Timeline of Important Reproductive Freedom Cases Decided by the Supreme Cou." ACLU. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. <https://www.aclu.org/timeline-important-reproductive-freedom-cases-decided-supreme-court>.
 * 7) Paquette, Danielle. "Here's what happens if Congress ends funding for Planned Parenthood." Washington Post. N.p., 24 Sept. 2015. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. <https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/09/24/defunding-planned-parenthood-would-actually-increase-government-spending/>.
 * 8) "Abortion." Guttmacher Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. <http://www.guttmacher.org/statecenter/spibs/spib_OAL.pd>.