An Overview of Abortion Laws by Guttmacher Institute

“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.”

 Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Right by Katha Pollitt

Pollitt, Katha. Pro: Reclaiming Abortion Right. New York: Picador, 2015. Print. 

Katha Pollitt is a known feminist and has been covering gender equality and female reproductive rights for decades. In this book, she talks about women and their rights on abortion, debates about sex and how life begins at conception. She brings out abortion as part of a women’s reproductive life and that it should not be viewed as a moral right. In the book, she takes the first person position and tries to argue out how abortion is beneficial to families, women, and society. She concludes that by accepting and legalizing abortion, the lives of pregnant women can be reclaimed. I believe this book is important to incorporate in my paper. Ultimately, Pollitt is arguing not just for reproductive rights but for reproductive justice and gives a powerful argument for abortion as a moral right and a social good.

  1. “Instead of shaming women for ending a pregnancy, we should acknowledge their realism and self-knowledge. We should accept that it’s a good for everyone if women have only the children they want and can raise well. Society benefits when women can commit to education and work and dream without having at the back of their mind a concern that maybe it’s all provisional, because at any moment an accidental pregnancy could derail them for life.
  2. “In the end, abortion is an issue of fundamental human rights. To force women to undergo pregnancy and childbirth against their will to deprive them of the right to make basic decisions about their lives and well-being, and to give that power to the state.”

National Laws and Unsafe Abortion: the Parameters of Change by Marge Berer

Berer, Marge. “National Laws and Unsafe Abortion: the Parameters of Change.” Reproductive Health Matters. 12.24 (2004): 1-8.

The author of this article Marge Berer has been the Coordinator of the International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion since mid-2015. She founded and was the editor of the journal Reproductive Health Matters (1992-2015). Berer believes that unsafe abortion and deaths are avoidable. She states that “In countries where laws allow abortion, a lower number of unsafe abortions and deaths had been reported in comparison to countries with laws that restrict abortion” (Berer). This detail shows how safe abortion is a vital service that should be available to all pregnant women. Even if abortion is prohibited in countries and different states, abortions would still be carried out by unlicensed people causing women to suffer. I believe the author’s argument will help me in my paper when talking about the health risks that come with getting unsafe abortions in places where it isn’t legal.

  1. “Safe abortion is an essential health service for women, as essential for sexual and reproductive health as a safe contraception, and safe pregnancy and delivery care.”
  2. “The data also show that most abortions become safe mainly or only where women’s reasons for abortion, and the legal grounds for abortion coincide.”
“Safe abortion is an essential health service for women, as essential for sexual and reproductive health as a safe contraception, and safe pregnancy and delivery care.”
“The data also show that most abortions become safe mainly or only where women’s reasons for abortion, and the legal grounds for abortion coincide.”

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

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.”