Abortion Rights and Right to Life Advocates

Abortion is a widely debated topic that has been around for hundreds or thousands of years. As long as women have been attempting to end unwanted pregnancies, the controversy of the ethical, moral, political, and legal issues revolving around terminations has been debated vehemently by individuals of all ages, genders, races, and cultures. Some individuals have accepted termination as a woman’s right to choose what happens to her body whereas other individuals think terminations should be considered illegal as the child’s life—albeit within the mother’s womb—is ended. Others believe politicians should not have the authorization to make laws regarding one’s medical treatment, although these same individuals believe termination is unethical. There are termination rights advocates and right to life advocates who lobby their particular beliefs to anyone who will listen.

Since the groundbreaking Roe versus Wade decision in the early 1970s, the United States government has determined terminations to be legal as long as administered by licensed physicians in clinics or offices that are held to proper medical standards. Recently, in late 2003, partial birth terminations—also known as dilate and extract terminations—were outlawed in a bill passed by both houses of congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush. Individuals have questioned if this bill goes against termination rights as previously determined by the Supreme Court’s Roe versus Wade decision. This bill bans partial birth abortions, usually the only options for women over 20 weeks of gestation, but required inserting a spike into the fetus’ skill and extracting the brains through a suction tube until the head compressed to a point that the discarded fetus could be expelled through the vaginal canal.

This law and the potential of others being passed have encouraged abortion rights advocates to further lobby their stance as pro choice. Additionally, the right to life advocates have further expanded their right to life campaign to counteract the opponent’s upgraded arguments. This debate is sure to rage on as politicians mull over passing more bills banning more and more forms of abortion and future politicians reverses these bans and again makes the once frowned upon forms of termination completely legal.

Also read our article about Abortion Protests