Abortion is one of the most controversial issues in the United States today. There are two opposing views on abortion: pro-choice (the woman has the right to choose whether she wants to have the baby or not since it is her body) and pro-life (advocating the legal protection of human embryos and fetuses, especially by favoring the outlawing of abortion on the ground that it is the taking of a human life). These two groups are in a constant battle to try to change each other’s minds when it comes to this issue. Abortion is defined as, the induced termination of a pregnancy followed by the death of the embryo or fetus.
It was officially made legal throughout the United States on January 22, 1973 with the Supreme Court ruling of Roe v. Wade. "Jane Roe" was a single, pregnant woman who wanted to have an abortion by a "competent, licensed physician, under safe, clinical conditions" (The Ethics of Abortion 13). This was not an option for her because the only way a woman could have an abortion in Texas at that time was if giving birth to the child might in some way endanger her life. Many women would have to travel to a state where abortions were legal but this was not an option for Roe because she did not have the finances to do so. "She claimed that the Texas statutes were unconstitutionally vague and that they abridged her right of personal privacy, protected by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendment." She also said that "she would sue on half of herself and all other women"(The Ethics of Abortion 14). Mr. Justice Blackmum understood that abortion was not a problem that could be answered over night, but instead it was an issue that would take over a year to finally come to a decision. He also realized that he would have to base his decision solely on what the Constitution stated. After going through the Constitution and reading it many times he finally came to the conclusion that in the Fourteenth amendment under "due process" clause, the right...