Bans On Partial Birth Abortions And Courts example essay topic

The Right to Choose. About half of the world's people live in countries where abortion is available upon request, and another fourth live in areas where abortion is permitted to protect the women's health. For many reasons abortions should be legal, for safety purposes, and for many, personal purposes. Each year, about 84,000 women die from failed abortion attempts given to them by unqualified abortionist to avoid harassment.

Abortion should not only be tolerated in the United States, but also in other countries. Abortion was first used as a form of birth control in ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome and probably earlier. In the Middle Ages in Western Europe it was generally accepted in the early months of pregnancy. However, methods of abortion remotely modern didn't appear until the nineteenth century, and opinions about abortion changed. In 1869, under great pressure from social leaders and the Roman Catholic Church abortion became prohibited under any circumstances and laws became harsh against the practice; Illegal abortion rates plummeted.

Many abortions were performed before the Supreme Court decision, but the settlement made it less risky for the doctors involved. Abortion has caused society to be divided by a pro-choice group and pro-life group. Two groups with struggles that will never end. There are many different types of abortions than can be performed, depending on how far along in the pregnancy the woman is. In the earliest stage of pregnancy the woman may have two choices, one being a combination of drugs called and medical abortion. The other method is using a syringe to gently suck out the embryo.

An abortion performed in the second trimester is called a D&E, meaning Dilation and Evacuation. In this method a women is given absorbent dilators, which open up the cervix and absorb fluids. It is then left in overnight when the evacuation stage is performed by removing the fetus with instruments and suction. In the last trimester of pregnancy, abortions are only performed mainly if the woman's life is in danger or if the fetus is severely deformed. The most commonly used method is by injecting a fluid containing saline solution or hormones called prostaglandins into the vagina causing the baby to be born stillbirth. The most controversial and latest national issue in abortion is over Partial Birth Abortions.

These are late term abortions in which the baby is partially delivered and then killed. Several states have passed bans on Partial Birth Abortions, and courts have struck many of these down. National laws banning partial-birth abortions have been passed by Congress and vetoed by President Clinton on several occasions. Just recently Senate has voted to ban this type of abortion in the United States. If passed, the bill would punish anyone who performs the procedure with a minimum of 2 years in prison. The bill will also not provide exceptions for the life and or health of the woman.

Pro-choice advocates maintain that such abortions are to save the life or health of the mother or terminate pregnancies where the fetus cannot survive birth or cannot serve much after birth. Pro-life advocates maintain that the fetuses may be saved and that many of these abortions are done in cases that aren't hopeless. There wasn't serious opposition to this belief that the unborn were children until the mid-twentieth century. By the 1970's, abortion had been legalized in most European countries and Japan; in the United States, under a 1973 Supreme Court ruling, abortions were being permitted during the first six months of pregnancy.

By the 1908's the majority of abortions were in freestanding clinics. About 27 per 1,000 women in the United States had had abortions each year, a rate higher than in the western nations but about a half the worldwide rate. Groups such as the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League in the United States appeared, saying that unborn life was not life after all. These gained support as the number of illegal abortions increased in the late 1960's. NARAL promised that abortion doesn't hurt the fetuses, and that by legalizing abortion child abuse, illegal abortion, and teen pregnancy rates would be decreased. In 1973 the Supreme Court issued the verdict of Roe vs. Wade, striking down most anti-abortion laws across the United States.

Several other Supreme Court cases followed, constricting, expanding, and balancing the rights to live and / or choose. Many states have passed different laws attempting to protect the lives of unborn children, however abortion itself remains legal. Since the legalization, child abuse, illegal abortion, and teen pregnancy rates have all sharply increased. Some early feminists, like Susan B. Anthony, wrote against abortion. They opposed only because at the time it was an unsafe medical procedure for women, endangering their health and life. These feminists believed that only the achievement of women's equality and freedom would end the need for abortion.

They wrote that prevention was more important than punishment, and blamed circumstances, laws and the men they believed drove women to abortions. When effective birth control became available feminists defended it as away to prevent abortion. Most of today's abortion rights organizations state that safe and effective birth control, proper sex education, available health care, and the ability to support children properly are essentials to preventing the need for many abortions. While many celebrated the decision, others, especially in the Roman Catholic Church and in Christian groups, opposed it. "Pro-life" and "pro-choice" evolved as the most common self-chosen names of the two movements, one to outlaw most abortion and the other to eliminate most legislative restrictions on abortions. Within the churches and other group opposing abortion, the issue of clinic protests has become increasingly controversial, as many who oppose abortions move to separate themselves from those who propose violence as an acceptable solution. U.S. opponents of abortion have become physical and even violent performing more militant tactics in recent years in attempts to disrupt the operations of facilities that perform abortions, and some extremists have resorted to bombings and assassination.

On Christmas Day, 1984, three abortion clinics were bombed, and those convicted called the bombings "a birthday gift for Jesus". In conclusion, abortion has always been a controversial issue dealing with many different points of views and legislative laws. Legal abortion is not only safer physically but also emotionally, and relieves psychological and social problems that are dealt with when having an unwanted child.