Abortion is the ending of a pregnancy before birth. An abortion results in the death of the embryo or fetus and may be either spontaneous or induced. For years, abortion has been an extremely controversial subject. The history of abortion reaches back not just decades, but centuries, and even milleniums. Today, policies regarding legal abortion in the U. S. is being debated everywhere. Many myths and misconceptions confuse this issue. A better understanding of the history of abortion in America can help provide a context for an improved policy in the future.
Abortion has been widely known, practiced, and debated since ancient times. The ancient Hebrews had laws against abortion, but they permitted it in cases where the mother’s life was at risk. Under Roman rule, abortion was permitted, as well as infanticide. The shriveled remains of exposed babies could be found all across the countryside of the Roman Empire. The early Christian church generally opposed abortion. For hundreds of years, however, a debate raged in the church on whether abortion might be justifiable before animation.
Christian theologians defined animation as the point at which a fetus received a soul. According to church teachings, animation occurred between forty to eighty days after conception. From about the 1300s to the 1800s, abortion before animation became a generally accepted practice in Europe, if the pregnancy endangered the life of the mother. If an abortion was performed before animation for a less serious reason, many theologians considered it wrong but not homicide. Abortion has been performed for thousands of years, and in every society that has been studied.
It was legal in the U. S. until the mid 19th century. In 1900, abortion was prohibited by law throughout the U. S. The only way a woman was able to have an abortion was if two or more physicians agreed that the procedure was necessary to save the life of the pregnant woman. In the late 1960s, state legislatures recognized changes in public opinion and began to reconsider the abortion legislation. In 1973, the U. S Supreme Court, in Roe v. Wade, ruled abortion as a sight under the United States Constitution. The case of Roe v.
Wade was an important turning point in the public health policy. Before 1973, the state of Texas prohibited legal abortions unless it is to save a woman’s life. Many states in the U. S. had similar laws to Texas. These laws had caused the number of illegal abortions increase. These illegal abortions were unsafe, and could be fatal to most women, and put their lives at risk. Jane Roe was a twenty-one year old woman that was pregnant, who represented all of the women who wanted abortions but could not get one.
Henry Wade was a Texas attorney General who had defended the state’s law. The Supreme Court ruled for Roe and stated that America’s right to privacy included: the right for a woman to choose whether or not to have her child; and the right for a woman and her doctor to make this decision without state involvement within the first trimester of the pregnancy. It made it possible for woman to get safe, legal abortions from well-trained medical practitioners. Consequently, there was a dramatic decrease in pregnancy related deaths.
Anti-abortion politicians in 1981 unsuccessfully attempted to introduce a “Human Life Amendment that prohibited abortions under all conditions. President Reagan and George Bush also wanted to overturn the Supreme Court’s ruling of the Roe v. Wade case. The Department of Health and Human Services in 1988, introduced federal “gag” rules. These rules did not allow federally funded family planning clinics to discuss and inform their patients about abortion. In 1939, the “abortion pill” RU 486 was banned by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).
After, many anti-abortion bills were introduced in state legislatures. Bills supporting abortion rights were introduced at the state level, and in 1990 hearings of a federal Freedom of Choice Act began. This was in hopes that a national standard for women’s rights in legal abortion would be established. In 1992, the abortion law in Pennsylvania was challenged in a case called Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The court wanted to balance the rights of women who wanted abortions and the state’s interest to protect the health of women, as well as, the life of the child.
However, the U. S. Supreme Court weakened the right to abortion by inflicting restrictions. These included restrictions that were not medically necessary for the health of the woman. As an effect, many states have some of the following restrictions: young women must involve their parents or a judge in the decision; there is a state mandated twenty-four hour waiting period between the first visit to the clinic and the time of the abortion; they must receive lectures from doctors or state dictated scripts that will provide information to frighten and discourage the women from having an abortion.
U. S. President Bill Clinton ordered the reversal of a number of restrictions on abortion, including the “gag” rule that banned abortion counselling at federally financed clinics. His new administration also encouraged the manufacturer of the “abortion pill” RU 486, to make it available in the U. S. Clinton also changed the “Mexico City Policy” which was passed by the Reagan administration that prohibited and to international family planning programs that supported abortion.
For years, abortion has been an extremely controversial subject. One important aspect of the controversy is whether a woman should be permitted by law to have an abortion and under what circumstances. Another is whether laws should protect the unborn. History has shown that whenever abortion had been prohibited, women still attempted and succeeded in obtaining illegal abortions. Unfortunately, they have suffered serious health reasons or died in the process.