Roe v. Wade Thesis Statement Essay

Since the beginning of time, women have struggled to fully attain their right to their bodies ultimately explaining why women lack the voice to speak up for the choice to have an abortion or not during pregnancy. Because of the Women’s Rights Movement from 1848 to 1920, a new wave of social awareness was fostered as women fought for civil rights and women are learning to fight back and defend their rights to their bodies. Since its founding in 1920, the American Civil Liberties Union has recognized that a woman’s right to privacy and her reproductive rights are among the most important liberties that women have gained. The infamous case “Roe v. Wade” was a pivotal moment in the history of women’s abortion rights as women finally had a choice in whether or not an abortion was an ideal option for them. The Supreme Court invalidated the law on the grounds that the constitutional right to privacy encompasses a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy. As our nation progresses towards embracing our civil liberties, abortion is still a very prevalent issue within legislation under Trump’s reign, especially due to very conflicting perspectives on the controversial issue, and the union of like-minded citizens fighting for what they believe to be true.

Following the Civil Rights Movement, women felt inspired to use their right to assemble and they came together in hopes of fighting for women’s rights, which sparked a conversation about their reproductive rights. During the 18th century and until about 1880, abortions were allowed under common law and widely practiced and they were illegal only after the fetus was starting to move. As justified as their limitations were, determining whether or not the fetus is capable of surviving as seen as a “human” at that early a stage during a woman's pregnancy is somewhat difficult to decide early on when there was no concrete way to tell, other than one’s senses. But, with the progression of technology, we now have the resources to make that assumption in pure confidence. Even though Congress made abortions illegal in the 18th century, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an organization that is focused on sexual and reproductive rights for women, in the 1950s and 1960s, the estimated number of illegal abortions ranged from 200,000 to 1.2 million per year (Ravitz 29). Abortion, as evidence shows, outlawed or not will still occur because women genuinely have many personal reasons to justify their actions, therefore we as individuals must respect their personal rights. The critical period for advancing abortion rights for women was without a doubt, the “Roe v. Wade” case. The “Roe v. Wade” case finally gave women the right to by choice to follow through with an abortion, if necessary. In 1970, a woman whose identity is protected in legal documents, sued Henry Wade, her local District Attorney for violating her right to personal privacy by making abortions illegal unless a doctor orders a woman to have an abortion. By arguing that Wade was violating the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment that protects against individuals privacy being taken by the state, her constitutional right to privacy encompasses a woman's decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy and the state could not interfere with the abortion decision unless it had a compelling reason for regulation (Oyez Roe v. Wade 2). The legacy that this Supreme Court case has left on our nation is indescribable because women freely have the choice to decide for themselves and our civil rights are embodied in this law that strictly protects the female population from living in fear of having to experience a highly painful and illegal abortion. However with Donald Trump as president, we have progressed backward as “Trump and his administration have brought an ideologically motivated and aggressive campaign against women’s sexual and reproductive rights to the White House,” said Kinsey Hasstedt, a senior policy manager at the Guttmacher Institute (Belluz 6); meaning that many key positions in the current President’s administration team — from the White House to the Department of Health and Human Services — are filled by people who have a track record of anti-abortion legislation and advocacy. Trump’s right-hand man, Vice President Mike Pence, who restricted access to abortion while he was governor of Indiana, has been called a “one-man crusade” against Planned Parenthood and a top Trump adviser on health care, Katy Talento, an anti-abortion activist who has claimed that side effects of hormonal birth control include cancer and miscarriages (Belluz 14). Unfortunately, our President's administration is focused heavily on returning to a dark time in which women had no say in what happened to their bodies, and because of people like this that work towards passing laws that completely go against an individual’s freedom to choose, that we as a nation have fallen back to times where a woman's battle over their reproductive rights is still not over.

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Amid this debate between the two incredibly contrasting perspectives, abortion is a widespread issue that does not strictly just affect the individual. The reason women have abortions is that either the woman is not ready financially or emotionally, or simply the mother does not want their child living a life of fear, adversity, or even in an abusive household that cannot provide the necessary things for the development of a fetus to a child. In 1995, The American Law Institute (ALI) proposed a model penal code for state abortion laws that advocates legalizing abortion for reasons including the mental or physical health of the mother, pregnancy due to rape and incest, and fetal deformity (NRLC 1). The likelihood of a woman choosing to give up their right as a mother to the fetus for the sole reason of killing a living fetus is close to none. But, in the eyes of the law and the legislative body of our government, abortion is seen as murder rather than possibly saving a life of a child that would possibly live a life of constant hardships. Many of the women who consider making this life-changing decision for not only themselves but the fetus as well are not financially stable enough to support another person. According to the Pro-Life Action League, they oppose abortion because “abortion kills an innocent unborn child that is deemed equivalent to a human person at one of those early stages of human development through which each one of us passes before birth” (3). How can pro-lifers argue that killing an unborn innocent child is inhumane for any reason, but justify taking families away from these children that grew up in dreadful living conditions and either arrest the mother or not provide the resources necessary to take care of the child? In the eyes of pro-lifers, 'Heartbeat bills', as the term implies, seek to make abortion illegal as soon as “a fetus' heartbeat becomes detectable”. However, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says the name is misleading, and that what is being detected is 'a portion of the fetal tissue that will become the heart as the embryo develops' (BBC 6). Because of the Roe v. Wade case, medical professionals can deny a request to conduct an abortion for a patient, roughly around the second trimester, but often women either may not know they are pregnant until halfway through their first trimester and the initial shock is something that causes women to not come to a decision swiftly. The families that are affected by the right to an abortion ultimately save the life of an unborn child from living a life that would not benefit either party whatsoever. These kids may live a life in immense poverty, and the government provides no additional help for these low-income families because pro-lifers argue “abortion does not solve the deeper problems that have contributed to having an untimely pregnancy... The negative effects of abortion can compound these problems” (Pro-Life Action League 6). Women in this instance are blamed for either getting pregnant and not properly using contraceptives, or simply stating that “saving one life while killing the other” is still unjustified. Women in this vulnerable position just want a support system, but unfortunately either the government cannot fund that or doctors are silenced when asked for an abortion. Abortion is a restrictive right in the sense that women’s bodies are subject to disapproval and shame for a decision that she makes on their own will because either they cannot provide for a child or do not have the resources as President Trump today is attempting to strip women of their rights, disobeying the due process clause that was the very reason women gained the right to an abortion in the first place.

The trend of our nation relinquishing a women’s choice to abortion has organizations riled up and ready to come together and not only fight this battle for our female ancestors but the future leaders of America. Women are practicing their right to peacefully assemble as mentioned in the First Amendment in hopes of bringing awareness to the individual rights of a woman, and how it should remain that women get to choose what procedure they would want to follow regarding abortions. Women who disagree with the idea of abortions, come together with one common goal which is to educate the population of the “injustice” abortion serves to not only ourselves but the fetus as well. On January 22, 1974 thousands of pro-lifers participated in the first March for Life to represent and speak for those who are unable to. The program concluded with a “Circle of Life” march around the Capitol, followed by participants lobbying their Members of Congress. Soon after that first March in 1974, the originally anticipated one-time event would instead be held every year until Roe v. Wade was overturned (March for Life 1). The passion of these pro-lifers did not go unopposed as advocates for abortion rights also assemble to walk during the Women's March and to educate the population as to why women should have the right to make the decision for themselves regarding an abortion instead of others deciding for her own body. Pro-choice people are called “pro-choice” because they emphasize the importance of an individual making a decision for themselves where to go from an alarming situation. But, just because someone is pro-choice, does not mean that we advocate for the murder of innocent individuals. Rather, we believe that the choice lies in the hands of the mother of the child and that outside sources should not influence their conclusion as much as they intend to. Organizations such as “Planned Parenthood” and “NARAL Pro-Choice America” unite with one goal as each of their primary focuses is reproductive rights, specifically regarding abortion. For instance, when Alabama attempted to pass state legislation to nearly ban abortion as a whole in May of 2019, Planned Parenthood was quick to argue “We’re in the fight of our lives for our patient's lives and we are ready to fight with everything we have.” (Holpuch 4). The issue of abortion rights was significant during the era prior to Roe v. Wade and is still as significant today even with legislation by states being passed to retaliate the moment in time when women finally had a choice, a right that no other woman, man, anyone could take. These organizations as conflicting as they are, are all very passionate about defending the people, unborn or not, and the biggest lesson learned nearly 50 years following the Roe v. Wade case is that people are angry and want to see change. The bottom line is that because of like-minded individuals that form these groups, are the most influential in progressing towards abortion rights whether it be defending the fetus or the mother. Women are fighting back for what they believe in and embracing their individual rights as a woman that no one can take away from them.

The maltreatment of women and minimizing their ability to practice their constitutional rights is not unfamiliar to the women of the past, as this is still prevalent today. Moving forward from the Civil Rights Movement, Women’s Rights Movement, and the establishment of an option for women to choose. The right for a woman to have an abortion during pregnancy emphasizes the individual rights a woman has that no one else can take away from them. Regardless of legislation attempting to be passed that limits a woman's right to make that decision for herself, with very prominent conflicting ideologies pertaining to the issue of abortion, women have come together intending to embrace our civil liberties and to fight for what we believe in.