During the early 1990’s, many state legislatures passed new laws restricting abortion. The state of Pennsylvania, for example, passes a law called the Abortion Control Act, which regulated access to abortion and challenged Roe vs. Wade in the Supreme Court in June 1992. The Court ruled that four sections of the Pennsylvania law did not impose an “undue burden” on a woman seeking an abortion. The Court defined undue burden as a “substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion before the fetus attains viability”. The Court ruled that four sections of the Pennsylvania law did not impose an undue burden on the right to an abortion and were therefore constitutional.
These sections require a woman to delay an abortion for 24 hours after visiting a medical office and listening to a presentation designed to change her decision to abort; to require teenagers to have the consent of one parent or a judge; to specify the medical emergencies in which the other requirements will be waived; and to require a doctor or clinic make statistical reports to the state. However, by a 5 – 4 vote, the Court struck down a fifth provision requiring a married women to tell her husband of her intent to have an abortion. Although the Pennsylvania decision limited access to abortion, it explicitly upheld a woman’s legal right to abortion. The 1992 Supreme Court decision also prompted many members of Congress to step up efforts to pass a federal law protecting a woman’s right to legal abortion.
The scene is all too familiar these days – angry mobs of people screaming at each other through police barricades, pictures of bloody fetuses being thrown around, and even murder against abortion supporters. Some might like the issue to go away because they are sick of the violence and controversy over abortion. Unfortunately though, the argument will probably continue to rage in controversy until some common ground is made between pro – choice and pro – life activists. When that happens, perhaps maybe the endless energy of protesters on both sides of the abortion issue can be channeled into other areas of concern for our children – born and unborn.
I believe that the federal and state government have no right to tell a women what she should do with her body. Having a child is a tremendous adjustment for a man and women to go through. They must learn to open up their lives and take on responsibility for another life. In most cases of abortion, it is only the women that would have had to take on the responsibility of a child. This leaves the women in a difficult position. What if she can’t afford a baby? What if a baby doesn’t fit into her current lifestyle? What if she couldn’t bear to think of raising a child alone? A women should then have the right to decide what she wants to do about her pregnancy. Maybe an abortion is the best choice for her. Why should she bring a child into this world if she knows she cannot and is not ready to take care of it? In a way, I believe that she is saving a child from entering a world where it would be neglected and not loved.
I also have a very strong opinion on abortion and teenage pregnancy. The rate of teenage pregnancy in the United States is at an all time high. More and more girls are getting pregnant and are instantly thrown into a difficult situation. I don’t believe that any teenager is fit to be a mother. We are still growing up ourselves – How can we raise another life properly? I know that if I was to get pregnant within the next few years, I would receive an abortion. Within myself I know that I could never raise a baby properly right now. The parental permission laws that were created are a joke and just another barrier to abortion put up by the pro – life activists. I believe that a teenage girl should be allowed to walk into a clinic and receive an abortion without parental consent. It was her decision in the first place to have an abortion and what do her parents have to do with it? The teenage girl has a body of her own and nobody should stop her from doing what she wants with it.
Controversy concerning abortion grows with each year. The pro – life and pro – choice groups grow larger each year. Recently there has been violence and even murder attempts involving pro – choice advocates and clinics that perform abortion. I think that pro – life activists should open their eyes and realize that it is a woman’s constitutional right to control what she does to her body and whether or not she will have a baby.
1. Guernsey, JoAnn. ABORTION – Understanding the Controversy. Lerner Publications
Company, Minneapolis. 1994.
2. May, Kathryn & Messer, Ellen. Back Rooms – Abortion in the Illegal Era. Prometheus Books, New York. 1989.
3. Reardon, David. Aborted Women – Silent No More. Crossway Books, Illinois. 1995.
4. Mindscape Reference Library for CD Rom – 1997.