History of Abortion in the USA
(Summary) by 4th grade Chiemi Yamano
Abortion is one of the biggest issues in American society today. It is said that there are about 1.37 million abortions per year, and this is about 3700 a day. Politicians are required to make clear whether they are for or against abortion. Even though it is legal to have abortion federally, it can be turned over by making state laws against abortion.
Why are Americans so concerned with the abortion issue? Why such a personal and private matter is publicly and politically discussed? These are the questions which motivated me to study abortion issue in the US. Abortion in America became legal in 1973 by a Roe versus Wade which is a US Supreme Court case. After this judgment, abortion became one of the most controversial issues in America. It divided the country into two sides: one is pro-choice and another is pro-life. Pro-choice is the term used for those who claim that women should have right to choose whether to have a baby or not. Pro-life is the term used for those who claim that mothers have no right to stop their children’s life and so that abortion should not be allowed in any case. In order to know why this division of pro-choice and pro-life occurred, we need to look at the history of abortion in the USA and how it was treated in each ages and societies.
First, I would like to look at the period until 19th century. Before 19th century, Americans adopted English Common Laws for judging sins. According to the common law, abortion before quickening was legal. And although abortion after quickening was illegal, only woman could know whether they had a quickening, so we can say that practically, there was no restriction against abortion. However, in early 19th century, written laws restricting abortion were made in about 10 states. And, through mid to late 19th century, Doctors hold out a campaign to ban abortion. The reason why doctors tried to forbid abortion was mainly because they wanted to build up their status as regular doctors. Doctors in this time were not as high ranked as today. They wanted to abolish midwives, Indian doctors, and unlicensed doctors from medical field. Their goal was achieved when laws banning abortion were settled in every state.
However, this situation changes in 1960s. Specialists such as doctors, lawyers, and Planned Parenthood, mobilize a movement for deregulation of abortion laws. They felt that reform of the law was needed because many women died from trying out dangerous and illegal abortion for them. At the same period, single issued associations were becoming popular in the country. Single issued associations are formed to achieve one goal, and when it is achieved, they dismiss. Many single issued associations were formed for the repeal of abortion laws. Also, at the same time, women’s movement was becoming popular, and when the single issued associations and women’s movement was connected, it formed a great force to repeal the abortion laws completely. These movements paid off in 1973 when Roe versus Wade case took place and abortion became legal.
This is the outline of the abortion history in the US up until 1973. Now, I would like to make clear how abortion was done during the period when abortion was illegal. First of all, it was done in hospitals. If you could afford to pay, you could get it done as a medical treatment. However, you had to rely on black market if you had no money or connection. It may be surprising, but some churches started services for abortion. This was to save poor women who can’t afford to raise their children and have no choice but to have dangerous abortion for themselves or count on black markets. Also, some women associations studied the course of abortion and made services for them. All of these services always had danger of being accused by police.
As I discussed earlier, deregulation of the abortion law became popular in 1960s. Why did this have to take place in 1960s? In order to answer this question, we need to look at the society of this time. This time of period had a trend of “equality” throughout the society. Civil rights movement is the good example of this. Also, there was a case known as Sherri Finkbein case. A woman named Sherri Finkbein takes thalidomide accidentally and tries to have an abortion in fear of having a handicapped child. However, this was not permitted. This called a great attention and sympathy by many women as a tragedy which attacked an ordinary, healthy, housewife. At this same time, there was a German measles epidemic going on, and this also called fear of many women. These are just some of the reasons why abortion issue became popular in 1960s.
Finally, I would like to discuss the modern issues concerning abortion. First is the political issue. As I mentioned in the beginning, there is a great debate whether a politician is for or against abortion. Also, it is a matter of the two parties, because most of the politicians in democratic party are pro-choice, when on the other hand, most of the politicians in republican party are pro-life. There is also religious issues concerning when the birth begins. Many pro-life believe birth begins when the fertilization occurs, and so that abortion at any stage is a murder. This is not only ethically wrong but also against the Bible’s words, “be fruitful and multiply.” For these issues, many clinics had been attacked, and some doctors who gave abortion were shot by some radicals.
This kind of problem is very difficult to solve, but by looking at history, I think we can at least try to have better understanding of both sides of the battle.
Questions and Answers Session
Q1. Why does this issue become popular?
A1. This is a religious issue. Religious issue is the biggest point.
It is imporatant to be regarded as "Good Christian".This means, whether to agree to abortion or not determines if the person is "Good Christian" (or not).
A2. This is a political issue as well. there's US supreme court judge in 1973. So, president always must get aware of the court and must do change the law or something like that.
So, this question leads to questions below.
Q2. Why does this issue have more influences on politics?
Q3. Why does this issue become more popular in a certain period?
Q4. What's the difference between US case and other countries' cases?
A3. In most European countries, abortion is illegal. Also, in some Asian countries, abortion is illegal. But, the structure of society is related with this. Some are traditional and some are not. And about Japan, the Japanese law itself is more strict than the US one.
summerized by Yanouchi
I think her presentation was also good. I could not get her partly, but her theme "abortion" would be so important problem in America and Japan. However, the difference between that problem of the US and Japan is based on religious things or not.
by Shoji Tsumura(4th grade)
I thought her explanation was very clear and easy to follow. And her subject was also interesting for me.
by U4 Kobata Rika
About Ms. Yamano’s presentation, “History of Abortion in the USA”, I have interest in the history of abortion. So I research the circumstance of abortion in England, France and German.
England―the fact that the member of over 18000 girls who don’t become the age of 18 experienced abortion became clear. That is to say, England has serious problem of abortion.
France―In 1974, the law which allow abortion was issued. There are many people who have the experience of abortion.
German―Abortion is decreasing in this country, lately.
by Kakeru Fujiwara