What is Abortion?

Abortion is the deliberate termination of a human pregnancy, most often performed within the first 28 weeks of a pregnancy.

The History of Abortion

For many years in America abortion was just a part of life. Drugs to induce abortions was a booming business and they were even advertised in the Newspaper. If that didn’t work you were able to go to a physician for an instrumental procedure. In the 18th century a pregnancy wasn’t considered a human life until the mother could feel the baby moving inside her so abortions were widely practiced. In early years the many few abortions laws were to protect woman from untrained abortionists. However, In 1856 Dr. Horatio Storer established a drive by the AMA to end legal abortion. In 1869 abortion started to become politicized and many people, especially religious people, began to condemn it. In 1873 the Comstock Act banned information on abortion. By 1880 abortion would become criminalized unless it was to save a woman’s life. President Kennedy ordered for all abortion laws to be repealed. In 1976 the Hyde Amendment was passed which banned the use of Medacaid and federal funds for abortion. In 1973 Roe V. Wade made abortion legal across the United States. In 1996 president Clinton vetoes the Partial-birth abortions bill. Starting around 2010 extreme efforts began to restrict a woman’s access to an abortion and more than a quarter of these laws passed.

Who affects the Abortion laws?

The political institutions involved in the abortion policy are the president, congress, states and federal legislatures, city governments, and the courts.

President- The president passes laws made by the congress so if the congress made a law about abortion the president would be the one to make it go into play.

Congress- The congress comes up with laws that the president can decide to pass.

City government- helps to work out the details

Courts- revisits the issue every few years to make sure nothing has changed

State and federal legislatures- helps to work out the details