Charles+Onyeiwu,+Abortion

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=**Abortion in America**=

Abortion in America History of Abortion in the United States I**n the United States, abortion laws started out in the 1820’s http://womenshistory.about.com/od/abortionuslegal/a/abortion.htm. The law was brought up to forbid the performance of abortion after the fourth month of pregnancy. Concerning abortion in the United States in controversial landmark decisions were made in 1973 by the United States Supreme Court. Under the process of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, the court made a decision to the right of privacy that reaches out to the availability of women having abortions. However, they also attempted to provide checks and balances concerning the same right in order to regulate abortions. This was done to protect prenatal life, and also the health of the women. This decision made by the United States Supreme Court was called “Roe v Wade.” In disallowing many state and federal restrictions on abortion in the United States, [4] Roe v. Wade prompted a national debate that continues today, about issues including whether and to what extent abortion should be legal, who should decide the legality of abortion, what methods the Supreme Court should use in constitutional adjudication, and what the role should be of religious and moral views in the political sphere. Roe v. Wade reshaped national politics, dividing much of the United States into pro-choice and pro-life camps, while activating grassroots movements on both sides.** Since the case of Roe v. Wade in 1973, abortion has been one of the most contentious issues in our society. On the one hand, the pro-choice perspective believes that a woman should have the right to choose what is right for her and her situation, on the other the pro-life perspective feels that all children should have the right to live. The legality of abortion is hotly debated in society today. It indeed goes without saying that abortion is one of the most persistently controversial issues in American culture and politics today (History of Abortion in America, Wikipedia). Since the 1973 national legalization of abortion, competing groups have fought to either restrict or increase access to the procedure, leading to heated debates among political activists, religious organizations, state legislatures, and judges.
 * Abortion is one of the most highly debated issues in the United States. Some people may say that abortions should be illegal, but some people think otherwise. Abortion as we all know is the termination of any form of unwanted pregnancy through the aid of a certified practitioner. However, miscarriage differs from abortion because miscarriage happens spontaneously, without the manipulation of any licensed doctor. Although the incidence of abortion has declined worldwide as access to family planning education and contraceptive services, an estimated 42 million abortions are performed globally each year, with 20 million of those performed unsafely. According to a primary source The center for Bio-ethical Reform (The center for Bio-ethical Reform), approximately 1.37million abortions are performed yearly, and about 3,700 in a day, in the U.S. It would be inhumane and unfair if someone decided that you should never get a chance at life, yet over 1.3 million abortions are done in a year in the USA and 43 million worldwide has been the steady number for several years now. Generally driving through the course of conception, at 18 days after conception, a baby’s heart starts beating. When you have an abortion at any time (after 18 days), we can assume that you are stopping the heart of a developing infant. After 43 days, the brain coordinates movements. During the 8week, all of the infant’s organs are functioning, including the BRAIN and HEART. At the 10th week, a baby can physically feel pain, that’s why they are liable to cry when born, as a sign of life…life. And so, Life begins at conception. This is the question that must first be considered, pondered, discussed, and finally, answered. It cannot be brushed aside or ignored. It must be faced and met honestly. Upon its answer hinges the entire abortion question, as all other considerations pale to insignificance when compared with it. In a sense, nothing else really matters. If what is growing within the mother is not human life, if it is just a piece of tissue — a glob of protoplasm — then it deserves little respect or consideration, and the primary concern should be the mother’s physical and mental health, her social well-being, and, at times, even her convenience. **

Some women in the early years opposed abortion and some defended it, just as the modern women oppose and defend it in this age. E arly feminists, like Susan B. Anthony, wrote against abortion. They opposed abortion which at the time was an unsafe medical procedure for women, endangering their health and life. These feminists believed that only the achievement of women's equality and freedom would end the need for abortion. (Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote in The Revolution, "But where shall it be found, at least begin, if not in the complete enfranchisement and elevation of woman?”) They wrote that prevention was more important than punishment, and blamed circumstances, laws and the men they believed drove women to abortions. (Matilda Joslyn Gage wrote in 1868, "I hesitate not to assert that most of this crime of child murder, abortion, infanticide, lies at the door of the male sex..."). However, Later feminists defended safe and effective birth control -- when that became available -- as another way to prevent abortion. (Most of today's abortion rights organizations also state that safe and effective birth control, adequate sex education, available health care, and the ability to support children adequately are essentials to preventing the need for many abortions.) [|http://womenshistory.about.com] All fifty states banned abortion, by 1965, with some exceptions which varied by state: to save the life of the mother, in cases of rape or incest, or if the fetus was deformed. Groups like the National Abortion Rights Action League and the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion worked to liberalize anti-abortion laws. However, in the case of Roe vs wade, the Supreme Court, in 1973 declared most of the states’ abortion laws to be unconstitutional. And so While many celebrated the decision, others, especially in the Roman Catholic Church and in theologically conservative Christian groups, opposed the change. "Pro-life" and "pro-choice" evolved as the most common self-chosen names of the two movements, one to outlaw most abortion and the other to eliminate most legislative restrictions on abortions. During this decade, abortion still continues to be a debate in the courts and in the homes of North America. Recently in March 24, 2010, according to the “Good Morning America” news, President Obama signed an executive order banning federal funding for abortion, as he had promised to anti-abortion Democrats. This order bans the federal government, through either tax credits or other means, from using taxpayer money for abortions offered through insurance exchanges created under the new law. But even though the health care bill is signed and sealed, Republicans across the country are plotting a strategy to repeal it by challenging the law's constitutionality in court. A human will now be allowed to exist only if he measures up to certain standards of independence, physical perfection, or utilitarian usefulness to others. This is a momentous change that strikes at the root of Western civilization. It makes no difference to vaguely assume that human life is more human post-born than pre-born. What is critical is to judge it to be — or not to be — human life. By a measure of "more" or "less" human, one can easily and logically justify infanticide and euthanasia. By the measure of economic and/or social usefulness, the ghastly atrocities of Hitlerian mass murders came to be. One cannot help but be reminded of the anguished comment of a condemned Nazi judge, who said to an American judge after the Nuremberg trials, "I never knew it would come to this." The American judge answered simply, "It came to this the first time you condemned an innocent life." [|http://www.abortionfacts.com] media type="youtube" key="QIXPp4wfwCc" height="315" width="560"