Should Women Have a Choice?

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each year by advocating education about birth control and abstinence to the general public. There are two possible to reduce abortion, make it less necessary or make it less available. People who are against abortion sometimes feel that if they make it illegal to get an abortion, abortions will no longer exist. By illegalizing abortions, people might travel to where it is legal or have someone unprofessional do it for them. There are close to 70,000 women a year who die from unsafe abortions, suffer major injuries, infections, hemorrhaging or permanent infertility (americanprogress.org). Illegalizing abortion doesn’t just hurt the women, and it can hurt everyone including family members and the community. Anti-abortion advocates haven’t been able to ban abortion in the United States, but have worked very hard to make it inaccessible. Even today in 2015, people are trying to once again, illegalize abortions.

In 1970, two graduates of the University of Texas Law filed a court case attempting to change a Texas law, which banned abortion. They claimed it was unconstitutional to not allow a woman to have an abortion. This case gained nationwide attention as it moved all the way to the Supreme Court. The lawyers representing Jane Roe argued that it was unconstitutional to force their client to travel out of her home state to seek the medical attention she needed and wanted. In the case, Roe V Wade, Jane Roe was a false name for the pregnant woman seeking the abortion. The lawsuit was filed against Wade, the Dallas County District Attorney. In 1973, the Supreme Court "ruled unconstitutional a state law that banned abortions except to save the life of the mother. The Court ruled that the states were forbidden from outlawing or regulating any aspect of abortion performed during the first trimester of pregnancy, could only enact abortion regulations reasonably related to maternal health in the second and third trimesters, and could enact abortion laws protecting the life of the fetus only in the third trimester. Even then, an exception had to be made to protect the life of the mother" (pbs.org).

The topic of abortion has stoked the fires of the feminist’s movement almost more than any other single subject. To this day, it still elicits strong reactions from men and women alike. During the 1960’s many states banned the practice of abortion, except for when the mother’s life was at risk. Women’s groups argued that many women would seek black market abortions, or they would perform abortions on their own, all practices could harm the mother and possibly lead to her death.

The debate on abortion continues to this day. To some, abortion is considered a right. To others, it is considered murder. While I can see and understand both sides of the issue, I strongly feel that abortion should not be legal. Abortion is a form of murder.

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