Jonathan Flores
Legal Business
Professor Aerenson
Abortion
Abortion is a major issue that many people in today’s society have gotten involved to either protest it or support it. Now it’s hard to determine which side is correct because there are many facts from both sides of this issue that make strong cases as to why it should or not be legal for women to do such a procedure. The debate over whether or not abortion should be a legal option continues to divide Americans long after the US Supreme Court’s 7-2 decision on Roe v. Wade declared the procedure a "fundamental right” on Jan. 22, 1973.
This issue has been going on for a long time in America. In 1821, Connecticut became the first state to criminalize abortion. It banned the selling of an abortion-inducing poison to women, but it did not punish the women who took the poison. Legal consequences for women began in 1845 when New York criminalized a woman's participation in her abortion. By the early 1900s, influenced primarily by physicians fearing its safety, most states had banned abortion. By 1965, all 50 states had outlawed abortion, with some exceptions varying by state. Although America seemed to look that abortion was not going to be legal at all by all the states prohibiting it. Once Roe v. Wade came in front of the Supreme Court and declared that women have a constitutional right to do this procedure, lots of people were very upset and soon tried to push for federal legislation to restrict this. Opponents, identifying themselves as pro-life, assert that personhood begins at conception, and therefore abortion is the immoral killing of an innocent human being. They say abortion inflicts suffering on the unborn child, and that it is unfair to allow abortion when couples who cannot biologically conceive are waiting to adopt. There are many facts or opinions that pro-life advocates propose. Such as, unborn babies are innocent human beings from the moment of conception. They have a fundamental right to life, which must be protected. Religion is always brought up when arguing this; The Sixth Commandment of the Bible's Old Testament (Exodus 20:13) is "Thou shalt not kill." Abortion involves killing a human being and defies a commandment from God. Another can be that there are many couples who cannot have a child of their own who are willing to adopt; there is a lack of adoptable babies because abortion has been made legal. Proponents, identifying themselves as pro-choice, contend that abortion is a right that should not be limited by governmental or religious authority, and which outweighs any right claimed for an embryo or fetus. They argue that