Abortion debate
The abortion debate is a longstanding and contentious discourse that touches on the moral, legal, medical, and religious aspects of induced abortion. In English-speaking countries, the debate has two major sides, commonly referred to as the "pro-choice" and "pro-life" movements. Generally, supporters of pro-choice argue for the right to choose to terminate a pregnancy. They take into account various factors such as the stage of fetal development, the health of the woman, and the circumstances of the conception. By comparison, the supporters of pro-life generally argue that a fetus is a human being with inherent rights and intrinsic value, and thus, cannot be overridden by the woman's choice or circumstances and that abortion is morally wrong in most or all cases. Both the terms pro-choice and pro-life are considered loaded words in mainstream media, which tend to prefer terms such as "abortion rights" or "anti-abortion" as more neutral and avoidant of bias.
Each movement has had varying results in influencing public opinion and attaining legal support for its position. Supporters and opponents of abortion often argue that it is essentially a moral issue, concerning the beginning of human personhood, rights of the fetus, and bodily integrity. Additionally, some argue that government involvement in abortion-related decisions, particularly through public funding, raises ethical and political questions. Libertarians, for example, may oppose taxpayer funding for abortion based on principles of limited government and personal responsibility, while holding diverse views on the legality of the procedure itself. The debate has become a political and legal issue in some countries with those who oppose abortion seeking to enact, maintain, and expand anti-abortion laws, while those who support abortion seek to repeal or ease such laws and expand access to the procedure. Abortion laws vary considerably between jurisdictions, ranging from outright prohibition of the procedure to public funding of abortion. The availability of abortion procedures considered safe also varies across the world and exists mainly in places that legalize abortion.
Overview
In ancient times, issues such as abortion and infanticide were evaluated by patriarchies within the contexts of family planning, gender selection, population control, and property rights. The rights of the prospective mother and child were typically not central to these considerations. Ancient discourse often expressed the concerns on the nature of humankind, the existence of a soul, when life begins, and the beginning of human personhood, issues that are still relevant even today.Discussion of the presumed personhood of a fetus may be complicated by the current legal status of children. Similar to minors, fetuses and embryos lack certain legal capacities. In many legal systems, a fetus or an embryo does not have the same legal status as a person. They have not reached the age of majority and deemed not able to enter into contracts and to sue or be sued. Since the 1860s, they have been treated as persons for the limited purposes of offence against the person law in the UK including Northern Ireland, although this treatment was amended by the Abortion Act of 1967 in England, Scotland, and Wales. In America, there have been logistical challenges in considering a fetus as a person. Some legal interpretations have argued that if a fetus is considered a person, then it is only under certain conditions as it relies on the body of another person and is usually not the object of direct action by another person. In the current debate, proposals range from prohibitions on abortion in all cases, even when the woman's life is at risk, to calls for complete legalization with provisions for public funding.
Terminology
Many of the terms used in the debate are seen as political framing: terms used to validate one's stance while invalidating the opposition's. For example, the labels "pro-choice" and "pro-life" imply widely held values such as liberty or the right to life, while suggesting that the opposition must be "anti-choice" or "anti-life". Terms used in the debate to describe their opponents consist of "pro-abortion", "pro-abort"; however, these terms do not always reflect a political view or fall along a binary. Seven in ten Americans described themselves as "pro-choice" while almost two-thirds described themselves as "pro-life". Another identifier in the debate is "abolitionist", which harks back to the 19th-century struggle against human slavery.Francis Beckwith argues that even seemingly neutral phrases like "abortion rights" are ideologically loaded. He contends that such language presupposes the moral legitimacy of abortion by framing it as a fundamental right, thereby sidestepping the underlying philosophical question of whether the unborn possess a right to life. In doing so, the term shapes public discourse by implicitly framing abortion access as presumptively justified.
Appeals are often made in the abortion debate to the rights of the fetus, pregnant woman, or other parties. Such appeals can generate confusion if the type of rights is not specified or if it is simply assumed that the right appealed to takes precedence over all other competing rights. The appropriate terms to designate the human organism before birth are also debated. Some anti-abortion supporters regard the technical terminology "embryo" and "fetus" as dehumanizing, whereas some abortion rights proponents regard ordinary terms such as "baby" or "child" as emotion-inducing.
The use of the term "baby" to describe the unborn human organism is seen by some scholars as part of an effort to assign the organism agency, functioning to further the construction of fetal personhood. Anti-abortion activists occasionally use the term "the silent holocaust" or "the American genocide" about the number of abortions that have been performed in the United States since 1973.
Political debate
There is abundant debate regarding the extent of abortion regulation by the government. Supporters of abortion rights may argue against the government regulation of abortions, and rather it be treated as routine medical practice. From a compromising perspective, both sides may support the permission of the government to prohibit elective abortions after the 20th week, viability, or the second trimester. Religion has also played a role in the debate. For example, some Christian denominations and groups generally oppose abortion, believing it more aligns with their interpretation of the Bible, and because of this may support the prohibition of some or all abortions, starting from conception. Those who oppose abortion rights may argue against the procedures and nature of abortion. The two sides of the political debate represent the contentious moral principles in the "sanctity of life" versus "the woman's right to choose." Abortion debates differ from other public health issues due to complex ethical and legal considerations.In popular culture, the American romantic drama dance film Dirty Dancing is seen by The Hollywood Reporter as "a clear and unapologetic argument for reproductive choice".
Worldwide stances
Countries that refuse abortions
Abortion and contraception were completely banned in Romania from 1967 to 1989, due to Decree 770 under Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. As a result, maternal mortality in Romania became the highest in Europe, and thousands of children ended up in orphanages raised in grievous conditions, leading to a rise in child mortality.As of 2016, six countries completely outlaw abortion: El Salvador, Malta, Vatican City, the Dominican Republic, Philippines, and Nicaragua. This prohibits a woman from having an abortion for any reason, even if it might mean saving her life. Penalties include jail time. For example, in El Salvador, abortions are punishable with up to 50 years in prison.
Countries with strict laws
allowed abortion only in case of rape or if the woman's health was at risk. In December 2020, the Argentine Senate passed a bill to legalize abortion. Also in 2020, the Constitutional Tribunal ended almost all legal abortion in Poland. China has a free abortion policy but some studies show that its government also uses forced abortion to enforce strict limits on how many children each family can have. In the United States, there are increasing efforts to limit access to abortion by states in the wake of the 2022 reversal of Roe v Wade which allowed for a constitutional right to abortion.Effects of legalization/illegalization
Abortion rights advocates argue that outlawing abortion increases the rate of unsafe abortions, as the availability of professional abortion services decreases, and leads to increased maternal mortality. According to a global study collaboratively conducted by the World Health Organization and the Guttmacher Institute, most unsafe abortions occur where abortion is illegal. Withholding access to safe abortions results in 30,000 abortion-related deaths per year. Women may also choose suicide when abortion is illegal.The effect on crime of legalized abortion is a subject of controversy, with proponents of the theory generally arguing that "unwanted children" are more likely to become criminals and that an inverse correlation is observed between the availability of abortion and subsequent crime.
Economist George Akerlof has argued that the legalization of abortion in the United States contributed to a declining sense of paternal duty among biological fathers and to a decline in shotgun weddings, even when women chose childbirth over abortion, and thus to an increase rather than a decrease in the rate of children born to unwed mothers.
KFF conducted a nationally representative survey of office-based OBGYNs in the U.S. Since Dobbs, 42% of OBGYNs report that they are very or somewhat concerned about their own legal risk when making decisions about patient care and abortion. This could greatly affect how many OBGYNs will continue to practice.