“I have met
thousands and thousands of pro-choice men and women. I have never met anyone
who is pro-abortion. Being pro-choice is not being pro-abortion. Being
pro-choice is trusting the individual to make the right decision for herself
and her family, and not entrusting that decision to anyone wearing the
authority of government in any regard.”
-
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Since
the 1973 Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade, Pro-life proponents have lashed
out against women and seek to strip women of their right to choose what to do
with their own bodies. We may judge a
woman about her choice on abortion based on what we believe is morally right,
but we should not treat a woman unequally or without respect based on her
personal choices in life.
Abortion
is one of the most controversial subjects in the United States. Most people have their own person a view on
what abortion is and whether it is moral or not. However does that necessarily mean that what one
person, religion, or social institution thinks is right? On January 22, 1973,
the Supreme Court of the United States decided that in Roe vs. Wade that a
woman can have an abortion during her first trimester of pregnancy without
states interference, if the woman has an abortion during her second trimester;
the state could regulate an abortion for safety reasons, but could not prohibit
the abortion entirely. Lastly that if a woman decides to have an abortion
during her third trimester, then the state could prohibit or regulate an
abortion except when the mother’s life is at stake. As the public has various views on abortion,
the Supreme Court justices deciding the case also had various views on whether or
not abortion should have been legalized. On behalf of the majority’s opinion,
Justice Blackmun stated,
We forthwith acknowledge our awareness of
the sensitive and emotional nature of the abortion controversy, of the opposing
views, even among physicians, and of the deep and seemingly absolute
convictions that the subject inspires. One’s philosophy, ones experience’s,
one’s exposure to the raw edges of human existence, one’s religious training,
ones attitudes towards life and family and their values, and the moral
standards one establishes and seeks to observe, are all likely to influence and
to color one’s thinking and conclusions about abortion.
The underlying message of Blackmun’s words is
that the truths that may directly impact a person are what cause them to make
certain decisions. So is it right to hold someone in a lower respect based on a
decision that they make?
In this case, the
majority decision also referred to the 14th Amendment stating that a
person has the right to privacy and freedom. Although the Fourteenth Amendment
does not explicitly say that a person has a right to privacy, it does state:
All persons born or
naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are
citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state
shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities
of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any persons of
life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person
within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
This
means that we were all born with the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit
of happiness, and as long as we have these rights, then the state will not do
anything that will prevent form taking these rights away. This amendment
clearly supports a woman’s right to the privacy to her body. On the dissenting
opinions point of view, Representative Justice Rehnquist stated that he believed
that a matter such as having an abortion is “not private in the ordinary usage
of the word.” This means that Rehnquist
believes that when a woman gets an abortion, it isn’t considered a private
matter. In truth though, the actions that a person takes, if it doesn’t involve
the community or country, should be considered private.
What we have to remember is that everyone is
human. We all have the same rights protected by our Constitution, and these rights
they we have should not be taken away from us. We all face challenging decisions
throughout our life. The decisions that one may make might not be seen as right
or moral in another person’s eyes however, Thomas Jefferson, one of our
founding fathers and a firm believer wrote; “We hold these truths to be
self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their
creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness.” It is immoral to hold a woman that makes a
choice about abortion in her life as an unequal being, and to disrespect the hard life changing choice that she has
made for her own life is not moral, because even that woman was born with the
right to equality, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If the United States
decided to give woman the right to vote and the same rights as man, then why is
it that when a woman makes a decision about her own body and life, she loses
her dignity held in the same respect as other individuals?
