abortion background essay

A Brief History of Abortion in the U.S.

Abortion wasn’t always a moral, political, and legal tinderbox. What changed?

A bortion laws have never been more contentious in the U.S. Yet for the first century of the country’s existence—and most of human history before that—abortion was a relatively uncontroversial fact of life.

“Abortion has existed for pretty much as long as human beings have existed,” says Joanne Rosen, JD, MA , a senior lecturer in Health Policy and Management who studies the impact of law and policy on access to abortion.

Until the mid-19th century, the U.S. attitude toward abortion was much the same as it had often been elsewhere throughout history: It was a quiet reality, legal until “quickening” (when fetal motion could be felt by the mother). In the eyes of the law, the fetus wasn’t a “separate distinct entity until then,” but rather an extension of the mother, Rosen explains.

What changed?

America’s first anti-abortion movement wasn’t driven primarily by moral or religious concerns like it is today. Instead, abortion’s first major foe in the U.S. was physicians on a mission to regulate medicine.

Until this point, abortion services had been “women’s work.” Most providers were midwives, many of whom made a good living selling abortifacient plants. They relied on methods passed down through generations, from herbal abortifacients and pessaries—a tampon-like device soaked in a solution to induce abortion—to catheter abortions that irritate the womb and force a miscarriage, to a minor surgical procedure called dilation and curettage (D&C), which remains one of the most common methods of terminating an early pregnancy.

The cottage abortion industry caught the attention of the fledgling American Medical Association, which was established in 1847 and, at the time, excluded women and Black people from membership. The AMA was keen to be taken seriously as a gatekeeper of the medical profession, and abortion services made midwives and other irregular practitioners—so-called quacks—an easy target. Their rhetoric was strategic, says Mary Fissell, PhD , the J. Mario Molina professor in the Department of the History of Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. “You have to link those midwives to providing abortion as a way of kind of getting them out of business,” Fissell says. “So organized medicine very much takes the anti-abortion position and stays with that for some time.”

Early 19th century and before

Abortion is legal in the U.S. until “quickening”

AMA campaigns to end abortion

At least 40 anti-abortion statutes are enacted in the U.S.

Comstock Act makes it illegal to sell or mail contraceptives or abortifacients

Late 19th century

OB-GYN emerges as a specialty

Griswold v. Connecticut decision finds that the Constitution guarantees a right to privacy, specifically in prescribing contraceptives, paving the way for Roe v. Wade

Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade enshrines abortion as a constitutional right

Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey protects a woman's right to have an abortion prior to  fetal viability

Four states pass trigger laws making it a felony to perform, procure, or prescribe an abortion if Roe is ever overturned

Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey overturned; 13 states ban abortion by October 2022

In 1857, the AMA took aim at unregulated abortion providers with a letter-writing campaign pushing state lawmakers to ban the practice. To make their case, they asserted that there was a medical consensus that life begins at conception, rather than at quickening.

The campaign succeeded. At least 40 anti-abortion laws went on the books between 1860 and 1880.

And yet some doctors continued to perform abortions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By then, abortion was illegal in almost all states and territories, but during the Depression era, “doctors could see why women wouldn’t want a child,” and many would perform them anyway, Fissell says. In the 1920s and through the 1930s, many cities had physicians who specialized in abortions, and other doctors would refer patients to them “off book.”

That leniency faded with the end of World War II. “All across America, it’s very much about gender roles, and women are supposed to be in the home, having babies,” Fissell says. This shift in the 1940s and ’50s meant that more doctors were prosecuted for performing abortions, which drove the practice underground and into less skilled hands. In the 1950s and 1960s, up to 1.2 million illegal abortions were performed each year in the U.S., according to the Guttmacher Institute . In 1965, 17% of reported deaths attributed to pregnancy and childbirth were associated with illegal abortion.

A rubella outbreak from 1963–1965 moved the dial again, back toward more liberal abortion laws. Catching rubella during pregnancy could cause severe birth defects, leading medical authorities to endorse therapeutic abortions . But these safe, legal abortions remained largely the preserve of the privileged. “Women who are well-to-do have always managed to get abortions, almost always without a penalty,” says Fissell. “But God help her if she was a single, Black, working-class woman.”

Women who could afford it brought their cases to court to fight for access to hospital abortions. Other women gained approval for abortions with proof from a physician that carrying the pregnancy would endanger her life or her physical or mental health. These cases set off a wave of abortion reform bills in state legislatures that helped set the stage for Roe v. Wade . By the time Roe was decided in 1973, legal abortions were already available in 17 states—and not just to save a woman’s life.

But raising the issue to the level of the Supreme Court and enshrining abortion rights for all Americans also galvanized opposition to it and mobilized anti-abortion groups. “ Roe was under attack virtually from the moment it was decided,” says Rosen.  

In 1992 another Supreme Court case, Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey posed the most significant existential threat to Roe . Rosen calls it “the case that launched a thousand abortion regulations,” upholding Roe but giving states far greater scope to regulate abortion prior to fetal viability. However, defining that nebulous milestone a became a flashpoint for debate as medical advancements saw babies survive earlier and earlier outside the womb. Sonograms became routine around the same time, making fetal life easier to grasp and “putting wind in the sails of the ‘pro-life’ movement,” Rosen says. Then in June, the Supreme Court overturned both Roe and Casey .

For many Americans, that meant the return to the conundrum that led Norma McCorvey—a.k.a. Jane Roe—to the Supreme Court in 1971: being poor and pregnant, and seeking an abortion in a state that had banned them in all but the narrowest of circumstances.

The history of abortion in the U.S. suggests the tides will turn again. “We often see periods of toleration followed by periods of repression,” says Fissell. The current moment is unequivocally marked by the latter. What remains to be seen is how long it will last.

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• Six out of 10 unintended pregnancies end in induced abortion.
• Abortion is a common health intervention. It is very safe when carried out using a method recommended by WHO, appropriate to the pregnancy duration and by someone with the necessary skills.
• However, around 45% of abortions are unsafe.
• Unsafe abortion is an important preventable cause of maternal deaths and morbidities. It can lead to physical and mental health complications and social and financial burdens for women, communities and health systems.
• Lack of access to safe, timely, affordable and respectful abortion care is a critical public health and human rights issue.

Around 73 million induced abortions take place worldwide each year. Six out of 10 (61%) of all unintended pregnancies, and 3 out of 10 (29%) of all pregnancies, end in induced abortion (1) .

Comprehensive abortion care is included in the list of essential health care services published by WHO in 2020. Abortion is a simple health care intervention that can be safely and effectively managed by a wide range of health workers using medication or a surgical procedure. In the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, a medical abortion can also be safely self-managed by the pregnant person outside of a health care facility (e.g. at home), in whole or in part. This requires that the woman has access to accurate information, quality medicines and support from a trained health worker (if she needs or wants it during the process).

Comprehensive abortion care includes the provision of information, abortion management and post-abortion care. It encompasses care related to miscarriage (spontaneous abortion and missed abortion), induced abortion (the deliberate interruption of an ongoing pregnancy by medical or surgical means), incomplete abortion as well as intrauterine fetal demise.

The information in this fact sheet focuses on care related to induced abortion.

Scope of the problem

When carried out using a method recommended by WHO appropriate to the pregnancy duration, and by someone with the necessary skills, abortion is a safe health care intervention (5).

However, when people with unintended pregnancies face barriers to attaining safe, timely, affordable, geographically reachable, respectful and non-discriminatory abortion care, they often resort to unsafe abortion. 1

Global estimates from 2010–2014 demonstrate that 45% of all induced abortions are unsafe. Of all unsafe abortions, one third were performed under the least safe conditions, i.e. by untrained persons using dangerous and invasive methods.  More than half of all these unsafe abortions occurred in Asia, most of them in south and central Asia. In Latin American and Africa, the majority (approximately 3 out of 4) of all abortions were unsafe. In Africa, nearly half of all abortions occurred under the least safe circumstances (3) .

Consequences of inaccessible quality abortion care

Lack of access to safe, affordable, timely and respectful abortion care, and the stigma associated with abortion, pose risks to women’s physical and mental well-being throughout the life-course.

Inaccessibility of quality abortion care risks violating a range of human rights of women and girls, including the right to life; the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; the right to benefit from scientific progress and its realization; the right to decide freely and responsibly on the number, spacing and timing of children; and the right to be free from torture, cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and punishment.

One review from 2003–12, found that 4.7-13% of maternal deaths were linked to abortive pregnancy outcomes (4) but noted that maternal deaths due to abortion, and more specifically unsafe abortion, are often misclassified and underreported given the stigma. 

Deaths from safe abortion are negligible, <1/100 000 (5). On the other hand, in regions where unsafe abortions are common, the death rates are high, at > 200/100 000 abortions. Estimates from 2012 indicate that in developing countries alone, 7 million women per year were treated in hospital facilities for complications of unsafe abortion (6) .

Physical health risks associated with unsafe abortion include:

• incomplete abortion (failure to remove or expel all pregnancy tissue from the uterus);
• haemorrhage (heavy bleeding);
• uterine perforation (caused when the uterus is pierced by a sharp object); and
• damage to the genital tract and internal organs as a consequence of inserting dangerous objects into the vagina or anus.

Restrictive abortion regulation can cause distress and stigma, and risk constituting a violation of human rights of women and girls, including the right to privacy and the right to non-discrimination and equality, while also imposing financial burdens on women and girls. Regulations that force women to travel to attain legal care, or require mandatory counselling or waiting periods, lead to loss of income and other financial costs, and can make abortion inaccessible to women with low resources (6,8) .

Estimates from 2006 show that complications of unsafe abortions cost health systems in developing countries US$ 553 million per year for post-abortion treatments. In addition, households experienced US$ 922 million in loss of income due to long-term disability related to unsafe abortion (10) . Countries and health systems could make substantial monetary savings by providing greater access to modern contraception and quality induced abortion (8,9) .

Expanding quality abortion care

Evidence shows that restricting access to abortions does not reduce the number of abortions (1) ; however, it does affect whether the abortions that women and girls attain are safe and dignified. The proportion of unsafe abortions are significantly higher in countries with highly restrictive abortion laws than in countries with less restrictive laws (2) .

Barriers to accessing safe and respectful abortion include high costs, stigma for those seeking abortions and health care workers, and the refusal of health workers to provide an abortion based on personal conscience or religious belief. Access is further impeded by restrictive laws and requirements that are not medically justified, including criminalization of abortion, mandatory waiting periods, provision of biased information or counselling, third-party authorization and restrictions regarding the type of health care providers or facilities that can provide abortion services.

Multiple actions are needed at the legal, health system and community levels so that everyone who needs abortion care has access to it. The three cornerstones of an enabling environment for quality comprehensive abortion care are:

• respect for human rights, including a supportive framework of law and policy;
• the availability and accessibility of information; and
• a supportive, universally accessible, affordable and well functioning health system.

A well-functioning health system implies many factors, including:

• evidence-based policies;
• universal health coverage;
• the reliable supply of quality, affordable medical products and equipment;
• that an adequate number of health workers, of different types, provide abortion care at a reachable distance to patients; 
• the delivery of abortion care through a variety of approaches, e.g. care in health facilities, digital interventions and self-care approaches, allowing for choices depending on the values and preferences of the pregnant person, available resources, and the national and local context;
• that health workers are trained to provide safe and respectful abortion care, to support informed decision-making and to interpret laws and policies regulating abortion;
• that health workers are supported and protected from stigma; and
• provision of contraception to prevent unintended pregnancies.

Availability and accessibility of information implies:

• provision of evidence-based comprehensive sexuality education; and
• accurate, non-biased and evidence-based information on abortion and contraceptive methods.

WHO response

WHO provides global technical and policy guidance on the use of contraception to prevent unintended pregnancy, provision of information on abortion care, abortion management (including miscarriage, induced abortion, incomplete abortion and fetal death) and post-abortion care. In 2022, WHO published an updated, consolidated guideline on abortion care, including all WHO recommendations and best practice statements across three domains essential to the provision of abortion care: law and policy, clinical services and service delivery. 

WHO also maintains the Global Abortion Policies Database . This interactive online database contains comprehensive information on the abortion laws, policies, health standards and guidelines for all countries. 

Upon request, WHO provides technical support to countries to adapt sexual and reproductive health guidelines to specific contexts and strengthen national policies and programmes related to contraception and safe abortion care. A quality abortion care monitoring and evaluation framework is also in development.

WHO is a cosponsor of the HRP (UNDP/UNFPA/UNICEF/WHO/World Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction) , which carries out research on clinical care, abortion regulation, abortion stigma, as well as implementation research on community and health systems approaches to quality abortion care. It also monitors the global burden of unsafe abortion and its consequences.

1 An “unsafe abortion” is defined as a procedure for terminating a pregnancy performed by persons lacking the necessary information or skills or in an environment not in conformity with minimal medical standards, or both. The persons, skills and medical standards considered safe in the provision of abortion are different for medical and surgical abortion and by pregnancy duration. In using this definition, what is considered ‘safe’ or unsafe needs to be interpreted in line with the most current WHO technical and policy guidance (2).

(1) Bearak J, Popinchalk A, Ganatra B, Moller A-B, Tunçalp Ö, Beavin C et al. Unintended pregnancy and abortion by income, region, and the legal status of abortion: estimates from a comprehensive model for 1990–2019. Lancet Glob Health. 2020 Sep; 8(9):e1152-e1161. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(20)30315-6. 

(2) Ganatra B, Tunçalp Ö, Johnston H, Johnson BR, Gülmezoglu A, Temmerman M. From concept to measurement: Operationalizing WHO's definition of unsafe abortion. Bull World Health Organ 2014;92:155; 10.2471/BLT.14.136333.

(3) Ganatra B, Gerdts C, Rossier C, Johnson Jr B R, Tuncalp Ö, Assifi A et al. Global, regional, and subregional classification of abortions by safety, 2010–14: estimates from a Bayesian hierarchical model. The Lancet. 2017 Sep.

(4) Say L, Chou D, Gemmill A, Tunçalp Ö, Moller AB, Daniels J et al. Global causes of maternal death: a WHO systematic analysis. Lancet Glob Health. 2014 Jun; 2(6):e323-33.

(5) Raymond EG, Grimes DA. The comparative safety of legal induced abortion and childbirth in the United States. Obstet Gynecol. 2012 Feb;119(2 Pt 1):215-9. doi: 10.1097/AOG.0b013e31823fe923. PMID: 22270271.

(6) Singh S, Maddow-Zimet I. Facility-based treatment for medical complications resulting from unsafe pregnancy termination in the developing world, 2012: a review of evidence from 26 countries. BJOG 2015; published online Aug 19. DOI:10.1111/1471-0528.13552.

(7) Coast E, Lattof SR, Meulen Rodgers YV, Moore B, Poss C. The microeconomics of abortion: A scoping review and analysis of the economic consequences for abortion care-seekers. PLoS One. 2021 Jun 9;16(6):e0252005. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0252005. PMID: 34106927; PMCID: PMC8189560.

(8) Lattof SR, Coast E, Rodgers YVM, Moore B, Poss C. The mesoeconomics of abortion: A scoping review and analysis of the economic effects of abortion on health systems. PLoS One. 2020 Nov 4;15(11):e0237227. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0237227. PMID: 33147223; PMCID: PMC7641432.

(9) Rodgers YVM, Coast E, Lattof SR, Poss C, Moore B. The macroeconomics of abortion: A scoping review and analysis of the costs and outcomes. PLoS One. 2021 May 6;16(5):e0250692. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0250692. PMID: 33956826; PMCID: PMC8101771.

(10). Vlassoff et al. Economic impact of unsafe abortion-related morbidity and mortality: evidence and estimation challenges. Brighton, Institute of Development Studies, 2008 (IDS Research Reports 59).

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• Classification of abortions by safety: article in The Lancet
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• Maintaining essential health services during the COVID-19 outbreak
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Key facts about the abortion debate in America

The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2022 ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade – the decision that had guaranteed a constitutional right to an abortion for nearly 50 years – has shifted the legal battle over abortion to the states, with some prohibiting the procedure and others moving to safeguard it.

As the nation’s post-Roe chapter begins, here are key facts about Americans’ views on abortion, based on two Pew Research Center polls: one conducted from June 25-July 4 , just after this year’s high court ruling, and one conducted in March , before an earlier leaked draft of the opinion became public.

This analysis primarily draws from two Pew Research Center surveys, one surveying 10,441 U.S. adults conducted March 7-13, 2022, and another surveying 6,174 U.S. adults conducted June 27-July 4, 2022. Here are the questions used for the March survey , along with responses, and the questions used for the survey from June and July , along with responses.

Everyone who took part in these surveys is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories.  Read more about the ATP’s methodology .

A majority of the U.S. public disapproves of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe. About six-in-ten adults (57%) disapprove of the court’s decision that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee a right to abortion and that abortion laws can be set by states, including 43% who strongly disapprove, according to the summer survey. About four-in-ten (41%) approve, including 25% who strongly approve.

About eight-in-ten Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (82%) disapprove of the court’s decision, including nearly two-thirds (66%) who strongly disapprove. Most Republicans and GOP leaners (70%) approve , including 48% who strongly approve.

Most women (62%) disapprove of the decision to end the federal right to an abortion. More than twice as many women strongly disapprove of the court’s decision (47%) as strongly approve of it (21%). Opinion among men is more divided: 52% disapprove (37% strongly), while 47% approve (28% strongly).

About six-in-ten Americans (62%) say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to the summer survey – little changed since the March survey conducted just before the ruling. That includes 29% of Americans who say it should be legal in all cases and 33% who say it should be legal in most cases. About a third of U.S. adults (36%) say abortion should be illegal in all (8%) or most (28%) cases.

Generally, Americans’ views of whether abortion should be legal remained relatively unchanged in the past few years , though support fluctuated somewhat in previous decades.

Relatively few Americans take an absolutist view on the legality of abortion – either supporting or opposing it at all times, regardless of circumstances. The March survey found that support or opposition to abortion varies substantially depending on such circumstances as when an abortion takes place during a pregnancy, whether the pregnancy is life-threatening or whether a baby would have severe health problems.

While Republicans’ and Democrats’ views on the legality of abortion have long differed, the 46 percentage point partisan gap today is considerably larger than it was in the recent past, according to the survey conducted after the court’s ruling. The wider gap has been largely driven by Democrats: Today, 84% of Democrats say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, up from 72% in 2016 and 63% in 2007. Republicans’ views have shown far less change over time: Currently, 38% of Republicans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, nearly identical to the 39% who said this in 2007.

However, the partisan divisions over whether abortion should generally be legal tell only part of the story. According to the March survey, sizable shares of Democrats favor restrictions on abortion under certain circumstances, while majorities of Republicans favor abortion being legal in some situations , such as in cases of rape or when the pregnancy is life-threatening.

There are wide religious divides in views of whether abortion should be legal , the summer survey found. An overwhelming share of religiously unaffiliated adults (83%) say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, as do six-in-ten Catholics. Protestants are divided in their views: 48% say it should be legal in all or most cases, while 50% say it should be illegal in all or most cases. Majorities of Black Protestants (71%) and White non-evangelical Protestants (61%) take the position that abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while about three-quarters of White evangelicals (73%) say it should be illegal in all (20%) or most cases (53%).

In the March survey, 72% of White evangelicals said that the statement “human life begins at conception, so a fetus is a person with rights” reflected their views extremely or very well . That’s much greater than the share of White non-evangelical Protestants (32%), Black Protestants (38%) and Catholics (44%) who said the same. Overall, 38% of Americans said that statement matched their views extremely or very well.

Catholics, meanwhile, are divided along religious and political lines in their attitudes about abortion, according to the same survey. Catholics who attend Mass regularly are among the country’s strongest opponents of abortion being legal, and they are also more likely than those who attend less frequently to believe that life begins at conception and that a fetus has rights. Catholic Republicans, meanwhile, are far more conservative on a range of abortion questions than are Catholic Democrats.

Women (66%) are more likely than men (57%) to say abortion should be legal in most or all cases, according to the survey conducted after the court’s ruling.

More than half of U.S. adults – including 60% of women and 51% of men – said in March that women should have a greater say than men in setting abortion policy . Just 3% of U.S. adults said men should have more influence over abortion policy than women, with the remainder (39%) saying women and men should have equal say.

The March survey also found that by some measures, women report being closer to the abortion issue than men . For example, women were more likely than men to say they had given “a lot” of thought to issues around abortion prior to taking the survey (40% vs. 30%). They were also considerably more likely than men to say they personally knew someone (such as a close friend, family member or themselves) who had had an abortion (66% vs. 51%) – a gender gap that was evident across age groups, political parties and religious groups.

Relatively few Americans view the morality of abortion in stark terms , the March survey found. Overall, just 7% of all U.S. adults say having an abortion is morally acceptable in all cases, and 13% say it is morally wrong in all cases. A third say that having an abortion is morally wrong in most cases, while about a quarter (24%) say it is morally acceptable in most cases. An additional 21% do not consider having an abortion a moral issue.

Among Republicans, most (68%) say that having an abortion is morally wrong either in most (48%) or all cases (20%). Only about three-in-ten Democrats (29%) hold a similar view. Instead, about four-in-ten Democrats say having an abortion is morally  acceptable  in most (32%) or all (11%) cases, while an additional 28% say it is not a moral issue. 

White evangelical Protestants overwhelmingly say having an abortion is morally wrong in most (51%) or all cases (30%). A slim majority of Catholics (53%) also view having an abortion as morally wrong, but many also say it is morally acceptable in most (24%) or all cases (4%), or that it is not a moral issue (17%). Among religiously unaffiliated Americans, about three-quarters see having an abortion as morally acceptable (45%) or not a moral issue (32%).

• Religion & Abortion

Carrie Blazina is a former digital producer at Pew Research Center .

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Support for legal abortion is widespread in many places, especially in europe, public opinion on abortion, americans overwhelmingly say access to ivf is a good thing, broad public support for legal abortion persists 2 years after dobbs, most popular.

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How the Right to Legal Abortion Changed the Arc of All Women’s Lives

I’ve never had an abortion. In this, I am like most American women. A frequently quoted statistic from a recent study by the Guttmacher Institute, which reports that one in four women will have an abortion before the age of forty-five, may strike you as high, but it means that a large majority of women never need to end a pregnancy. (Indeed, the abortion rate has been declining for decades, although it’s disputed how much of that decrease is due to better birth control, and wider use of it, and how much to restrictions that have made abortions much harder to get.) Now that the Supreme Court seems likely to overturn Roe v. Wade sometime in the next few years—Alabama has passed a near-total ban on abortion, and Ohio, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Missouri have passed “heartbeat” bills that, in effect, ban abortion later than six weeks of pregnancy, and any of these laws, or similar ones, could prove the catalyst—I wonder if women who have never needed to undergo the procedure, and perhaps believe that they never will, realize the many ways that the legal right to abortion has undergirded their lives.

Legal abortion means that the law recognizes a woman as a person. It says that she belongs to herself. Most obviously, it means that a woman has a safe recourse if she becomes pregnant as a result of being raped. (Believe it or not, in some states, the law allows a rapist to sue for custody or visitation rights.) It means that doctors no longer need to deny treatment to pregnant women with certain serious conditions—cancer, heart disease, kidney disease—until after they’ve given birth, by which time their health may have deteriorated irretrievably. And it means that non-Catholic hospitals can treat a woman promptly if she is having a miscarriage. (If she goes to a Catholic hospital, she may have to wait until the embryo or fetus dies. In one hospital, in Ireland, such a delay led to the death of a woman named Savita Halappanavar, who contracted septicemia. Her case spurred a movement to repeal that country’s constitutional amendment banning abortion.)

The legalization of abortion, though, has had broader and more subtle effects than limiting damage in these grave but relatively uncommon scenarios. The revolutionary advances made in the social status of American women during the nineteen-seventies are generally attributed to the availability of oral contraception, which came on the market in 1960. But, according to a 2017 study by the economist Caitlin Knowles Myers, “The Power of Abortion Policy: Re-Examining the Effects of Young Women’s Access to Reproductive Control,” published in the Journal of Political Economy , the effects of the Pill were offset by the fact that more teens and women were having sex, and so birth-control failure affected more people. Complicating the conventional wisdom that oral contraception made sex risk-free for all, the Pill was also not easy for many women to get. Restrictive laws in some states barred it for unmarried women and for women under the age of twenty-one. The Roe decision, in 1973, afforded thousands upon thousands of teen-agers a chance to avoid early marriage and motherhood. Myers writes, “Policies governing access to the pill had little if any effect on the average probabilities of marrying and giving birth at a young age. In contrast, policy environments in which abortion was legal and readily accessible by young women are estimated to have caused a 34 percent reduction in first births, a 19 percent reduction in first marriages, and a 63 percent reduction in ‘shotgun marriages’ prior to age 19.”

Access to legal abortion, whether as a backup to birth control or not, meant that women, like men, could have a sexual life without risking their future. A woman could plan her life without having to consider that it could be derailed by a single sperm. She could dream bigger dreams. Under the old rules, inculcated from girlhood, if a woman got pregnant at a young age, she married her boyfriend; and, expecting early marriage and kids, she wouldn’t have invested too heavily in her education in any case, and she would have chosen work that she could drop in and out of as family demands required.

In 1970, the average age of first-time American mothers was younger than twenty-two. Today, more women postpone marriage until they are ready for it. (Early marriages are notoriously unstable, so, if you’re glad that the divorce rate is down, you can, in part, thank Roe.) Women can also postpone childbearing until they are prepared for it, which takes some serious doing in a country that lacks paid parental leave and affordable childcare, and where discrimination against pregnant women and mothers is still widespread. For all the hand-wringing about lower birth rates, most women— eighty-six per cent of them —still become mothers. They just do it later, and have fewer children.

Most women don’t enter fields that require years of graduate-school education, but all women have benefitted from having larger numbers of women in those fields. It was female lawyers, for example, who brought cases that opened up good blue-collar jobs to women. Without more women obtaining law degrees, would men still be shaping all our legislation? Without the large numbers of women who have entered the medical professions, would psychiatrists still be telling women that they suffered from penis envy and were masochistic by nature? Would women still routinely undergo unnecessary hysterectomies? Without increased numbers of women in academia, and without the new field of women’s studies, would children still be taught, as I was, that, a hundred years ago this month, Woodrow Wilson “gave” women the vote? There has been a revolution in every field, and the women in those fields have led it.

It is frequently pointed out that the states passing abortion restrictions and bans are states where women’s status remains particularly low. Take Alabama. According to one study , by almost every index—pay, workforce participation, percentage of single mothers living in poverty, mortality due to conditions such as heart disease and stroke—the state scores among the worst for women. Children don’t fare much better: according to U.S. News rankings , Alabama is the worst state for education. It also has one of the nation’s highest rates of infant mortality (only half the counties have even one ob-gyn), and it has refused to expand Medicaid, either through the Affordable Care Act or on its own. Only four women sit in Alabama’s thirty-five-member State Senate, and none of them voted for the ban. Maybe that’s why an amendment to the bill proposed by State Senator Linda Coleman-Madison was voted down. It would have provided prenatal care and medical care for a woman and child in cases where the new law prevents the woman from obtaining an abortion. Interestingly, the law allows in-vitro fertilization, a procedure that often results in the discarding of fertilized eggs. As Clyde Chambliss, the bill’s chief sponsor in the state senate, put it, “The egg in the lab doesn’t apply. It’s not in a woman. She’s not pregnant.” In other words, life only begins at conception if there’s a woman’s body to control.

Indifference to women and children isn’t an oversight. This is why calls for better sex education and wider access to birth control are non-starters, even though they have helped lower the rate of unwanted pregnancies, which is the cause of abortion. The point isn’t to prevent unwanted pregnancy. (States with strong anti-abortion laws have some of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in the country; Alabama is among them.) The point is to roll back modernity for women.

So, if women who have never had an abortion, and don’t expect to, think that the new restrictions and bans won’t affect them, they are wrong. The new laws will fall most heavily on poor women, disproportionately on women of color, who have the highest abortion rates and will be hard-pressed to travel to distant clinics.

But without legal, accessible abortion, the assumptions that have shaped all women’s lives in the past few decades—including that they, not a torn condom or a missed pill or a rapist, will decide what happens to their bodies and their futures—will change. Women and their daughters will have a harder time, and there will be plenty of people who will say that they were foolish to think that it could be otherwise.

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Argumentative Essay Outline on Abortion

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Published: Mar 13, 2024

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Introduction, thesis statement, paragraph 1: the right to bodily autonomy, paragraph 2: the health and safety of women, paragraph 3: reproductive freedom and economic justice.

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Reproductive rights in America

The movement against abortion rights is nearing its apex. but it began way before roe.

Deepa Shivaram

Activists Lori Gordon (R) and Tammie Miller (L) of Payne, Ohio, take part in the annual "March for Life" event January 22, 2002 in Washington, D.C. Alex Wong/Getty Images hide caption

Activists Lori Gordon (R) and Tammie Miller (L) of Payne, Ohio, take part in the annual "March for Life" event January 22, 2002 in Washington, D.C.

The Supreme Court ruled on Roe v. Wade in 1973, saying that access to abortion was protected in the United States.

The decision fueled the anti-abortion movement and congealed it, too. Prior to Roe , anti-abortion activists were operating on a state level, but the Supreme Court's ruling turned the movement into a national one.

In the decades before the decision, opposition to abortion was a fairly bipartisan issue. In fact, many Democrats in elected positions were likely to oppose unrestricting abortion access because many represented Catholics, who were largely opposed to abortion. But even then, it wasn't a politically charged topic.

Now, the Court appears to be on the verge of overturning the right to an abortion, bringing a movement that transformed American politics over the past half century to its apex.

In the past decade, Donald Trump was able to win the White House in no small part because he galvinized conservative evangelicals by pledging to appoint Supreme Court justices that would overturn Roe . It was a promise he fulfilled, even though Trump had previously supported abortion rights .

What conservative justices said — and didn't say — about Roe at their confirmations

But the history of organized opposition to abortion access started more than a century before Roe v. Wade , with roots in British common law.

Restricting abortion actually began with doctors

In the early days of the country, laws often reflected British common law, and when it came to abortion, the process was determined by quickening. Quickening meant the moment the pregnant person could feel the fetus move, which typically happened between the fourth and six month of pregnancy. At that time, it was the only way to truly confirm the pregnancy, so the thought of life beginning at conception wasn't a factor at all.

Ending the pregnancy after the quickening period was considered illegal, but was just a misdemeanor. And even then, it was hard to prosecute because it was only the pregnant person who could attest to whether or not the fetus had moved. Abortions were accessible and largely without stigma at this time.

Here's what could happen now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade

But close to the mid 1800s, some doctors, who at the time were a mostly unorganized profession, sought to separate themselves from the healers and midwives who were also performing abortions. Doctors didn't have as much medical or institutional authority as they do today, and some in the profession pushed states to pass anti-abortion laws in order to tamp down on competition. These physicians, all of whom were men and who were backed by the newly founded American Medical Association , argued that they had more knowledge on embryos and that the heightened medical knowledge was necessary to determine when life began.

It should be noted, though, that this claim of advanced knowledge didn't actually exist in the medical community. Historians note that this argument was mostly used as a way to take away women's bodily autonomy. Now, it was a doctor who could interpret their medical condition, rather than just relying on whether the pregnant individual could feel the fetus move.

Their efforts worked. By the early 1900s, every state had made abortion illegal, though there were exceptions made if the life of the pregnant person was at risk.

What happens next, in the decades leading up to Roe v. Wade?

In terms of the movement, mostly nothing.

In these decades leading up to Roe , abortion was for the most part illegal. Because of that, seeking abortions also became extremely dangerous, particularly for low-income pregnant people and people of color , especially Black women.

In 1930, abortion was listed as the official cause of death for almost 2,700 women in the United States, though there were likely many more deaths that did not get recorded. In the 1940s when antibiotics were introduced, fewer were dying from illegal abortions, but thousands were still admitted into the hospital due to medical complications.

The political consequences of the Supreme Court's leaked draft opinion on abortion

By the middle of the 1960s, some states like Colorado liberalized their abortion laws, and anti-abortion movements started to crop up on the state level. But it was still not nationally talked about, or even politicized, the way it started to become in the 1970s.

How did the movement change after Roe v. Wade in 1973?

In a short answer, it changed a lot.

"All of a sudden, it moves from a movement in the states that are liberalizing to a nationwide movement," Jennifer Holland, a professor at the University of Oklahoma and scholar on the anti-abortion movement, tells NPR.

"They are able to point to sort of an oppressive federal government... and it really feeds into the argument that the United States is on a slippery slope toward genocide and fascism," Holland said, referring to language often used by the anti-abortion movement.

Members of a Right to Life committee holding a banner reading 'Stop the slaughter now!' and a placard reading 'The Supreme Court Injustice' during a protest, location unspecified, 1974. Peter Keegan/Getty Images hide caption

Members of a Right to Life committee holding a banner reading 'Stop the slaughter now!' and a placard reading 'The Supreme Court Injustice' during a protest, location unspecified, 1974.

Holland says that at this point, the anti-abortion movement strategically cast itself as a "rights campaign" and started to compare abortion to the Holocaust and the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, which ruled that Black people in the U.S. did not have constitutional rights.

"With Roe , the movement is able to grasp on to a federal oppressor, as an entity that is... allowing genocide to be enacted," Holland said.

And then, the Republican Party gets involved

By the mid-1970s, the anti-abortion movement becomes far more partisan.

In 1976, the Republican Party added an anti-abortion stance in their party platform. And that's when they start to enlist more evangelicals into the anti-abortion movement, which was critical for the movement's expansion.

Through the 1980s, Republican leaders such as Ronald Reagan won in elections thanks to the anti-abortion movement. The Supreme Court also ruled on Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey in 1992, making it easier for states to pass more restrictive abortion laws. By 1996, 86% of all counties in the U.S. did not have a known abortion provider.

The NPR Politics Podcast

The docket: after a half century, roe v. wade faces an uncertain future.

From the late 1990s into the early 2000s, socially conservative leaders like James Dobson start to become more critical of the Republican Party. For example, they didn't want Reagan to nominate Sandra Day O'Connor to the Supreme Court because she wasn't in line with the movement, but Reagan nominated her anyway.

"In the late 90s, you have all these big socially conservative leaders who say: no more... We don't agree in a big tent party," Holland said

"You really see the power of the anti-abortion movement to not only be a part of a party, but to really remake a party. And demand political uniformity on this issue," she said.

Through the end of the 20th century and the decades since, there's been a concerted effort from Republicans to prioritize abortion restrictions in legislation and judicial appointees. Conservative organizations such as the Federalist Society have heavily influenced who leaders like former President Trump nominate to the courts. Trump pledged to select nominees off a list provided by the group, which has in part led to the conservative supermajority on the Supreme Court today.

Former President Donald Trump galvizined support among conservative evangelicals by pledging to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade, even though he had previously supported abortion rights. OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Former President Donald Trump galvizined support among conservative evangelicals by pledging to appoint Supreme Court justices who would overturn Roe v. Wade, even though he had previously supported abortion rights.

In the year 2022, where does the movement stand? How popular is banning abortion?

The Supreme Court's draft opinion that leaked Monday night effectively achieves what the anti-abortion movement has been aiming for for decades. But in public opinion, it's not a popular move at all.

Several polls from the last few years show that a majority of Americans do not support banning abortion. For example a recent poll from ABC/Washington Post shows that 54% think Roe v. Wade should be upheld and only 28% say it should be overturned; 18% said they had no opinion.

The unpopularity of overturning Roe isn't a new finding, either. Polling from CNN going back to 1989 shows that the percentage of Americans who support overturning Roe has never risen above 36%.

So right now, the Supreme Court is set to change a ruling that most Americans want to keep in place.

• anti abortion
• evangelical politics
• Roe v. Wade
• reproductive health

Abortion Is Central to the History of Reproductive Health Care in America

These days, restrictions on abortion are being passed so often that it can be easy to forget abortion has been legal for much of American history.

Abortion: Solidly Rooted in America’s History

Leaders didn’t outlaw abortion in America until the mid-1800s. From colonial days until those first laws, abortion was a regular part of life for women. Common law allowed abortion prior to “ quickening ” — an archaic term for fetal movement that usually happens after around four months of pregnancy.

Medical literature and newspapers in the late 1700s and early 1800s regularly referred to herbs and medications as abortion-inducing methods, since surgical procedures were rare. Reproductive care including abortion was unregulated in those days; it was provided by skilled midwives, nurses, and other unlicensed women’s health care providers. Midwives were trusted, legitimate medical professionals who provided essential reproductive health care.

Prior to the Civil War, white men were not generally involved in the kind of gynecological or obstetric, or OB/GYN, practices we know today. Half of the women who provided reproductive care were Black women, some of whom were enslaved; midwives also included Indigenous and white women, according to an essay by Michele Goodwin, a law professor at the University of California-Irvine.

Abortion was frequently practiced in North America during the period from 1600 to 1900. Many tribal societies knew how to induce abortions... During the 1860s a number of states passed anti-abortion laws. Most of these laws were ambiguous and difficult to enforce. After 1860 stronger anti-abortion laws were passed and these laws were more vigorously enforced. As a result, many women began to utilize illegal underground abortion services. — Alliance for Perinatal Research and Services (1979)

Rules Banning Abortion for Enslaved Black Women

It is clear to see how deeply abortion bans are rooted in white supremacy and patriarchal strongholds when we look at the history of Black women in this country. The tradition of disregarding the humanity of Black people is part of more than 400 years of white supremacist systems in America. Although abortion was legal throughout the country until after the Civil War, there were different rules for enslaved Black women than for white women. Enslaved Black women were valuable property. They didn’t have the freedom to control their bodies, and slave owners prohibited them from having abortions .

Under the law, white men owned Black women’s bodies. So, enslaved women who had access to emmenagogic herbs — plants used to stimulate menstruation — had to make remedies to induce their own abortions in secret.

When slavery was abolished in 1865, the societal control over Black women’s bodies remained. Today, our white supremacist culture judges Black women for both having children and for having abortions — besetting them with blame for virtually any decision they make and any form of agency they take about their bodies.

The Racist History of Abortion and Midwifery Bans: Today’s attacks on abortion access have a long history rooted in white supremacy. By Michele Goodwin, Chancellor's Professor of Law, U.C. Irvine (via ACLU)

The Rise of Laws Banning Abortion in the U.S.

Starting around the time of the Civil War, a coalition of male doctors — with the support of the Catholic Church and others who wanted to control women’s bodies — led a movement to push state governments to outlaw abortion across the board. The male-dominated medical profession wanted to take authority from the female-dominated profession of midwives, including the authority to provide abortion.

By 1910, abortion was banned nationwide. However, those with means — specifically wealthy white women — could afford to travel to skirt the law and access abortion while other people could not.

A Brief History of Abortion Law in America: It's only become a hot-button issue in recent decades. For America's first century, abortion wasn’t banned in a single US state. By Irin Carmon

Legalization and the Continued Fight for Equitable Access to Abortion in America

The 1960s gave rise to abortion law reform. In the late 1960s, 11 states liberalized their abortion laws. And in 1973, the Supreme Court established the legal right to access abortion nationwide with its landmark decision in the Roe v. Wade case.

However, due to systemic racism, laws restricting access to abortion continued to target Black people and other people of color. 

For instance, the Hyde Amendment bars federal Medicaid dollars from being used to cover abortions. 

Hyde has particularly restricted the reproductive freedom of Black and Latino people. 

Because of systemic racism built into America’s economic practices and policies, Black and Latino communities are less likely to have jobs that offer employer-sponsored health insurance and are more likely to rely on Medicaid.

Planned Parenthood is fighting for abortion access for all people. This fight is intersectional. It’s about dismantling America’s racist systems, like the economic and health care systems that make disproportionate numbers of Black and Brown people rely on public insurance that doesn’t cover abortion. 

See the Abortion Law Timeline: 1850 to Today

Check out our abortion law timeline to learn more about the rise of abortion bans and restrictions in the American legal system. Spoiler: It started from a concerted effort to consolidate power in the hands of wealthy, white men. 

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• Roe v. Wade Overturned: How the Supreme Court Let Politicians Outlaw Abortion
• Federal and State Bans and Restrictions on Abortion
• Types of State Attacks on Abortion
• The State of Emergency for Women's Health
• Abortion in U.S. History
• Birth Control
• Health Care Equity
• Voting Rights
• Sex Education
• Sexual Assault
• Attacks on Access to Care at Planned Parenthood
• State Attacks on Sexual and Reproductive Health
• Ohio state courts
• Federal Courts

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Abortion is an issue that has ethical, moral, and religious considerations for many people, making it a topic that impacts all of society. Read the overview below to gain a balanced understanding of the issue and explore the previews of opinion articles that showcase many perspectives on reproductive rights.

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Abortion topic overview.

"Abortion" Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection , Gale, 2024.  

Abortion is a medical or surgical procedure to deliberately end a pregnancy. In 1973 the US Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade ruled that the Constitution protects the right to an abortion prior to the viability of a fetus. Until the 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Roe v. Wade allowed a person living in any US state to exercise the right to an abortion at their own discretion through the end of the first trimester, around the twelfth week of pregnancy. States were allowed some power to regulate abortion access during the second and third trimesters. The Dobbs ruling, however, ended the federal protections for abortion rights and returned to the states the authority to determine abortion law.

In the decades between Roe and Dobbs , activists and policy makers in many states sought to change legal protections for reproductive rights. In 2020 lawmakers in twelve states tried to use the COVID-19 pandemic as justification to temporarily ban abortion as a "nonessential service." In 2021 several states introduced new restrictions on abortion, implementing over one hundred new abortion restrictions. Though the public has consistently indicated opposition to bans on abortion, several state legislatures passed bans in anticipation of the conservative Supreme Court majority overturning the nearly fifty-year-old Roe decision. Since the decision, new abortion laws have been passed across the country, some restricting and some easing access to abortion.

  Main Ideas

• Abortion  refers to a procedure to terminate a pregnancy. The term is typically applied to a planned medical or surgical procedure.
• People who support legal access to abortion typically identify as  pro-choice , while those who support bans and heavy restrictions identify as  pro-life .
• Medical abortions can take place during the first trimester of a pregnancy. In these procedures, the patient takes a combination of drugs to induce an abortion.
• In 1973 the US Supreme Court ruled in  Roe v. Wade  that state laws banning abortion during the first trimester of pregnancy were unconstitutional. Reproductive rights advocates challenged subsequent restrictions placed on abortion in federal court.
• Passed in 1976, the Hyde Amendment forbids the use of federal funds for abortions except under cases of rape, incest, or in which continuing the pregnancy would threaten the woman's health.
• In 2022 the US Supreme Court ruled in  Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization  that the US Constitution did not guarantee the right to abortion. The decision overturned the court's previous ruling in  Roe v. Wade .
• After the  Dobbs  ruling, many states passed or implemented abortion bans or restrictions, despite continuing US public support for legal abortion. Bans have increased travel to obtain abortions to states where it remains legal and resulted in increased maternal and infant deaths in states where abortion was banned.

SUPPORT FOR AND OPPOSITION TO ABORTION

Opponents of abortion, who generally refer to themselves as  pro-life , typically object to the practice for religious or ethical reasons, contending that the procedure amounts to the killing of what they consider to be a human life. Supporters of abortion rights, who typically identify as  pro-choice , consider it an issue of human rights, asserting that individuals should be able to make medical decisions about their own bodies and lives. Both movements encompass a range of opinions on the subject. Some pro-life activists may condone abortions in cases of rape or incest, while others argue that all abortion is murder. Within the pro-choice movement, some activists contend that no restrictions should be placed on abortion, while others support laws requiring a waiting period before abortions can be performed or that minors obtain permission from their parents.

The majority of Americans oppose banning abortion altogether, with just 13 percent of respondents to a May 2022 Gallup poll indicating a belief that abortion should be illegal under all circumstances. However, the public has remained divided on the extent to which the government should be allowed to impose restrictions. A 2023 Pew Research Center poll found that 64 percent of US adults believed abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared to 34 percent who said it should be prohibited in all or most cases. Poll results also showed a partisan divide on abortion that has widened over time, with almost 90 percent of Democrats believing abortion should be legal in all or most cases in 2022 compared to 21 percent of Republicans. According to an April 2023 report from the Pew Research Center, 54 percent of Americans said it would be very or somewhat easy to get an abortion in their area, compared to 65 percent in 2019. A further 34 percent of respondents told Pew it should be easier to have an abortion in their area, up from 26 percent in 2019.

After  Roe  was overturned, protest marches and demonstrations erupted across the United States and lasted for days, with some commentators noting the wide discrepancy between popular support for  Roe  and the court's rejection of it. While abortion has long been considered a feminist or women's rights issue, the protests highlighted its effects on all Americans regardless of gender. The  Dobbs  ruling removed precedents related to the right to privacy and the right to bodily autonomy, neither of which is specifically stated in the Constitution. However, these assumed rights have been foundational to rulings decriminalizing interracial marriage, contraception, nonprocreative sex, and same-sex marriage.

Surgical and Medical Abortions

Most abortions take place within the first trimester of pregnancy. The two types of abortion are  surgical  and  medication . The most commonly performed surgical abortion procedure is  suction abortion , also referred to as  vacuum aspiration , which involves removing tissue from the uterus through a thin tube. The procedure is less invasive than surgeries at later stages of pregnancy, which require labor to be induced. First-trimester surgical abortions performed by trained medical professionals are among the safest and simplest forms of surgery. Data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that many fewer women die from legal abortions than from childbirth or many other common procedures, leading many medical experts to conclude that abortion is safer than giving birth in the United States.

Abortions achieved with drugs instead of surgery are called  medication abortions  and are considered safe and effective until between nine and eleven weeks after the last menstrual period. The most commonly used drugs for medication abortions in the United States are mifepristone and misoprostol, taken in sequence as prescribed by a health care provider. Patients first take mifepristone (previously called RU-486), which blocks the body's natural production of progesterone, an essential pregnancy hormone. The patient takes the second pill, misoprostol, two days later. This drug causes the uterus to contract and expel the embryo. Medication abortions are different from emergency contraception, a type of birth control pill used after unprotected sexual intercourse that prevents pregnancy.

The number of medication abortions surpassed the number of surgical abortions for the first time in 2020, accounting for an estimated 54 percent of all abortions that year, according to the Guttmacher Institute. In April 2021, due in part to COVID-19's impact on providing and accessing health care services, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lifted a ban on dispensing abortion medication through the mail. The decision enabled patients to access abortion without risking COVID exposure and allowed abortion providers that operate online to mail pills to more states. The FDA made this change permanent in December 2021.

Roe V. Wade

Abortions were commonly performed in the United States at the time of its founding and were not restricted by law until Connecticut passed the first anti-abortion law in 1821. Until the  Roe v. Wade  ruling in 1973 there was no federal standard for abortion laws, which were left to the discretion of state legislatures. By 1967 forty-nine states and the District of Columbia had classified abortion as a felony crime in most cases. That same year, however, Colorado passed a law that allowed women to seek voluntary abortions. Several states followed Colorado in liberalizing their abortion laws. By 1973 laws prohibiting abortions had been repealed in four states and loosened in fourteen. In states where abortions were prohibited by law, women who wished to terminate their pregnancies sought out illegal abortions provided by health care workers who risked jeopardizing their careers or by individuals without the proper skills or tools to perform the procedure safely.

In  Roe v. Wade , the Supreme Court ruled that restrictive abortion laws are unconstitutional and violate a woman's right to privacy, as implied by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The court's decision also determined that an embryo or unviable fetus is not a person in the legal sense. The ruling established that the decision to terminate a pregnancy during the first trimester was the sole decision of the pregnant person and their physician but permitted state governments to regulate abortion during the second trimester. States could ban abortion after the fetus had reached viability, except in cases where the pregnant person's health is endangered.  Viability  refers to a fetus's ability to survive outside of the womb. The point at which viability is achieved during a pregnancy remains a topic of debate, though it is usually accepted as near the end of the second trimester, at around twenty-four weeks.

In  Doe v. Bolton , a companion case to  Roe v. Wade  decided on the same day, the Supreme Court reaffirmed its decision in  Roe v. Wade  by prohibiting laws that require admission to a hospital, approval by a hospital abortion committee, a second and third medical opinion, or legal residence in a state before an abortion can be performed. The decision also extended the definition of what posed a health threat to the pregnant person when performing a post-viability abortion by allowing a health care provider to consider such factors as the woman's age and emotional and psychological health. These two court decisions contributed to a notable decrease in mortality rates among pregnant women.

After  Roe , the Supreme Court heard several cases that challenged the ruling. In  Planned Parenthood v. Danforth  (1976), the court ruled against several restrictions imposed by Missouri's abortion laws, thus expanding access to abortion. One year later, however, the court ruled in  Maher v. Roe  that state governments could choose to deny public funds for an abortion, granting the government additional control over reproductive health care. The  Maher v. Roe  decision took advantage of the Hyde Amendment, legislation passed by Congress in 1976 that excluded abortion from the list of medical services provided and covered through Medicaid, the federal and state government program that subsidizes medical costs for patients with limited financial means.

CAMPAIGN TO OVERTURN  ROE V. WADE

Responding first to a trend in the states toward liberalizing abortion laws and later to the court's decision in  Roe v. Wade , activists founded several organizations in the late 1960s and 1970s, giving rise to a network of fervent pro-life groups. On the one-year anniversary of the  Roe  decision, approximately twenty thousand activists in Washington, DC, participated in the first March for Life, which became an annual event for anti-abortion activists. Activists also commonly hold public demonstrations outside abortion clinics, brandishing signs with disturbing images of fetuses and shouting condemnations toward people entering the buildings. In 1994 the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act made blocking the entrances of places providing abortion counseling or services a federal offense punishable by fines and imprisonment.

Some anti-abortion activists have taken more extreme, surreptitious, or violent measures. Members of groups such as Project Veritas, for instance, have posed as patients and secretly filmed abortion providers, using the footage to create misinformation campaigns alleging unethical and criminal behavior. Anti-abortion groups also operate  crisis pregnancy centers  (CPCs), nonprofit organizations that seek to deter women from terminating unintended pregnancies. CPCs have been accused of using misleading and deceptive advertising and purposefully providing inaccurate information to stop individuals from accessing abortion services. Members of militant pro-life organizations such as Operation Rescue have committed acts of domestic terrorism, including the bombing of clinics and waging of aggressive harassment campaigns. Several doctors who provided abortions have been murdered by pro-life activists.

Meanwhile, in states where pro-life conservatives hold power, legislatures passed laws that placed additional regulations on abortion providers and had the effect of making abortion services more difficult to obtain. Some of these laws included provisions that required the examination rooms in which the procedure would be performed to be a certain size. Other laws required abortion providers and facilities to be affiliated with a hospital or located within a certain distance from a hospital. Pro-choice groups refer to these laws as Targeted Regulation (or Restriction) for Abortion Providers (TRAP) laws. The Supreme Court ruled against TRAP bills from Texas and Louisiana in  Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt  (2016) and  June Medical Services, LLC v. Russo  (2020), determining that such requirements did not produce sufficient medical benefit to justify the imposition placed on women seeking abortions.

Many anti-abortion activists celebrated the election of President Donald Trump in 2016, as he had committed during his campaign to nominating pro-life judges. Anticipating a conservative majority in the Supreme Court, lawmakers in several states began advancing more restrictive anti-abortion legislation, including many laws intended to prohibit abortions before the end of the first trimester. For example, some states passed legislation outlawing abortion after a "fetal heartbeat" is detected. Reproductive health doctors consider this terminology misleading, as they describe the noise heard as the electrical activity of the ultrasound machine rather than a heartbeat produced by a functioning heart. Texas' "fetal heartbeat" law prohibited abortions after six weeks and relied on private citizens for enforcement by allowing anyone in any state to file a civil suit against any person who helps someone get an abortion in Texas. Out of fear of possible litigation, most providers in the state had ceased operations months before the Supreme Court issued its ruling in  Dobbs .

In the courts, pro-life attorneys brought challenges to  Roe  in the hopes the Supreme Court would eventually strike it down, while pro-life activists built an organized pipeline of judicial nominees. In 1982 a group of conservatives and libertarians founded the Federalist Society as a professional network that would support and promote judges who shared a similar legal vision, including the overturning of  Roe v. Wade . The Trump administration nominated several Federalist Society members as federal judges, including Supreme Court justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. As of 2023, six of the nine Supreme Court justices were members of the Federalist Society.

CRITICAL THINKING QUESTIONS

• What factors do you think prevented federal lawmakers from adding a constitutional amendment or passing a federal law establishing a national standard regarding abortion rights?
• Under what circumstances, if any, do you think state governments should restrict a person's access to abortion services? Explain your answer.
• How has the Supreme Court's 2022 overturning of abortion rights affected abortion access in the country? What do you consider to be the most significant effect of those changes?

ABORTION RIGHTS POST- ROE

The  Dobbs  ruling, which denied that the Constitution ever recognized or implied a right to abortion in the US Constitution, has had a significant impact on abortion access throughout the country. In the late 2010s, in anticipation of a conservative majority on the court, lawmakers in some states began passing legislation to safeguard the right to legal and safe abortions in the event  Roe v. Wade  was overturned. In 2019, for example, New York passed the Reproductive Health Act, which removed several restrictions, decriminalized abortion, and limited government interference with the decisions of women and their health care providers. Before  Roe 's overturning, ten states—Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, and New Mexico—had state constitutions protecting abortion rights. As of October 2023, twenty-two states had expanded or protected access to abortion, though the governments of some of these states were challenging those protections.

Before the  Dobbs  ruling, thirteen US states had passed trigger laws that would outlaw abortion in all or most cases, but not all went into effect immediately after the decision. Some triggered the beginning of a process to ban abortion, while others triggered the ban going into effect. Some laws were blocked from taking effect while lawsuits against them moved through the courts. In some states nearly all abortions became illegal, with some not allowing exceptions in instances of rape and incest or when continuing the pregnancy could be fatal.

President Joe Biden issued an executive order aimed at protecting reproductive rights in July 2022, following the  Dobbs  ruling. The order directed federal agencies, including the FDA and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to develop plans to protect patient privacy, safety, and security, as well as ensure access to comprehensive and reliable medical information and medical services, including abortion and contraception. Additionally, the order created a reproductive health care task force. Despite the sweeping intentions of the executive order, the Biden administration's ability to affect abortion rights remains limited without congressional action.

Since  Dobbs , states have passed new laws either protecting or restricting abortion. State legislatures introduced 563 abortion restriction provisions, fifty of which were signed into law, and 369 abortion protection provisions, seventy-seven of which were passed. Six states also held ballot initiatives in which voters chose to protect abortion rights, reflecting the 64 percent majority of Americans who reported supporting abortion rights. As of October 2023, the Guttmacher Institute categorized six US states as "very protective" of abortion rights, with Oregon's laws identified as "most protective." An additional nine states, plus Washington, DC, had policies that protected the right to abortion but imposed some restrictions. Eight states were characterized as "restrictive" and three as "very restrictive." Fifteen states—Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Tennessee, and West Virginia—had the "most restrictive" abortion policies, a significant increase from the five states with the designation in 2022.

One major point of contention between states is the ability of people to travel in order to access abortion. As of June 2023, twenty-five million people who can become pregnant had less access to legal abortion in their state than they did before the ruling, resulting in significant numbers of people traveling across state borders for the procedure. In response, so-called  shield laws , which protect abortion patents and providers from prosecution in states where abortion is illegal, have been passed in fourteen states since  Dobbs , bringing the total to fifteen states. In September 2023, lawmakers in Texas began passing measures restricting access to roadways for people on their way to an abortion appointment. In response to a federal rule allowing military personnel stationed in states where access to abortion is restricted to travel to states where abortion is legal, Senator Tommy Tuberville (R–AL) blocked the Senate from voting on military promotions, leaving several crucial high-level posts vacant for months. As of October 2023, despite pressure to relent from both sides of the aisle, Tuberville's blockade continued.

With the FDA allowing delivery of pills for medication abortion through the mail, pro-choice lawmakers and reproductive rights activists hoped that expanding access to medication abortion through telemedicine would mitigate some of the travel burden. However, in states where abortion is restricted, anti-abortion lawmakers began to explore ways of preventing the use of medication abortion. Despite a lack of medical or scientific evidence, several states passed legislation requiring doctors to inform patients that medical abortions can be interrupted or "reversed" by replacing the second pill with a dose of progesterone. Conservative states and legal groups have also pursued overturning the FDA's approval of mifepristone, one of the two drugs used in medication abortions. In April 2023 the Supreme Court ruled that mifepristone could continue to be prescribed while lawsuits continued.

In the year following  Dobbs , the US maternal death rate, already the highest among industrialized countries, rose in states where abortion access was illegal or highly restricted. According to a January 2023 report by the Gender Equity Policy Institute, pregnant people in states where abortion is banned were up to three times more likely to die during pregnancy or labor or soon after than pregnant people in less restrictive states. Of these deaths, one in seven occurred in Texas. Babies were 30 percent likelier to die during their first month of life in states with abortion bans, and teen birth rates were twice as high in abortion restriction states.

The number of abortions performed in the United States increased after the  Dobbs  decision, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which found about 511,000 abortions performed between January and June 2023, compared to 465,000 in the same period of 2020. Less restrictive states bordering more restrictive states experienced most of the increase, with Illinois providers reporting a 69 percent increase and New Mexico reporting a 220 percent increase. States with total bans or six-week bans had an estimated 114,590 fewer abortions performed within their borders, according to the research group WeCount. Experts have raised concerns that the country's remaining abortion clinics are experiencing unsustainable demand for the procedure.

More Articles

Parental involvement laws can impose harmful burdens on pregnant minors.

"They talked about making sure they did really well in school from now on, so that their abortions weren't in vain."

Francie Diep is a staff writer at Pacific Standard . In the following viewpoint, Diep argues that parental involvement laws for minors seeking abortions can be detrimental to young women's physical and mental health. Discussing a study of minors who sought a judge's approval, a process commonly referred to as judicial bypass, in lieu of obtaining parental consent, the author reveals wide variation among experiences with the process. Diep notes that judicial bypass frequently delays a minor's abortion by several weeks. Citing the experiences of study participants, the author characterizes securing judicial bypass as a humiliating experience and provides several examples of a judge or a minor's guardian ad litem demonstrating anti-abortion bias. Despite these negative experiences, the author maintains, many of the minors subjected to parental involvement laws support such restrictions on minors seeking abortions.

Parental Consent Laws Protect Teens

“According to a national study conducted by researchers associated with Guttmacher, disappointment is the most common response of parents who learn that their teen daughter is pregnant, and almost no parent responds with violence.”

Teresa S. Collett is a professor of law at the University of St. Thomas School of Law in Minneapolis.

In the following viewpoint, Collett contends that parental consent laws are constitutional and in the best interest of girls seeking abortion. Citing the likelihood that adult men are most often the fathers of school-age pregnancies, parental involvement ensures that cases of coercion and statutory rape do not go unreported. Additionally, parents are in the best position to provide health information and care for their daughters during a time of acute vulnerability and need.

Late-Term Abortions Are Cruel, Common, and Unjustified

"In one recording taken on May 2, an unidentified woman is able to schedule an abortion at 30 weeks of pregnancy, even after she says there's nothing wrong with the fetus."

Bradford Richardson is a reporter at the Washington Times .

In the following viewpoint, Richardson argues that abortion providers in New Mexico, Louisiana, and Texas frequently terminate pregnancies during the third trimester (twenty-eight to forty weeks) and employ methods that cause the fetus undue harm. Defending comments made by Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential debates, the author disputes assertions made by reproductive rights groups and media outlets that late-term abortions are performed only in special circumstances and that the procedure referred to as partial-birth abortion is not considered legitimate among US medical experts. The author commends the efforts of anti-abortion activists and organizations like the Center for Medical Progress, which made covert recordings of abortion providers, for drawing attention to medical practices employed at reproductive health clinics.

Overregulation Forces Women To Have Late-Term Abortions

"Animal advocates, as well as many scientists, are increasingly questioning the scientific validity and reliability of animal experimentation."

“[A]dding hurdles that force women to obtain an abortion later in pregnancy—or to seek out options on their own, such as online medications of unknown quality—is bad for women’s health.”

Daniel Grossman is a professor in the department of obstetrics, gynecology, and reproductive sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, and director of Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health (ANSIRH) at the Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health.

In the following viewpoint, Grossman argues that restrictions on abortion access contribute to women delaying abortions. He explains how abortions that take place earlier in a pregnancy tend to be safer for the woman’s health than abortions performed later. He argues that women already encounter significant obstacles to obtaining the procedure without additional regulations. He contends that several restrictions prevent patients from choosing medical abortions, which are significantly less invasive than surgical abortions and could be administered by more health care providers than specific state laws allow.

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Abortion Argumentative Essay: Definitive Guide

Academic writing

Abortion remains a debatable issue even today, especially in countries like the USA, where a controversial ban was upheld in 13 states at the point this article was written. That’s why an essay on abortion has become one of the most popular tasks in schools, colleges, and universities. When writing this kind of essay, students learn to express their opinion, find and draw arguments and examples, and conduct research.

It’s very easy to speculate on topics like this. However, this makes it harder to find credible and peer-reviewed information on the topic that isn’t merely someone’s opinion. If you were assigned this kind of academic task, do not lose heart. In this article, we will provide you with all the tips and tricks for writing about abortion.

Where to begin?

Conversations about abortion are always emotional. Complex stories, difficult decisions, bitter moments, and terrible diagnoses make this topic hard to cover. Some young people may be shocked by this assignment, while others would be happy to express their opinion on the matter.

One way or another, this topic doesn't leave anyone indifferent. However, it shouldn’t have an effect on the way you approach the research and writing process. What should you remember when working on an argumentative essay about abortion?

• Don’t let your emotions take over. As this is an academic paper, you have to stay impartial and operate with facts. The topic is indeed sore and burning, causing thousands of scandals on the Internet, but you are writing it for school, not a Quora thread.
• Try to balance your opinions. There are always two sides to one story, even if the story is so fragile. You need to present an issue from different angles. This is what your tutors seek to teach you.
• Be tolerant and mind your language. It is very important not to hurt anybody with the choice of words in your essay. So make sure you avoid any possible rough words. It is important to respect people with polar opinions, especially when it comes to academic writing. 
• Use facts, not claims. Your essay cannot be based solely on your personal ideas – your conclusions should be derived from facts. Roe v. Wade case, WHO or Mayo Clinic information, and CDC are some of the sources you can rely on.

Speaking of Outline

An argumentative essay on abortion outline is a must-have even for experienced writers. In general, each essay, irrespective of its kind or topic, has a strict outline. It may be brief or extended, but the major parts are always the same:

• Introduction. This is a relatively short paragraph that starts with a hook and presents the background information on the topic. It should end with a thesis statement telling your reader what your main goal or idea is.
• Body. This section usually consists of 2-4 paragraphs. Each one has its own structure: main argument + facts to support it + small conclusion and transition into the next paragraph.
• Conclusion. In this part, your task is to summarize all your thoughts and come to a general conclusive idea. You may have to restate some info from the body and your thesis statement and add a couple of conclusive statements without introducing new facts.

Why is it important to create an outline?

• You will structure your ideas. We bet you’ve got lots on your mind. Writing them down and seeing how one can flow logically into the other will help you create a consistent paper. Naturally, you will have to abandon some of the ideas if they don’t fit the overall narrative you’re building.
• You can get some inspiration. While creating your outline, which usually consists of some brief ideas, you can come up with many more to research. Some will add to your current ones or replace them with better options.
• You will find the most suitable sources. Argumentative essay writing requires you to use solid facts and trustworthy arguments built on them. When the topic is as controversial as abortion, these arguments should be taken from up-to-date, reliable sources. With an outline, you will see if you have enough to back up your ideas.
• You will write your text as professionals do. Most expert writers start with outlines to write the text faster and make it generally better. As you will have your ideas structured, the general flow of thoughts will be clear. And, of course, it will influence your overall grade positively.

Abortion Essay Introduction

The introduction is perhaps the most important part of the whole essay. In this relatively small part, you will have to present the issue under consideration and state your opinion on it. Here is a typical introduction outline:

• The first sentence is a hook grabbing readers' attention.
• A few sentences that go after elaborate on the hook. They give your readers some background and explain your research.
• The last sentence is a thesis statement showing the key idea you are building your text around.

Before writing an abortion essay intro, first thing first, you will need to define your position. If you are in favor of this procedure, what exactly made you think so? If you are an opponent of abortion, determine how to argue your position. In both cases, you may research the point of view in medicine, history, ethics, and other fields.

When writing an introduction, remember:

• Never repeat your title. First of all, it looks too obvious; secondly, it may be boring for your reader right from the start. Your first sentence should be a well-crafted hook. The topic of abortion worries many people, so it’s your chance to catch your audience’s attention with some facts or shocking figures.
• Do not make it too long. Your task here is to engage your audience and let them know what they are about to learn. The rest of the information will be disclosed in the main part. Nobody likes long introductions, so keep it short but informative.
• Pay due attention to the thesis statement. This is the central sentence of your introduction. A thesis statement in your abortion intro paragraph should show that you have a well-supported position and are ready to argue it. Therefore, it has to be strong and convey your idea as clearly as possible. We advise you to make several options for the thesis statement and choose the strongest one.

Hooks for an Abortion Essay

Writing a hook is a good way to catch the attention of your audience, as this is usually the first sentence in an essay. How to start an essay about abortion? You can begin with some shocking fact, question, statistics, or even a quote. However, always make sure that this piece is taken from a trusted resource.

Here are some examples of hooks you can use in your paper:

• As of July 1, 2022, 13 states banned abortion, depriving millions of women of control of their bodies.
• According to WHO, 125,000 abortions take place every day worldwide.
• Is abortion a woman’s right or a crime?
• Since 1994, more than 40 countries have liberalized their abortion laws.
• Around 48% of all abortions are unsafe, and 8% of them lead to women’s death.
• The right to an abortion is one of the reproductive and basic rights of a woman.
• Abortion is as old as the world itself – women have resorted to this method since ancient times.
• Only 60% of women in the world live in countries where pregnancy termination is allowed.

Body Paragraphs: Pros and Cons of Abortion

The body is the biggest part of your paper. Here, you have a chance to make your voice concerning the abortion issue heard. Not sure where to start? Facts about abortion pros and cons should give you a basic understanding of which direction to move in.

First things first, let’s review some brief tips for you on how to write the best essay body if you have already made up your mind.

Make a draft

It’s always a good idea to have a rough draft of your writing. Follow the outline and don’t bother with the word choice, grammar, or sentence structure much at first. You can polish it all later, as the initial draft will not likely be your final. You may see some omissions in your arguments, lack of factual basis, or repetitiveness that can be eliminated in the next versions.

Trust only reliable sources

This part of an essay includes loads of factual information, and you should be very careful with it. Otherwise, your paper may look unprofessional and cost you precious points. Never rely on sources like Wikipedia or tabloids – they lack veracity and preciseness.

Edit rigorously

It’s best to do it the next day after you finish writing so that you can spot even the smallest mistakes. Remember, this is the most important part of your paper, so it has to be flawless. You can also use editing tools like Grammarly.

Determine your weak points

Since you are writing an argumentative essay, your ideas should be backed up by strong facts so that you sound convincing. Sometimes it happens that one argument looks weaker than the other. Your task is to find it and strengthen it with more or better facts.

Add an opposing view

Sometimes, it’s not enough to present only one side of the discussion. Showing one of the common views from the opposing side might actually help you strengthen your main idea. Besides, making an attempt at refuting it with alternative facts can show your teacher or professor that you’ve researched and analyzed all viewpoints, not just the one you stand by.

If you have chosen a side but are struggling to find the arguments for or against it, we have complied abortion pro and cons list for you. You can use both sets if you are writing an abortion summary essay covering all the stances.

Why Should Abortion Be Legal

If you stick to the opinion that abortion is just a medical procedure, which should be a basic health care need for each woman, you will definitely want to write the pros of abortion essay. Here is some important information and a list of pros about abortion for you to use:

• Since the fetus is a set of cells – not an individual, it’s up to a pregnant woman to make a decision concerning her body. Only she can decide whether she wants to keep the pregnancy or have an abortion. The abortion ban is a violation of a woman’s right to have control over her own body.
• The fact that women and girls do not have access to effective contraception and safe abortion services has serious consequences for their own health and the health of their families.
• The criminalization of abortion usually leads to an increase in the number of clandestine abortions. Many years ago, fetuses were disposed of with improvised means, which included knitting needles and half-straightened metal hangers. 13% of women’s deaths are the result of unsafe abortions.
• Many women live in a difficult financial situation and cannot support their children financially. Having access to safe abortion takes this burden off their shoulders. This will also not decrease their quality of life as the birth and childcare would.
• In countries where abortion is prohibited, there is a phenomenon of abortion tourism to other countries where it can be done without obstacles. Giving access to this procedure can make the lives of women much easier.
• Women should not put their lives or health in danger because of the laws that were adopted by other people.
• Girls and women who do not have proper sex education may not understand pregnancy as a concept or determine that they are pregnant early on. Instead of educating them and giving them a choice, an abortion ban forces them to become mothers and expects them to be fit parents despite not knowing much about reproduction.
• There are women who have genetic disorders or severe mental health issues that will affect their children if they're born. Giving them an option to terminate ensures that there won't be a child with a low quality of life and that the woman will not have to suffer through pregnancy, birth, and raising a child with her condition.
• Being pro-choice is about the freedom to make decisions about your body so that women who are for termination can do it safely, and those who are against it can choose not to do it. It is an inclusive option that caters to everyone.
• Women and girls who were raped or abused by their partner, caregiver, or stranger and chose to terminate the pregnancy can now be imprisoned for longer than their abusers. This implies that the system values the life of a fetus with no or primitive brain function over the life of a living woman.
• People who lived in times when artificial termination of pregnancy was scarcely available remember clandestine abortions and how traumatic they were, not only for the physical but also for the mental health of women. Indeed, traditionally, in many countries, large families were a norm. However, the times have changed, and supervised abortion is a safe and accessible procedure these days. A ban on abortion will simply push humanity away from the achievements of the civilized world.

Types of abortion

There are 2 main types of abortions that can be performed at different pregnancy stages and for different reasons:

• Medical abortion. It is performed by taking a specially prescribed pill. It does not require any special manipulations and can even be done at home (however, after a doctor’s visit and under supervision). It is considered very safe and is usually done during the very first weeks of pregnancy.
• Surgical abortion. This is a medical operation that is done with the help of a suction tube. It then removes the fetus and any related material. Anesthesia is used for this procedure, and therefore, it can only be done in a hospital. The maximum time allowed for surgical abortion is determined in each country specifically.

Cases when abortion is needed

Center for Reproductive Rights singles out the following situations when abortion is required:

• When there is a risk to the life or physical/mental health of a pregnant woman.
• When a pregnant woman has social or economic reasons for it.
• Upon the woman's request.
• If a pregnant woman is mentally or cognitively disabled.
• In case of rape and/or incest.
• If there were congenital anomalies detected in the fetus.

Countries and their abortion laws

• Countries where abortion is legalized in any case: Australia, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Sweden, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Lithuania, etc.
• Countries where abortion is completely prohibited: Angola, Venezuela, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Lebanon, Nicaragua, Oman, Paraguay, Palau, Jamaica, Laos, Haiti, Honduras, Andorra, Aruba, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Sierra Leone, Senegal, etc.
• Countries where abortion is allowed for medical reasons: Afghanistan, Israel, Argentina, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Ghana, Israel, Morocco, Mexico, Bahamas, Central African Republic, Ecuador, Ghana, Algeria, Monaco, Pakistan, Poland, etc. 
• Countries where abortion is allowed for both medical and socioeconomic reasons: England, India, Spain, Luxembourg, Japan, Finland, Taiwan, Zambia, Iceland, Fiji, Cyprus, Barbados, Belize, etc.

Why Abortion Should Be Banned

Essays against abortions are popular in educational institutions since we all know that many people – many minds. So if you don’t want to support this procedure in your essay, here are some facts that may help you to argument why abortion is wrong:

• Abortion at an early age is especially dangerous because a young woman with an unstable hormonal system may no longer be able to have children throughout her life. Termination of pregnancy disrupts the hormonal development of the body.
• Health complications caused by abortion can occur many years after the procedure. Even if a woman feels fine in the short run, the situation may change in the future.
• Abortion clearly has a negative effect on reproductive function. Artificial dilation of the cervix during an abortion leads to weak uterus tonus, which can cause a miscarriage during the next pregnancy.
• Evidence shows that surgical termination of pregnancy significantly increases the risk of breast cancer.
• In December 1996, the session of the Council of Europe on bioethics concluded that a fetus is considered a human being on the 14th day after conception.

You are free to use each of these arguments for essays against abortions. Remember that each claim should not be supported by emotions but by facts, figures, and so on.

Health complications after abortion

One way or another, abortion is extremely stressful for a woman’s body. Apart from that, it can even lead to various health problems in the future. You can also cover them in your cons of an abortion essay:

• Continuation of pregnancy. If the dose of the drug is calculated by the doctor in the wrong way, the pregnancy will progress.
• Uterine bleeding, which requires immediate surgical intervention.
• Severe nausea or even vomiting occurs as a result of a sharp change in the hormonal background.
• Severe stomach pain. Medical abortion causes miscarriage and, as a result, strong contractions of the uterus.
• High blood pressure and allergic reactions to medicines.
• Depression or other mental problems after a difficult procedure.

Abortion Essay Conclusion

After you have finished working on the previous sections of your paper, you will have to end it with a strong conclusion. The last impression is no less important than the first one. Here is how you can make it perfect in your conclusion paragraph on abortion:

• It should be concise. The conclusion cannot be as long as your essay body and should not add anything that cannot be derived from the main section. Reiterate the key ideas, combine some of them, and end the paragraph with something for the readers to think about.
• It cannot repeat already stated information. Restate your thesis statement in completely other words and summarize your main points. Do not repeat anything word for word – rephrase and shorten the information instead.
• It should include a call to action or a cliffhanger. Writing experts believe that a rhetorical question works really great for an argumentative essay. Another good strategy is to leave your readers with some curious ideas to ponder upon.

Abortion Facts for Essay

Abortion is a topic that concerns most modern women. Thousands of books, research papers, and articles on abortion are written across the world. Even though pregnancy termination has become much safer and less stigmatized with time, it still worries millions. What can you cover in your paper so that it can really stand out among others? You may want to add some shocking abortion statistics and facts:

• 40-50 million abortions are done in the world every year (approximately 125,000 per day).
• According to UN statistics, women have 25 million unsafe abortions each year. Most of them (97%) are performed in the countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America. 14% of them are especially unsafe because they are done by people without any medical knowledge.
• Since 2017, the United States has shown the highest abortion rate in the last 30 years.
• The biggest number of abortion procedures happen in the countries where they are officially banned. The lowest rate is demonstrated in the countries with high income and free access to contraception.
• Women in low-income regions are three times more susceptible to unplanned pregnancies than those in developed countries.
• In Argentina, more than 38,000 women face dreadful health consequences after unsafe abortions.
• The highest teen abortion rates in the world are seen in 3 countries: England, Wales, and Sweden.
• Only 31% of teenagers decide to terminate their pregnancy. However, the rate of early pregnancies is getting lower each year.
• Approximately 13 million children are born to mothers under the age of 20 each year.
• 5% of women of reproductive age live in countries where abortions are prohibited.

We hope that this abortion information was useful for you, and you can use some of these facts for your own argumentative essay. If you find some additional facts, make sure that they are not manipulative and are taken from official medical resources.

Abortion Essay Topics

Do you feel like you are lost in the abundance of information? Don’t know what topic to choose among the thousands available online? Check our short list of the best abortion argumentative essay topics:

• Why should abortion be legalized essay
• Abortion: a murder or a basic human right?
• Why we should all support abortion rights
• Is the abortion ban in the US a good initiative?
• The moral aspect of teen abortions
• Can the abortion ban solve birth control problems?
• Should all countries allow abortion?
• What consequences can abortion have in the long run?
• Is denying abortion sexist?
• Why is abortion a human right?
• Are there any ethical implications of abortion?
• Do you consider abortion a crime?
• Should women face charges for terminating a pregnancy?

Want to come up with your own? Here is how to create good titles for abortion essays:

• Write down the first associations. It can be something that swirls around in your head and comes to the surface when you think about the topic. These won’t necessarily be well-written headlines, but each word or phrase can be the first link in the chain of ideas that leads you to the best option.
• Irony and puns are not always a good idea. Especially when it comes to such difficult topics as abortion. Therefore, in your efforts to be original, remain sensitive to the issue you want to discuss.
• Never make a quote as your headline. First, a wordy quote makes the headline long. Secondly, readers do not understand whose words are given in the headline. Therefore, it may confuse them right from the start. If you have found a great quote, you can use it as your hook, but don’t forget to mention its author.
• Try to briefly summarize what is said in the essay. What is the focus of your paper? If the essence of your argumentative essay can be reduced to one sentence, it can be used as a title, paraphrased, or shortened.
• Write your title after you have finished your text. Before you just start writing, you might not yet have a catchy phrase in mind to use as a title. Don’t let it keep you from working on your essay – it might come along as you write.

Abortion Essay Example

We know that it is always easier to learn from a good example. For this reason, our writing experts have complied a detailed abortion essay outline for you. For your convenience, we have created two options with different opinions.

Topic: Why should abortion be legal?

Introduction – hook + thesis statement + short background information

Essay hook: More than 59% of women in the world do not have access to safe abortions, which leads to dreading health consequences or even death.

Thesis statement: Since banning abortions does not decrease their rates but only makes them unsafe, it is not logical to ban abortions.

Body – each paragraph should be devoted to one argument

Argument 1: Woman’s body – women’s rules. + example: basic human rights.

Argument 2: Banning abortion will only lead to more women’s death. + example: cases of Polish women.

Argument 3: Only women should decide on abortion. + example: many abortion laws are made by male politicians who lack knowledge and first-hand experience in pregnancies.

Conclusion – restated thesis statement + generalized conclusive statements + cliffhanger

Restated thesis: The abortion ban makes pregnancy terminations unsafe without decreasing the number of abortions, making it dangerous for women.

Cliffhanger: After all, who are we to decide a woman’s fate?

Topic: Why should abortion be banned?

Essay hook: Each year, over 40 million new babies are never born because their mothers decide to have an abortion.

Thesis statement: Abortions on request should be banned because we cannot decide for the baby whether it should live or die.

Argument 1: A fetus is considered a person almost as soon as it is conceived. Killing it should be regarded as murder. + example: Abortion bans in countries such as Poland, Egypt, etc.

Argument 2: Interrupting a baby’s life is morally wrong. + example: The Bible, the session of the Council of Europe on bioethics decision in 1996, etc.

Argument 3: Abortion may put the reproductive health of a woman at risk. + example: negative consequences of abortion.

Restated thesis: Women should not be allowed to have abortions without serious reason because a baby’s life is as priceless as their own.

Cliffhanger: Why is killing an adult considered a crime while killing an unborn baby is not?

Examples of Essays on Abortion

There are many great abortion essays examples on the Web. You can easily find an argumentative essay on abortion in pdf and save it as an example. Many students and scholars upload their pieces to specialized websites so that others can read them and continue the discussion in their own texts.

In a free argumentative essay on abortion, you can look at the structure of the paper, choice of the arguments, depth of research, and so on. Reading scientific papers on abortion or essays of famous activists is also a good idea. Here are the works of famous authors discussing abortion.

A Defense of Abortion by Judith Jarvis Thomson

Published in 1971, this essay by an American philosopher considers the moral permissibility of abortion. It is considered the most debated and famous essay on this topic, and it’s definitely worth reading no matter what your stance is.

Abortion and Infanticide by Michael Tooley

It was written in 1972 by an American philosopher known for his work in the field of metaphysics. In this essay, the author considers whether fetuses and infants have the same rights. Even though this work is quite complex, it presents some really interesting ideas on the matter.

Some Biological Insights into Abortion by Garret Hardin

This article by American ecologist Garret Hardin, who had focused on the issue of overpopulation during his scholarly activities, presents some insights into abortion from a scientific point of view. He also touches on non-biological issues, such as moral and economic. This essay will be of great interest to those who support the pro-choice stance.

H4 Hidden in Plain View: An Overview of Abortion in Rural Illinois and Around the Globe by Heather McIlvaine-Newsad 

In this study, McIlvaine-Newsad has researched the phenomenon of abortion since prehistoric times. She also finds an obvious link between the rate of abortions and the specifics of each individual country. Overall, this scientific work published in 2014 is extremely interesting and useful for those who want to base their essay on factual information.

H4 Reproduction, Politics, and John Irving’s The Cider House Rules: Women’s Rights or “Fetal Rights”? by Helena Wahlström

In her article of 2013, Wahlström considers John Irving’s novel The Cider House Rules published in 1985 and is regarded as a revolutionary work for that time, as it acknowledges abortion mostly as a political problem. This article will be a great option for those who want to investigate the roots of the abortion debate.

FAQs On Abortion Argumentative Essay

• Is abortion immoral?

This question is impossible to answer correctly because each person independently determines their own moral framework. One group of people will say that abortion is a woman’s right because only she has power over her body and can make decisions about it. Another group will argue that the embryo is also a person and has the right to birth and life.

In general, the attitude towards abortion is determined based on the political and religious views of each person. Religious people generally believe that abortion is immoral because it is murder, while secular people see it as a normal medical procedure. For example, in the US, the ban on abortion was introduced in red states where the vast majority have conservative views, while blue liberal states do not support this law. Overall, it’s up to a person to decide whether they consider abortion immoral based on their own values and beliefs.

• Is abortion legal?

The answer to this question depends on the country in which you live. There are countries in which pregnancy termination is a common medical procedure and is performed at the woman's request. There are also states in which there must be a serious reason for abortion: medical, social, or economic. Finally, there are nations in which abortion is prohibited and criminalized. For example, in Jamaica, a woman can get life imprisonment for abortion, while in Kenya, a medical worker who volunteers to perform an abortion can be imprisoned for up to 14 years.

• Is abortion safe?

In general, modern medicine has reached such a level that abortion has become a common (albeit difficult from various points of view) medical procedure. There are several types of abortion, as well as many medical devices and means that ensure the maximum safety of the pregnancy termination. Like all other medical procedures, abortion can have various consequences and complications.

Abortions – whether safe or not - exist in all countries of the world. The thing is that more than half of them are dangerous because women have them in unsuitable conditions and without professional help. Only universal access to abortion in all parts of the world can make it absolutely safe. In such a case, it will be performed only after a thorough assessment and under the control of a medical professional who can mitigate the potential risks.

• How safe is abortion?

If we do not talk about the ethical side of the issue related to abortion, it still has some risks. In fact, any medical procedure has them to a greater or lesser extent.

The effectiveness of the safe method in a medical setting is 80-99%. An illegal abortion (for example, the one without special indications after 12 weeks) can lead to a patient’s death, and the person who performed it will be criminally liable in this case.

Doctors do not have universal advice for all pregnant women on whether it is worth making this decision or not. However, many of them still tend to believe that any contraception - even one that may have negative side effects - is better than abortion. That’s why spreading awareness on means of contraception and free access to it is vital.

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Most current background reading 

• Issues and Controversies: Should Women in the United States Have Access to Abortion? June 2022 article (written after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade) that explores both sides of the abortion debate.
• Access World News: Abortion The most recent news and opinion on abortion from US newspapers.

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Choose the questions below that you find most interesting or appropriate for your assignment.

• Why is abortion such a controversial issue?
• What are the medical arguments for and against abortion?
• What are the religious arguments for and against abortion?
• What are the political arguments for and against abortion?
• What are the cultural arguments for and against abortion?
• What is the history of laws concerning abortion?
• What are the current laws about abortion?
• How are those who oppose access to abortion trying to affect change?
• How are those who support access to abortion trying to affect change?
• Based on what I have learned from my research, what do I think about the issue of abortion?
• State-by-State Abortion Laws Updated regularly by the Guttmacher Institute
• What the Data Says About Abortion in the U.S. From the Pew Research Center in March of 2024, a look at the most recent available data about abortion from sources other than public opinion surveys.

Latest News on Abortion from Google News

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• American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists Medical information and anti-abortion rights advocacy.
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• Guttmacher Institute Statistics and policy papers with a world-wide focus from a "research and policy organization committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide."
• NARAL Pro-Choice America This group advocates for pro-abortion rights legislation. Current information abortion laws in the U.S.
• National Right to Life Committee This group advocates for anti-abortion rights legislation in the U.S.

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History and scientific background on the economics of abortion

Brittany moore.

1 Ipas, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States of America

Yana van der Meulen Rodgers

2 Department of Labor Studies and Employment Relations, Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, United States of America

Ernestina Coast

3 Department of International Development, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, United Kingdom

Samantha R. Lattof

Associated data.

All related data for this collection can be found in the related study protocol ( http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2019-029939 ) and the related collection manuscripts: - Microeconomics of abortion ( https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0252005 ) - Mesoeconomics of abortion ( https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0237227 ) - Macroeconomics of abortion ( https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0250692 ) - Economics of abortion and its links with stigma ( https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0246238 ).

Approximately one quarter of all pregnancies globally end in abortion, making it one of the most common gynecological practices worldwide. Despite the high incidence of abortion around the globe, the synthesis of known economic outcomes of abortion care and policies is lacking. Using data from a systematic scoping review, we synthesized the literature on the economics of abortion at the microeconomic, mesoeconomic, and mesoeconomic levels and presented the results in a collection of studies. This article describes the history and scientific background for collection, presents the scoping review framework, and discusses the value of this knowledge base.

Methods and findings

We conducted a scoping review using the PRISMA extension for Scoping Reviews. Studies reporting on qualitative and/or quantitative data from any world region were considered. For inclusion, studies must have examined one of the following outcomes: costs, impacts, benefits, and/or value of abortion-related care or policies. Our searches yielded 19,653 unique items, of which 365 items were included in our final inventory. Studies most often reported costs (n = 262), followed by impacts (n = 140), benefits (n = 58), and values (n = 40). Approximately one quarter (89/365) of studies contained information on the secondary outcome on stigma. Economic factors can lead to a delay in abortion care-seeking and can restrict health systems from adequately meeting the demand for abortion services. Provision of post-abortion care (PAC) services requires more resources then safe abortion services. Lack of insurance or public funding for abortion services can increase the cost of services and the overall economic impact on individuals both seeking and providing care.

Conclusions

Consistent economic themes emerge from research on abortion, though evidence gaps remain that need to be addressed through more standardized methods and consideration to framing of abortion issues in economics terms. Given the highly charged political nature of abortion around the world, it is imperative that researchers continue to build the evidence base on economic outcomes of abortion services and regulations.

Introduction

Approximately 73.3 million induced abortions occur annually [ 1 ], and approximately half of those are unsafe [ 2 ]. Globally, abortion rates have fallen somewhat over time, from 40 to 39 abortions per 1000 women of reproductive age between 1990–1994 and 2015–2019. Most of this decline occurred in developed countries. Despite the overall decline in abortion rates, the absolute number of abortions considered unsafe (according to standards set by the World Health Organization) has remained high, with close to 7 million women in developing countries receiving treatment for abortion complications. In Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa alone, where abortion access is highly restricted, three quarters of all abortions are unsafe [ 3 ].

These numbers clearly demonstrate the stark differences in access to safe abortion services around the world. Individuals seeking abortion services can face considerable barriers to care, including (but not limited to) long travel distances to facilities, stigma, lack of partner or family support, and limited economic resources. As seen more recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated many of the existing socio-economic inequalities, including the disproportionate burdens of poverty and violence on women. Recent estimates by the Guttmacher Institute predict an enormous impact of pandemic-related challenges on reproductive outcomes, including 15 million additional unintended pregnancies and three million additional unsafe abortions globally [ 4 ]. COVID-19’s introduction into a landscape of abortion restrictions in many countries has intensified the barriers that providers and communities already face, with disproportionate impacts on low-income abortion seekers. At the same time, the pandemic has forced abortion providers to think of novel ways to service patients that allow for social distancing, protection of workers and patients, and adherence to the regional restrictions on abortion care.

Abortion care is changing [ 5 ], whether due to the increased use of pharmaceuticals to induce abortion [ 6 ] or the increased access and use of telehealth. At the same time, national laws, protocols, and funding provisions have shifted in various directions to either support or restrict access to care [ 7 ]. Despite the attention given to abortion access and abortion laws by governments, the media, and civil society, the economic outcomes of abortion services and abortion policies are poorly documented [ 8 ]. Policymakers and advocates have access to relatively little systematic evidence on the economic outcomes of abortion [ 9 ]. Clear, synthesized economic information on the economic outcomes of abortion services and policies can be a useful source of information to aid in decision-making for governments, policymakers, advocates, and other key stakeholders. Much of the existing information at hand consists of direct costs of abortion care services while fewer studies consider the indirect costs and economic impact of seeking abortion care or the far-reaching economic outcomes of abortion policies on the individual, community, and national level. Although some of these outcomes, such as lost wages over time and missed educational opportunities, may not be easily measured, they are still highly relevant to making fully informed decisions on abortion care and policies.

To address these critical gaps, we conducted an extensive scoping review that systematically scoped existing social science literature on the economics of abortion, specifically the impact of abortion care (including un/safe abortion and post-abortion care) and abortion policies on economic outcomes. Our review synthesizes the evidence base and identifies evidence gaps on the costs, impacts, and benefits of abortion to stakeholders at three different economic levels: microeconomic (abortion seekers and their households) [ 10 ], mesoeconomic (communities and health systems) [ 11 ], and macroeconomic (societies and nation states) [ 12 ]. Detailed results from these three analyses as well as the links between the economics of abortion and stigma are presented in separate companion articles [ 10 – 13 ]. The objective of this article is to introduce the collection by discussing the relevant history and scientific background on the economics of abortion, the framework of our systematic review, and how this collection could benefit the field.

History and scientific background

Abortion practices and laws restricting them have existed for centuries. Although people from around the world have been regulating their fertility through various means, the Egyptians were the first to document various abortion techniques around 1550 BCE [ 14 ]. These techniques were predominantly non-surgical and centered around the use of herbs. By the early 1800s, abortion practices had modernized and included surgical procedures with appropriate sanitation and anesthesia. Laws that criminalized abortion also appeared during this period, which in various countries could be punishable by the death penalty. The United States was not far behind in passing anti-abortion legislation, but the punishment was generally less severe [ 15 ]. By the mid-1800s, abortions were being performed fairly frequently in countries around the globe, and this remains true through the current period.

Despite this historical precedent and global prevalence, abortion seekers still have very different experiences with abortion around the world. Pregnant people in higher-income economies generally have greater access to safe abortions, while pregnant people in lower-income countries experience greater health risks in getting abortions due to greater resource-based obstacles to care (i.e., funds to reach point of access), less equipped healthcare infrastructure as well as abortion laws that restrict access to safe abortions [ 1 ]. Abortion laws have a long history that has often been shaped by deeply entrenched religious views, political ideologies, and patriarchal structures. These ideologies in turn are closely intertwined with stigmas around abortion in which women who seek one are viewed as straying from feminine ideals that include women’s natural fecundity, the irrevocability of their roles as mothers, and their instinctive nurturance of those who need care [ 16 ].

Abortion stigma can contribute to the creation and perpetuation of restrictive abortion legislation, which can have the likely unintended consequence of increasing, rather than decreasing, abortion rates. There is no definitive evidence that legal restrictions on abortions result in fewer abortions. In fact, findings in Sedgh et al . [ 17 ] show no association between abortion rates across countries and the legal status of abortion in those countries. If anything, countries with more restrictive abortion policies have more unsafe abortions, and countries that legalize abortions see a shift from clandestine, unsafe abortions to legal, safe abortions without an increase in overall abortion rates. Legalizing abortion is seen by a growing number of multilateral agencies, non-governmental organizations, scholars, and advocates as a necessary step toward reducing unsafe abortions and improving women’s reproductive health. Yet despite this authoritative shared view that access to safe, legal abortion is a fundamental right for women, more than 60 countries still ban abortion completely or only permit it to save the woman’s life.

The widespread dissemination of information through the internet has helped to destigmatize both abortion and contraception, and it has provided healthcare practitioners and women with clinical information about fertility control and safe abortion procedures, including abortion pills, otherwise known as medical abortion [ 18 ]. The World Health Organization approved the combination of mifepristone and misoprostol pills to induce abortion in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy and it placed the drugs on its list of essential medicines in 2005. However, availability and access to misoprostol and mifepristone is shaped by contextual health systems and regulatory frameworks. This accounts for the wide variation in access, availability and costs across geographies, legalities and social contexts [ 19 ]. The use of these drugs to perform medical abortions is still not a widely available option in lower-income countries. High prices and restrictive regulations, especially in the case of mifepristone, has been one of the limiting factors in the widespread use of medical abortions. Inequalities in access to both medications at affordable costs is also shaped by the global variations in essential medicines lists, with only 50 of 158 countries analyzed in the Global Abortion Policies Database including both misoprostol and mifepristone, not necessarily for abortion-related care [ 20 ]. By 2011, misoprostol was approved in over 80 countries, mostly for the prevention and treatment of gastric ulcers. However, mifepristone was only approved explicitly for abortion in 45 countries, mostly higher-income countries [ 21 ].

Considering the evidence, it is clear that there is a broad range of economic impacts and outcomes related to abortion access. However, despite the high incidence of abortion around the globe, we lack synthesis of the known economic costs and outcomes–at a variety of scales–of abortion care and abortion policies. Hence the economic consequences of abortion and policies affecting abortion provision are poorly understood. This evidence gap motivated our scoping review, the framework for which is discussed in the next section.

Framework of the scoping review

Our study reviews existing evidence on the economics of abortion and conceptualizes important issues around abortion, especially the costs, benefits, and impacts of abortion. The analysis synthesizes the evidence base and identifies evidence gaps on the costs and benefits of abortion to stakeholders at three different economic levels: micro (abortion seekers and their households), meso (communities and health systems) and macro (societies and nation states).

At the micro-level, we provide a comprehensive examination of individual’s decision making around contraceptive use, fertility, and abortion. The framework is based on a set of economics tools related to costs and benefits that model preferences and behaviors around fertility and abortion. At the meso-level, we consider the costs and benefits of abortion services in the context in which they take place, particularly communities and medical systems. Finally, at the macro-level, the project explores how access to abortion services and changes in abortion laws affect broad aggregates such as women’s labor supply, educational attainment, indicators of societal wellbeing such as crime, and overall gross domestic product (GDP).

Our scoping review of the economics of abortion is based on micro foundations and particularly, on an economic model of fertility that includes the cost of contraception and abortion [ 8 , 22 ]. We use the following production function to represent the determinants of fertility:

In this equation, a person’s actual fertility depends on the use of two methods to control fertility: contraceptive methods C and induced abortion A . Actual fertility also depends on an idiosyncratic element represented by the term ε, which includes both random chance and natural fecundity (assumed to be a given and not changeable by the person’s actions). These two methods of birth control each have an inverse relationship with fertility. The use of contraceptives and induced abortion both depend on the pecuniary and time costs of accessing them, while ignoring either method is assumed to be free and to involve no time costs. Both options also involve “utility costs,” which encompass social, religious, philosophical, and institutional factors related to birth control and abortion. The key decision in this model is for a person to choose the appropriate levels of C and/or A that will prevent actual fertility F from exceeding desired fertility F* , subject to the constraints the person faces regarding the monetary, time, and utility costs of both methods.

As one example of a utility cost that could influence an individual’s decision making about fertility, a person might live in a country in which abortion is very common and socially accepted because historically modern methods of contraception were less available. In contrast, someone could live in a country in which abortion is illegal and highly stigmatized. An abortion seeker might live in a country where they can buy abortion pills on the black market or through the internet. An abortion seeker might live in a country with a shortage of trained medical personnel and sterile facilities, making it difficult to get a safe abortion. What might happen if the cost of contraception or abortion rises? This model traces the effect of such an increase, which could feasibly arise should local healthcare providers experience funding cuts or an increase in the price of supplies. These changes are expected to impact individuals’ contraceptive usage, abortion, and actual fertility in ways that vary by their ability to absorb the higher costs, as well as the norms, beliefs, and institutional constraints associated with fertility control. Such changes may also increase the time that people need to find a reproductive healthcare provider. The extent to which individuals re-optimize their decisions around C and A depends not only on their ability to pay for C and A but also on the utility costs of these reproductive healthcare services and the form of the production function ( f ).

At the microeconomic level, this framework bolsters our focus on the financial cost of an abortion in the scoping review. Because the production function terms each include “utility costs”, our scoping review also focused on terms closely related to factors affecting the utility costs of abortion, and especially the economic impact, benefits, and values. At the mesoeconomic level, we aggregate up from these micro foundations to the level of communities and health systems. In particular, the provision of abortion care services requires financial and physical resources on the part of health facilities, and health providers have incentives to minimize their costs while maintaining or even improving the quality of abortion care services. At the macroeconomic level, we aggregate up from the micro model to the level of societies and nation states. People’s decision making around their fertility has direct repercussions for outcomes such as their education and employment, which in turn can affect macroeconomic aggregates such as labor supply and even GDP growth. More broadly, institutional factors associated with the model’s “utility costs” include government policies around the legality of abortion as well as public sector financing of abortion services. National laws around abortion are thus another important dimension of the model that can impact individual abortion seekers at the micro level, medical systems at the meso level, and human capital outcomes at the macro level.

It is critical to think of and beyond the direct costs of abortion services and individual economic burden of abortion policies to include the individual, family, community, health systems, national, and international level economic impacts. Rarely does the restrictive impact of an abortion policy take place in a vacuum nor does the cost of an abortion service only impact one day out of an individual’s life. To further define the economic outcomes of abortion services, our scoping review addresses current knowledge on the economics of abortion as well as the evidence gaps. This work articulates the costs, benefits, and value of abortion to women, households, communities, health systems, and societies with a traditional economic lens. It will also define and enumerate the non-traditional economic value, opportunity costs, and beneficiaries of abortion.

As abortion-related decisions and policies have their own unique economic implications, it is important to capture the full range of cost and health impacts of the services as well as the intangible factors not typically articulated as part of the direct economic impact of abortion, which may include: the impact of social exclusion, the educational and professional opportunities lost to women due to unintended pregnancy, the costs and economic impact of being denied abortion services, and longer term social and health effects of unsafe abortion. Traditional economic approaches tend to look at costs from the payer perspective and benefits from the user perspective. This systematic review seeks to broaden this lens for a full, comprehensive look at the beneficiaries beyond direct users and the health systems to include the implications of discrimination and stigma associated with abortion.

Ultimately, a scoping review on the evidence for the value, impact, and costs of abortion will help the field better understand our current programmatic functions. It would also be a valuable tool to make the case for how abortion is prioritized and addressed as a public health issue by governments and donors, and to help to inform our strategic priorities for future interventions.

Economics of abortion: The collection

We took a systematic approach to finding evidence on the economics of abortion by conducting a scoping review of relevant literature. We developed a protocol [ 23 ] following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic review and Meta Analyses (PRISMA) extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) and reporting guidelines [ 24 ] to ensure our review was manageable, transparent, and reproducible. Since we were interested in analyzing the available, known evidence on the economic outcomes of abortion care and abortion policies, and we expected to locate a broad and diverse body of evidence on this topic [ 25 ], we chose to conduct a scoping review instead of a systematic review.

The scoping review considered any peer-reviewed journal article on induced abortion and/or post-abortion care from any world region [ 23 ]. Items also must have been published in English, French, Spanish, Dutch, or German from 1 September 1994 to 15 January 2019. The beginning point marks the start of the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt. This is an important date due to the resulting changes in the global discourse following this conference, shifting from a focus mostly on family planning to a broader continuum of care around sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The articles in this scoping review must have qualitative and/or quantitative data on abortion care or abortion policies at the microeconomic, mesoeconomic, or macroeconomic levels. The articles also must have included information on at least one of the following four types of economic outcomes: financial cost (cost of receiving or providing abortion care or financial costs resulting from abortion policies); impact (the effect or influence of abortion care or abortion policies); benefit (advantages or profits gained from receiving or providing abortion care or implementing abortion policies); and value (the importance, worth, welfare gains, or utility of receiving or providing abortion care or implementing abortion policies) [ 23 ]. Additional details on the inclusion and exclusion criteria for this scoping review, testing the search terms, and the process to extract the data can be found in the published scoping review protocol [ 23 ].

Findings in the economics of abortion collection are reported using a systematic narrative synthesis framework in which the results are presented narratively and organized thematically, supplemented with tables of descriptive statistics on included studies and their outcomes. In nearly all of the studies that we reviewed, authors tend to refer to study participants as ‘women’ or ‘girls’. We have used inclusive and/or gender-neutral language in our own writing in an effort to be more inclusive of transgender and nonbinary individuals. However, in the methods and results sections of the articles in the economics of abortion collection, we used language that is reflective of the terminology used by authors to describe study participants in the referenced articles.

Composition of articles in the collection

At the microeconomic level, we synthesized data from 230 studies on abortion care and policies [ 10 ]. Individual-level costs of abortion-related care around the globe have implications for the timing and type of care sought. To pay for abortion services, some people can forgo other expenditures or be pushed further into poverty and/or debt. Economic factors influence the time it takes to reach and/or receive abortion services and can lead to significant delays in care-seeking, which in turn impact the type of care sought, the gestational age at which care is obtained, and the cost of service.

At the mesoeconomic level, we synthesized data from 150 studies on abortion care and policies [ 11 ]. The evidence most frequently examines abortion costs to health systems and health facilities, particularly in high-income countries. The provision of post-abortion care services requires a disproportionate amount of financial and physical resources. Health facilities and health systems can realize financial savings while maintaining or even improving quality of abortion care services. Analyzing and comparing the costs of providing abortion services globally can be challenging due to variation across studies in identifying components of care and documenting costs.

At the macroeconomic level, we synthesized data from 158 studies on abortion care and policies, with much of the evidence focused on costs at the national level [ 12 ]. Public sector coverage of abortion costs is limited and inconsistent around the world. Evidence shows that removing restrictive abortion laws can have positive effects for education and labor, though the political economy around abortion legislation and its impacts are complicated and controversial.

In this collection, we also sought to better understand the intersections between abortion stigma and economic outcomes [ 13 ]. Out of the 89 articles with abortion stigma data, only 32 studies included stigma findings directly tied to the primary economic outcomes. In the remaining articles, stigma is mentioned in terms of its effects on the context or research methods but is less directly related to the primary economic outcomes. Abortion stigma can serve as a barrier to prevent individuals from obtaining correct information regarding abortion services and laws, leading to unnecessary increases in costs of care and significant delays. Cost of abortion services can be substantial, and individuals who are unable to disclose to and/or rely on their social support network are less likely to have adequate financial resources to access abortion services.

The onset of a global pandemic into a restrictive abortion environment in many countries around the globe makes it vital to conduct research on novel approaches and access to abortion care that will meet the needs of individuals facing different structural barriers, political obstacles, and socioeconomic backgrounds as they attempt to manage their fertility. COVID-19 has also forced abortion providers to devise new ways to manage healthcare with the implementation of protocols, including telemedicine, that satisfy the constraints of legislative restrictions and the social realities of the COVID-19 pandemic. Hence there is a clear need for more research on people’s needs for abortion services, the best potential methods of providing abortion services in this landscape of constraints, and the systems needed to help people access abortion without shame. However, this research cannot be done in a vacuum, making it all the more important to have a readily available body of knowledge on the economic costs and outcomes of abortion services and policies from the past few decades.

Although relatively few studies are defined explicitly by their authors or their methodology as “economic” studies, our review shows that there is a wealth of economically relevant information that can be gleaned from the evidence base. For example, whilst very little evidence uses the language of economic values and benefits of abortion, it is possible to infer micro-level values and benefits of abortion-related care by examining people’s reasons for abortion. These reasons are rarely singular; abortion-related decision-making is often the result of a complex interplay of factors (wealth, education, status, education, relationship). Moreover, the interplays between economics and delays to abortion-related care are striking. Across diverse contexts and populations, economic factors influence delays to abortion-related decision-making, attempts to seek care and the receipt of care. By unpacking the points at which economic factors introduce or compound delays to abortion-related care, greater insight into the points at which information and services might be better designed to reduce delays can be achieved. By further unpacking the intersectionality of these economic factors, we can better understand the ways in which health systems and contexts reproduce injustices and inequities.

Acknowledgments

We wish to thank Elaine Zundl (EZ), Lisbeth Gall (LG), and Joe Strong (JS) for their assistance with screening and data extraction.

Funding Statement

This work was supported by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, activity number 28438. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Data Availability

• HISTORY & CULTURE

How U.S. abortion laws went from nonexistent to acrimonious

Most scholars say that at the nation's founding ending a pregnancy wasn’t illegal—or even controversial. Here’s a look at the complex early history of abortion in the United States.

There’s no more hot-button issue in the United States than that of abortion. And every time the divisive battle flares up, someone is bound to invoke the historical legacy of abortion in America.

But what is that history? Though interpretations differ, most scholars who have investigated the complex history of abortion argue that terminating a pregnancy wasn’t always illegal—or even controversial. Here’s what they say about the nation’s long, complicated relationship with abortion.

Before abortion law  

In colonial America and the early days of the republic, there were no abortion laws at all. Church officials frowned on the practice, writes Oklahoma University of Law legal historian Carla Spivack in the William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice , but they treated the practice as evidence of illicit or premarital sex—not as murder.

Some localities prosecuted cases involving abortions. In 1740s Connecticut, for example, prosecutors tried both a doctor and a Connecticut man for a misdemeanor in connection with the death of Sarah Grosvenor, who had died after a botched abortion. However, the case centered around the men’s role in the woman’s death, not abortion per se, and such prosecutions were rare.

In fact, says Lauren MacIvor Thompson , a historian of women’s rights and public health and an assistant professor at Kennesaw State University, “abortion in the first trimester would have been very, very common.”

That’s in part because of society’s understanding of conception and life.

Many historians agree that in an era long before reliable pregnancy tests, abortion was generally not prosecuted or condemned up to the point of quickening—the point at which a pregnant woman could feel the fetus’ first kicks and movements . At the time quickening might be the only incontrovertible evidence of pregnancy; indeed, one 1841 physician wrote that many women didn’t even calculate their due dates until they had felt the baby kick, which usually takes place during the second trimester, as late as 20 weeks into the pregnancy. That’s when the fetus was generally recognized as a baby or person.

Until the mid-19th century, writes University of Illinois historian Leslie J. Reagan in her book When Abortion Was a Crime, “What we would now identify as an early induced abortion was not called an ‘abortion’ at all. If an early pregnancy ended, it had ‘slipp[ed] away,’ or the menses had been ‘restored.’”

How early abortion worked

At the time, women who did not wish to remain pregnant had plenty of options. Herbs like savin, tansy, and pennyroyal were common in kitchen gardens, and could be concocted and self-administered to, in the parlance of the time, clear “obstructions” or cause menstruation.

“It was really a decision that a woman could choose in private,” MacIvor Thompson says.

A pregnant woman might consult with a midwife, or head to her local drug store for an over-the-counter patent medicine or douching device. If she owned a book like the 1855   Hand-Book of Domestic Medicine , she could have opened it to the section on “emmenagogues,” substances that provoked uterine bleeding. Though the entry did not mention pregnancy or abortion by name, it did reference “promoting the monthly discharge from the uterus.”

Though reasons varied, a lack of reliable contraception, the disgrace of bearing a child outside of marriage, and the dangers of childbirth were the main reasons women terminated their pregnancies. Though birth rates were high—in 1835, the average woman would give birth more than six times during her lifetime—many women wanted to limit the number of times they would have to carry and bear a child. In an era before modern medical procedures, the grave dangers of childbirth were widely understood. In the words of historian Judith Walzer Leavitt, “Women knew that if procreation did not kill them or their babies, it could maim them for life.”

( Women's health concerns are dismissed more, studied less .)

As a result, the deliberation termination of pregnancy was widely practiced, and by some estimates , up to 35 percent of 19th-century pregnancies ended in abortion.

For enslaved women, abortion was more tightly regulated because their children were seen as property. In the Journal of American Studies , historian Liese M. Perrin writes that many slaveholders were paranoid about abortion on their plantations; she documents that at least one slaveholder locked an enslaved woman up and stripped her of privileges because he suspected she had self-induced a miscarriage. Still, bondswomen’s medical care was usually left to Black midwives who practiced folk medicine.   And at least some enslaved women are known to have used abortifacients, chewing cotton roots or ingesting substances like calomel or turpentine.

Middle- and upper-class white women, however, had an advantage when it came to detecting and treating unwanted pregnancies in the 19th century. Their strictly defined roles in society held that the home—and issues of reproductive health—were a woman’s realm.   And so women, not doctors, were the ones who held and passed down knowledge about pregnancy, childbirth, and reproductive control. “It gave them a space to make their own decisions about their reproductive health,” MacIvor Thompson says.

Criminalizing abortion

That would slowly change throughout the century as the first abortion laws slowly made their ways onto the books. Most were focused on unregulated patent medicines and abortions pursued after quickening. The first , codified in Connecticut in 1821, punished any person who provided or took poison or “other noxious and destructive substance” with the intent to cause “the miscarriage of any woman, then being quick with child.”

Patent medicines were a particular concern; they were available without prescriptions, and their producers could manufacture them with whatever ingredients they wished and advertise them however they liked. Many such medicines were abortifacients and were advertised as such—and they were of particular concern to doctors.

As physicians professionalized in the mid-19th century, they increasingly argued that licensed male doctors, not female midwives, should care for women throughout the reproductive cycle. With that, they began to denounce abortion.

Gynecologist Horatio Storer led the charge. In 1857, just a year after joining the barely decade-old American Medical Association, Storer began pushing the group to explore what he called “criminal abortion.”   Storer argued that abortion was immoral and caused “derangement” in women because it interfered with nature. He lobbied for the association to think of abortion not as a medical act, but a grave crime, one that lowered the profession as a whole.

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A power player within the association, he gathered fellow physicians into a crusade called the Physicians Campaign Against Abortion. The doctors’ public stance helped serve as justification for an increasing number of criminal statutes.

For its opponents, abortion was as much a social evil as a moral one. The influx of immigrants, the growth of cities, and the end of slavery prompted nativist fears that white Americans were not having enough babies to stave off the dominance of groups they found undesirable. This prompted physicians like Storer to argue that white women should have babies for the “future destiny of the nation.”

A nation of outlaws

By 1900, writes University of Oregon historian James C. Mohr in his book Abortion in America , “the United States completed its transition from a nation without abortion laws of any sort to a nation where abortion was legally and officially proscribed.” Just 10 years later, every state in the nation had anti-abortion laws—although many of these laws included exceptions for pregnancies that endangered the life of the mother.

With the help of a U.S. postal inspector named Anthony Comstock, it had also become harder to access once-common information on how to end an unwanted pregnancy. The 1873 Comstock Act made it illegal to send “obscene” materials—including information about abortion or contraception—through the mail or across state lines.

“Americans understood that abortion and birth control went hand in hand,” MacIvor Thompson says.

The combination of anti-obscenity laws, criminal statutes, and the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act , which made it unlawful to make, sell, or transport misbranded or “deleterious” drugs or medicines, made it increasingly difficult for women to access safer forms of abortion.

“The legal punishments in place absolutely had a chilling effect,” says MacIvor Thompson. “And yet, just like a hundred years earlier, women still sought them frequently.”

As the 20th century dawned, under-the-table surgical abortions became more common, discreetly practiced by physicians who advertised by word-of-mouth to those who could afford their services. Those who could not used old herbal recipes, drank creative concoctions, douched with substances like Lysol, or attempted to remove the fetuses on their own.

Advocates of the growing birth control movement even used now-illegal abortion to argue for legal contraception. Birth control pioneer Margaret Sanger said that she was inspired to make teaching women about contraceptives her career after treating a woman who died from a self-induced abortion—a practice she called a “disgrace to a civilized community.”

( How the first birth control pill was designed .)

It’s still up for debate how frequently women sought abortions in the 20th century—and how often they died from self-induced or botched, “back-alley” abortions. In 1942, the question vexed the Bureau of the Census’ chief statistician, Halbert Dunn, who noted that, despite the lack of accurate reporting, “abortion is evidently still one of the greatest problems to be met in lowering further the maternal mortality rate for the country.”

The modern battle over abortion

By 1967, abortion was a felony in nearly every state, with few provisions for the health of the mother or pregnancies arising from rape.

But all that changed in the 1970s. States across the country had begun to reconsider their laws and loosen their restrictions on abortion, and in 1973, the Supreme Court seemingly settled the question with two landmark rulings— Roe v. Wade and the lesser-known but equally important Doe v. Bolton— that made terminating a pregnancy a legal right nationwide.

( The tumultuous history that led to the landmark   Roe v. Wade ruling. )

The country has debated the merits of those rulings ever since. In June 2022, the Supreme Court made the momentous decision to overturn Roe . Now, generations of women who have never known life before Roe   face yet another shift in the landscape of the nation’s contentious history of abortion.

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Comparison/Contrast Essays: Two Patterns

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First Pattern: Block-by-Block

By Rory H. Osbrink

Abortion is an example of a very controversial issue. The two opposing viewpoints surrounding abortion are like two sides of a coin. On one side, there is the pro-choice activist and on the other is the pro-life activist.

The argument is a balanced one; for every point supporting abortion there is a counter-point condemning abortion. This essay will delineate the controversy in one type of comparison/contrast essay form: the “”Argument versus Argument,”” or, “”Block-by-Block”” format. In this style of writing, first you present all the arguments surrounding one side of the issue, then you present all the arguments surrounding the other side of the issue. You are generally not expected to reach a conclusion, but simply to present the opposing sides of the argument.

Introduction: (the thesis is underlined) Explains the argument

The Abortion Issue: Compare and Contrast Block-by-Block Format

One of the most divisive issues in America is the controversy surrounding abortion. Currently, abortion is legal in America, and many people believe that it should remain legal. These people, pro-choice activists, believe that it is the women’s right to chose whether or not to give birth. However, there are many groups who are lobbying Congress to pass laws that would make abortion illegal. These people are called the pro-life activists.

Explains pro-choice

Abortion is a choice that should be decided by each individual, argues the pro-choice activist. Abortion is not murder since the fetus is not yet fully human, therefore, it is not in defiance against God. Regardless of the reason for the abortion, it should be the woman’s choice because it is her body. While adoption is an option some women chose, many women do not want to suffer the physical and emotional trauma of pregnancy and labor only to give up a child. Therefore, laws should remain in effect that protect a woman’s right to chose.

Explains pro-life

Abortion is an abomination, argues the pro-life activist. It makes no sense for a woman to murder a human being not even born. The bible says, “”Thou shalt not kill,”” and it does not discriminate between different stages of life. A fetus is the beginning of life. Therefore, abortion is murder, and is in direct defiance of God’s will. Regardless of the mother’s life situation (many women who abort are poor, young, or drug users), the value of a human life cannot be measured. Therefore, laws should be passed to outlaw abortion. After all, there are plenty of couples who are willing to adopt an unwanted child.

If we take away the woman’s right to chose, will we begin limiting her other rights also? Or, if we keep abortion legal, are we devaluing human life? There is no easy answer to these questions. Both sides present strong, logical arguments. Though it is a very personal decision, t he fate of abortion rights will have to be left for the Supreme Court to decide.

Second Pattern: Point-by-Point

This second example is also an essay about abortion. We have used the same information and line of reasoning in this essay, however, this one will be presented in the “”Point-by-Point”” style argument. The Point-by-Point style argument presents both sides of the argument at the same time. First, you would present one point on a specific topic, then you would follow that up with the opposing point on the same topic. Again, you are generally not expected to draw any conclusions, simply to fairly present both sides of the argument.

Introduction: (the thesis is underlined)

Explains the argument

The Abortion Issue: Compare and Contrast Point-by-Point Format

Point One: Pro-life and Pro-choice

Supporters of both pro-life and pro-choice refer to religion as support for their side of the argument. Pro-life supporters claim that abortion is murder, and is therefore against God’s will. However, pro-choice defenders argue that abortion is not murder since the fetus is not yet a fully formed human. Therefore, abortion would not be a defiance against God.

Point Two: Pro-life and Pro-choice

Another main point of the argument is over the woman’s personal rights, versus the rights of the unborn child. Pro-choice activists maintain that regardless of the individual circumstances, women should have the right to chose whether or not to abort. The pregnancy and labor will affect only the woman’s body, therefore it should be the woman’s decision. Pro-life supporters, on the other hand, believe that the unborn child has the right to life, and that abortion unlawfully takes away that right.

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Background Information

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Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy, which is often achieved through medical intervention. Use the following sources to learn more about abortion and the medical, political, legal, social, and religious issues surrounding it.  

• Abortion in the United States: A Reference Handbook Presents the pro-life/pro-choice controversy, showing all aspects of the debate and why it is so difficult to resolve.
• Historical and Multicultural Encyclopedia of Women's Reproductive Rights in the United States Designed to introduce the reader to the topic by offering a variety of opinions from both sides supported by hard evidence.
• Encyclopedia of Women's Health Provides practical information, historical aspects, and future directions on a variety of women's health topics, including reproductive issues.
• The Continuum Complete International Encyclopedia of Sexuality Contains information on abortion for particular countries. The entry for the United States is extensive.
• The Oxford Encyclopedia of the History of American Science, Medicine, and Technology Provides information about abortion from a public health and legal standpoint.
• The Gale Encyclopedia of Public Health Contains entries on abortion, women's health, reproductive health, and other public health issues.
• CQ Researcher This link opens in a new window Gives overviews of major topic areas (including abortion). Includes articles, lists of other resources, and Pro and Con arguments for most topics.
• << Previous: Get Started
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• Last Updated: Jun 20, 2024 1:53 PM
• URL: https://guides.library.illinois.edu/abortion

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Persuasive Essay Guide

Persuasive Essay About Abortion

How To Write A Persuasive Essay On Abortion

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Are you about to write a persuasive essay on abortion but wondering how to begin?

Writing an effective persuasive essay on the topic of abortion can be a difficult task for many students. 

It is important to understand both sides of the issue and form an argument based on facts and logical reasoning. This requires research and understanding, which takes time and effort.

In this blog, we will provide you with some easy steps to craft a persuasive essay about abortion that is compelling and convincing. Moreover, we have included some example essays and interesting facts to read and get inspired by. 

So let's start!

• 1. How To Write a Persuasive Essay About Abortion?
• 2. Persuasive Essay About Abortion Examples
• 3. Examples of Argumentative Essay About Abortion
• 4. Persuasive Topics about Abortion 
• 5. Facts About Abortion You Need to Know

How To Write a Persuasive Essay About Abortion?

Abortion is a controversial topic, with people having differing points of view and opinions on the matter. There are those who oppose abortion, while some people endorse pro-choice arguments. 

It is also an emotionally charged subject, so you need to be extra careful when crafting your persuasive essay.

Before you start writing your persuasive essay, you need to understand the following steps.

Step 1: Choose Your Position

The first step to writing a persuasive essay on abortion is to decide your position. Do you support the practice or are you against it? You need to make sure that you have a clear opinion before you begin writing. 

Once you have decided, research and find evidence that supports your position. This will help strengthen your argument. 

Check out the video below to get more insights into this topic:

Step 2: Choose Your Audience

The next step is to decide who your audience will be. Will you write for pro-life or pro-choice individuals? Or both? 

Knowing who you are writing for will guide your writing and help you include the most relevant facts and information. Additionally, understanding your audience will help you craft a focused thesis statement that clearly addresses their concerns and perspectives.

Paper Due? Why Suffer? That's our Job!

Step 3: Make an Outline & Define Argument

Now that you have chosen your position and identified your audience, it’s time to craft your argument. Start by clearly defining your stance on the issue and outlining the reasons behind your belief. Use evidence to support each of your claims, such as facts, statistics, or expert opinions.

To organize your thoughts, create a persuasive essay outline that maps out the structure of your essay. 

For instance, your persuasive essay on abortion outline might include:

• Introduction: Present the topic and state your thesis.
• Body Paragraph 1: Explain your first supporting argument and provide evidence.
• Body Paragraph 2: Discuss your second supporting argument with additional evidence.
• Body Paragraph 3: Address opposing arguments and provide counterarguments to refute them.
• Conclusion: Summarize your main points and restate why your position is valid.

By outlining your essay, you ensure that your argument is logical and well-structured, making your essay more balanced and convincing.

Step 4: Format Your Essay

Once you have the argument ready, it is time to craft your persuasive essay. Follow a standard format for the essay , with an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. 

Make sure that each paragraph is organized and flows smoothly. Use clear and concise language, getting straight to the point.

Step 5: Proofread and Edit

The last step in writing your persuasive essay is to make sure that you proofread and edit it carefully. Look for spelling, grammar, punctuation, or factual errors and correct them. This will help make your essay more professional and convincing.

These are the steps you need to follow when writing a persuasive essay on abortion. It is a good idea to read some examples before you start so you can know how they should be written.

Continue reading to find helpful examples.

Persuasive Essay About Abortion Examples

To help you get started, here are some example persuasive essays on abortion that may be useful for your own paper.

Here is another short persuasive essay about abortion:

Persuasive Essay About No To Abortion

Persuasive Speech on Abortion

Legal Abortion Persuasive Essay

Persuasive Essay About Abortion in the Philippines

Persuasive Essay about legalizing abortion

You can also read m ore persuasive essay examples to imp rove your persuasive skills.

Examples of Argumentative Essay About Abortion

An argumentative essay is a type of essay that presents both sides of an argument. These essays rely heavily on logic and evidence.

Here are some examples of short argumentative essays with an introduction, body, and conclusion that you can use as a reference in writing your own argumentative essay. 

Let’s take a look at another short example:

Here are some PDF examples that you can download and read for free!

Abortion Persuasive Essay Introduction

Argumentative Essay About Abortion Conclusion

Argumentative Essay About Abortion Pdf

Argumentative Essay About Abortion in the Philippines

Argumentative Essay About Abortion - Introduction

Persuasive Topics about Abortion 

If you are looking for some topics to write your persuasive essay on abortion, here are some examples:

• Should abortion be legal in the United States?
• Is it ethical to perform abortions, considering its pros and cons?
• What should be done to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies that lead to abortions?
• Is there a connection between abortion and psychological trauma?
• What are the ethical implications of abortion on demand?
• How has the debate over abortion changed over time?
• Should there be legal restrictions on late-term abortions?
• Does gender play a role in how people view abortion rights?
• Is it possible to reduce poverty and unwanted pregnancies through better sex education?
• How is the anti-abortion point of view affected by religious beliefs and values? 

These are just some of the potential topics that you can use for your persuasive essay on abortion. Think carefully about the topic you want to write about and make sure it is something that interests you. 

Check out m ore persuasive essay topics that will help you explore other things that you can write about!

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Facts About Abortion You Need to Know

Here are some facts about abortion that will help you formulate better arguments.

• According to the Guttmacher Institute , 1 in 4 pregnancies end in abortion.
• The majority of abortions are performed in the first trimester.
• Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures, with less than a 0.5% risk of major complications.
• In the United States, 14 states have laws that restrict or ban abortion of most forms after 20 weeks gestation.
• Seven out of 198 nations allow elective abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
• In places where abortion is highly illegal, more women die during childbirth and due to complications resulting from pregnancy.
• A majority of pregnant women who opt for abortions do so for financial and social reasons.
• According to estimates, 56 million abortions occur annually.

In conclusion, these are some of the examples, steps, and topics that you can use to write a persuasive essay. Make sure to do your research thoroughly and back up your arguments with evidence. This will make your essay more professional and convincing. 

Need the services of a persuasive essay writing service ? We've got your back!

MyPerfectWords.com provides help to students in the form of professionally written essays. Our persuasive essay writer can craft quality persuasive essays on any topic, including abortion. 

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Frequently Asked Questions

How to start a persuasive essay about abortion.

To start a persuasive essay about abortion, begin with a compelling introduction that grabs the reader's attention and clearly presents the topic. Provide some background information on the issue and state your thesis statement, which should outline your position on the matter. Ensure your introduction sets up the argument you will be making throughout the essay.

What is a good argument for abortion?

A good argument for abortion could be that it is a woman’s choice to choose whether or not to have an abortion. It is also important to consider the potential risks of carrying a pregnancy to term.

What is a good hook for an essay about abortion?

A good hook for an essay might involve a thought-provoking question, a startling statistic, or a powerful quote. For example:

• "Did you know that nearly one in four women will have an abortion by age 45? This staggering statistic highlights the urgency of the abortion debate."
• "‘The right to choose is fundamental,’ argues many pro-choice advocates. But how does this stand against the moral objections of pro-life supporters?"

What is a persuasive speech about legalizing abortion?

A persuasive speech about legalizing abortion argues for the importance of granting individuals the right to make autonomous decisions regarding their reproductive health. It emphasizes that legalizing abortion ensures safe, regulated medical procedures, protects women's health, and supports personal autonomy. The speech often highlights the risks associated with illegal abortions, the need for access to healthcare, and the ethical consideration of allowing individuals to choose based on their unique circumstances.

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abortion , the expulsion of a fetus from the uterus before it has reached the stage of viability (in human beings, usually about the 20th week of gestation). An abortion may occur spontaneously, in which case it is also called a miscarriage , or it may be brought on purposefully, in which case it is often called an induced abortion.

Spontaneous abortions, or miscarriages, occur for many reasons, including disease, trauma, genetic defect, or biochemical incompatibility of mother and fetus. Occasionally a fetus dies in the uterus but fails to be expelled, a condition termed a missed abortion.

Induced abortions may be performed for reasons that fall into four general categories: to preserve the life or physical or mental well-being of the mother; to prevent the completion of a pregnancy that has resulted from rape or incest; to prevent the birth of a child with serious deformity, mental deficiency , or genetic abnormality; or to prevent a birth for social or economic reasons (such as the extreme youth of the pregnant female or the sorely strained resources of the family unit). By some definitions, abortions that are performed to preserve the well-being of the female or in cases of rape or incest are therapeutic, or justifiable, abortions.

Numerous medical techniques exist for performing abortions. During the first trimester (up to about 12 weeks after conception), endometrial aspiration , suction, or curettage may be used to remove the contents of the uterus. In endometrial aspiration, a thin flexible tube is inserted up the cervical canal (the neck of the womb) and then sucks out the lining of the uterus (the endometrium) by means of an electric pump.

In the related but slightly more onerous procedure known as dilatation and evacuation (also called suction curettage or vacuum curettage), the cervical canal is enlarged by the insertion of a series of metal dilators while the patient is under anesthesia , after which a rigid suction tube is inserted into the uterus to evacuate its contents. When, in place of suction, a thin metal tool called a curette is used to scrape (rather than vacuum out) the contents of the uterus, the procedure is called dilatation and curettage. When combined with dilatation, both evacuation and curettage can be used up to about the 16th week of pregnancy.

From 12 to 19 weeks the injection of a saline solution may be used to trigger uterine contractions; alternatively, the administration of prostaglandins by injection, suppository, or other method may be used to induce contractions, but these substances may cause severe side effects. Hysterotomy, the surgical removal of the uterine contents, may be used during the second trimester or later. In general, the more advanced the pregnancy, the greater the risk to the female of mortality or serious complications following an abortion.

In the late 20th century a new method of induced abortion was discovered that uses the drug RU-486 (mifepristone), an artificial steroid that is closely related to the contraceptive hormone norethnidrone. RU-486 works by blocking the action of the hormone progesterone, which is needed to support the development of a fertilized egg. When ingested within weeks of conception , RU-486 effectively triggers the menstrual cycle and flushes the fertilized egg out of the uterus. RU-486 is typically used in combination with another drug, misoprostol, which softens the cervix and induces uterine contractions. By 2020 the two-drug combination, commonly referred to as a “medication abortion” or the “abortion pill,” accounted for more than half of all abortions in the United States .

Whether and to what extent induced abortions should be permitted, encouraged, or severely repressed is a social issue that has divided theologians, philosophers, and legislators for centuries. Abortion was apparently a common and socially accepted method of family limitation in the Greco-Roman world. Although Christian theologians early and vehemently condemned abortion, the application of severe criminal sanctions to deter its practice became common only in the 19th century. In the 20th century such sanctions were modified in one way or another in various countries, beginning with the Soviet Union in 1920, with Scandinavian countries in the 1930s, and with Japan and several eastern European countries in the 1950s. In some countries the unavailability of birth control devices was a factor in the acceptance of abortion. In the late 20th century China used abortion on a large scale as part of its population control policy. In the early 21st century some jurisdictions with large Roman Catholic populations, such as Portugal and Mexico City , decriminalized abortion despite strong opposition from the church, while others, such as Nicaragua, increased restrictions on it.

A broad social movement for the relaxation or elimination of restrictions on abortion resulted in the passing of liberalized legislation in several states in the United States during the 1960s. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Roe v. Wade (1973) that unduly restrictive state regulation of abortion was unconstitutional, in effect legalizing abortion for any reason for women in the first three months of pregnancy. A countermovement for the restoration of strict control over the circumstances under which abortions might be permitted soon sprang up, and the issue became entangled in social and political conflict. In rulings in 1989 ( Webster v. Reproductive Health Services ) and 1992 ( Planned Parenthood v. Casey ), a more conservative Supreme Court upheld the legality of new state restrictions on abortion, though it proved unwilling to overturn Roe v. Wade itself. In 2007 the Court also upheld a federal ban on a rarely used abortion method known as intact dilation and evacuation. In a later ruling, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), the Court overturned both Roe and Casey , holding that there is no constitutional right to abortion. Following the Court’s decision in Dobbs , several states adopted new (or reinstated old) abortion restrictions or banned the procedure altogether.

In April 2023 a federal district court judge in Texas issued an order effectively invalidating the federal Food and Drug Administration ’s (FDA) approval of RU-486 in 2000. An approximately simultaneous order by a federal district court judge in Washington state prohibited the FDA from further limiting access to RU-486 in 17 states and the District of Columbia . Shortly after the two rulings, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit temporarily blocked the Texas judge’s finding that RU-486 had been improperly approved but declined to reverse his separate stays of measures that the FDA had taken since 2016 to make RU-486 accessible to more patients, including extending the period during which the drug could be used from 7 to 10 weeks of pregnancy and permitting the drug to be mailed to patients rather than administered at an in-person visit with a doctor. The administration of Pres. Joe Biden then submitted an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, asking that it temporarily uphold the FDA’s approval of RU-486 and its measures since 2016 to make the drug more accessible. One week later the Supreme Court granted the administration’s request. In December 2023, following the Fifth Circuit’s decision in August upholding the district court’s invalidation of the FDA’s accessibility measures since 2016, the Supreme Court agreed to review the case, Food and Drug Administration v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine , the first major abortion-related case on its docket since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization . On June 13, 2024, the Court unanimously reversed and remanded the Fifth’s Circuit’s decision, holding that the original plaintiffs in the case—a group of pro-life medical associations and several individual doctors—lacked standing to sue .

The public debate of the abortion issue has demonstrated the enormous difficulties experienced by political institutions in grappling with the complex and ambiguous ethical problems raised by the question of abortion. Opponents of abortion, or of abortion for any reason other than to save the life of the mother, argue that there is no rational basis for distinguishing the fetus from a newborn infant; each is totally dependent and potentially a member of society, and each possesses a degree of humanity. Proponents of liberalized regulation of abortion hold that only a woman herself, rather than the state, has the right to manage her pregnancy and that the alternative to legal, medically supervised abortion is illegal and demonstrably dangerous, if not deadly, abortion.

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Alaska judge strikes down requirement that only licensed physicians provide abortions

An Alaska law prohibiting anyone other than a licensed physician from performing abortions violates the state constitution’s equal protection and privacy guarantees, a state Superior Court judge ruled on Wednesday.

There is “no medical reason” why abortions cannot be provided by advanced practice clinicians, or APCs, such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants, said the  ruling  issued by Superior Court Judge Josie Garton.

Limiting abortion services to state-licensed physicians violates the equal protection guarantee because other pregnancy-related services may be provided by advanced clinicians, Garton said in her ruling. And the restriction “imposes a substantial burden on patients’ fundamental privacy rights to make reproductive decisions and access abortion care,” she said.

Her ruling bars the state from preventing “otherwise qualified medical clinicians” from providing abortions.

The decision came in a  lawsuit  filed on Dec. 12, 2019, by Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawai’i, Alaska, Indiana, Kentucky.

The lawsuit  targeted the physician-only provision , which is identified as  Alaska Statutes 18.16.010(a)(1) . It dates to Alaska’s 1970 law that legalized abortion. It also targeted an Alaska Board of Nursing rule, based on the legal provision, that barred nurse practitioners from prescribing abortion medication.

In the decades since that law was passed, medical technology and services have changed, with more treatment provided by advanced practitioners. In its 2019 lawsuit, Planned Parenthood argued that the restriction of abortion services to physicians has become obsolete and results in unfair obstacles in a state facing a shortage of doctors and increasingly reliant on non-physicians such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants.

Garton, in her ruling, agreed with that argument.

“When APCs are barred from providing abortion, there are fewer available providers, fewer appointments, and potential for greater delay. Given the time-sensitivity of accessing abortion care and the way the service is delivered state-wide through three health centers many patients must travel significant distances to reach a health center,” she said in her ruling.

Shortly after the lawsuit was filed, the COVID-19 pandemic started, slowing legal procedures statewide. In 2021, Garton issued a preliminary injunction that barred enforcement of part of the restriction. Her injunction allowed clinical providers to provide medication abortions. After some delays, there was a nonjury trial last November in Anchorage.

The Alaska Department of Law is considering its next steps, said Chief Assistant Attorney General Chris Robinson. He cited a lack of information about how many patients were affected by the prohibition.

“Although we are still reviewing the decision, the court’s ruling contains several notable findings, including: ‘The number of patients who experience significant adverse impacts as a result of AS 18.16.010(a)(1) is low, likely very low, compared to the overall number of abortion patients who receive care at Planned Parenthood,’” he said by email. “It also found: ‘The evidence was not sufficient for the court to quantify, even roughly, the number of patients who, as a result of AS 18.16.010(a)(1), were delayed in accessing care, were unable to obtain a medication abortion or aspiration abortion due to gestational age as a result of the physician requirement, had to leave the state, or were unable to access care at all.’”

Given the findings, it is unclear how the prohibition “substantially burdens a fundamental right,” he said. “The statute was enacted to ensure medical safety, and those types of judgments are more appropriately made by the Legislative or Executive branches of government. The Department will continue to evaluate the court’s decision and take steps it deems appropriate at a future date.”

Yereth Rosen, Alaska Beacon

Alaska Beacon  is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alaska Beacon maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Andrew Kitchenman for questions: [email protected] . Follow Alaska Beacon on  Facebook and X .

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New Mexico starts building an abortion clinic to serve neighboring states, train medical students

Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Construction is getting underway on a state-funded reproductive health and abortion clinic in southern New Mexico that will cater to local residents and people who travel from neighboring states such as Texas and Oklahoma with major restrictions on abortion. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the start of construction Thursday in a visit to Las Cruces. The clinic will draw upon $10 million in state funding that was set aside by the governor under a 2022 executive order. The announcement thrusts public policy on abortion back in the spotlight in the run-up to the general election.

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New Mexico starts building an abortion clinic to serve neighboring states, train medical students

Associated Press

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — Construction is getting underway on a state-funded reproductive health and abortion clinic in southern New Mexico that will cater to local residents and people who travel from neighboring states such as Texas and Oklahoma with major restrictions on abortion, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Thursday.

Construction of the clinic will draw upon $10 million in state funding that was set aside by the governor under a 2022 executive order. New Mexico has one of the country’s most liberal abortion-access laws.

Lujan Grisham, a second-term Democrat who can’t run again in 2026, reiterated her commitment to shoring up abortion access in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade and revoked universal access to abortion.

“Access to reproductive healthcare should be a fundamental human right,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement. “Once completed, this clinic will stand as a testament to our state’s commitment to reproductive freedom for residents of New Mexico, and also those who travel here from out-of-state in need of this care.”

New Mexico accompanies Democratic-led states from California to New Jersey that are underwriting efforts to bolster abortion services and protections.

New Jersey last year awarded $15 million in zero-interest loans and grants to health care facilities that provide abortion services for facility improvements and increased security. In 2022, California legislators approved $200 million in new spending to bolster the state’s already robust abortion protections.

The governor’s announcement in New Mexico thrusts public policy on abortion back in the spotlight in the runup to the November general election, with the entire state Legislature up for reelection as Democrats defend their state House and Senate majorities.

Republican contenders for a U.S. Senate seat and a congressional swing district in southern New Mexico have said they won’t support a federal abortion ban, amid Democratic-backed political ads that highlight the potential for further federal restrictions.

The Republican Party of New Mexico on Thursday condemned public spending on an abortion clinic that caters to out-of-state visitors as an example of misplaced priorities among Democrats.

In 2021, New Mexico state lawmakers repealed a dormant 1969 statute that outlawed most abortion procedures as felonies, ensuring access. But opposition to abortion runs deep in New Mexico communities along the border with Texas, which has one of the most restrictive bans in the U.S.

Several New Mexico cities and counties have approved abortion-ban ordinances that are on hold while the state Supreme Court weighs whether local governments have the right to back federal abortion restrictions under a 19th century U.S. law that prohibits the shipping of abortion medication and supplies.

The new clinic is scheduled for completion within 18 months to provide services ranging from medical and procedural abortions to contraception, cervical cancer screenings and education about adoptions.

The health branch of the University of New Mexico says it broke ground on the clinic in a partnership with groups including Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains.

The project was designed to improve health care access and create new training and residency opportunities beyond Albuquerque for University of New Mexico School of Medicine students, the University of New Mexico said in a statement.

The public university’s board of regents approved the acquisition of land for the project in May.

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Supreme Court rejects bid to restrict access to abortion pill

In a blow for anti-abortion advocates, the  Supreme Court  on Thursday rejected a challenge to the abortion pill mifepristone , meaning the commonly used drug can remain widely available.

The court  found unanimously  that the group of anti-abortion doctors who questioned the Food and Drug Administration’s decisions making it easier to access the pill did not have legal standing to sue. 

President Joe Biden said in a statement that while the ruling means the pill can remain easily accessible, “the fight for reproductive freedom continues” in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s ruling two years ago that overturned abortion rights landmark Roe v. Wade.

“It does not change the fact that the right for a woman to get the treatment she needs is imperiled if not impossible in many states,” he added.

Justice Brett Kavanaugh, writing for the court, wrote that while plaintiffs have “sincere legal, moral, ideological, and policy objections to elective abortion and to FDA’s relaxed regulation of mifepristone,” that does not mean they have a federal case.

The plaintiffs failed to show they had suffered any injury, meaning that “the federal courts are the wrong forum for addressing the plaintiffs’ concerns about FDA’s actions,” he added.

“The plaintiffs may present their concerns and objections to the president and FDA in the regulatory process or to Congress and the president in the legislative process,” Kavanaugh wrote. “And they may also express their views about abortion and mifepristone to fellow citizens, including in the political and electoral processes.”

The legal challenge was brought by doctors and other medical professionals represented by the conservative Christian legal group Alliance Defending Freedom.

“We are disappointed that the Supreme Court did not reach the merits of the FDA’s lawless removal of commonsense safety standards for abortion drugs,” said Erin Hawley, one of the group’s lawyers. She told reporters she is hopeful the underlying lawsuit can continue because three states — Idaho, Missouri and Kansas — have brought their own claims and have different arguments for standing.

By throwing out the case on such grounds, the court avoided reaching a decision on the legal merits of whether the FDA acted lawfully in lifting various restrictions, including one making the drug obtainable via mail, meaning the same issues could yet return to the court in another case.

Another regulatory decision left in place means women can still obtain the pill within 10 weeks of gestation instead of seven. 

Likewise a decision to allow health care providers other than physicians to dispense the pill will remain in effect.

The court’s decision to roll back abortion rights two years ago led to a wave of new abortion restrictions in conservative states.

Then, the court suggested it was removing itself from the political debate over abortion, but with litigation continuing to rage over abortion access, the justices are continuing to play a pivotal role. 

Abortion rights supporters welcomed the ruling, with Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, saying she was relieved at the outcome but angered about the case lingering in the court system so long.

“Thank goodness the Supreme Court rejected this unwarranted attempt to curtail access to medication abortion, but the fact remains that this meritless case should never have gotten this far,” she said in a statement.

Danco Laboratories, manufacturer of Mifeprex, the brand version of mifepristone, praised the ruling too, saying it was good for the drug approval process writ large.

In rejecting the challenge, the court “maintained the stability of the FDA drug approval process, which is based on the agency’s expertise and on which patients, health care providers and the U.S. pharmaceutical industry rely,” company spokeswoman Abigail Long said.

Anti-abortion groups expressed disappointment, saying that the ruling highlighted the importance of this year’s election in which Democrat Biden, who has pledged to defend abortion rights, faces off against Republican Donald Trump, who has the strong backing of conservatives who oppose abortion.

“Joe Biden and the Democrats are hell-bent on forcing abortion on demand any time for any reason, including DIY mail-order abortions, on every state in the country,” Marjorie Dannenfeiser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, said.

If Trump were to win the election, his appointees to the FDA would be a position to impose new restrictions on mifepristone. Biden’s campaign manager, Julie Chavez-Rodriguez, alluded to the possibility in a call with reporters after the ruling. Calling the case “one tactic in a broader, relentless strategy” by anti-abortion activists, Chavez-Rodriguez said if Trump is elected, his advisers and allies would try to ban abortion nationwide “without the help of Congress or the court,” and also restrict access to contraception — a threat, she said, to blue as well as red states.

The mifepristone dispute is not the only abortion case currently before the court. It is also due to decide whether  Idaho’s strict abortion ban  prevents doctors in emergency rooms from performing abortions when a pregnant woman is facing dangerous complications.

Mifepristone is used as part of a two-drug FDA-approved regimen that is now the most common form of abortion in the United States.

Abortion is effectively banned altogether in 14 states, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that backs abortion rights.

The FDA had the backing of the pharmaceutical industry, which has warned that any second-guessing of the approval process by untrained federal judges could  cause chaos and deter innovation.

Last year, Texas-based U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued a sweeping ruling that completely invalidated the FDA’s approval of the pill, leading to panic among abortion-rights activists that it would be banned nationwide.

The Supreme Court last April put that ruling on hold, meaning the pill remained widely available while litigation continued.

The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in August then narrowed Kacsmaryk’s decision but left in place his conclusion that the FDA’s move to lift restrictions starting in 2016 was unlawful.

Both sides appealed to the Supreme Court. The court in December took up the Biden administration’s appeal in defense of the later FDA decisions, but it opted against hearing the challenge to the original approval of mifepristone in 2000. 

The Supreme Court focused solely on the later FDA action, including the initial 2021 decision that made the drug available by mail, which was finalized last year.

This article first appeared on NBCNews.com .

Lawrence Hurley covers the Supreme Court for NBC News Digital.

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I moved from the UK to Australia after a divorce and extreme burnout. I'm unbelievably happy with my life change.

• Ruth Faulkner was working up to 60-hour weeks when her marriage ended and she then became pregnant.
• She decided to make a change, start her own business, and begin a new life in Australia.
• Now, she lives with friends near the beach and feels this is the life she was always meant to live.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Ruth Faulkner , a 34-year-old digital nomad based in Australia. It's been edited for length and clarity.

I'm a digital nomad currently based in Adelaide, South Australia.

I trained as a journalist in London and started my career reporting at the Olympics in 2012 and 2016. I moved into content for Accenture and then joined a creative agency called Tonic, first as an account director and then as head of content.

In December 2023, I started my business, Toucan Content, specializing in content and communications strategy.

My marriage fell apart in 2022, and work became difficult

Two years ago, I dealt with my marriage ending while trying to show up daily for my large portfolio of clients at Tonic. I decided not to take leave when I probably needed to.

I was working to distract myself from my personal life. I even took on additional after-hours study of an MBA essentials course to secure my role on the senior leadership team.

I hit a wall and sunk into a frozen depressive episode . One day that December, I woke up and couldn't get out of bed or stop crying. I finally decided to take two weeks of mental health leave and start counseling. Most importantly, I gave myself some space to acknowledge my feelings.

The next challenge hit just as I was getting my feet under me

In March 2023, I had an unplanned positive pregnancy test result. At that time — unhappy, unwell, living in a shared house, and not in a long-term relationship — the decision to have an abortion was clear.

I chose what was right for me and my body, but the process was mentally draining.

After so much had happened so quickly, I needed change. I had spent my entire career putting all my energy into working for others. I often worked 50- 60-hour weeks and neglected any concept of work-life balance .

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My last day of corporate work was in December 2023, and I began working for myself.

I decided to move to Australia

I grew up in a working-class background on the Isle of Wight . Coming from somewhere so small, seeing the world became a big priority as I became financially secure.

Between the ages of 22 and 30, I traveled to over 30 countries, most of which were with my ex-husband. Now, I want to travel solo .

I have very close friends in Australia, so I decided to move there to be with them in January. Finalizing a divorce, starting a business, moving across the world — dealing with just one of these things is emotionally and mentally exhausting. Facing all three felt like psychological overload at times.

This transition has been difficult but exciting. It feels like a new chapter of growth after trauma and disruption.

I took my business with me

I'm on a working holiday visa, which is easy to manage. Working for myself still requires energy and long hours, but only I determine the flow of my days.

One of the hardest things about dealing with the last two years was feeling like I couldn't speak openly in the workplace for fear of being judged or seen as unprofessional. Living with pain and trauma in secret makes you feel even more alone.

Now, my business values are being human and open in communications. I share my story regularly, and my clients work with me knowing exactly who I am and what I stand for.

I have three freelancers who work with me part-time and wider freelance contacts I can embed into my team if a particular client project requires it.

There is no typical day

I live with my friends in Port Noarlunga near the beach. There are some cultural differences between the UK and Australia, but they've mostly felt minor. I think the stand-out one is a positive in that Australians seem to respect and embrace work-life balance.

I start my day late and slowly, catching up on all the emails and messages from overnight. I'm often undisturbed during the day.

Often, at about 3 p.m., I take a break and go for a walk on the beach before the UK gets online. In the evening, I take calls and meetings with the UK, collaborating with my clients and partners. I try to wrap up by 10 p.m. I've always been a night owl , and this suits me perfectly.

Part of becoming a digital nomad is trying to see more of the world, and I try to embrace this by prioritizing time outdoors and exploring.

I'm unbelievably happy with my life change

I feel like I've embraced and accepted myself instead of trying to fit into a box.

I do miss my family. My parents live in France, my grandparents are in the UK, and my friends are across Europe. With the time difference, cost, and time required for travel, Australia can feel far away from everything, but so far, my life here outweighs this.

I'm the best me now. It feels like I was always supposed to do this. I know there are tough sides to running a business, but autonomy has been the most joyous thing. The 9-5 schedule is not conducive to feeling energetic to me. Work flows with my energy more naturally now.

As for what's next, I plan to go to Bali in 2025 and train to be a yoga teacher. I also hope to travel around Australia and the Asia Pacific more widely.

Watch: How the last artificial flower factory in New York City survived a century

• Main content

Blaze News investigates: Florida might join blue states in enshrining nearly limitless abortion as a right. Here's a look at the fight ahead.

Florida's amendment 4 would serve as a signal victory for pro-abortion radicals and align florida with blue states..

Voters in Florida will decide on Nov. 5 whether to scrap hard-won legal protections for the unborn and effectively legalize late-term abortion through a constitutional amendment to the Sunshine State's Declaration of Rights.

Pro-life advocates have shared critical insights with Blaze News regarding the political significance of Florida's Amendment 4; its implications for the unborn and their advocates both in Florida and out of state; and what it reveals about the pro-abortion movement's strategy going forward.

The U.S. Supreme Court's June 2022 Dobbs decision rekindled hopes that the Founders' long-eroded constitutional federalism might be on the mend and that untold millions of human beings might be spared from franchise abattoirs.

Time will tell whether the forces of centralization will be arrested and reversed. As for the unborn, the legal question of whether and when they can be exterminated has been localized, repeated, and, in some cases, answered .

Florida Republicans passed SB 300, the Heartbeat Protection Act, early last year.

SB 300 prohibits the slaying of unborn children after six weeks of pregnancy, unless the mother's life is in danger; the mother is a victim of rape, incest, or human trafficking; or the baby has a fatal fetal abnormality.

The law also expanded eligibility for Florida's pregnancy support and wellness services network to women who are up to 12 months postpartum and to parents of children under the age of 3 for up to 12 months. This support network, topped up with $25 million annually, provides both material assistance and counseling to parents in need.

"We are proud to support life and family in the state of Florida," Gov. Ron DeSantis said upon ratifying the legislation. "I applaud the Legislature for passing the Heartbeat Protection Act that expands pro-life protections and provides additional resources for young mothers and families."

While the anti-abortion legislation enraged the usual suspects, such as Planned Parenthood and the ACLU of Florida , it also rankled various right-of-center political operatives and personalities.

'Them winning in Florida I think really represents the end of the pro-life movement.'

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), for instance, was among those who criticized DeSantis for ratifying the legislation, telling CBS News' "Face the Nation" that "signing a six-week ban that puts women who are victims of rape and girls who are victims of incest and in a hard spot isn't the way to change hearts and minds. It's not compassionate."

Mace suggested instead that "15 to 20 weeks is the sweet spot here."

After months of relative quiet, debate about the law picked up nationally when former President Donald Trump questioned the Florida law in a late August NBC News interview.

Trump — who nominated the Supreme Court justices who helped overthrow Roe and whose running mate noted in 2022, "If you're not willing to stand up to the left on abortion, you can't be trusted on anything else" — said six weeks "is too short" and that there "has to be more time."

The Republican also upset some pro-life advocates by insinuating he might even vote for Florida Amendment 4 in November.

Following significant backlash, including from some fair-weather friends, Trump reversed course . The incident was nevertheless survived by discussions on the right about the perceived political liability of pro-life activism and the place for pro-lifers in the Republican Party .

Florida Amendment 4

In November, voters in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, and Nevada will decide whether to amend their respective state constitutions to guarantee residents the legal right to kill the unborn at various stages of development.

In Florida, the choice has taken the form of Amendment 4 , an initiative sponsored by Floridians Protecting Freedom — a coalition comprising the ACLU of Florida, Planned Parenthood, Florida Women's Freedom Coalition, SEIU 1199 Florida, and various other radical outfits.

If Amendment 4 passes, then the people's democratically elected representatives will be barred from passing any law prohibiting, penalizing, delaying or restricting abortion "before viability or when necessary to protect the patient's health, as determined by the patient's healthcare provider" — meaning both that Florida would fall into line with the most radical of the pro-abortion states and that even Mace's proposed 15-week "sweet spot" would be out of reach.

Gov. DeSantis has opted not to sugarcoat the decision before Floridians: "If you care about building a culture of life in this state or this country, them winning in Florida I think really represents the end of the pro-life movement," DeSantis told a crowd in Tampa last month, reported the Tampa Bay Times.

'Amendment 4 would be a travesty for our nation.'

Critics have noted that the amendment is deceptively worded.

Liz Wheeler, host of BlazeTV's " The Liz Wheeler Show ," told Blaze News, "Amendment 4 is a radical, gruesome abortion policy that would allow abortion up to the moment of birth. This means big, healthy full term babies would be aborted for any reason."

"Amendment 4 is dishonestly presented as allowing abortion 'just' until viability — but what is viability?" continued Wheeler. "The term viability is not defined in the legislation, and viability is not a scientific or ethical concept about when a human life begins anyway, but simply a term that defines, on a moving scale as medical knowledge advances, our capacity to keep that baby alive outside the womb before the baby reaches full term."

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody previously highlighted that "even the pro-choice-aligned American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists notes the two medical definitions and urges that 'the concept of viability of [an unborn baby] is frequently misrepresented or misinterpreted based on ideological principles. This perpetuates incorrect and unscientific understandings of medical terms.'"

Vote No On Amendment 4 Florida has also accused the authors of Amendment 4 of crafting "it to be as vague and deceptive as possible."

Taryn Fenske, a spokeswoman for the Vote No group, suggested to Blaze News that the reason for the "misleading language" and the amendment's undefined terms is "because the Soros-backed radicals pushing Amendment 4 know that they need to conceal the shocking reality of how their scheme would endanger women and children in Florida."

The leftist billionaire has poured "substantial" funding into the Tides Foundation, which contributed millions of dollars to the group sponsoring the initiative, Floridians Protecting Freedom. Whereas FPF appears to have netted over $51 million in contributions from such deep-pocketed leftist organizations, Ballotpedia indicated the five committees registered to oppose Amendment 4 have together raised less than $4 million.

"Simply put, Amendment 4 would be a travesty for our nation," stressed Wheeler. "Thousands and thousands of big, healthy babies would be killed in the womb because of it."

The Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops, among the more outspoken opposition groups, similarly noted in a statement earlier this year that the amendment "is an extreme proposal that legalizes full-term abortion with no protections for the preborn child, including when the child is capable of feeling pain."

'If only people that are pro-life oppose it, it very well might pass.'

"We urge all Floridians of goodwill to stand against the legalization of late-term abortion and oppose the abortion amendment," continued the bishops' statement. "In doing so, we will not only protect the weakest, most innocent, and defenseless of human life among us but also countless women throughout the state from the harms of abortion."

The American College of Pediatricians has also spoken out about the threats posed by Amendment 4.

Dr. Richard Sandler, cochair of the Pro-Life Committee at the ACP, said in a statement shared with Blaze News, "Florida's Amendment 4 is dangerous to children: it exposes preborn children to abortion until the day of birth and it eliminates parental consent for minors. Additionally, it's dangerous for women as it removes common sense maternal health and safety regulations."

According to Florida first lady Casey DeSantis, the amendment would not only eliminate parental consent for minors but also "open the door to taxpayer funded abortions."

Blaze News reached out to Planned Parenthood for comment but did not receive a response by deadline.

'Florida would be like every other state with a ballot initiative that failed to defend life.'

To pass, the amendment needs to net at least 60% of the vote. Recent   polling data suggest that the pro-abortion amendment might have the requisite amount of support.

"If you look at the state of Florida, we do not have a pro-life majority," DeSantis said last month. "We've got a big chunk, but we don't have a majority. If only people that are pro-life oppose it, it very well might pass."

Constitutional attorney Catherine Glenn Foster, the CEO of First Rights Global and board member of Democrats for Life of America, told Blaze News that the passage of Amendment 4 would mean that Florida, like every other state that preceded it in putting abortion on the ballot, "would have fallen victim to the abortion ideology that conflates women's health, reproduction, and abortion. Florida would be like every other state with a ballot initiative that failed to defend life and enshrined abortion as a State constitutional right."

According to Foster, the passage of the ballot initiative would also require a re-haul of the pro-life agenda (a re-haul she recommends pursuing in any event):

It would then fall to the Florida Legislature to adopt a new full-spectrum life agenda, including maternal and prenatal care, healthcare costs, parental leave, childcare, early childhood education, educational opportunities for parents and students, flexible work accommodations, economic and workforce development, end of life issues, and more.

Contours of victory and next steps

If Amendment 4 fails, then Florida's Heartbeat Protection Act will remain the law of the land.

Archbishop Thomas Wenski of the Archdiocese of Miami, told Blaze News in a written response that the defeat of Amendment 4 "would be a tremendous victory for Life and the rights of the unborn."

"Most Americans are uneasy about abortion and do not endorse what amendment 4 would foist upon us: abortion till the moment of birth, the erosion of parental rights, and exploiting vulnerable women facing a crisis due to their pregnancy."

'Conservatives must fervently, loudly champion the lives of these babies, so beautiful and yet so vulnerable.'

Catherine Glenn Foster indicated that a pro-life win would also break a recent trend of ballot setbacks.

"After back to back defeats for Life in 7 states, if Florida voters defeat Amendment 4, Florida will have solidified itself as America's pro-life defender, the first state in the nation to achieve a win for life in a statewide constitutional ballot initiative on abortion," Foster told Blaze News.

The successful defeat of the amendment may also serve to energize pro-life efforts further afield and demonstrate to skeptics that protections for life are not necessarily political liabilities.

John Quinn, deputy director of Democrats for Life of America, told Blaze News, "The biggest potential upside of defeating Amendment 4 is that it would be the first ballot measure the pro-life side has won after Dobbs. "

"Pro-lifers generally struggled to win ballot measures before Dobbs (but did pass a constitutional amendment in Louisiana, led by pro-life Democrat State Senator Katrina Jackson-Andrews), so this struggle isn't new, but it has taken on an increased prominence since Dobbs , especially because we are losing pro-life protections in states that would otherwise have them precisely because of ballot measures (Ohio being a tragic example of this)," said Quinn.

Quinn added, "If we have success against Amendment 4 in Florida, hopefully we can replicate that success in other states that put similar measures on the ballot."

Wheeler told Blaze News that it is critical to continue this work of banning abortion "everywhere for every reason except rare instances where the life of the mother is at risk."

"Pro-lifers and conservatives must not be afraid to say this. It shouldn't even be controversial," said Wheeler. "We're talking about the killing of babies. Obviously we should protect the lives of unborn children in the womb. Science shows us that life begins at conception. Our society is built on the objective truth that every human life is valuable. What right do we have to kill these babies? Conservatives must fervently, loudly champion the lives of these babies, so beautiful and yet so vulnerable."

'Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government.'

When asked by Blaze News about the arguments for pro-life incrementalism or, alternatively, for prioritizing cultural and/or social persuasion over legislative efforts to deconstruct the abortion regime, Wheeler noted that the strategies are not mutually exclusive:

It's not mutually exclusive to pursue legislative protection for unborn children or fight against the cultural forces that tell women that babies are a burden and tell men that promiscuous sex without the consequences of a baby is manly. Every incremental legislative change that protects an additional life is a victory for life, as long as we are not compromising the moral position that all life must be protected at all times. Even the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops permits the 'art of the possible' as long as the goal is complete protection of the dignity of life. The problem arises when squishy Republicans don't believe in the dignity of all human life, and seek to compromise on abortion morally, not just as a practical tactic in the fight overall.

Archbishop Wenski answered that the "aim is not to win the debate but to protect the unborn."

"Our goal is to make abortion not only illegal but unthinkable," Archbishop Wenski told Blaze News. "But to this end, while not surrendering our ultimate goal, we must be ready to accept what we can get through the legislative process. That's why we supported the 15 week ban, and now the 6 week ban."

Florida Right to Life president and Do No Harm Florida co-founder Lynda Bell told Blaze News that it is "better to pursue laws at the state level."

The Catholic prelate appeared to agree, stating that "obviously at the present time, we can hope to have better legislative results at the state level, unless there are significant changes in the make up of the U.S. Congress."

Catherine Glenn Foster made clear, however, that change won't come easy and that "the pushback is hard."

"Femininity is being weaponized. Earnest words are being twisted to score political points. The abortion side is turning tribal to the point of ferality," continued Foster. "Planned Parenthood pink pins are like the cover charge to the cool kids club — in Hollywood, New York City, and Silicon Valley. Coastal elites are bullying Main Street America into sacrificing our children. And that is reflected in the votes."

While federally, there is hope of regaining lost territory, Foster indicated that it's time now "for a change in the winds, for a new message of hope and inspiration. We have to persuade the people who believe that abortion is necessary or a good, or worse still, the people who never think about it at all. And as we do that, we must move forward at every level of government to protect all human life, because every life is inherently, intrinsically valuable, and must be cherished and supported in that. That requires full-spectrum life legislation."

To move the needle on making abortion unthinkable, Archbishop Wenski appeared to be on the same page, noting, "We need to continue to form consciences through education; also, we need to work to help support vulnerable women to choose life rather than choosing to the end the life of their child because of economic or social pressures."

When addressing the matter of the continued need to dismantle the abortion regime, Wheeler quoted Mother Teresa as saying, "Human rights are not a privilege conferred by government. They are every human being's entitlement by virtue of his humanity. The right to life does not depend, and must not be declared to be contingent, on the pleasure of anyone else, not even a parent or a sovereign."

Hear more on the subject from the " Blaze News Tonight " team in the video below:

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Joseph MacKinnon

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