How would woman be effected if Roe v. Wade was over turned Essay

How would woman be effected if Roe v. Wade was over turned - Essay Example According to the online dictionary, abortion refers to a premature or miscarriage, that does not result into giving birth. Abortion was legal in most states before 1880, when it was banned in most states except when the life of the woman was in danger, due to medical complications. Abortion was illegal up to 1973, during this time, anti-abortion movements were largely influenced by efforts to make sure women remained in their traditional roles and as a backlash on birth control movement. During the 1880s, abortion was legal in thirty states and illegal in some twenty states (Leslie, 2000). Banning of abortion was implemented under the Comstock laws, which prohibited allocation on birth control information. The banning of abortion at this time was influenced by fears that the population of new immigrants could surpass that of Native Americans. The technology available at that time was backward, including the medical industry. â€Å"Back alley† abortions blossomed even when it w as illegal. Access to abortion facilities depended on race, economic status and someone’s place of residence. Women, especially the poor were subjected to shame and fear due to criminalization of the act. Some of the poor methods of abortion which were performed mostly on poor women involved administration of strong chemicals and insertion of needles and other equipment into the vagina. Unsafe abortions led to contraction of infections and led to numerous deaths witnessed during that period. No exact figures are available to know the actual number of victims, however many women were treated of complications resulting from such botched abortions (Leslie, 2000). Even before abortion was legalized, some experienced and well trained physicians began offering abortion services, even with the risk of imprisonment and loss of their medical licenses. Women who wanted to undergo abortion obtained the information through word of mouth. Making abortion a crime did not reduce the number of abortions, it is estimated that the number of abortion in a year shot up to one and a half million every year. Between the year 1967 and 1973, some states began to liberalize the practice. As we can see, it is right to agree with Lesley Reagan that abortion has been a part of us since the eighteenth century, despite the moral and philosophical arguments it brings. The supreme case decision in Roe v. Wade, in 1973, paved way for women to perform safer and legal abortions with experienced medical doctors. Prior to this different states allowed abortions under different circumstances, for example, in 1967, the state of Colorado legalized abortion in the cases of incest , rape or if the pregnancy would put the physical health of the mother in danger. This law made away with all this restrictions. The Supreme Court ruled that the Texas law abolishing abortion except when the life of the mother was in danger, to be criminal. This was ruled on the basis that carrying out an abortion fal ls under the right to privacy. This piece of legislation removed restrictions on the first trimester of pregnancy placed by different states, only allowed restrictions during later stages of the pregnancy. This decision was celebrated, but some especially the Catholic Church and other conservative churches were against the decision. It is at this time that terms such as â€Å"pro-life† and â€Å"pro-choice† emerged. The terms mean basically imposing restrictions to be imposed to criminalize abortion, and removing