Abortion

Abortion



Abortion is one of the most politicized topics in politics today. The Merriam Webster dictionary defines abortion “a medical procedure used to end a pregnancy and cause the death of a fetus”. Abortion has been around for very long time; some people even state that it dates back all the way back to 1550 BC However, abortion was not a political problem until 1803 when Britain passed anti-abortion laws. By 1880, abortion was completely illegal in the U.S. This law was justified by stating that “it’s necessary to save the life of the women”. Then come the 1960s with the civil rights and antiwar movements; women started to stand up and fight for their own individual rights. Thus leading to women rallying and talking about their illegal abortions and how painful they were. The women marched and lobbied for abortions on demand. Slowly but surely results started to come. Some states allowed abortions to be done in certain circumstances, also leaving it up to the doctors and hospitals to do the procedure if they were willing. In addition to doctors and hospitals having a choice to abort a child, it was very expensive, so only wealthy families could afford it. This leads into the next most defining political moment in abortion, which is Roe v. Wade (1973). Roe v. Wade was case in which a single pregnant woman was challenging the constitutionality of abortion laws. The fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution states the right to privacy, which was the main argument. Roe won the case in the Supreme Court. This is what lead abortion into political action. So now the country is divided into two separate groups. Now there are people who are for abortion and the people who are against it. In 2013, there were 1.2 million abortions in the United States alone. That comes to roughly 3287 abortions per day in America. Abortion is always going to big political issue due to so many factors from religious beliefs all way to having a baby could actually kill the mother during...

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