The Constant Abortion Debate

Jordan Loftin

Roe vs. Wade
Roe vs. Wade is how I began my research, this helped me realize abortion has been around for a while and many women today have the same opinion as Roe, along with many men today still have the same opinion as Wade. Not much has changed since 1970.

Law Change Since Roe vs. Wade
This site allowed me to show the dramatic change that happened in the 1970's but then when Republicans got a hold of the idea it all went back to pretty much the same. I learned that men were killed and abortion clinics were bombed, I had no idea people were this crazy.
Abortion First Becoming an Issue
From what it looks like, abortion seems to have been around for a long long time. But this site proved to me that it only came about in the 1800's and the riots began there. Who knew?
Sex Ed in 1950's
This youtube video gave me a laugh, I watched many of them but all they did was tell me stuff I already knew and it provided me with the info of no one really caring to tell children about abortion at the time.
Polls Today
I was not very surprised when I saw the polls today said republicans were mainly against abortion and democrats were for abortion. This site helped me come up with statistics on the crazy similarity between the opinion category of men and woman or old age and young age and then the crazy difference between democrats and republicans opinion.
Pro-Life
I used this pro-life site to see the pro-life opinion of all religions including atheists, I wanted to see they mindset of all pro-life voters and that is what I got. It also helped me realize how strongly opinionated people can be.
"Legitimate Rape"
Todd Akin is an ignorant man. That is what I learned from this site. I was shocked to hear that men these days believe things such as women can shut their body off in rape. This topic disgusts me. 

Abortion Today
Perfect timing for an event like this. This site helped me realized abortion arguments are happening today, as recent as Wednesday.

Politics and Views

Politics and Views

Politics and Views

Politics and Views 

 Politics and Views 

Politics and Views 

        The United States Supreme Court in the historical case, Roe v. Wade, in 1970, found that abortion was legal under certain circumstances. Given the history of abortion, not everyone realized that abortion was going to be a major focus in our political system as it is today. Prior to Roe v. Wade, abortion was not always a central political issue. In fact, it did not become an issue until the mid 19^th century and even then it was not a political issue. In the early 1800’s, abortions were allowed before women felt any fetal movement and for the most part, there was little debate on the morality or legality of these abortions. Beginning in the 1900’s, doctors began to question the practice of abortions. Many people believe those questions were not based on moral or legal grounds but rather professional and possible economic grounds. The doctors argued they were trying to prevent what they called “illegal doctors” from committing abortions because they were unsafe. Others believed that the doctors were trying to prevent the illegal doctors from stealing their practice. Over the years however, this professional or economic basis for the validity or not of abortions has become very politically charged. One party, the Republican party, uses the moral justification of pro-life, that God creates life and man does not have the right to take life, to argue against abortion. The Democratic party however uses the right to privacy or the right to choose as its justification that a woman should have the right to chose whether to have an abortion. Just this week, the US House of Representatives passed a bill banning abortions. The bill passed along the lines with the Republicans voting for the bill and the Democrats against it. During the debate over the bill, the republicans argue they are protecting the unborn, while the democrats argue they are protecting women's rights. When and how did this become a political issue? As will be discussed below, these two opposing views play a key role in our political system today.

        Surprisingly, the first conflict on abortion was not primarily about the morality of abortion. Rather the opposition to abortion was motivated by doctors professional concerns. As a result of these concerns, state laws were passed after medically trained doctors began complaining that what they called “illegal doctors” were performing abortions which were unsafe. The illegal doctors were basically practicing medicine without formal training and were taking away from the professional business. Much like our political parties today, the professional doctors stooped to the level scare tactics as well as trying to play upon others religious views. By making it a moral or religious issue it made people have to make a decision on whether they were “religious” or moral enough. In the beginning, the case did not have much support which means we can all conclude, it was probably made into a bigger deal than it actually was. In 1847, the American Medical Association (AMA) was founded, and after a hard-hitting campaign with much support from religious factions, it didn’t take long to ban all birth control related materials including information about abortion.

        Within my research, I watched many different 1950’s Sex Ed videos for young boys and girls and they said nothing about abortion. It was unreal for me to wrap my head around the fact that kids were not learning about such a violent and cruel subject going on in the world. I believed they would tell the little boys to not have sex but a quote from the video was, “It does not matter when you guys start being sexually active, that is usually up to you.” 20 years later, this would change.  For example, Democrats argue that children should learn real sex education in class and some even argue that condoms should be given out at school. Republicans on the other hand, argue that sex education classes should teach or promote abstinence. This reminds me of an awkward day in 8^th grade when I had to sign a petition stating I would stay abstinent until marriage. These opposing views are obvious in our political and religious society today.

        In 1970, abortion as a political issue was brought to the table when  Jana Roe filed a case against a Texas district attorney, Henry Wade. Jana Roe was an unmarried and pregnant woman from Texas. Under Texas law, it was a felony for her to get an abortion unless her life was on the line. Roe therefore sued Henry Wade, the district attorney of Dallas County, asking that the court enjoin Wade from prosecuting her if she had an abortion. Roe argued that she should not be prosecuted for having an abortion because she had a right to privacy guaranteed in the first, fourth, fifth, ninth, and fourteenth amendments. After much argument, and in fact after Ms. Roe had her baby, the Supreme Court invalidated all state laws, including Texas’ law, prohibiting first trimester abortions, which meant women were allowed to abort the baby within the first three months. Soon after the Roe vs. Wade case, abortion went from being banned by all but a handful of states to being legal in all 50 due to it being categorized as a constitutional right. Since this decision, a woman’s right to privacy became a critical, political issue that has polarized the republican and democrat party.

         Ten years later, in the 1980’s, the number of doctors preforming abortions decreased. One reason the number decreased had to do with the wave of violence against abortion providers. One famous case involving a violent abortion activist was actually handled in federal court here in Huntsville, Alabama. Eric Rudolph, in 2005 plead guilty, to blowing up an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama. Rudolph plead guilty to the murder of a Birmingham police officer, as well as injuring a security guard and nurse during the bombing. Rudolph is currently serving four life sentences.  Many people argued the people giving abortions or having abortions were murderers, therefore, they killed them, makes sense, right? It is all just kind of ironic and disgusting. Another reason the number of abortion providers decreased had to do with the state-level abortion restriction laws changing. Republicans began to dominate state legislatures, many republicans do not have a problem supporting abortion but because of some having strong opinions against it. That is how republics are categorized. Pro-life. In 2011, states passed 92 laws restricting abortion. The number dropped to 43 in 2012 and then rose up to 70 in 2013.

         A main part of polls today are based upon whether the candidate represents pro-choice, meaning the woman chooses to have the baby or not, and pro-life, meaning the woman has no choice but to have the baby unless her life is at risk or if she was raped. When people compare men opinion vs. women opinion, or elderly opinion vs. younger opinion on abortion, the polls are pretty much even with disagreeing and agreeing. But when people get into Republican vs. Democrat opinion, 27% of republicans vote pro-choice and 69% vote for pro-life. 67% democrats vote pro-choice and 28% vote for pro-life. This issue today causes some citizens to not vote for an individual due to their beliefs on this subject. For example, a former republican congressman, Todd Akin, lost his way in an election due to the quote, “legitimate rape”. Ignorant people such as Todd Akin believe women have a way of shutting their body down while being raped. Therefore, they should not get pregnant. Meaning if they do get pregnant, they liked it in some way. He only believes “legitimate rape” should be aborted or if it is any threat to kill the mother.

        Overall, the world we live in today is based upon beliefs. Religious views do not always mean people are not for abortion, but most religions are pro-life. In other words, in some cases people say abortion is wrong and against their morals, but not illegal. Most Christians value human life and after life in Heaven, while some atheist believe this is the only life they have so it should not be ended and it should be valued. Throughout my research on abortion, the topic has become less black and white and turned into full color for me. By black and white I mean abortion has never been a huge thought process in my mind, I have always thought people were too dramatic about it. And now with the full color view I understand why people get abortions and why people do not believe in abortions.  I have more empathy towards the subject but I still understand the concept behind someone’s life being in danger, if someone is raped, or if someone is an ignorant sixteen year-old and is not ready to have a baby or be a parent, people should have the freedom to have an abortion. I am a strong believer in birth control and condoms. Safe sex is a good thing if you are not ready for the responsibility. It is shocking to me to think about how selfish men were in the mid 1900’s. Men were selfish in thinking they could go around with freedom of sex with whoever they want, but the woman were punished with a baby they could not afford to have because men were against birth control related items. I guess men were scared that with a little freedom, women would turn out just like them.