Argumentative Essay On Abortion

Although the media exposed small parts to the abortion debate, it was the duty of interest groups to spread the word and persuade others to form an opinion. One organization, the National Organization for Women (NOW), was established on June 30, 1966 and has carried out multiple protests throughout the history of abortion, such as the March for Women’s Lives. After the Third National Conference of the Commission on the Status of Women, twenty-eight women gathered together to create this group under the leadership of Betty Friedan, “an icon in the women’s rights movement” and author of The Feminine Mystique which questioned whether women enjoyed the duty of homemaker (“Betty Friedan.”) (“When and How…”). Located in Washington, D.C., NOW developed

Due to the huge success from the 1992 March for Women’s Lives, NOW was able to influence women to fight for their right to have any form of contraceptive, just as Roe v. Wade laid out. Yet, NOW was not the only women’s rights group who pushed for pro-choice beliefs. The National Abortion Rights Activates League, or NARAL Pro-choice America for short, followed many of the same beliefs as NOW. Today’s president, Ilyse Hogue, has been involved with Friends of Democracy, Media Matters for America, and MoveOn.org and was said to be “an expert in both electoral and advocacy campaigns,” according to the NARAL website (“A Featured Profile…”). Headquartered in Washington, D.C., NARAL was “made up of pro-choice women and men across the United States. Together [they were] protecting and expanding reproductive freedom” (“A Featured Profile…”). More importantly, the NARAL sought “to promote the legalization of taxpayer-funded abortion-on-demand, and to defeat all efforts to limit access to abortion in any way” (“NARAL PRO-CHOICE…”). In February of 2013, The NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio chapter reported on a yearlong undercover mission into Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs). These clinics, which founder Robert Pearson initiated “after the state legislature repealed its laws criminalizing abortion,” were meant to fight “‘a killer, who in this case is the girl

would quickly take down the falsified CPC ads. Adding to the list of pro-choice interest groups, the Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) coincided with the efforts of NOW and NARAL to raise awareness for women’s rights and secure the decision of Roe v. Wade. Developed in 1987 and named after a “Newsweek/Gallup public opinion poll that showed the majority of women [fifty-six percent and rising] in the United States self-identified as feminists,” the FMF resided in Arlington, Virginia under the control of Eleanor Smeal: a devoted activist who “was the first to identify the ‘gender gap’ – the difference in the way women and men vote” and wrote How and Why Women Will Elect the Next President (“About the Feminist…”). Founded to further women’s equality, protect women’s reproductive health freedoms, and end violence due to gender, the FMF created a mission “to develop bold, new strategies and programs to advance [the]…empowerment of women and girls in all sectors of society” (“Mission and Principles.”). Exemplifying their support for non-violence, the FMF started the National Clinic Access Project (NCAP) after instances such as the bombing of an Atlanta clinic in January 1997 in which “a double bomb was used – the first aimed at destroying the building and the second anti-personnel device aimed at killing or injuring law enforcement and rescue personal” (“National Clinic Access…”). In