Reproductive rights

An Overview of Abortion Laws by Guttmacher Institute

Giuliana Gerbino

“An Overview of Abortion Laws.” Guttmacher Institute, 1 Feb. 2023

The Guttmacher Institute is a leading research and policy organization. It monitors and analyzes state policy developments in the United States including legislative, judicial and executive actions, on a broad range of issues related to sexual and reproductive health rights. This source is very useful as it helped me understand what some of the restrictions placed on abortion are as of February 2023. “12 states restrict coverage of abortion in private insurance plans, most often limiting coverage only to when the patient’s life would be endangered if the pregnancy were carried to term. Most states allow purchase of additional abortion coverage at the additional cost” The facts in this article help me to better understand all the restrictions still placed on abortion. In June 2022, the US Supreme Court overturned abortion rights and the information provided in this article has relevant facts  and important details to incorporate in my research paper. 

  1. “36 states require some type of parental involvement in a minor’s decision to have an abortion. 27 states require one or both parents to consent to the procedure, while 9 require that one or both parents be notified”
  2. “12 states restrict coverage of abortion in private insurance plans, most often limiting coverage only to when the patient’s life would be endangered if the pregnancy were to be carries to term. Most states allow purchase of additional abortion coverage at the additional cost.”

Before (and After) Roe V. Wade: New Questions about Backlash by Linda Greenhouse and Reva B. Siegal

Giuliana Gerbino

Greenhouse, Linda, Reva B. Siegal. “Before (and After) Roe V. Wade: New Questions about Backlash.” The Yale Law Journal. 120.8 (2011): 2028-2087. Print. 

Linda Greenhouse is a Clinical Lecturer in Law, Knight Distinguished journalist, and a senior research scholar in Law at Yale Law School and Reva B. Siegal is the Nicholas deB. Katzenbach Professor of Law at Yale Law School. In this article, the authors talk about the Supreme Court ruling in 1973 on abortion and how things took shape after the ruling. The decision made it possible for pregnant women to get legal abortions from medical practitioners and led to a decrease in pregnancy-related deaths and injury. The authors take the time to view how things were before the court ruling got decided. They consider abortion stands of politicians, catholics, and feminists. They suggest that due to party realignment, the conflict over supreme court ruling got shaped in the following decades. This article is gonna be used mainly as a factual source. The court decision took place, and the reaction of different people were used to write this article. 

  1. “Doctors establishing the American Medical Association (AMA) led a campaign to criminalize abortion, except when necessary to save a pregnant woman’s life.”
  2. “Just as nineteenth-century advocates for criminalizing access to abortion has appealed to medical authority, so, too, did twentieth-century advocates for liberalizing access to abortion.

Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies by Joanna N. Erdman, Rebecca J. Cook, et al.

Giuliana Gerbino

Erdman, Joanna N, Rebecca J. Cook, et al. Abortion Law in Transnational Perspective: Cases and Controversies. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2014. Print. 

This 16 chapter book written entirely by lawyers, views laws on abortion in all parts of the globe and highlights both the failures and successes of these laws. The chapters investigate issues of access, rights, and justice, as well as social constructions of women, sexuality, and pregnancy, through legal procedures and regimes. They state that,“Although today is exceedingly difficult to encounter any legal treatment of abortion without some comment on the rights involved…Reflecting on historical revolutions led us to think of new transitions in hand and in prospect” (Erdman et. al). The authors write that their aim is to find new approaches in abortion and come up with ideas regarding abortion laws. They suggest that reforms in this legislation and legalization of abortion would help women make good choices about pregnancies. In their conclusion, women stand to benefit the most if restrictive abortion laws get abolished. This book would be a good source to incorporate in my research paper because the authors go in to talk about how legalization of abortion would benefit women.

“Although today is exceedingly difficult to encounter any legal treatment of abortion without some comment on the rights involved…Reflecting on historical revolutions led us to think of new transitions in hand and in prospect”

“Abortion law evolved ‘from placement within criminal or penal codes, to placement within health or public health legislation, and eventually to submergence within laws serving goals of human rights.”

The Abortion Debate: Can this chronic public illness be cured? By Daniel Callahan

Giuliana Gerbino

Callahan, Daniel. “The Abortion Debate: Can this chronic public illness be cured?” Clinical Obstetrics and gynecology 35.4 (Dec.1992): 783-791. 

Daniel Callahan was an American philosopher who played a leading role in developing the field of biomedical ethics as co-founder of The Hastings Center, the world’s first bioethics research institute. The document provides information on how abortion has become one of the most eternal and disturbing issues in American legal and moral struggles. It also gives reasons as to why the issue of abortion should be legalized. Thus, an important document in this paper since it provides information on the issue under discussion. It also provides the need to do everything possible to change the social and economic circumstances leading to abortion, the need for compromise, and the need for meaningful counseling of women who consider abortion.

  1. “The movement to legalize abortion rested on the following: 1) illegal abortions were killing and maiming women; 2) women should have a backup to ineffective contraception; 3) women should have the right to make the abortion decision; 4) everything possible should be done to change the economic and domestic circumstances forcing women into unwanted pregnancies.
  2. “Those who pressed the pro-choice side of the argument had plenty of opposition, but they had the tide of public opinion with them.”

Women Share What Abortion Was Like Before Roe v. Wade: “I Was One of the Lucky Ones, I survived.” By Kaelyn Ford

Giuliana Gerbino

Forde, Kaelyn. “Women Share What Abortion Was Like Before Roe v. Wade: ‘I Was One of the Lucky Ones, I survived’.” ABC News, ABC New Network, 4 Aug. 2018

This source is retrieved from ABC News, a reputable broadcasting company. It is not a primary source, however, it does focus on an interview with Adele Zimmermann, a woman who talks about paying for an illegal abortion before Roe v. Wade. In the article Forde states that “such restrictions are taking abortion access back to the time before Roe when only some states made abortion legal and only in some instances” (Forde). This source provides important information about the restrictions that make getting abortions difficult for women. This can be useful to strengthen my argument about the current day necessity for abortion. 

  1. “Nash said that today, while abortion remains relatively easy to access in the Northeast and on the West Coast, there are regions in the South and middle of the country where clinic closures, mandatory waiting periods and other restrictions have made it very difficult for women.
  2. “Marino added. ‘Women were dying, women were trying to create abortions on their own using coat hangers and things like that.”

Our Bodies! Our Choice! Winning the Fight for Reproductive Rights By Evelyn Sell

Amanee Ahmed

Sell, Evelyn. Our Bodies! Our Choice! Winning the Fight for Reproductive Rights. New York, NY: F.I.T, 1991. 

Evelyn Sell founded and served as a state officer for the Texas Abortion Coalition. She is currently a part of the NOW chapter in Los Angeles. Sell, a United Teachers Los Angeles member, and contributed to the formation of the union’s Human Rights Committee. She is a contributing editor of the Fourth Internationalist Tendency’s monthly newspaper, Bulletin in Defense of Marxism. Evelyn Sell explains the background and ongoing fight for abortion rights in the US in “Our Bodies! Our Choice!”. The book makes the case that reproductive rights are a crucial component of women’s autonomy and self-determination and emphasizes how abortion restrictions disproportionately harm marginalized communities, especially low-income women, and women of color. The book concludes by arguing that the fight for abortion rights should continue to be a crucial part of the larger campaign for reproductive justice. This book is useful towards my topic because it talks about the importance of women having control over their own bodies, and that they should have the choice whether they want an abortion or not. 

  1. “Every aspect of a woman’s existence is affected by reproductive choices: her role in society, educational pursuits, job opportunities, physical and mental health, patterns of daily life, and personal relationships.” (Sell)
  2. “The Supreme Court stopped short of actually reversing the 1973 decision on Roe v. Wade but the justices have continued to chop away women’s reproductive rights — with especially disastrous results for poor women, low-paid female workers, youths, and women of color.” (Sell)