Should Women Have the Right to Make the Decision?

Abortion: Should women have the right

to make that decision?



According to Planned Parenthood, “Abortion is a way to end pregnancy. Sometimes, an embryo or fetus stops developing and the body expels it. This is called spontaneous abortion or \"miscarriage.\"

A woman can also choose to end a pregnancy. This is called induced abortion. There are three ways it can be done — with medicine, vacuum aspiration, or surgery”(Parenthood).

Abortion has been a part of our country for many years, but it has only been a hot topic for debate for the last twenty-five years.

As far as how long abortion has been around for that is an interesting question.   According to some historians, abortion has been around in some form for thousands of years.   It is believed that some “ancient tribes who were sometimes forced to move quickly would perform abortions on the pregnant women because these women would slow down the entire tribe”(Lewis).

According to an article on a women’s history web site abortion laws started developing in the 1820’s “forbidding abortion after the forth month of pregnancy”(Lewis, 2004).   It also states that “most abortions had been all but outlawed by 1900”(Lewis, 2004).   In 1965, all fifty states banned abortion.   Of course there is always an exception to the rules a loophole if you will,   you can still have an abortion if it would “save the life of the mother, in case of rape or incest, or if the fetus was deformed” (Lewis).  

It was not until 1973 that the Supreme Court ruled most existing state abortion laws unconstitutional via the case of Roe vs. Wade.   “This decision ruled out any legislative interference in the first trimester of pregnancy and put limits on what restrictions could be passed on abortions in later stages of pregnancy” (Lewis).  

Since these, decision made by the Supreme Court there has been many different groups protesting the rulings of 1973.   Some of these groups protested in...