Because 80% of Americans believe that abortion should be legal and that partial-birth abortions should be illegal, Jason Abaluck argues that a line must be drawn somewhere to determine when abortion is appropriate. He argues that the line should not be drawn at the dilation and extraction procedure (D & X), also known as partial-birth abortions. The most common type of abortion during the second trimester is the dilation and evacuation procedure (D & E). In D & E, the cervix is dilated, and the fetus is surgically removed inside the uterus. D & X are a specific type of D & E. In D & X, the cervix is dilated, the head of the fetus is collapsed, and the fetus is removed from the uterus. In D & X, either the head or the torso of the fetus is outside the uterus when the fetus is terminated. D & X can occur both before and after a fetus is viable, or able to survive outside the mother’s uterus (Abaluck, 2007). …show more content…
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists are against the bans on partial-birth abortions because a ban on any type of abortion could be dangerous to the health of women who choose to have an abortion in the future. Abaluck claims that lawmakers in favor of a ban on late-term abortions are not looking after protecting mothers. Instead, they are only trying to further their goal of banning all types of abortion. The author also claims that the recently passed ban on D & X abortions has a lot of gray area between which specific types of abortions are and are not allowed. There are two major groups of Congressmen who voted for this bill, which are those who oppose all types of abortion and those who oppose only late-term abortions. By passing this ban on late-term abortions, those who oppose all types of abortion are gaining momentum towards their goal of banning abortion in its entirety (Abaluck,