The State of Abortion Law and Policy in the United States (Essay Sample)

The State of Abortion Law and Policy in the United States
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The State of Abortion Law and Policy in the United States
Numerous debates have occurred throughout the years in the United States on the legality of abortion. Abortion is currently legal in the US with several exceptions and regulations being put in place to avoid this federal policy from being misinterpreted and exploited (Guttmacher, 2020). These regulations tend to vary in different states of America with each state laying a set of rules they feel are necessary when addressing abortion. The bottom line is that abortion in the United States is permitted before the fetal viability phase (BBC, 2019). Fetal viability simply means that the fetus is able to thrive outside the uterus hence making its termination an illegal act. The debate on abortion mostly revolves around three major groups of people, the general public (especially women), physicians and doctors, and the US law. These three entities have had a major influence on the abortion policies that are currently in place in the country.
Almost all of the states in America require the abortion to be carried out by a licensed physician (Guttmacher, 2020). 19 states require an abortion to be carried out in a hospital and 17 states require a second physician be involved for consultation purposes. A few of the states also dictate that abortion be carried out only if the life of the mother is at risk. In such a case, physicians are allowed to intervene and carry out an abortion (Guttmacher, 2020). Another major exception made for this policy is when a woman gets a pregnancy as a result of rape. In order for this consideration to be made, the woman is expected to show evidence that she was indeed sexually violated. In the year 2003, Bush signed a law that prohibits ‘partial-Birth Abortion’ as a way of curbing post-viable abortions (Adamczyk & Valdimarsdóttir, 2018). This law prohibits doctors from carrying out an abortion after delivering a living fetus. This law was greatly criticized by numerous activists in support of abortion with the argument that the term ‘partial-Birth Abortion’ was more political rather than medical.
On funding, different states have different approaches on how the abortion process is to be funded. 16 states use their own funding to carry out abortions which means that Medicaid enrollees are catered for. 33 states prohibit the state funding abortions with an exception of the life of the mother being in danger (Guttmacher, 2020). A good example is South Dakota that tends to limits its funding only in situations perceived to endanger the life of the mother. The Hyde amendment forbids states from using federal funding in carrying out abortions with an exception of the already stipulated scenarios. (rape, or if the pregnancy puts the life of the female at risk.) There are numerous organizations and non-profit groups that are constantly involved in maters to do with abortion (Adamczyk & Valdimarsdóttir, 2018). A good example is the National Abortion Federation (NAF). It was formed in the year 1977 after the Roe V. Wade case made a huge difference in the legality of abortion (Reagan, 1998). Their mission statement is to aid and support organizations all over America to ensure safe abortions. Examples of such organizations include, Planned Parenthood, Center for Reproductive Rights, and the American Civil Liberties Union. The most dominant non-profit organization is Planned Parenthood. It has numerous clinics and affiliates across several states in America. The main agenda behind these organizations is to simply ensure that women have access to abortion services that are safe and medically capable of carrying out the process.
After scrutinizing the information on the history and current state of abortion in America, one social science theory stands out the most, the health belief model. The health belief model is a social science theory that attempts to explain the behavior exhibited by human beings towards health. According to this model, people change their health behaviors only if they perceive themselves as currently being in danger (Luquis & Kensinger, 2018). For instance, a person is more likely to take up a healthy lifestyle if they discover that they are at imminent risk of being ill from a certain disease. In the case of abortion, the argument that those in support of the process put across is that it is better to have abortions legalized in order to avoid deaths from attempted back alley abortions. Research shows that mortality rates and the fact that women tend to encounter several risks during pregnancy prompted the push for legalizing abortions in America (Reagan, 1998). Due to this situation, more women came out in numbers to support legalizing abortions. Those who are against abortion argue that it is a form of ‘murder’ basing their argument on the unborn child (Reagan, 1998). Since the majority of those who support anti-abortion laws are hardly at risk of having to encounter such situations, they therefore fail to see why it is important to have laws that help facilitate abortions. Even though there are women amongst the anti-abortion movements in America, these women do not believe that an unwanted pregnancy is a life-threatening ordeal hence they end up not being in support of abortions. The health belief model is indeed a relevant theory when analyzing the arguments that activists on both sides present when pushing for their agenda.
The History of Abortion Law
Discussions on abortion dates back to the 1800’s when abortion was only legal before quickening. Quickening is defined as the stage whereby the mother is able to feel or perceive movements from the fetus during pregnancy (Reagan, 1998). During these times, abortions services were being advertised even in the newspapers where several medical practitioners offered services to ‘bring back the monthly period.’ During these times, abortion was not criminalized and a great number of women sought abortion services. During the later years of the 19th century, there was a growing concern on how abortions were being carried out in America. Research shows that the majority of those offering these services were hardly recognized by the American Medical Association (Reagan, 1998). At this time, the field of medicine was still growing and several practitioners were actually ‘self-proclaimed’ meaning their knowledge on medicine was not obtained from an institutional education rather from past studies conducted in this field. This prompted professional physicians recognized by the AMA to take action against those offering abortions without the body’s recognition.
Some sections of society and the current pioneers of the AMA at that time perceived abortion as an insanity. As a result, in the year 1857, anti-abortion movements began forming up to help end abortions permanently in America (Reagan, 1998). A notable move was banning research and information on abortion and a follow up in the form of abortion laws came to existence. The end of the 19th century marked the first ever abortion laws to be put in place in all the states of America (Reagan, 1998). Even though there were strict regulations to discourage abortion, there are reports of underground physicians who still practiced birth-control and abortion related studies and procedures. This state persisted for a very long time with the mortality rates of women during pregnancies increasing annually. After years and years of strict laws being placed on abortion, there was a notable shift in the argument behind this agenda.
The year 1973 is quite significant in the discussion of legalizing abortions in America. It was during this year that the Judicial system in America declared, several restrictions on abortion to be unconstitutional (Reagan, 1998). This was after a lengthy series of court cases by two major plaintiffs known by their pseudonyms: Jane Roe and Mary Doe. The Roe V. Wade case was raised by Jane Roe, a lady in Texas that sought to challenge the laws regulating abortions in that state ("Roe v. Wade.", 2020). Roe’s argument was that these laws pertaining to abortion were unconstitutional and they violated her right to privacy. At this time, Texas law stipulated that abortions only take place through a doctor’s order in order to save the life of the patient. Similar arguments were also observed in the Doe V. Bolton case. The lawsuit was against hospitals being accredited in order to carry out abortions, it was also against the Georgia law at the time that required women to be from Georgia in order to have an abortion, and finally it was also against the presence of a hospital committee approving an abortion ("Doe v. Bolton", 2020).
On 22nd January 1973, the Supreme court ruled in favor of both plaintiffs and declared the laws on abortion to be unconstitutional. This time is still remembered till date as a great milestone for activists that were in favor of abolition of abortion laws. The supreme court put forth several arguments regarding this matter justifying the decision. They argued that accrediting hospitals did not make the process any safer. This also means that the existence of a hospital committee to oversee maters regarding abortion redundant ("Doe v. Bolton", 2020). The other argument was that a right to privacy existed and women were in a position to decide whether or not they were to have an abortion. The final argument that helped speak on behalf of physicians in America was that abortion prevented them from practicing medicine and this did not resonate well in the medical community (Reagan, 1998). Doctors were barred from conducting abortions and were only acco...