Abortion In The 1800s

The history of abortion within the United States dates as far back as the early 1800s. The topic began to peak during the women’s movement when the civil rights movement also began. Although opinions were still present, woman decided to focus on the safety of the abortions rather then the legality of them. Millions of women were willing to break the law and risk health and life to obtain an abortion. Between 1967 and 1973, fourteen states reformed and four states repealed the current abortion laws. This is when the idea of abortions becoming acceptable within certain circumstances came into play. In the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case, the Supreme Court legalized abortion holding that the constitutional right of privacy “is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision to terminate her pregnancy.” The court found that a woman’s decision to terminate a pregnancy in the first trimester was protected under the right of privacy which was founded in the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty. The court also allowed states to place restrictions in the second trimester to protect a woman’s

In 1981, those exceptions were eliminated by President Ronald Reagan. (S5) In the first years of legalized abortion, federal Medicaid paid for over one-third of all abortions performed in the U.S. It became clear that Medicaid coverage of abortion was essential for woman who could not afford abortions. In 1976, Congress passed the Hyde Amendment. This amendment banned federal Medicaid coverage of abortion across the country. The law went into effect in 1977, and in 1980 the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Hyde Amendment did not violate the constitutional rights of women on Medicaid. This amendment formed a lot of opinions and beliefs. For example, some believed that the intent of the Hyde Amendment was to make it more difficult for low-income women to get the abortions.