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Roe v. WadeRoe v.WadeTo understand American attitudes towards abortionabortion we need to begin with a famous decision that has since been a battle cry for the two groups on either side of the issue. In 1973 the Supreme CourtSupreme Court ruled in the Roe v. WadeRoe v.Wade case that states must allow women to have an abortion within the first six months of pregnancy. While most states had allowed pregnancies to be terminated if the mother’s life was at risk, some states had laws prohibiting abortion in all other cases. The Supreme Court decision was based on the belief that the state had an obligation to ensure that women had access to abortions performed safely since illegal abortions were often dangerous. The Court also ruled that women and their doctors had a right to privacyprivacy, that government had no powerpower to intrude into the home without good reason. But this right to privacy wasn’t absolute – people couldn’t do with their bodies whatever they wanted – and the fetus also had rights to be protected. Thus state laws that prohibited abortion in the later stages of pregnancy were constitutional.

very different opinionsIn later court cases, other justices have modified the results of the Roe v. WadeRoe v.Wade decision. But the issue of abortionabortion is still one of the most divisive in AmericaAmerica. Americans have very different answers to the questions if American women have the right to abortion, the degree to which the government should regulate abortion, from which point in time the fetus should be considered as a person deserving the protection of the law: conception, the third trimester of pregnancy, or birth. In general Republicans [79]and CatholicsCatholics have supported the movement that has come to be called pro-lifepro-life; Democrats and some liberal Protestant churches support the pro-choicepro-choice movement. A large minority of Americans hold the two extremist viewpoints roughly equally – the state should prohibit all abortions for whatever reason or the state has no right whatsoever to regulate abortion. A majority of Americans believe that the state should have some regulatory powerpower but differ as to the details of these regulations. Evidence of the passionate feelings of those who are against abortions includes demonstrations in front of abortion clinics and even in extreme cases shootings of doctors who performed abortions.

funding, parental consent, different state laws, future?The abortionabortion controversy not only includes the degree to which the government should have powerpower in regulating abortion but also includes controversial matters about whether government funding should be used for abortion and to what degree parents must give their consent for their daughters to have an abortion. Since regulation of abortion is a matter left to the states and not to the federal government, there is a variety of abortion laws across the US with state law regularly being reviewed and at times declared unconstitutional by the Supreme CourtSupreme Court.

More than 40 years after the Roe v. WadeRoe v.Wade decision Americans still don’t agree on the degree to which a woman has the right to choose an abortionabortion or the degree to which the government should act in such matters, but the number of teen pregnancies and abortions are down, as President ObamaObama, Barack proudly said in his 2015 State of the Union speech.

legal in BritainAbortionabortion isn’t nearly as controversial in Britain where the majority of the British feel that abortion should remain legal although there is some evidence that the movement to restrict abortions is growing. The Abortion Act of 1967 made abortion within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy legal and available through the NHSNHSNational Health Service (NHS) ( 3) in EnglandEngland, ScotlandScotland, and WalesWales. Abortion has remained illegal in Northern IrelandNorthern Ireland with strong opposition to changing this status within the Northern Ireland AssemblyNorthern Ireland Assembly ( 5). With increasing pressure from pro-choicepro-choice campaigners to allow more abortions, a European Court could have the final say in this controversial issue in Northern IrelandIreland.