Abortion

An abortion is a medical or surgical procedure that ends a pregnancy. It is a highly controversial issue in the United States. Although the procedure has been legal in the country since 1973, the abortion rights battle rages on with supporters and opponents struggling to gain ground in public opinion, legislatures, and the courts. Behind the battles are divergent views on when human life begins, the rights a woman has over her own body, and government interference in the private lives of individuals. Despite the fact that abortion was illegal in the United States before 1973—except in extreme circumstances involving the health of the mother—many women were able to find someone who would help them end their pregnancy. Often performed by untrained individuals in unsanitary conditions, these illegal abortions harmed women physically, increased the risks associated with future pregnancies, and even resulted in death.

Taking Sides
Those strongly opposed to abortion call themselves "pro-life," suggesting that anyone in favor of abortion rights is "anti-life." Many of those who support the right to have an abortion call themselves "pro-choice," a term that refers to a woman's right to choose what she does with her body. While the pro-life side believes that "abortion is murder," pro-choice supporters say that those opposed to abortion are against free choice and the rights of women. Between these two extremes is a range of more moderate views. Many people who hold moderate views believe that abortion can be justified, even though there may be ethical concerns. Such concerns involve three basic issues: the status of the fetus, the rights of both a woman and a fetus, and whether the harm of restricting abortion outweighs the loss of life caused by abortions.

Basic Biological and Ethical Issues
A central issue in the abortion debate is the question of when a fetus becomes a person and acquires rights that protect it from harm. People in society have rights, and if a fetus is a person, then it, too, has rights, including the right to live. People hold sharply different views on whether or not a fetus should be protected. Many believe that life begins at conception, the moment when an egg is fertilized by a sperm. These people, who argue that even this earliest form of life has the same rights as a person, generally oppose abortion at any stage of pregnancy. Others claim that an embryo or fetus is not a person until the time of birth. Such a view, held by some pro-choice advocates, suggests that an embryo or a fetus has no rights to be protected. An intermediate point of view maintains that fetal rights begin at viability—the point at which a fetus can survive outside the mother's body with or without artificial support. Another ethical issue in the abortion debate concerns the rights of a pregnant woman versus the rights of the fetus. The idea of "choice"—that a woman has a right to choose what she does with her body—comes in here. But is this right greater than a fetus's right to life? Another aspect of this issue involves the question of the health and well-being of the pregnant woman. By the late 1800s in the United States, abortion was illegal in many states, except when it was necessary to save the life of the woman. By 1967, a number of states had modified their laws to allow abortion in cases of substantial risk to a woman's mental or physical health, cases of pregnancy resulting from rape or incest, and cases of a fetus with serious physical defects.