Research Blog #4 - Associated Controversies + Associated Political or Academic Issues

Abortion

Abortion has long been a controversial issue. The history goes back to he 1973 Roe v. Wade case, and then it goes back further still. In this blog post, I will be talking about the history of abortion all the way up to 2017 (focusing on the United States of America). 

There has long been a history of abortion in many societies in all over the world. In America, the first (and many following) settlers openly allowed and discussed abortion.  While I couldn't find a source that said how they viewed it (they could have looked down on people who needed one/got one, but allowed it anyway versus accepting it as a normal part of life, etc), it certainly seemed to be an accepted part of society. One reason why abortion was immediately made legal in America was because they believed that settlers had higher birthrates than native women, and they didn't want to dominate and take over the local people (or at least they didn't immediately). But during the 19th century, medicine was still very dangerous. There were high infant mortality rates, and many mothers died  during childbirth. Abortion, while very legal at that time, carried the same risks as any other legal surgery did.

By the time standard medical and scientific processes had become the norm, abortion had largely become illegal. Women now were needing to get "backdoor" pregnancies, and didn't' have access to increased technologies that would have made the procedures safer. Why and who, you might ask, would do such a thing as criminalize abortion? The answers is doctors, who wanted to be the ultimate authority on medicine by not allowing "untrained" practitioners to practice medicine. they discounted midwives, apothecaries and more from participating as much in the exponentially growing field of medicine. By 1910, 49 of 50 states had outlawed abortion except in cases where it would save the mother's life. This allowed for abortions to fall directly under the precinct of physicians. 

The lack of safe care and then the lack of legal care left a void for women to fill themselves in the 20th century. Abortions were prohibited under the Comstock laws that presented women from accessing birth control. But that didn't stop women from getting or trying to get abortions. In the years before 1973 - the year Roe v. Wade was passed, estimations of illegal abortions ranged as high as 1.2 million per year. Because of it's criminal nature during that time, not many records were kept. But we know that while it did sometimes work, women were harmed. Some women who were too terrified of the prospect of getting an illegal abortion for any number of reasons (stories of medical harm, cost, etc), would sometimes try and do the abortion themselves. These were often done with little medical knowledge and in non-medically sanitary conditions, which exacerbated the problems. This also caused a lot of harm, and Emergency Room staff saw lots of women dying or suffering malignant effects of illegal abortions. Some doctors offered safer - but still illegal - abortions, but these safer procedures became increasingly rare as doctors faced increasing scrutiny from peers and administrators about the somewhat dubious legality of their actions pertaining to abortion. In the late 1960's and early 1970's (1967-1972, to be exact), one third of states (around 17) had either liberalized or repealed their abortion laws (Colorado lead the way as the first state to liberalize their abortion laws in 1973), but it wasn't until 1973 with Roe v. Wade that abortion was safely legalized for all American citizens.  

But what exactly is Roe v. Wade? And why is it so important, anyway? 

Roe v. Wade is a court case that, in 1973, made it legal for women to get safe abortions from trained medical staff. It is significant 1) because it made abortion legal for the first time in over 60 years and 2) lead to dramatic decreases in abortion related injuries and deaths.

But how did it come to be? Who exactly are Roe and Wade? What was each side fighting for?

The case sprung out of a Texas law that prevented women from getting legal abortions, except in cases where the abortion would save her life. As at the time most states had similar laws, the majority of women in America had to get illegal abortions when their lives were not at risk.   The case was defended by Texas Attorney General Henry Wade. The Wade side did not want abortions to be legal. The Roe side did. The Roe side was "represented" by a pregnant 21 year old named Jane Roe who wanted all women to be able to have access to legal abortions. After the case, the Supreme court decided that abortions should, in fact, be legal.

Photos of Protestors during the the "trial" of Roe V Wade.

There is much that happened in the aftermath of Roe v. Wade. Those in support of legal abortions were jubilant. Those who opposed it were not. Attacks started as disruptions at clinics. These disruptions came in the from of protests outside clinics, harassment of people trying to get services at clinics, vandalizing clinics, blocking access to clinics - and more. The attacks continued to escalate. Clinic bombings began happening. Physical attacks - both on clinic works and those hoping to use the clinic's services - were happening more and more frequently.  Death threats and the occasional murder also happened. This goes to show that while there was a success story, there was also a darker side to the story. Over time, the government has allowed increasing restrictions on abortions. Only time will tell if we will go in a full circle back to really restrictive abortions, and then back again to legal ones. 

Sources:
- Tietze C, Henshaw SK. Induced Abortion: A World Review, 1986. New York: The Guttmacher Institute, 1986

- "Emergency Physician Rights and Responsibilities." ACEP. ACEP, n.d. Web. 22 Mar. 2017. <https://www.acep.org/clinical---practice-management/emergency-physician-rights-and-responsibilities/>.

-Roe. V. Wade. Digital image. PBS. N.p., n.d. Web. <https://www-tc.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/images/roe.jpg>. 
-Woe v. Wade. Digital image. N.p., n.d. Web. <http://img.timeinc.net/time/photoessays/2010/top10_court_cases/roe_wade.jpg>.