Abortion is a serious topic that people have been debating about for years. Everywhere you turn the topic of abortion presents itself, on TV, in the newspapers, in books and magazines. It already has, and will continue to cause, controversy for years to come. As long as abortion remains legal, pro-life advocates will continue to protest what they believe to be these horrible acts of murder.
Dating all the way back to the 1800 's, abortions have been taking place all over the world. In the US abortion laws were created around 1820 stating that women would not have abortions after already being pregnant for four months. Then by 1900 most abortions were outlawed. It wasn 't until 1956 that all fifty states had banned abortion with certain exceptions varying by state. Abortions were performed in the case of rape or incest in order to save the life of the mother, or if the fetus was deformed. It was then that back alley abortions started becoming very popular. Women were finding any way possible to be rid of babies they didn 't want. It wasn 't until later years in the case of Roe vs. Wade that abortion was again allowed.
The Supreme Court in 1973, in the case of Roe v. Wade, declared most existing state abortion laws unconstitutional. 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(Rand ).
While most celebrated this new decision, others, like those in the Roman Catholic Church for example, opposed the change. It was then that the terms "Pro-Life" and "Pro-Choice" were coined as the two movement names: Pro-Life in favor of outlawing most abortions, while pro-choice in favor of it being the woman 's right to choose. Pro-choice advocates usually use the argument of "a women 's right to choose". But does that mean women have the right to choose murder, because that is what she would be doing if the fetus were a
Bibliography: Shanahan, Kelly . M.d. Risks of Repeated Abortions. iVillage Inc. 1995-2004 http://www.ivillagehealth.com/experts/womens/qas/0%2C%2C258053_732%2C00.html Rand, Ayn. Abortion is Pro-Life. Copyright 1998 – 2003 http://www.abortionisprolife.com/essays.htm