Whether or not a woman should have legal access to abortion has been an intense debate in the U.S. for several decades. In 1973 however, the U.S. Supreme Court finally formulated a response to the public commotion in the form of a court case, later known as Roe v. Wade. This case aimed to finalise a nationwide decision on whether or not abortion would be a legal activity. Jane Roe was the privacy alias used by a female citizen named Norma McCorvey seeking an abortion in Texas, where at the time, the procedure was illegal. She was representing the side in favour of legal abortion. She went up against Henry Wade, Texas district attorney and state representative. After some back and forths, Jane Roe came out as the victor of the case, bearing the creation of a landmark decision; Abortion would now be legal throughout the American nation for decades to come. But this era seems to be ending, as a few weeks ago, on May 2, 2022, an American news agency named Politico leaked a Supreme Court draft opinion. This 98-page draft made it clear that the Supreme Court was poised to strike down the Roe v. Wade landmark decision. At this point, the decision is not final. Roe v. Wade is still an acting law until the Supreme Court confirms otherwise. Nevertheless, this leak has added fuel to this already blazing debate.

There are many different perspectives on the legality of abortion, but the two primary parties call themselves the pro-choice and the pro-life people. The pro-choice movement is the side of the debate that argues that a woman should have the freedom to choose whether or not she will have an abortion. They tend to centre their arguments around gender equality and female recognition. A common idea brought up by the pro-choice party is that the opinion of women isn't taken into consideration if the government illegalises abortion. Pregnancies are incredibly disruptive occurrences in women's lives; in fact, the woman carrying the foetus is the most involved and the most affected. Because of this involvement idea, pro-choice people often argue that women deserve to choose whether or not they will receive an abortion. Sarah Weddington, a lawyer in the Roe v. Wade case, reflects this idea perfectly. She puts it this way, "A pregnancy to a woman is perhaps one of the most determinative aspects of her life. It disrupts her body. It disrupts her education. It disrupts her employment. And it often disrupts her entire family life. And we feel that, because of the impact on the woman, this … is a matter which is of such fundamental and basic concern to the woman involved that she should be allowed to make the choice as to whether to continue or to terminate her pregnancy" (BBC). 

Weddington’s statement is also relevant when discussing gender equality which is another issue commonly brought up by the pro-choice people. They argue that humanity cannot achieve true gender equality if the law forces women to continue their pregnancies until birth. This belief is because society will expect the woman to care for the child until adulthood once the child is born. Men, however, aren't impregnatable. Therefore they can avoid this responsibility with more ease. 

The final argument commonly used by the pro-choice side is that society won't consider the circumstances of women if abortion is illegalised. Suppose a woman's impregnation is due to rape or an accident. In that case, the child is generally unwanted, leading to the belief that a woman should be able to remove what she didn't want in her body in the first place, even if it is within her capability to care for the child. But sometimes, caring for a child isn't a reasonable choice for a woman due to possible financial issues, age or relationship issues. This reason has proven to be the most common one for abortion, as shown in a survey conducted by abortion service company ¨Guttmacher¨ in 2009. This survey showed why women decide to have abortions. One thousand two hundred nine abortion patients at eleven large providers completed it. The majority of women replied to the study with reasons similar to those above. 

Aside from pro-choice, there is one more primary side to this debate. This party is called the pro-life movement, the side of the U.S. abortion debate that believes that the law should prevent anyone from killing a foetus unless to save the mother's life. They usually base their argument on religious reasons or the idea that taking a human life, foetus or not, is classifiable as murder. The way philosopher Donald Marquis puts it, "... abortion is wrong for the same reason as killing a reader of this essay is wrong. I shall just assume, rather than establish, that killing you is seriously wrong." This quote comes from a pro-life essay titled, "Why Abortion Is Wrong." The piece reflects the commonly used philosophical argument that killing a foetus is wrong because you are taking the opportunity of life away from another. Or, as Marquis stated, "The loss of our future conscious life is what underlies the misfortune of premature death." But to increase the validity of the moral argument, pro-life people often question the morality of something called "Disability Selective Disorder", which is the medical term for a pregnancy termination following an anomaly diagnosis before birth. The most commonly terminated diagnoses are genetic trisomy disorders such as down syndrome because of how easy it is to detect the extra chromosomes present in these disorders. According to ¨Healthline¨ globally, people abort 90% of all foetuses diagnosed with down syndrome. This number rises close to 100% in Scandinavian countries like Denmark and Iceland, where an average of only two children with down syndrome are born per year. Pro-life people question what this shows about humanity's tolerance of difference. How selective will abortions become if newer technologies allow us to foresee more human variables, such as I.Q or neurological differences such as autism and ADHD? 

Aside from morality issues, religion, mainly Christianity, plays a relevant role in the debate. Seeing that 78% of all Americans identify with some form of Christianity. (52.5% Protestant, 23.6% Catholic, and 1.9% Mormon) and that the most potent viewpoints and statements on abortion come from a Christian perspective, it would make sense that people should hear religious views. A Biblical lesson called "The Sanctity of Life" is often referred to by Christian pro-choice people. This lesson states that the creation of life was in the image of God, who has forbidden any unjust murder.

However, my personal opinion lies somewhere along the lines of the pro-choice argument. I believe that a woman, being the carrier of the foetus, should have the right to choose whether or not she wants to keep the foetus. However, I also believe that some forms of abortion are unjust, such as gender-selective abortion. If a woman agrees to a consensual impregnation, she shouldn't be allowed to abort the foetus merely because of its gender. My views on "Disability Selective Disorder" are mixed. I believe that the elimination of disabilities would be beneficial to the future of the human race. Yet, I also question how the choice to terminate 90% of all foetuses with down syndrome displays humanity's tolerance to others.

To conclude this paper, abortion is a sensitive topic with many different layers. I found that nothing was black and white during my research, and I was constantly second-guessing my opinion. The USA has a long and complex history with abortion legislation, and the nation may never render an agreeable decision on the matter. But in the end, it is essential to hear and acknowledge everyone's opinion while still being sure of your own.

Works Cited

BBC. www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/abortion/mother/for_1.shtml. Accessed 20 May 2022.

FindLaw. supreme.findlaw.com/supreme-court-insights/roe-v--wade-case-summary-- what-you-need-to-know.html. Accessed 20 May 2022.

Fox. 16 May 2022, www.foxnews.com/opinion/march-for-life-abortion-Jeanne-Mancini. Accessed 20 May 2022.

Guttmacher. 1 Sept. 2005,  www.guttmacher.org/journals/psrh/2005/reasons-us-women-have- abortions-quantitative-and-qualitative-perspectives. Accessed 20 May 2022.

Healthline. 6 Dec. 2018, www.healthline.com/health-news/the-debate-over-terminating-down- syndrome-pregnancies#Troubling-diagnosis. Accessed 20 May 2022.

Info Base. icof.infobase.com/articles/QXJ0aWNsZVRleHQ6MTY1NDM=?q=Abortion%20 rights.

Marquis, Donald. "An Argument That Abortion Is Wrong." California State University, Long Beach, home.csulb.edu/~cwallis/382/readings/160/marquis.html.

Callaghan, Mary. "Prenatal Diagnosis and Disability Selective Abortion." Prenatal Diagnosis and Disability Selective Abortion, pp. 1-5.

Oyez. www.oyez.org/cases/1971/70-18. Accessed 20 May 2022.

PubMed or NIH. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24245932/. Accessed 20 May 2022.