The Relevance of The Roe V Wade Law in 21 Century

Within the United States, Americans will always obtain a controversial opinion about a specific federal law, whether it be a legal, moral or an ethical issue. One federal law that has obtained a wide variety of controversy in the American population would be the Roe V Wade law that was passed on January 22, 1973, approximately 45 years ago. This federal law is seemingly stating that women are legally allowed to have someone remove the human embryo from their uterus prior to their completion of a full term of pregnancy. With that being mentioned, there are two argumentative sides; the first side stating how it is fundamental right guaranteed by the U.S constitution to allow women their “ right of privacy, which is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy”; although the second side argues that under the Unborn Victims of Violence Act, an unborn child (fetus) “is to be protected from assault and murder and those who intentionally kill or attempt to kill an unborn child should be punished for attempted murder”. With the current alternatives that have been created (birth control, condoms) the federal law, Roe V. Wade, should be overturned and considered seemingly on the new circumstances that have risen throughout the 21st century, especially since there are procedures that can prevent hurting the fetus during an abortion and options to help avoid pregnancy.

Prior to the constitutional passing of ‘Roe V. Wade’ in 1973, according to the authors of Abortion Debate, Rich, Wagner, and Geraldine 2013 discuss how the United States government did not allow abortions during the 1820s, although abortions were actually recognized “that current abortion methods were resulting in high mortality rates, and the unsafe practice was outlawed for the sake of women’s health.” Seemingly, throughout the next 50 years, women would continue pursuing these procedures even through multiple facilities, hospitals, or clinics were greatly unsanitary, doctors were completely unaware on how to properly complete an abortion procedure and these women were in desperate desire of an abortion due to lack of contraception knowledge. Despite this death scarce, approximately 1.2 million illegal abortions were performed every year before the passing of Roe V. Wade in 1973, thence concluding in thousands of these women undergoing a health risk that was caused by the harmful abortion throughout the time period that Roe V Wade wasn’t legalized. Several reasons why abortion was at its all-time high throughout this time period was because the advanced methods of contraception, (such as condoms, birth control, sterilization, vaginal rings, tied tubes, etc.) were unknown of during the 1800s up until the mid-1900s, where abortions were at their all-time high (Daniels, Nila, MPH. 2016). With men and women obtaining a contraception, the chances of pregnancy are very minimal, whereas without utilizing a contraception could highly result in the chance of pregnancy. These current advanced methods that the United States currently has, greatly reduced the amount of abortions that have occurred since the peak of 1981. In reflection to the Rich, Wagner, and Geraldine 2013, it mentions how “in 2014, 926,200 abortions were performed, down 12% from 1.06 abortions in 2011 and down 1.31 million in 2000. From 1973 through 2011, more than 50 million legal abortions occurred and in 2014, 19% of pregnancies (excluding miscarriages) ended in abortion.” With a highly tremendous drop in abortions occurring in the 21st century, the Roe V Wade federal law should be taken back to the supreme court to discuss how various modifications have occurred since 1973, which have reduced millions of abortions and would make the law seemingly something that is not needed. As stated, there has been a positive decline in abortions, historically in 2014 where the amount of abortions was under one million and according to U.S Abortion Rate 2017, is states that: Improved contraceptive use in recent years has led to a vast decline in the U.S unintended pregnancy rate, suggesting that women are increasingly able to plan their pregnancies and therefore have a decreased need for abortions. However, the wave or abortion restrictions passed at the state level over the last five years could also have contributed to the decline by making it more difficult for women to access needed services in highly restrictive states. 

Even through there still may be abortions in the future, Pro-Life Action League 2018 states, “while there still may be unwanted pregnancies, there truly are no unwanted children. Even if a pregnant woman does not want to raise the child growing in her womb, someone else does.” With the proper continuation of planning pregnancies, the decline for needed abortions will continue to drop tremendously, and within a few years, there will be little to no abortions occurring, resulting in no need for Planned Parenthood, Abortion Clinics, and especially the federal law, Roe V Wade. 

When ultimately discussing the federal issue of Roe V Wade, it is seemingly present that the citizens of the United States are divided in half and are conflicted between the options of pro-life and pro-choice. Although, what option would be picked for someone who ideally has no knowledge about the entire situation and would like to know where they politically stand on this issue. Considerably, pro-life can be defined as individuals that “obtain scientific knowledge about the development of human life inside the womb, to promote the empowerment and wellbeing of all women - born and unborn, and is deeply rooted in the fundamental belief that all life, no matter how small or poor or unwanted, is worth protecting (ACJL 2016); and pro-choice defined as individuals who seemingly “believe that women have the basic human right to decide when and whether to have children, based on their own moral and religious beliefs, even though they themselves may not choose abortion as an option for an unplanned pregnancy” (Planned Parenthood 2010). A long-termed argument upon this federal issue has been constantly emphasized how women have the constitutional right to their own body, for example in the 14th Amendment when it mentions “no State shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” (We The People 2017, A16). Roe V Wade has seemingly provided women the opportunity to obtain a legal abortion with this statement alone without any punishment risks. Even though there are no federal punishment risks for having an abortion, as a matter of fact, there are various potentially dangerous health risk factors once completing an abortion. One health issue in which can occur weeks or months following an abortion would be that the woman can begin to experience depression as she reminisces about the murder she obtained, finally understanding that her child was the one aborted. Within the article Abortion ProCon.org 2018, it discusses how “young adult women who undergo abortion may be at increased risk for subsequent depression, and BMC Medicine found that women who underwent an abortion had significantly higher anxiety scores on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.” This serves as credentials to demonstrate how a woman can be tremendously affected by psychological difficulties after having the abortion they seemingly wanted at the beginning. 

Statistically, it was recorded on ProConorg Headlines 2018, that: 173,000 American women found that women who aborted were 154% more likely to commit suicide than women who carried to term and delivered the baby. There was another study which reported that the mean annual suicide rate amongst women who had an abortion was 34.7 per 100,00, compared with a mean rate of 11.3 per 100,000 in the general population of women, and men whose partners had abortions found that 51.6% reported regret, 45.2% felt sadness, and 25.8% experienced depression. Due to abortions creating a vast amount of physical and mental health complications, the federal government should witness how Roe V Wade plays a factor to thousands of women being diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or Post-Abortion Syndrome. Several symptoms of this disorder would evidently be feeling guilt knowing the mother should have properly taken care of her child; avoiding children or pregnant women because it serves as a reminder of what the mother would have gone through (a baby shower, purchasing baby clothing, food, toys, etc); thoughts of suicide since women feel so guilty that they would prefer being with their dead child, holding them and continuously apologizing for what they did (Abortion PTSD 2018). Reversing the Roe V Wade law, it will protect future generations from undergoing such mental stress knowing that their child was aborted. As stated by Roberts, Sarah C. M., Liza Fuentes, Nancy F. Berglas, and Amanda J. Dennis. 2017, “there should be a public health approach to abortion based in an accepted public health framework.” Even then, with the federal government allowing abortions, we are killing off the future generations of leaders and researchers. 

Furthermore, despite women obtaining traumatic pain after their abortion, the fetus itself also undergoes vast amount of physical pain throughout the abortion process. Within the article Unborn Babies Can Feel Pain 2015, it states that “surgeons that are entering the womb to perform corrective procedures on tiny unborn babies have seen the babies flinch, jerk, and recoil from sharp objects and incisions. At 20 weeks, the fetal brain has the full complement of brain cells present in adulthood, ready and waiting to receive pain signals from the body, and their electrical activity can be recorded by standard electroencephalography (EEG)” — Dr. Paul Ranalli, neurologist, University of Toronto and “An unborn baby at 20 weeks gestation is fully capable of experiencing pain… Without question, abortion is a dreadfully painful experience for any infant subjected to such a surgical procedure.” — Robert J. White, M.D., PhD., professor of neurosurgery, Case Western University. Throughout the abortion process, the limbs of the fetus are seemingly just removed, which is why the process for them is greatly painful. Recently, there was a story where a mother decided to have an abortion and when the doctor removed the 20-week-old baby from the womb, the child was crying and mourning in pain. The mother heard the mournful cries of her child, and regretted the decision instantly knowing how much pain he had undergone and since she had several children already. Reflecting on how Roe V Wade should be overturned for the women’s mental health, it should also be overturned for the sake of the child who is feeling the pain of getting murdered. When in the womb, the fetus should feel protection and love, but this law is nerve wrecking, knowing that not 100% of children will be obtaining the right to life. 

Concluding, the federal law of Roe V Wade is not being utilized with the same ideology as it was in 1973. The reason it was passed 45 years ago was because the United States government witnessed in the Supreme Court with Jane Roe that there were millions of women who wanted to have a safe, and legal abortion but it was not permitted by the government. With the illegal abortion that would occur, there were thousands of women dying due to severe complications, but since the passing, the current abortions have minimized severe complications. Although, there are still various health risk issues to be aware of, especially the psychological disorders (PTSD) that become present after the abortion has been completed, which is currently more actively present in the 21st-century. Moreover, the amount of abortions the United States has been presented with over the last couple of years has dropped tremendously in comparison to the 1900s, where millions of illegal abortions were performed, but now less than 800,000 were performed in 2014. The new methods of contraception’s and how women can plan out their pregnancies is astonishingly decreasing the amount of abortions per year, and as a result, Roe V Wade may not be utilized within a couple years from now. The federal law, Roe V Wade, should be overturned due to many health, mental, and physical issues and since there is not many women needing an aborting anymore.