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Why Abortion Should Be Legalized

• Categories: Abortion Pro Choice (Abortion) Women's Health

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Published: Jan 28, 2021

Words: 1331 | Pages: 3 | 7 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, why abortion should be legal.

• Gipson, J. D., Hirz, A. E., & Avila, J. L. (2011). Perceptions and practices of illegal abortion among urban young adults in the Philippines: a qualitative study. Studies in family planning, 42(4), 261-272. (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1728-4465.2011.00289.x)
• Finer, L. B., & Hussain, R. (2013). Unintended pregnancy and unsafe abortion in the Philippines: context and consequences. (https://www.guttmacher.org/report/unintended-pregnancy-and-unsafe-abortion-philippines-context-and-consequences?ref=vidupdatez.com/image)
• Flavier, J. M., & Chen, C. H. (1980). Induced abortion in rural villages of Cavite, the Philippines: Knowledge, attitudes, and practice. Studies in family planning, 65-71. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1965798)
• Gallen, M. (1979). Abortion choices in the Philippines. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-biosocial-science/article/abs/abortion-choices-in-the-philippines/853B8B71F95FEBDD0D88AB65E8364509 Journal of Biosocial Science, 11(3), 281-288.
• Holgersson, K. (2012). Is There Anybody Out There?: Illegal Abortion, Social Work, Advocacy and Interventions in the Philippines. (https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A574793&dswid=4931)

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Abortion: What it is and why people disagree whether it should be legal

And why you’re hearing so much about it right now.

⭐️HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW⭐️

• A U.S. Supreme Court ruling has determined that states will get to decide how abortions are regulated.
• An abortion is a medical procedure that ends a pregnancy.
• This means in some American states, abortions will become illegal.
• Abortion is legal in Canada and not affected by the U.S. decision.
• Some people agree with this decision, but others say abortion should be a universal right for all who want it.
• Keep reading to understand the anti-abortion/pro-choice debate. ⬇️ ⬇️ ⬇️

On June 24, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a historic decision called Roe v. Wade.

The court’s new ruling limits a person’s right to have an abortion in the United States.

It’s expected to lead to abortion restrictions or outright bans in at least 13 U.S. states.

If you want to know more about the decision, read this article:

• Roe v. Wade was overturned. What does that mean?

If you want to know what an abortion is and why people disagree whether or not it should be allowed, keep reading.

Why are there different views on abortion?

Abortion can be controversial because not everyone agrees who should decide whether or not to end a pregnancy: the individual who is pregnant or the government.

Bernard Dickens, professor emeritus of health law and policy at the University of Toronto, has been studying the history of abortion and the laws relating to it for 50 years.

He says for some people who are pro-choice and support the right to abortion, the fact that the fetus is inside the individual's body means that they get to decide what happens to it.

Those who are anti-abortion oppose the decision to end a pregnancy with abortion and believe that the fetus is considered a person long before birth.

“From a religious or moral perspective, some people say that life begins earlier than birth, life begins at conception, when a woman becomes pregnant,” Dickens said.

Because those who are anti-abortion see the fetus as a living being, they believe that abortion is ending a life, and that the government should intervene to protect that life.

When do abortions happen?

In the U.S., federal statistics suggest that 94 per cent of abortions are performed at or before 13 weeks of pregnancy, which lasts about 40 weeks, or nine months.

Roughly 99 per cent of abortions are performed before 21 weeks of pregnancy (about four and a half months).

In Canada, the statistics are very similar.

Few health care providers in Canada or the U.S. perform abortions after 24 weeks (about five and a half months), unless the life of the person who is pregnant is at risk, if the fetus has serious complications, or in cases where a person has become pregnant as a result of a sexual assault.

Why do people have abortions?

According to Dickens, numerous factors can influence a person’s decision to have an abortion in the United States, including financial, medical and personal.

One of the common reasons is socioeconomic. In other words, some of the people who have had abortions said they couldn't afford to raise a child or add another child to their family.

According to a study done in 2014 by the Guttmacher Institute, a not-for-profit research organization that studies reproductive health:

• 59 per cent of people in the U.S. who chose abortions already have kids.
• 75 per cent of people who had had abortions lived below the poverty line of $15,730 US for a family of two. 

OK, now that you understand the background and you want to learn more about what led to the decision in the United States, read this article .

Have more questions? Want to tell us how we’re doing? Use the “send us feedback” link below. ⬇️⬇️⬇️

With files from The Associated Press

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Pro and Con: Abortion

To access extended pro and con arguments, sources, and discussion questions about whether abortion should be legal, go to ProCon.org .

The debate over whether abortion should be a legal option has long divided people around the world. Split into two groups, pro-choice and pro-life, the two sides frequently clash in protests.

A June 2, 2022 Gallup poll , 55% of Americans identified as “pro-choice,” the highest percentage since 1995. 39% identified as “pro-life,” and 5% were neither or unsure. For the first time in the history of the poll question (since 2001), 52% of Americans believe abortion is morally acceptable. 38% believed the procedure to be morally wrong, and 10% answered that it depended on the situation or they were unsure.

Surgical abortion (aka suction curettage or vacuum curettage) is the most common type of abortion procedure. It involves using a suction device to remove the contents of a pregnant woman’s uterus. Surgical abortion performed later in pregnancy (after 12-16 weeks) is called D&E (dilation and evacuation). The second most common abortion procedure, a medical abortion (aka an “abortion pill”), involves taking medications, usually mifepristone and misoprostol (aka RU-486), within the first seven to nine weeks of pregnancy to induce an abortion. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 67% of abortions performed in 2014 were performed at or less than eight weeks’ gestation, and 91.5% were performed at or less than 13 weeks’ gestation. 77.3% were performed by surgical procedure, while 22.6% were medical abortions. An abortion can cost from $500 to over $1,000 depending on where it is performed and how long into the pregnancy it is.

• Abortion is a safe medical procedure that protects lives.
• Abortion bans endangers healthcare for those not seeking abortions.
• Abortion bans deny bodily autonomy, creating wide-ranging repercussions.
• Life begins at conception, making abortion murder.
• Legal abortion promotes a culture in which life is disposable.
• Increased access to birth control, health insurance, and sexual education would make abortion unnecessary.

This article was published on June 24, 2022, at Britannica’s ProCon.org , a nonpartisan issue-information source.

5 myths about abortion in the US

Subscribe to governance weekly, isabel v. sawhill and isabel v. sawhill senior fellow emeritus - economic studies , center for economic security and opportunity kai smith kai smith research assistant - the brookings institution, economic studies.

September 27, 2024

• Voters nationwide and in battleground states consider abortion to be one of the most important issues in this election.
• So-called “late-term abortions” performed at or after 21 weeks of pregnancy are extremely uncommon and represent less than 1% of all abortions in the U.S.
• Federal authorities have documented dozens of cases where pregnant women have been refused emergency medical treatment because doctors in ban states fear criminal prosecution.

In November, voters in at least 10 states will vote on ballot initiatives seeking to enshrine abortion rights in their state constitutions. Voters nationwide and in battleground states consider abortion to be one of the most important issues in this election.   

For this and other reasons, it is critical that the public be informed about the issue. Here are five myths about abortion in America, compared to the reality.   

MYTH #1: Many women are having abortions in the third trimester of pregnancy, including in the ninth month or later.   

REALITY : The vast majority of abortions (93%) occur in the first trimester of pregnancy, according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) . So-called “late-term abortions” performed at or after 21 weeks of pregnancy are extremely uncommon and represent less than 1% of all abortions in the U.S. They generally occur because of the discovery of a fatal condition affecting the fetus or serious risks to the life or health of the mother. The claim that abortions happen “moments before birth” or even “after birth” is false. In no state is it legal to kill a baby after it has been born.   

MYTH #2: The overturning of Roe v. Wade has led to fewer abortions. 

REALITY : The number of abortions that occurred in the U.S. increased by 11% in 2023, the first full year since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade , compared with 2020 levels. This increase was driven primarily by the greater availability of medication abortion pills and privately financed funds that supported women seeking abortions.  

MYTH #3: Because abortion totals have not declined, women cannot have been harmed by abortion bans and restrictions. 

REALITY : Although many women living in states with abortion bans have been able to circumvent those bans by traveling to another state or by obtaining medication abortion pills using telehealth and the mail, others have not been so lucky. So even though abortion rates have increased, on balance, it’s still the case that many women who wanted abortions have been unable to get them . 

In addition, abortion restrictions are putting women’s lives and health at risk. The same procedures used for terminating unintended pregnancies are also essential for addressing a number of other situations, including miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies, and severe fetal abnormalities.  

Federal authorities have documented dozens of cases where pregnant women have been refused emergency medical treatment because doctors in ban states fear criminal prosecution. This has resulted in women having miscarriages in public restrooms, bleeding out in their cars, or experiencing delays in receiving care that have led them to develop infections or sustain bodily harm.  

Already, a woman in Georgia named Amber Thurman has died from infection after doctors delayed performing a routine procedure out of fear of criminal liability under the state’s abortion ban. The state’s maternal mortality review committee called Thurman’s death “preventable” and said the delay in care had a “large” impact in causing her death. Other similarly tragic stories are sure to emerge once state review committees begin to publicize their findings, which operate with a lag.  

MYTH #4: Depending on who is elected, there will be a federal law either banning or legalizing abortion nationwide.

REALITY : It is highly unlikely the election will change the composition of Congress enough to give either party sufficient votes to pass a federal law either banning or legalizing abortion nationwide.

Vice President Harris has consistently supported abortion rights over the course of her political career . As the Democratic presidential nominee, Harris has said she supports legislation that would restore the protections established by Roe v. Wade . She has not answered the question about whether she opposes any restrictions on abortion. Under Roe v. Wade , states could only restrict abortion after the point of fetal viability, or about 22 weeks of pregnancy, except in cases where abortions were necessary to protect the life or health of the pregnant person.

Former President Trump’s position on a national abortion ban has wavered significantly over time. As president, Trump supported a 2018 bill that would have banned abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy nationwide. Earlier this year, Trump signaled support for a 16-week and then a 15-week abortion ban. His current position is that the legality of abortion should be left to the states. During the presidential debate against Vice President Harris, Trump declined to say whether he would veto a national ban if he were reelected.

To enact legislation that would protect or ban abortion nationwide, the party that won the presidency would also need to secure majorities in both the House and Senate. All three are shaping up to be tight races. Because it is highly unlikely either party will secure sufficient support in this election, including the 60 votes needed to overcome the Senate filibuster , neither will be able to pass a federal law codifying abortion policy nationwide. This means those in favor of protecting reproductive rights need to do so through the kind of measures that will be on the ballot in many states. 

MYTH #5: Women living in states where abortion is legal will not be affected by the outcome of the 2024 election.

REALITY: Federal regulation, largely determined by executive agencies operating under the authority of the president, plays a major role in determining access to abortion.

In recent years, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has made multiple revisions to its policy toward mifepristone (one of the two drugs used in medication abortion) that have made medication abortion far more accessible. These pills are now widely used , accounting for nearly two-thirds of all abortions nationwide.

If Trump were reelected, he could limit the use of these abortion pills by appointing a new head of the FDA or Health and Human Services (HHS) who could reverse the FDA’s revised policies toward mifepristone or override the agency’s approval of the drug completely.

Trump could also direct the Department of Justice (DOJ) to enforce a 151-year-old federal law known as the Comstock Act that bans the shipment of abortion-related materials. In 2022, the DOJ under the Biden-Harris administration issued a legal opinion stating that the Comstock Act does not prohibit the mailing of abortion drugs even to recipients in states where abortion is banned. Trump could direct the DOJ to reverse this position to instead outlaw and prosecute the interstate shipment of abortion pills, or other materials related to abortion.

The Heritage Foundation, as part of its Project 2025 initiative, has called for a potential future Trump administration to end medication abortion and prosecute those who ship and transport abortion pills and supplies using these strategies . As Jonathan Mitchell, an anti-abortion advocate and key architect of Project 2025, said to the New York Times, “We don’t need a federal ban when we have Comstock on the books.” Trump has sought to distance himself from the Project 2025 plan whose authors include many former members of his administration.

When asked about these issues during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago in August, Trump said he was receptive to using his authority as president to revoke access to abortion pills. A couple of weeks later, Trump said that he “generally speaking would not” use the Comstock Act to outlaw the shipment of abortion pills.

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A World Without Legal Abortion: How Activists Envision A 'Post-Roe' Nation

Sarah McCammon

Anti-abortion-rights activists participate in the March for Life rally near the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24. Susan Walsh/AP hide caption

Anti-abortion-rights activists participate in the March for Life rally near the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24.

Judge Amy Coney Barrett's Supreme Court confirmation could open the door to a world that many anti-abortion-rights activists have been envisioning for decades.

A Look At Amy Coney Barrett's Record On Abortion Rights

"I hope and pray that we will be in a world post- Roe v. Wade ," said Carrie Murray Nellis, 41, an adoption attorney based in Georgia.

Murray Nellis is the founder of Abiding Love Adoptions, which operates in Georgia, Florida and Alabama. She hopes Barrett's confirmation will lead to the overturning of the 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide, which would thereby allow states to further restrict or ban the procedure.

With Roe v. Wade On The Line, Some States Take Steps To Protect Abortion Rights

Americans' Support For Abortion Rights Wanes As Pregnancy Progresses

Preparing for a post- Roe s ociety

Murray Nellis believes organizations like hers, which works primarily with birth mothers who are choosing adoption for their babies, need to be ready to help more women facing unplanned pregnancies.

"We as a pro-life community have got to get ready and get our ducks in a row," she said. "Because this could likely be happening, and I don't think we're ready."

Heather Lawless, 39, is co-founder of the Reliance Center in Idaho, which counsels women against abortion and provides services for new and expectant mothers. Stellar Styles Photography, Lewiston, Idaho hide caption

Heather Lawless, 39, is co-founder of the Reliance Center in Idaho, which counsels women against abortion and provides services for new and expectant mothers.

Persuasion and the law

A majority of Americans favor some restrictions on abortion but support Roe v. Wade , according to national polls. But activists dedicated to the goal of ending abortion in the U.S. have been organizing for decades at every level of government. They often say their goal is to make abortion both " illegal and unthinkable ."

"There's always a reason why a woman is choosing abortion," said Heather Lawless, co-founder of the Reliance Center in Idaho, which counsels women against abortion and offers free pregnancy tests and screenings for sexually transmitted infections. "And I believe that if we work together, we can provide them with the resources and the tools that they need to not make that choice."

Lawless said that this can mean helping a pregnant woman find housing or get treatment for addiction. But ultimately, she said, abortion should not be a choice.

"I don't think abortion should be legal, period. Because abortion at any stage is willfully taking a human life, and I don't think that should be legal — at all," Lawless said.

That includes, Lawless said, pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.

Questions of enforcement

Banning abortion would mean civil or criminal penalties for those who are convicted of violating those laws. In the post- Roe world Lawless envisions, doctors could be prosecuted for providing the procedure, though Lawless said she would not support penalties for pregnant patients.

Murray Nellis, the adoption attorney from Georgia, said she supports early-abortion bans like one passed in 2019 in her state, which critics said was less than clear about how it would be enforced and against whom. That law, as well as several other so-called "heartbeat laws" in other states, has been blocked in federal court. But advocates hope the Supreme Court might use such a law as an opportunity to reconsider Roe and related precedent.

Murray Nellis said she would not want to see patients punished if abortion were banned.

"I just think that that is cruel," she said. "I just think the responsibility and liability should be at the hands of the individual she [would be] literally paying to do something illegal."

That's the position of many of the major national anti-abortion-rights activist groups. But it's not a universal one.

Catherine Davis is the founder of the Restoration Project, a group based in Georgia that promotes an anti-abortion message primarily among African American pastors. She hopes to see abortion banned nationwide. Davis said the focus of prosecution should be on doctors, though she wouldn't rule out one day punishing women who induce their own abortions.

Catherine Davis is founder of the Restoration Project, a group in Georgia that opposes abortion rights. Charles Joseph/Courtesy Catherine Davis hide caption

"If she decides to self-abort herself, then she's subjected to the same penalty as the doctor," Davis said.

Davis said she believes abortion should be treated exactly like murder — up to and including capital punishment.

"If a doctor makes the decision in a jurisdiction that he or she knows the penalty for taking the life of another human being is the death penalty, and they decide to do it anyway, then they've subjected themselves to the death penalty," Davis said.

Punishing women?

Mary Ziegler, the Stearns Weaver Miller professor at Florida State University College of Law, said that while many groups opposed to abortion rights have historically said they wouldn't support laws that punish pregnant women who get abortions, the growing availability of medication to self-induce abortion at home could complicate that position.

"I don't see how you do that without punishing women, because we're going to be in an environment where women can end pregnancies without a third-party being present," she said.

Leslie Reagan is a history professor at the University of Illinois and author of the book When Abortion Was a Crime. If Roe falls, Reagan said, women will still seek out illegal and sometimes unsafe abortions, as they did before Roe .

Reagan said activists who've been organizing with that thought in mind for decades are likely to insist on enforcing state abortion bans.

"We have a movement — a religiously based movement that's led by the churches and can organize out of the church — that wants these laws changed and will want these laws enforced," Reagan said.

In written responses to Senate Judiciary Committee members, Judge Amy Coney Barrett declines to say, if Roe is overturned, whether states could: -ban IVF -make abortion, use of certain contraceptives a felony -make abortion a crime punishable by death https://t.co/WsAIacjquC pic.twitter.com/gaTJmKjxTB — Sarah McCammon📻 (@sarahmccammon) October 22, 2020

It's impossible to know how any justice might rule in a given case. But in a written exchange with Senate Judiciary Committee members, Barrett was asked if states could make getting an abortion a felony or a capital crime punishable by death.

Barrett responded that as a judge and Supreme Court nominee, "It would not be appropriate for me to offer an opinion on abstract legal issues or hypotheticals."

With Abortion Restrictions On The Rise, Some Women Induce Their Own

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Why Abortion Should Be Legal – Essay Writing Tips & Tricks

Table of Contents

The topic of abortion legalization or criminalization has been topical in many countries recently. Even though technology and progress are fast-moving forward, pro-life advocates continue insisting on the fact that women do not possess the right to kill their embryos.

Thus, with the debate going on across multiple domains, you can receive an assignment to compose an essay on abortion at a Law, Medicine, or Politics course.

The key topics considering in essays on abortion today include:

• Whether the unborn fetuses can be considered human beings with the right to protection of their life by law.
• At which term of pregnancy a fetus can already be considered a living human being.
• What legal exceptions should be set in place to regulate women’s right to abortion.
• What countries have already established successful legal precedents to regulate the issue.
• Arguments of pro-and anti-abortion legislation advocates.
• Arguments of women for and against the right to conduct abortion.

Whether you’re for or against abortion in this debate, you can face a situation in which you’ll need to debate your point. That situation is a home assignment to write a why abortion should be made legal essay. And if you’re confused about this task and don’t know how to perform it quickly and easily, we’re here to help you out.

Why Abortion Should Be Legal: Our Thoughts

Here are some ideas for why abortion should be made legal essay that our writing experts share with students needing help. You can borrow any of these themes and examine them in more depth in your argumentative essay about abortion.

• Women’s right to have or not to have children is violated with laws regulating abortion. Such laws can cause serious socio-demographic problems as teenage girls often get pregnant because of their ignorance of birth control methods or lack of essential sexual education. Depriving them of a chance for abortion can ruin their life and health.
• Biological research suggests that a human fetus is not a living organism at the first couple of weeks of its development, which can be aborted. Besides, women typically commit abortion at the early stages of pregnancy, knowing that aborting a child at a later term is a psychologically traumatic experience equaling murder.
• Sometimes, pregnancy results from a crime; some women get pregnant because of a traumatic rape experience. Thus, they are totally reluctant to have a child from a rapist who committed violence against them and caused severe physical and psychological damage.
• In the process of pregnancy development, genetic screening can reveal serious genetic disorders or risks for the fetus. Parents who are not ready to bear the burden of caring for the disabled child should have the right to terminate such a pregnancy. It’s not a violation of disabled people’s rights (as the disabled community tends to claim); it’s natural for a parent to wish to avoid giving birth to a child if they know they will doom that person to suffering.
• In countries where abortion is illegal, shady medical practices of illegal abortions are flourishing. Women are ready to pay huge money and undergo medical manipulations in non-sterile environments to terminate their pregnancies, which is a serious legal and medical issue.
• Women have the right to decide what to do with their bodies. If a woman doesn’t want to be pregnant and give birth to an unwanted child, she shouldn’t be urged by the law to go through this life-changing experience. Parenting should be a wanted, planned act so that children grow up in happy, welcoming families. Giving birth to an unwanted child may later lead to instances of home violence or abuse.

Any of these topics are suitable for why abortion should be made legal essay. We’ve just touched upon the theme broadly, outlining various ethical, medical, and legal issues surrounding this subject. You can take any perspective that speaks to you and develop it in more depth to craft a well-grounded essay to impress your tutor.

Pros and Cons of Abortion You Should Consider

When talking about abortion in academic works, students commonly face the challenge of evaluating the pros and cons of legalization. It’s a typical problem every researcher faces when dealing with evergreen debatable subjects, like marijuana and euthanasia legalization, ban on the death penalty and abortion, animal testing, etc.

Here are the key points you should include in your essay to show your competence in this topic.

Pros of Legal Ban on Abortion

• Women’s disability rates resulting from improper abortions will reduce.
• The post-abortion infertility rates will go down.
• Unborn children’s rights will be protected.
• The unethical practice of killing unborn children will be strictly regulated.
• A ban on abortions is compliant with Christian ethics.
• Birth control and sex education will be emphasized.

Cons of Legal Ban on Abortion

• Illegal abortions are likely to flourish.
• Raped women will have to undergo the trauma of giving birth to an unwanted child.
• Parents of children with severe genetic disorders will have to give birth to disabled children.
• The rate of abandoned children will rise because of unwanted infants’ abandonment in the birth hospitals.
• Many more families will become unhappier because of the economic and psychological burden of rearing unwanted children.
• Women will fight for their rights and feel the oppression of being not the masters of their bodies.

Follow Argumentative Articles on Abortion as Examples

Whenever you talk about sensitive subjects like abortion, the key to sounding competent and non-opinionated is to back your claims with reliable evidence.

In terms of abortion, there are hundreds of valuable sources written by competent professionals backing each side of the debate. Thus, to make your essay look professional and informed, you should first formulate your topic concisely and then conduct a library search for reliable evidence.

We recommend using professional databases for such search so that your arguments look convincing. It’s easy to say that you think that abortion should be made legal because it will be fair for women to make the final decision in this regard. But that argument is not enough for the readers to take your side.

Thus, you can follow this algorithm:

• Choose a perspective for your analysis (ethical, religious, political, medical).
• Find a database with credible academic sources in this area (e.g., for medical research, we strongly recommend using Google Scholar, CINAHL, or PubMed, while sources from HeinOnline or LOC can inform legal papers on abortion).
• Sort the sources you find by relevance to your argument and strength of argumentation, using only those that fit your content and support your point.
• It’s also vital to credit the other side of the debate (otherwise, you will sound biased). So, make sure to find sources supporting the opposite position as well, appealing to their arguments and rebating them in the process of your analysis.

Steps to Writing an Abortion Essay

Now, let’s proceed to the actual process of writing on abortion. As a rule, an essay should consist of three major parts – an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Once you get to the chosen topic, we advise completing a pre-writing exercise: making an outline for your essay. As soon as you have a couple of credible sources at hand and want to outline your significant argumentation points, use a simple outline template to do so.

OUTLINE INTRODUCTION – broad introduction of the subject. Setting the context. A thesis statement. BODY PARAGRAPH #1 – argument #1 (topic sentence). Supporting evidence. A transition to the next point. PARAGRAPH #2 – argument #2 (topic sentence). Supporting evidence. A transition to the next point. PARAGRAPH #3 – argument #3 (topic sentence). Supporting evidence. A transition to the concluding section. CONCLUSION – summary of your key points and a reference to the broader significance of the subject.

Main Difficulties When Discussing an Abortion Topic

You should keep in mind that abortion is a sensitive topic that touches the deepest strings of people’s hearts for various reasons. Some women debate the ban of abortion because of their unfortunate juvenile experiences with abortion leaving them infertile. Others want abortion to be legal because of women’s moral, ethical, and legal right to decide what to do with their bodies and lives.

Thus, whenever you write an abortion essay, make sure to choose words appropriately, use delicate, non-judgmental phrases, and not accuse anyone of right or wrong decisions regarding abortion.

Any Questions?

Having any troubles with your why abortion should be made legal essay? No panic, as our experts are always on standby to help you out. We can write a well-structured, interesting paper on this subject to cover your back and avoid delays in-home task submission.

So, if you have little time for home tasks or simply don’t want to dig into books this weekend, you can delegate the assignment to us. Talk to our managers today, and they’ll assign a competent legal or medical writer to handle an essay on abortion for you with ease.

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About six-in-ten Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases

Note: For the latest data on views of abortion, read this July 2022 report .

Abortion has long been a contentious issue in the United States, and it is one that sharply divides Americans along partisan, ideological and religious lines.

Today, a 61% majority of U.S. adults say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 37% think abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. These views are relatively unchanged in the past few years. The latest Pew Research Center survey , conducted March 7 to 13, finds deep disagreement between – and within – the parties over abortion. In fact, the partisan divide on abortion is far wider than it was two decades ago.

Related: Explore an interactive look at Americans’ attitudes on abortion.

In the latest survey, Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents are 42 percentage points more likely than Republicans and Republican leaners to say abortion should be legal in all or most cases (80% vs. 38%). This gap is little changed over the last few years, but the current divide is wider than it was in the past. For instance, as recently as 2016, there was a 33-point gap between the shares of Democrats (72%) and Republicans (39%) who supported legal abortion in all or most cases.

Pew Research Center conducted this study to better understand Americans’ views on abortion. For this analysis, we surveyed 10,441 U.S. adults in March 2022. Everyone who took part in this survey 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 .

Here are the questions used for this report, along with responses, and its methodology .

This wider gap is mostly attributable to a steady increase in support for legal abortion among Democrats. In 2007, roughly two-thirds of Democrats and Democratic leaners (63%) said abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Support among Democrats has risen by nearly 20 points since then, and 80% now say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.

Views among Republicans have remained relatively steady during this period. In 2007, around four-in-ten Republicans (39%) said abortion should be legal in all or most cases; today, 38% say this.

There are ideological differences within both parties over abortion, though the divide is starker within the GOP. Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 60% of moderates and liberals say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared with just 27% of conservative Republicans.

While liberal Democrats are 18 percentage points more likely than conservative and moderate Democrats to say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, wide majorities of both groups (90% and 72%, respectively) say this.

Support for legal abortion varies by race and ethnicity, education and religious affiliation.

Majorities of adults across racial and ethnic groups say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. White adults and Hispanic adults, however, are slightly less likely to say this than Black and Asian adults. Roughly six-in-ten White (59%) and Hispanic adults (60%) say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared with larger majorities of Black (68%) and Asian (74%) adults.

Support for legal abortion is greater among those with higher levels of education. While majorities of those with a postgraduate degree (69%), bachelor’s degree (64%) and those with some college experience (63%) say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, adults with no more than a high school education are more divided on the issue: 54% say abortion should be legal in at least most cases, while 44% say abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.

White evangelical Protestants continue to be opposed to abortion in all or most cases. Nearly three-quarters of White evangelicals (74%) say it should be illegal in all or most cases, while 24% say it should be legal in at least most cases. In contrast, a majority of White Protestants who are not evangelical (60%) say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.   Religious “nones” – those who are religiously unaffiliated – overwhelmingly support legal abortion. Over eight-in-ten (84%) say it should be legal in all or most cases, while just 15% say it should be illegal.

Among the public overall, there is a modest gender divide in views of whether abortion should be legal: 58% of men and 63% of women say it should be legal in at least most cases. Within both parties, the views of men and women are largely aligned. Among Democrats, 80% of both men and women say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Similarly, 36% of Republican men and 39% of Republican women say the same.

Note: This is an update of a post originally published July 17, 2017. Here are the questions used for this report, along with responses, and its methodology .

Hannah Hartig is a senior researcher focusing on U.S. politics and policy research at Pew Research Center .

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ABOUT PEW RESEARCH CENTER  Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan, nonadvocacy fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It does not take policy positions. The Center conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, computational social science research and other data-driven research. Pew Research Center is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts , its primary funder.

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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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Who’s Too Old to Be President Now? Take a Guess.

By Gail Collins

Opinion Columnist

OK, how many of you noticed that Jimmy Carter turned 100 on Tuesday?

He’s the oldest living ex-president ever. And to be honest, it doesn’t sound as if he’s having a terrific time. Recently widowed — Rosalynn died almost a year ago at 96 — and living with home hospice care, Carter’s surely looking forward to voting against Donald Trump.

Thank you, Donald, for reminding us the one way you give Americans of all ages an opportunity for achievement.

Earlier this election year Americans were obsessed with age — President Biden’s age, to be precise. He’s 81, and even for fans it was sort of hard to imagine him dealing with some massive world crisis at 85.

Soon, Biden will be leaving the stage. (Be honest, does it take you a minute to remember he’s still in the White House?) The candidates to replace him are Kamala Harris, 59, and Trump, who at 78 is the oldest major party presidential nominee in history.

Harris and her running mate, Tim Walz, are pretty much the same age. They both were born in 1964, the year Trump graduated from high school.

We haven’t really talked much about Trump’s age, at least compared to the national obsession with Biden’s. But think about it: The Republicans now have a ticket in which the vice-presidential nominee is not just young enough to be the presidential nominee’s son; JD Vance, at 40, is also young enough to be Trump’s grandson. Why isn’t it a bigger issue? Probably because as a politician Trump has always been so crazy — well, ego-driven, attention-obsessed — that age seemed like the least of his problems.

But now that’s got to change. If voters felt 81 was too old for Biden, it’s hard to believe they can overlook 78 for Trump. Maybe we can turn the conversation to what he ought to do next. The ideal scenario is for a post-retirement life that’s even more fulfilling than what came before. Think about Carter winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his good works in everything from building housing for the poor to traveling around the world to promote international understanding.

Well, I can’t quite picture Trump there. But maybe a reboot of “The Apprentice,” where he could fire an ambitious, upwardly mobile careerist under the age of 40 every week.

Gail Collins is a Times Opinion columnist focusing on domestic politics. @ GailCollins • Facebook