Essay Sample on Abortion Rights - Social Issues

Introduction

Abortion practice is regarded as legal across the United States even though the way the laws are applied varies from state to another. The practice of abortion has been a controversial issue across the country, even to date. The arguments presented on abortion have resulted in divisive issues in society, politics, and culture across the United States. Several antiabortion policies have been adopted in the US across every state since the start of the 1900s. The US has two dominant political parties that have appeared to back one side while the other party takes the opposite side. Republicans strongly seek to ban abortion access, or they tend to criminalize the practice. In contrast, the Democratic Party seems to defend abortion practices strongly. The two sides in the US that have emerged to defend their sides and thoughts include pro-life and pro-choice groups.

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Historical Events Abortion Rights

The abortion-rights issue has existed in the United States in the 1900s, and the most notable event occurred on January 22, 1973, in the Roe v. Wade case. The United States Supreme made a ruling in a 7-2 decision where it affirmed the legality of rights for women, especially to have an abortion, based on the Fourteenth Amendment to the US Constitution. In 2003, President Bush signed a law referred to as the Partial-Birth Abortion Act of 2003. It applied a nonmedical statement to explain a late-term mechanism that included dilation and extraction of the fetus from a pregnant mother. However, it faced opposition in courts such as the Supreme Court ruling, which saw upholding the law in a 5-4 decision in 2007. The next development includes the Hyde Amendment that restricted federal funds such as Medicaid to be utilized in accessing or performing an abortion except for cases such as incest, rape, or when the life of a mother is regarded as being in danger. Some of the states finance abortion under different conditions than how the Hyde Amendment mandates.

Prochoice

Prochoice is eh group that supports the independence of women and how they can handle their bodies (Allen, 2016). The group has emerged as a pivotal point for the campaign for women's rights as they strongly favor abortion practice. Prochoice affiliates usually hold certain views and arguments that seek to favor abortion freedom. They argue that their women possess a moral right to have a decision and stand on what they need to do with their bodies (Allen, 2016). Women's rights advocates believe that abortion is applied unequally, where people decide on behalf of the victim without considering the women's perception. Therefore, they consider it is acting against the law and human rights to deny a person to decide on a particular act, especially with their bodies. According to the pro-choice women's rights advocates, giving women the right to perform or not to do abortion shows respect to women and attempts to protect their rights.

The Prochoice group also argues that the right to abortion remains a key gender equality issue. The concern for gender equality has occurred severally in the US, where discrimination takes place across multiple areas (Allen, 2016). Women's rights advocate considers abortion rights as a way to keep equality between men and women. Prochoice group present the argument that restricting access to abortion does not solve the issue. Instead, women seek alternative means to perform the practice. They are likely to look for dangerous and illegal abortion practices since the persons offering the service illegally are considered unqualified. The risk of banning abortion and letting women seek alternative means only risk heir life because they are likely to lose their life in the unsafe abortion process. to prevent the alternative decisions, prochoice group argue that abortion should be banned and pregnant women need to have the freedom to choose what to do with pregnancy. They consider freedom and upholding abortion rights as a source of seeking safe abortion practices from licensed and recognized clinics.

Pro-life

Pro-life is also referred to as the antiabortion movement, which includes an abortion debate that advocates against abortion legality and practices (Munson, 2019). The majority of antiabortion movements initially started as countermovement while responding to the attempts of legalizing elective abortion (Munson, 2019).

Pro-life supporters argue that abortion, in its entirety, does not make women free. They maintain that allowing women to perform abortions does not amount to women's liberation. Instead, it only permits society to avoid responsibility for the needs of women (Munson, 2019). They argue that what women typically need is not the free access to abortion practice but to be allowed what they require for financial survival and support them socially as mothers. Some of the options that pro-life supporters suggest as effective care to the pregnant women and mothers include allowing inexpensive and readily available childcare (Munson, 2019). They suggest that the government, both at federal and state levels, need to offer a school or workplace that acknowledges mothers’ needs. The administrations can offer flexible scheduling and maternity leave. Pro-life supporter argues that there should be state support that assists especially in reintegrating a woman into places such as workforce.

The pro-life group argues that abortion practice typically sidesteps oppression directed to women. They argue that allowing abortion would give loopholes to sidestep other more pressing concerns that need to be handled. The next argument is that abortion is likely to cause damage to the long run emotional and physical health of women if they perform it.

Abortion Law

Several policies have been enacted in the US against abortion. One of the recent policies is House Bill 314, which is also known as Human Life Protection Act (Gore, 2019). The statute was enacted in Alabama on May 15, 2019, that serves to nearly ban abortion practice, Alabama. Nevertheless, the legal challenge towards the bill led to delays in the implementation of the statute. Governor Kay Ivey signed the bill after it passed the two Alabama Legislature chambers.

Trump Administration on Abortion

Trump administration and Republicans have moved to ensure that women find it challenging to access abortion. Trump engaged in the expansion of the global gag rule that says overseas groups that receive assistance from the US are disallowed to offer abortions or engage in discussions concerning abortion as an alternative for their patients (Milligan, 2019). Besides, the Trump administration has made numerous changes, especially to Title X, that cuts across the family planning initiative (Milligan, 2019). They disallowed doctors in the program from practicing counseling services to patients concerning abortion. Therefore, Planned Parenthood was compelled to stop abortions practices or any attempts to refer women to other providers for the same.

Conclusion

It is established that not all individuals supporting the rights of women automatically support abortion. Many of the women right’s advocates remain active in an attempt to encourage effective solutions to the particular causes that lead to abortion practices. However, the prolife group maintains that the right to life needs to ever outdo an individual’s right to equality or the freedom of the individual control of their body. Pro-choice arguments present the perception that a woman needs to be regarded as a person as opposed to the likely view that they are mere containers for a fetus.

References

Allen, M. (2016). ProChoice Movement in the United States. The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Gender and Sexuality Studies, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118663219.wbegss578

Gore, L. (2019). Alabama abortion law passes. https://www.al.com/news/2019/05/alabama-abortion-ban-passes-read-the-bill.html

Lamparello, A., & Swann, C. (2016). Roe v. Wade: The Case That Changed Democracy. Tenn. J. Race, Gender & Soc. Just., 5, 196. DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.2699281

Milligan, S. (2019). Where the 2020 candidates stand on abortion rights. https://www.usnews.com/elections/abortion-2020

Munson, Z. (2019). Protest and Religion: The US Pro-Life Movement. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics. DOI: 10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.013.684