Estimated Annual Number of Unsafe Abortions Per 1000 Women Aged 15–44 YearsKristina SimonovicDuckworthENG10528 April 2014AbortionThere are two perspectives on the problem of whether or not abortion shouldbe outlawed. Currently, the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade declares thatabortion is included in an individual’s “zone of privacy” (McBride), however, the controversy has the U.S. divided into two sides: Pro-Choice and Pro- Life. People thatare considered to be Pro-Life argue that abortion should not remain legal due to the immorality and lack of rights for the fetus. Contrarily, people who are Pro-Choice disagree and feel that the woman’s reproductive rights should be protected over the fetus’s rights. In the years before 1970, Texas laws prohibited abortion except in the case that it would save a pregnant woman’s life. At that time, “…most states severely restricted or banned the practice of abortion” (McBride). Only women that could afford traveling out of the country and paying skilled doctors underwent safe abortions during this time. Women that didn’t have the extra funds to spend on abortion either carried their fetus to term or proceeded with unsafe abortion. As the feminist movement became prevalent in the early sixties, abortion restrictions were being challenged. Jane Roe, who was a resident of Texas, did not wish to go through with her third pregnancy. Before making the decision to get an abortion, Roe had given birth to two children, both of which she gave up for adoption (Foster). She 1found herself under qualified and didn’t feel obligated to be a mother. In an attempt to avoid the disheartening feeling of giving up a third child, she requested terminating her pregnancy, but laws banning abortion stood in her way (Foster). Sheclaimed that although she didn’t have a life threatening circumstance, she was financially unstable and couldn’t afford traveling out of the country to proceed with an abortion (McBride). Roe challenged the constitutionality of the Texas law by bringing a lawsuit to court in 1971. The Does, a married couple with no children, sought to enforce the law and hired attorney Henry Wade, who was the defendant. After debating, the Texas Federal Court “ruled that the law violated the Constitution” (McBride). Wade made an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court and the case was reviewed again over the duration of a year. In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court “ruled that the Texas statute violated Jane Roe's constitutional right to privacy” (McBride). The Texas law was repealed due to “the U.S. Constitution’s First, Fourth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments that protect an individual’s “zone of privacy” against state laws” (McBride). According to the U.S. Constitution, states are prohibited from creating state laws that interfere with a person’s private life. Because abortion is recognized as a private matter, the Texas law prohibiting abortion was considered unconstitutional. Roe won the lawsuit at trial announcing abortion legal in all states of the U.S. Since the legalization of abortion in 1973, states have added a number of restrictions for the purpose of regulating the amount of abortions being performed in those states. Restrictions are specific and vary from state to state. Examples of 2abortion restrictions include banning the use of abortion contraceptives such as Plan-B and RU-486 (Nolan), outlawing abortion after a determined amount of time post-pregnancy (every state has its own clear-cut deadline), requiring parental consent for females who are under the age of eighteen and want an abortion (Joffe), raising qualifications for doctors to be eligible to perform abortion procedures, and forcing patients into mandatory waiting periods where they are counseled on their decision. Under the following restraints, abortion is legal to women that fit the requirements of the state in which they reside.Pro-Choice supporters favor having the option of abortion available to women. People who consider themselves Pro-Choice feel that, “So long as a doctor has to be consulted, the matter of an abortion is only a question of a woman’s decision with her doctor’s professional advice” (Ladd & Bowman 2). Abortion is a private affair that should be solely the concern of the woman that has chosen to partake in the procedure. Pro-Choice proponents feel that the medical procedure should continue to be legal for the reason that abortion may be necessary in certain situations. It is essential to stand up for the woman and defend her reproductive rights, because it would be disastrous for humanity if she were to lose the right to doas she pleases with her organs. The idea that a law banning abortion could take away a woman’s right to control what goes on inside of her body is truly terrifying. People who take the Pro-Life side of the argument feel that abortion should be made completely illegal. Pro-Life defenders consider abortion to be immoral and claim, “The fetus has the same right to life as you and I, and abortion is morally impermissible” (Boonin133). These people protect the fetus, in a sense, for it cannot 3speak for itself and therefore needs someone to fight for its right to life. In their eyes,abortion is not portrayed as an effective medical procedure, but rather it is, “the same thing as murdering a child” (Boonin 3). Anti-abortionists state, “Surely a person’s right to life is stronger and more stringent than the mother’s right to decidewhat happens in and to her body” (Boonin 135). Pro-Life believes that the fetus’s right to life outweighs the mother’s reproductive rights and because of this, they feel that abortion should be prohibited altogether. The root of the issue comes back to determining when life actually begins for the fetus. There is no concrete scientific explanation as to when human life starts. It is a concept with no legitimate answer that is determined merely based on opinion. The Pro-Choice stance holds views that life commences at birth or when the child is physically brought into this world for the first time. In other words, life is said to have begun when the fetus becomes viable and can sustain life on its own outside of the mother’s womb. Pro-Life followers accept the idea that life begins at conception or when the egg and sperm cells complete the process of fertilization. This is where the argument of morality comes into play. If the fetus’s life