Government Term Paper

Amanda Billiter

Federal Government

Prof. Kawa

Choice Before Life

        It is basic knowledge that in order for human existence to thrive and further continue for years to come, it is that a woman must engage in sexual encounters and will later become pregnant then bring that child out into the world. That may seem like it’s a simple solution to the most widely known theory of existence that is out there, however, to some women, the act of reproduction is something to fear, something that they do not want. The act of reproduction is commonly known to women as giving birth to a child after nine, long months followed by what can be described as endless amounts of pain, but it’s no surprise that some women choose to carry out those circumstances and to witness the wonders of childbirth and other women choose to not; this is where abortions come in. Biologically, the reproductive right is indeed exclusive to women for they are the one’s who have to actually carry the child to term then give birth, but if the woman in question decides that she alone does not want to have said child, then she does have the option to abortion. At one point, the idea of a woman to even consider let alone actually have an abortion was actually illegal. Women were not allowed to abort their pregnancies because it was a crime against religion to kill a living creature of God. But that all changed when a pregnant woman named Roe that brought a class action to challenge Texas constitutionality on abortion laws because she wanted to simply chose to abort her pregnancy even though there was no risk on the mother’s life from the pregnancy still knew that it was what she wanted to do by having the abortion despite the fact that she knew that it was against the law to have her abortion.

        Texas Law at this time in the 1970’s stated that an abortion was illegal unless the abortion was cleared by a licensed physician that the mother’s life was at risk. Roe v. Wade made that option available to women nation wide when back in 1973 when a young, unmarried woman in Texas who wanted to terminate her pregnancy by abortion. However, the woman stated, “…the Texas statutes were unconstitutionally vague and that they abridged her right of personal privacy, protected by the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments. By an amendment to her complaint Roe purported to sue "on behalf of herself and all other women" similarly situated.” (ROE v. WADE). Therefore, after she began to seek legal action against the state for looking down at her for choosing to terminate her pregnancy. Shortly after the case hearing, it became aware that the law’s against abortion were beginning to be modified to the terms that a woman of consent wanted an abortion, she may due so until the end of the first trimester. Although, the case with Roe v. Wade was merely a catalyst for future abortions because “The precedent set in Roe v. Wade not only initiated the idea of a woman’s right to an abortion within the sphere of privacy, but brought the abortion issue to the forefront of American politics.”  (Thedford). During the trial, lawyers tried to use the Ninth Amendment as a means to the way to go around the antiabortion laws back in the 1970’s and the jury ruled to favor that the Ninth Amendment had the right to choose to have an abortion, although it stressed that the right was "not unqualified or unfettered." However, it was Supreme Court Assistant Justice William O. Douglas who rejected that view; Douglas wrote that, "The Ninth Amendment obviously does not create federally enforceable rights.” which halted the case because Douglas wanted to the abortion laws to remain in place.