Abortion Political Views

Abortion is a big controversial topic in the media and politics. The abortion issue is very controversial because it causes may people to disagree with other’s opinions. One side of the debate is that the woman should have the choice to decide what she wants to do with her body, this is known as pro-choice. The other side of the debate is that people believe that abortion is wrong and the unborn baby has the right to live, this is known as pro-life. However, pro-choice supporters believe that this falls under the right to privacy. The right it privacy is the “right to be left alone, which has been interpreted by the Supreme Court to entail individual access to birth control and abortions” (Ginsberg pg. 143). Pro-choice supporters feel
that the right to privacy should protect women’s choices about their abortion decision. Abortion is considered controversial because many people have different views on the issue of abortion. Women get abortions for many reasons including health, economic issues, age, reputation, family, rape, and not wanting the child. Those in favor of pro-choice support abortion because they feel that the woman should get to decide what she does with her body. However, there are people who oppose abortion because of religion, morality, and other reasons. They would say people should keep in mind that the unborn child is just as human as everybody else. Some even go as far as saying abortion is murdering an innocent life. There are other options for people who do not want a baby or feel that they cannot take care of the baby. This would include giving the baby up for adoption to women that cannot get pregnant.
Pro-life supporters believe that a baby is a living human being and has the right to live. As said before, they feel that abortion is murdering an innocent life. However, pro-choice supporters believe that women should choose if they want to keep the baby or not. They say that it is the woman’s body and she should get to do what she wants with it. Some even believe that the baby does not have rights because it hasn’t been born yet.
Many babies are aborted at a point in the pregnancy that the baby could live on their own. There are people who are not completely pro-life or pro-choice. Their views are somewhat in the middle. They may feel that it is okay for a pregnancy to be terminated at an early stage. However, they still believe it is wrong to terminate the pregnancy once the baby has reached a point in the pregnancy for viability, or the chance that the baby can live on its own outside of the womb. To some people’s surprise, an infant can live on their own with medical assistance a little over half way through the pregnancy. Some babies are aborted when they can in fact live on their own outside of the womb. This is often a concern of those who do not support abortion.
Tom Head said that there are three types of views on abortion.
These views include, right to life, state decision, and pro-choice. People who support right to life believe that the government has a responsibility to protect unborn babies. They believe that there is no constitutional right to abortion. Some supporters of the right to life would allow expectations in cases of rape, incest, or protecting the woman’s health. Some believe that the government should not have any involvement in the abortion rights debate. (Head) Those who support state decision believe that the state should have the decision on abortion rights. Head also said that not everyone who opposes abortion rights believes that the federal government should ban all abortions. Pro-choice supporters would argue that state laws that ban abortion, or pose an undue burden on women seeking abortions, are unconstitutional.
(Head)
An important Supreme Court decision was Roe v. Wade, it established a woman’s right to seek an abortion and prohibits states from making abortion a criminal act. This took a revolutionary step toward establishing the right to privacy. (Ginsberg pg. 144) This caused controversy in politics as people now are very concerned with the issue. Pro-choice supporters would argue that this falls under the right to privacy because they think the woman should be able to make her choice without having the governments interference. This has caused controversy and conflict among the democratic and republican parties.
The controversy over abortion is still a major issue in politics. This seems to be something a lot of people have strong views on and care a great deal about. People in favor of abortion argue that the choice to give birth to a child isn't always the right choice. They believe that the woman has the choice and she should get to decide if a living human should live or die. People not in favor of abortion think the opposite and advocate for women to choose life for their baby.
After the Roe v. Wade court case the abortion issues divided the parties and then eventually defined the parties. The result of the Court’s intervening of this process has been that abortion has become a national political issue. Initially, the abortion issue split both parties. More recently, it has come to define them. Today there are very few pro-life Democrats and very few pro-choice Republicans. (Barone)
Most conservatives are against abortion and most liberals are for abortion. Conservative Republicans are more likely to say abortion should be illegal. Moderate and liberal Republicans’ opinion is more evenly divided. The majority of liberal Democrats support legal abortion as well as nearly two-thirds of conservative and moderate Democrats. (Mitchell). This is just the way it is, people think because they belong to a certain party they have to believe everything everybody else in the party believes. The controversy involving abortion creates many heated arguments between people who think their viewpoint is the correct way to view things involving the matter.
In the most detailed Gallup poll ever done on abortion attitudes, James Davison Hunter and Carl Bowman found that nearly 80 percent of adults believe abortion involves the destruction of a human life. But most of these people also believe abortion must be tolerated. (Reardon) Abortion is actually a hard choice for many woman, because they do realize that they are killing a human, and destroying a life. However, each woman that considers abortion has a reason she wants to terminate the pregnancy. Pro-choice supporters feel that the woman should have should have her choice based on that reason.
Regardless of a person’s views, abortion is still a huge topic in politics. In elections, people are often concerned with a person’s views on abortion. They use this knowledge to gain an opinion on a person. If a person is for or against abortion this can cause them to gain or lose supporters based their beliefs. For example, a pro-life supporter most likely will not vote for a candidate who is pro-choice, just as pro-choice supporters most likely will not vote for someone who is a pro-life supporter. People think very strongly on the issue of abortion and often take consideration in a candidate’s position on abortion. The controversy over abortion often causes huge debates and arguments over the issue. One of the main reasons abortion has been a huge topic in the media and in politics lately is because of Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood provides many abortions and also provides other medical assistance to woman. Many conservatives oppose funding Planned Parenthood because of abortions. They also oppose it because they feel that their tax dollars are funding the abortions. Meaning this is providing abortions that they do not support. The talk about cuts from federal funding to Planned Parenthood has created a popular interest in the media.
Recently, Republican president Donald Trump just announced that he would not fund Planned Parenthood. He also said that things would happen at an appropriate time. (Greenwood). This is something republicans and pro-life supporters have been fighting for. Even though President Trump released this statement, the debate over abortion is not resolved. Democrats and Republicans will probably continue to argue over the issue until both parties are happy with the outcome.
In political science, abortion is a major concern for many Americans.
Regardless of what Americans agrees or disagrees with, most people are concerned with the abortion issues. Pro-life and pro-choice supporters are constantly fighting for their beliefs. Pro-life supporters seem to be in the lead of the argument currently because of Republican President Trump. He is pro-life and is now planning to use his power to do something about the issue. History shows that people will always fight for what they believe is right, and until both sides are happy, they will continue to fight. Abortion has been a big issue in politics in the past, currently, and will most likely be an issue in the future. The controversy over abortion is something America is not taking lightly. Regardless of what someone believes, everybody has a viewpoint on abortion and because of that, abortion remains a controversial topic in
politics.