Essay on Abotion Rights Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

On Abotion Rights - Essay Example These exceptions however did not have proper definition especially in the context of the health of the mother. The Doe vs. Bolton case ruled by the Supreme Court helped to widen the definition of mother’s health to include psychological, emotional and physical impacts of a pregnancy on the mother thus creating an environment favorable for more abortions. This is due to the fact that Georgia and Texas prohibited abortions that did not pose any threats to the life of the mother especially if the pregnancy was more than 6 months (Ginsburg, 2009). In such a circumstance, a single mother such as Roe could not have performed an abortion irrespective of the fact that the pregnancy was a psychological and emotional burden for her. However, the Supreme Court ruling opened a platform for the formation of groups such as the prolife, to counter the relaxation of abortion laws and the subsequent formation of prochoice organizations to counter the prolife movements. This paper is a critical evaluation of abortion in the US with respect to prolife and prochoice arguments. Discussion Abortion should be legalized in all states as not only is this the right thing to do, but also due to the fact that government interference in personal matters amounts to infringement of the right to privacy as well as freedom of choice (Ginsburg, 2009). Unplanned pregnancies occur on daily basis either due to ignorance, carelessness, failure of contraceptives to inhibit fertilization or due to criminal activities such as rape among other factors. Despite the factors behind a pregnancy, it is the prerogative of a woman to choose the right time to start a family and this should be respected by the government and the society at large. The US is a democratic nation in which basic freedoms are protected by various acts of parliament as well as international treaties that the country is party to. Though the right to privacy is not written in the US constitution, the 9th amendment protects such r ights from government interference. With regard to this right, a woman has the freedom to determine what happens with her body whether in terms of health or other occurrences that may subject her to emotional stress. Therefore, it is unethical for the government even to contemplate limiting what she can or cannot do with her body unless her actions contravene the laws stipulated in the constitution. The 14th amendment also requires due process while depriving a person of his or her liberties and therefore it is wrong for a government to deny women the right to their bodily privacy arbitrarily without considering their individual predicaments (Baird, 2001). The government should legalize abortion in order to reduce the prevalence of unsafe abortions in the country. It is a fact that criminalization of abortion does not lower the demand for abortion. Indeed, it only creates an opportunity for rogue physicians to open illegal clinics, which operate under unhygienic and dangerous condit ions as a result of lack of government supervision. In case these women die or become sterile as a consequence of these abortions, there is no way they can seek legal redress to make the physicians accountable owing to the fact that they would be on the wrong side of the law themselves for having agreed to have the abortion. Some of the physicians operating these clinics are only motivated by the greed for money and riches and therefore, it may be easy to understand if they decide not