Abortion in America Presentation
History of Abortion
The debate over abortion and a women’s ability to make decisions over their bodies dates back many decades, and is still a topic that brings forward many starkly different opinions.
During the colonial period, abortion was quite a common practice, despite it being highly dangerous. It was used by many women to escape the harsh penalties put in place for couples who conceived children outside of marriage. However, women were more likely to be punished than men because of the evident physical relationship with the child.[i]
During the nineteenth century America became a more industrialized and urban society and fertility rates decreased, stemming from “Changing conceptions about family, quality of life, and motherhood”.Abortion was still a common practice, but there was also an increase in the use of other contraceptives such as condoms and vaginal sponges.[ii] However, the medical community started a crusade against abortion during the second half of the century, leading to its criminalisation in 1858, only being allowed if the pregnancy was physically dangerous for the mother’s life.[iii] Many were worried about the safety of the procedure, but this was mainly a coverup for underlying economic and elitist concerns.[iv]
This led to an escalation of illegal abortions, which, due to being such an unsafe practice resulted in a huge increase in mortality rates during the 1950s. For this reason, feminist movements started to push for the legalisation of abortions and, thanks to their effort, together with the support of the medical community and politicians, the United American Supreme Court finally legalized it in 1973.[v] Women could now get abortions in the safety of hospitals, without the fear of any sanctions hovering over their heads. Feminists also improved abortion services, lowering the costs of surgeries and offering education on different contraceptives and STI prevention.[vi] Despite abortion becoming legal, women still faced many challenges when in need of one. For example, “Most physicians were not interested in providing legal abortions”, and hospitals would put limits on the number of abortions they could perform.[vii] In doing this physicians and hospitals were depriving women their reproductive rights, how can it be someone else choice what happens to a woman and her body.
Birth Control
Reproductive rights should be a fundamental human right for every woman across the world. Women should be given the ability to choose what happens to their bodies and this includes the right to choose to have an abortion. In the US 65% of women are on birth control exercising their rights to make their own reproductive choices.[viii] The image below shows the distribution of use of birth control among women in the US.
Figures of birth control use in America 2017
It can be argued that abortion is just another form of birth control. It gives women the choice about bringing a child into the world. Birth control is now readily and freely available for women in America however this was not always the case. Before the commercialisation of the contraceptive pill in the 1960s women did not have a dependable method to prevent pregnancy. When the pill first became available women were not able to choose to take it themselves, it was at the discretion of their husband. Now that ridiculous law has been overwritten women themselves can decided if they want one of the many types birth control. However, contraception often comes with risks, particularly hormonal contraception like the pill. The pill can subject a woman to many side effects including headaches, mood swings or weight gain, making it unappealing to many. This means that many women have to rely on either male contraception or emergency contraception and if these fail they deserve the right to abortion. Emergency contraception acts almost like a bridge between the pill and abortion. This causes an argument that it is a ‘abortifacient’- something that causes an abortion. Although this is not strictly true pro-life supports are often against the morning after pill. Despite the pro-life campaigns against legal abortions it continues to be widely accepted in most American state, as to deprive a woman of an abortion is to deprive her of her reproductive rights.
The Legal side of Abortion
Abortion was not always a crime in the United States of America. In fact, during the eighteenth and early nineteenth century, abortion of early pregnancies was a procedure that was well known and widely practiced. This procedure was legal under common law.[ix] It was only at the point of ‘quickening’ (the point at which a woman can feel the baby moving inside of her) that it was illegal to terminate the pregnancy.[x] This would be at around the fourth month. There was no concept of an ‘absolute’ moment when life began, a concept which we have now. The process of creating a life was viewed as such: a process. Women would routinely perform abortions through herbal remedies in order to restore their menses and this was accepted throughout society.
Unfortunately, this procedure started to become less and less accepted and between 1860-80 laws were passed which eradicated abortion and, in some states, they criminalised the women who got them. However, abortions did continue throughout America. Of course, due to the lack of legal provision for safe abortions to be performed, there were many deaths. In the year 1930, there were 2,700 deaths cause by abortion; in 1940, 1,700; in 1950, just over 300; and in 1965 just under 200 deaths.[xi]
In 1973, a law was passed throughout America that legalised abortion. Under Roe v Wade it was argued that an abortion was a woman’s own private matter and decision, and that the state shouldn’t be involved in this. The state was made to respect the woman’s constitutional right to privacy. Roe v Wade revolutionised reproductive health and it liberated women.
Despite this win for women, we are now seeing an increasing amount of opposition to Roe v Wade with many states across America attempting to reverse it. It raises questions of who should be involved in the decision for a woman to have an abortion; the woman or the state?
Religion and Abortion
Women should have control over their reproductive rights, however many pro-life supported believe that higher authority figures are more capable of making this decision for thousands of women who they don’t know. Many people who are extremely religious are often pro-life supporters. Conservative religious believers are usually the biggest opposers to abortion. Conservative Protestants are more inclined to be on the pro-life side of the abortion debate compared to Catholics.[xii] The majority of Americans (approximately 57%) are understanding of legal abortion. However, approximately 40% of Americans believe that abortions should be illegal in nearly all cases. This can be raised to a much higher figure when looking into specific religious associations. For example, 75% of Jehovah Witnesses and 70% of Mormons believe that abortion should be illegal in most circumstances.[xiii] Clearly religion has an impact on one’s opinion on abortion, but it does not mean it is the right opinion.
African American Women’s struggle with Reproductive Rights
African American women’s struggle for abortion is extremely important in abortion rights campaigns. Since the mid-19th century, the population growth of African Americans has halved. Both historians and demographers have ignored that African American women themselves may have done this, through birth control and abortion.[xiv] Previously plantation owners often wanted women to have children in order to benefit their labour force. Pregnant slaves were given a lighter workload in an attempt to persuade them to have more children. Today, African American women receive around 24% of abortions carried out in America, which is more than 500,000 each year.[xv] African American’s have spent long enough suffering because of the rules put in place by their ‘white superiors’ and it should end now. African Americans, just like the rest of the female population, deserve reproductive rights and access to abortion.
Across America today views towards abortion differ in each state and each state controls the access each individual has to abortions. In 2005, 87% of counties in America had no abortion provider.[xvi]Abortion rights in American are considered to be under threat. California remains the only state throughout the whole of America that is very supportive towards abortion. While 5 states still remain partly supportive such as Montana and Illinois there are some states that are very hostile, including Mississippi, South Dakota and Indiana.[xvii] The differing views on abortion from each state can be seen on the map below.
Attitudes towards abortion in the US
[i] Alesha E., Doan,
‘SHIFTING CONTEXTS The History of Abortion in America’ in Opposition and Intimidation The Abortion Wars and
Strategies of Political Harassment
(Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 2007), pp. 41
[ii] Ibid., pp. 43-47
[iii] Nicola, Beisel, et al, “Abortion, race, and gender in nineteenth-century America.”, American
Sociological Review 69.4 (2004).
- 498
[iv] Alesha E., Doan, ‘SHIFTING CONTEXTS The History of Abortion in America’ in Opposition and
Intimidation The Abortion Wars and Strategies of Political Harassment (Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 2007),
- 47
[v] Ibid., pp. 51-59
[vi] Johanna, Schoen, ‘Living through Some Giant Change: The Establishment of Abortion Services’, American
Journal of Public Health, 103
(2013), pp. 24-38
[vii] Alesha E., Doan, ‘SHIFTING CONTEXTS The History of Abortion in America’ in Opposition and
Intimidation The Abortion Wars and Strategies of Political Harassment (Ann Arbor, University of Michigan Press, 2007),
- 68
[viii] https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db327.htm
[ix] Leslie J. Reagan, ‘When Abortion was a Crime: Women, medicine and law in the United States, 1867-1973’, (1997), University of California Press, p.8
[x] Ibid., p.8
[xi] Rachel Benson Gold, ‘Lessons from Before Roe: Will Past be Prologue?’, (2003), Guttmacher Institute, Available at: < https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2003/03/lessons-roe-will-past-be-prologue> Date accessed:
15-03-2020
[xii] John Bartkowski, Aida Ramos-Wada, Chris Ellison, Gabriel Acevedo, ‘Faith, Race-Ethnicity and Public Policy Preferences: Religious Schemas and Abortion Attitudes Among U.S. Latinos’, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 51. 2 (2012), 343-358 (p. 343).
[xiii] David Masci, American
religious groups vary widely in their views of abortion (2018) < https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/22/american-religious-groups-vary-widely-in-their-views-of-abortion/ > [accessed 19 March
2020].
[xiv] Loretta Ross, ‘African-American Women and Abortion: A Neglected History’, Journal of
Health Care for the Poor and Undeserved, 3.2 (1992), 274-284 (p. 275).
[xv] Ibid., p. 275.
[xvi] Lori Brown, Contested
Spaces: Abortion Clinics, Women’s Shelters and Hospitals (New York: Ashgate Publishing, 2013), p. 95.
[xvii] Elizabeth Nash, State
Abortion Policy Landscape: From Hostile to Supportive (2019) < https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2019/08/state-abortion-policy-landscape-hostile-supportive > [accessed 19 March
2020].
Bibliography
Bartkowski, John., Ramos-Wada, Aida., Ellison, Chris., Acevedo, Gabriel., ‘Faith, Race-Ethnicity and Public Policy Preferences: Religious Schemas and Abortion Attitudes Among U.S. Latinos’, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 51. 2 (2012), 343-358
Beisel, Nicola K., et al, “Abortion, race, and gender in nineteenth-century America.”, American Sociological Review 69.4 (2004)
Brown, Lori., Contested Spaces: Abortion Clinics, Women’s Shelters and Hospitals (New York: Ashgate Publishing, 2013)
Cook, Rebecca J., Dickens, Bernard M., ‘From reproductive choice to reproductive justice’, in International Journal of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, Issue 106 (2009), pp 106-109
Daniels, Kimberly. Abma, Joyce. C., ‘Current Contraceptive Status Among Women Aged 15-49: United States, 2015-2017’, published by National Center for Health Statistics, (2018) at: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db327.htm
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Horst, Jason M., ‘The Meaning of ‘Life’: The Morning After Pill, the Question of When Life Begins, and Judicial Review’, Texas Journal of Women and the Law, Vol. 16, Issue 2, (2007)
Locker, Melissa., This Map of Abortion Ban Proposals and Laws Shows Where Rights are Under Fire in 2019 (2019) <https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2019/08/state-abortion-policy-landscape-hostile-supportive > [accessed 19 March 2020].
Masci, David., American religious groups vary widely in their views of abortion (2018) <https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/01/22/american-religious-groups-vary-widely-in-their-views-of-abortion/ > [accessed 19 March 2020].
Nash, Elizabeth., State Abortion Policy Landscape: From Hostile to Supportive (2019) <https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2019/08/state-abortion-policy-landscape-hostile-supportive > [accessed 19 March 2020].
Nichols, Francine H., ‘History of the women’s Health Movement in the 20th century’, in Journal of Obstetrics Gynaecology and Neonatal Nursing, Vol. 21, No. 1 (2000)
Oyez, Roe v Wade, (n.d), Available at < https://www.oyez.org/cases/1971/70-18>, Date accessed: 16-03-2020
Reagan, Leslie J., ‘When Abortion was a Crime: Women, medicine and law in the United States, 1867-1973’, (1997), University of California Press
Ross, Loretta., ‘African-American Women and Abortion: A Neglected History’, Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Undeserved, 3.2 (1992), 274-284
Saylor, Susan., ‘The Legal Status of the Morning-after Pill: Abortion or Birth Control’, in University of San Francisco Law Review, Vol. 25, No. 2 (1991)
Schoen, Johanna., ‘Living through Some Giant Change: The Establishment of Abortion Services’, American Journal of Public Health, 103 (2013)
Schoen, Johanna., Choice & Coercion: Birth Control, Sterilization, and Abortion in Public Health and Welfare, (North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press, 2005)
The Lancet, ‘Anti-Abortion Laws gain more ground in the USA’, (2011), Available at: < https://www.thelancet.com/action/showPdf?pii=S0140-6736%2811%2960848-9>, Date accessed: 16-03-2020
Documentary, ‘Birth Control’, Sex Explained, Episode 3, viewed on 15/03/2020, at: https://www.netflix.com/browse?jbv=81160763&jbp=3&jbr=1
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