What is abortion? More importantly what do you think of when I say the word abortion? Abortion as defined by the Oxford Dictionary is the, “The deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often preformed during the first 28 weeks of pregnancy.” In today’s society abortion is more than just a simple definition. It is the aggregate of a multitude of ideas, thoughts, connotations, and feelings. Laws have made because of it, riots have been started from it, and it remains controversial even though Regardless of your feelings on the subject one thing is for certain that you almost certainly have biases and opinions about it, myself included. With that in mind, what do you actually know about it? I would like to guide you through the facts, …show more content…
Margaret was the daughter Margaret Louise Higgins and Michael Hennessey Higgins. Her father, Michael was stonemason who later on in life denounced his catholic faith and became an activist for women’s suffrage movement. This likely encouraged his daughter Margaret who believed that in order for women to be seen as equals they have to be able to choose when they reproduce. Margaret, who at the time was a nurse, recounted the death of a former patient, Sadie, who had tried to unsafely abort a pregnancy on her own. This furthered her passion for reproductive rights, because if Sadie had legal and safe access to contraceptives which were also illegal under obscenity statutes in the Comstock laws, she probably would not have died. In 1916, Margaret opened the first birth control clinic and in 1921 she formed the American Birth Control League which would later become the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Providing women with a means to safe reliable birth control. As of 2011 Planned Parenthood has preformed 11.4 million services, of which less than five percent are …show more content…
Abortion rights were easily the most controversial, the most pivotal being Roe V. Wade. Jane Roe, et al. v. Henry Wade, was argued in 1971 and decided in 1973. A 7-2 victory in the Supreme Court stated that abortion was covered under the 14th Amendments right to privacy clause. This meant that the government cannot interfere with a woman’s right to choose whether she has an abortion. It also left the decision completely up to the woman. Roe v. Wade was a landmark case, it is routinely cited in almost every modern argument about abortion and is still used to set precedence in courts today. Because of the rulings importance I will now lay out the opposing viewpoints of Roe v.