actively to restrict the practice of abortion (200). Consequently, after four
decades of rapid change, American abortion policy re-estabilized during the
final two decades of the nineteenth century while legislative responses typical
to the 1860s and 1870s wove themselves deeply into the fabric of American law.
There they would remain through the first two thirds of the twentieth century
(245). The Roe vs. Wade case is told by Mohr so bring up to today’s law in
practice. A single, pregnant woman, assigned the pseudonym Jane Roe by the court
to protect her privacy, took action in 1970 against Henry Wade, the district
attorney of Dallas County, Texas, where Jane Roe lived, in an effort to prevent
him from enforcing the Texas state anti-abortion statute on the grounds that it
violated the United States Constitution. The law that Jane Roe wanted struck
down dated form the 1850s. After hearing the case argued in December 1971, and
reargued in October 1972, the Supreme Court finally rendered its decision in
January 1973. Jane Roe "won" the case in a technical sense, for the
majority ruled that Texas anti-abortion sense, for the majority ruled that the
Texas anti-abortion statue was indeed unconstitutional as drafted. Moreover, all
similar statues then in effect in other stated were likewise declared to be
unconstitutional. By itself this portion of the decision would not only have
undone all that the physicians’ crusade of the nineteenth century had brought
about, but would have left the nation with an abortion policy considerably more
tolerant of the practice than the common law had been two hundred years earlier
(247). Roger Rosenblatt gives us his opinion on abortion. My stand on abortion
is conventionally. Pro-choice: Every woman in America, in my opinion, ought to
have the legal right to choose an abortion. The belief that a clear-cut
intellectual or moral compromise is available to the issue, is wrong. If
abortion is considered murder, how can it ever be entirely acceptable to those
who oppose it, even though they may allow certain exceptions to the rule. If
it’s not considered murder, on what grounds would those who favor abortion
rights want them restricted? Nor do I believe that the question of when life
begins, over which there is so much scientific and spiritual haggling, is
pertinent or useful to the debate. I would be perfectly willing to concede that
life begins at conception, yet I would still advocate a system in which the
killing of an unborn child is preferable to forcing an unwilling mother to give
birth. And I do not believe that community rights in this matter are equal to
individual rights. While the rights of the community are not to be ignored, the
final decision should be the individual woman’s no matter how misguided she may
be thought or how strongly the rest of society disapproves (1-10). Dr. Hodgson
said that she did not think abortion constituted killing at all. The
obstetrician said, " I think I have done a humane service for lots of women
in this world. I don’t look upon (abortion) as killing, because I do not
consider that any embryo or fetus is a person. It is a potential person
"(24). The killer of women is illegal abortion and that is why women should
have a choice. The question is, when you have a woman’s life and her needs and
her health on the one side and the developing fetus on the other, a choice has
to be made. And the choice should be left to the individual. Father McBrien
stated his personal and religious morality forbade his approving of abortion in
any situation, but even in this he was willing to accept his role as an American
citizen, which requires people to live with several things they dislike (28).
Brian Elroy Mc, tells us the abortion stance of most Christians is one sided. In
reality there is merely evidence that most people will listen to their pastors
and to Christian radio broadcaster. They merely listen to others who quote a
verse to support a view they heard from someone else. By definition, most
Christians, rather than reading for themselves, follow the beliefs of a Culture
of Christianity – and many of the Culture’s beliefs are based on one or two
verses of the Bible, often taken out of context (5-1). Lets take a look at what
God has to say in the Bible. The commandment against murder. Psalms 139:13-16,
has been used by Christians and taken out of text to serve the point of
ant-abortion. These are used to try and state that the fetus is a human and that
abortion is murder. A lot of verses in the Bible can be taken out of text Palms
10:1, could be used to state that God has abandoned us. Also Job 10:18-19, could
be used to state that the Bible supports ending a pregnancy in the face of a
life without quality. According to Elroy, it’s time to stop the one-sided view
of abortion being proclaimed by Christian leaders. These leaders do not despite
their claims have a biblical mandate for their theologies. It is time to stop
preaching that the Bible contain and undeniable doctrine against abortion
doctors and upon women who have abortions, especially when it’s done in the name
of a God who has no written such condemnations in his Bible. It is time to stop,
because the act of making a judgement against people in God’s name, when God is
not behind the judging, is nothing short of claiming that our own beliefs are
more important than God’s. We must stop, because if we don’t, then indeed the
very type of theological argument being used against abortion can be turned
around and used to proclaim that abortion is biblical (18). Effects on an
abortion and their ridicule that goes along with it can leave scars that can
last a lifetime. These are a lists of questions asked to an unnamed woman who
has become a victim of the anti-abortion propaganda. Lets take a look at how her
decision to have an abortion has changed her life. Q: Why did you have an
abortion? A: I was too young, and pressured by parents to have an abortion as
their religion did not accept premarital intercourse and the child would be
considered illegitamate, even if she and the father were to have wed. Q: How
does it effect you now? A: I’ve got emotional scars, it’s not a quick fix, it’s
a burden that you carry for life. I still think about it. Q: How often do you
think about it? A: Once or twice a month, especially in June, which was the
month I had it done. Q: Do you remember the day? A: Yes, June 7th, 1988. Q: How
did you feel right after it was over? A: Well, after I woke up and came around,
I felt like a huge burden had been lifted off my shoulders and I remember my Dad
saying "That’s my Tiger, she’s back" I was back to my old bubbly self,
or so I thought. Q: What kind of advice would you give a young girl in the same
situation? A: Think long and hard, you will always have a sense of doubt, did I
make the right choice or I wonder if I didn’t. Q: Which way would you lean
towards in trying to direct this girl in the same situation? A: I would not
influence her, it’s her decision. I would tell her my story and how it’s
effected my life. Q: When did you realize it would never go away? A: When my
current child was born. Q: Did you think it was a fetus or a live child? A: A
fetus, because there was no heart beat. Q: Are you going to tell your children
about it to change their views on premarital sex? A: When they are old enough to
understand, yes, so they won’t be pressured into the same situation. The
suffering caused by abortion can be about many different feelings, such as
anger, grief, guilt, shame and spiritual injury. The interview with the victim
has clearly shown that these feelings may last a lifetime. This is even more
reason why education before conception, pre and post abortion is so important.
There’s a book called Peace after Abortion that can help heal some of these
feelings she might be experiencing. A word about Pro-Life from Rosenblatt, the
effort to reduce the necessity of abortion, which is the same as an effort to
improve much that needs improving in this country, is to choose life as
whole-heartedly as it is to be "Pro-life." By such an effort one is
choosing life for millions who do not want to be, who do not deserve to be,
forever hobbled by an accident, a mistake, or by miseducation. By such an effort
one is also choosing a different sort of like for the country as a whole-a more
sympathetic life in which we acknowledge, privileged and unprivileged alike,
that we have the same doubts and mysteries and hopes for one another (179).
We’ve got to eliminate the cause of unwanted pregnancies, and if we can work
together, liberals and conservatives, religious people and non religious people
alike, to eliminate the reasons why young women feel that they must have an
abortion when they don’t want to have an abortion, then we can, together, do
something constructive and stop this useless and endless debate about whether
there’s a baby there with a personality or whether or not it’s simply a woman’s
right. It is right that we have the choice, but it would be better if we did not
have to make it.
Elroy, Brian Mc. The Bible and Abortion, Why abortion is Biblical
www.elroy.com/her/abortion.html The Every day Bible, ( New century version )
87-51673. Peace after abortion, an internet site that offers help for women.
www.peacesafterabortion.com Mohr, James C. Abortion in America. New York: Oxford
university Press,1978. Rosenblatt, Roger. Life Itself Abortion in American Mind.
New York: Random House,1992. Unnamed Interview. A women who experienced abortion
first hand.