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T H E E AG L E - T H E P U P I L S ’ P O L I T I C S M AG A Z I N E
T H E E AG L E - T H E P U P I L S ’ P O L I T I C S M AG A Z I N E
n o i t r o b a n a x e T t s e d t l a u l o c e h t T i w o h d n a n o i t legisla woman, s right to a t c e f af choose. Isla McDonald
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SO, WHAT DID THE RULING STATE ABOUT ABORTION LAWS? Roe vs Wade established a ‘trimester-dependant’ set of regulations. It gave a woman the right to an abortion within the first three months of pregnancy, it allowed for some government regulation in the second trimester of pregnancy and declared that states could exert control, and even restrict, abortions in the last three months of pregnancy as it would be likely that the foetus could survive if it was born, outside the womb. If in the final trimester, an abortion was required in order to save the mother’s life, this was also an exception to the ruling.
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THROUGHOUT AMERICAN, AND ARGUABLY INTERNATIONAL POLITICS, THE TOPIC OF ABORTION HAS BEEN WIDELY DEBATED AND DISCUSSED, BUT IT HAS BECOME INCREASINGLY APPARENT OVER MORE RECENT YEARS THAT IT IS A MECHANISM THAT ENCOURAGES GREAT IDEOLOGICAL DIVISIONS. Furthermore, what with Trump’s latest nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, a traditional conservative legacy within the judiciary is looking all the more likely. With the prospect of a rehearing of Roe vs Wade looming in the not-so distant future, could it be all up in the air for rights of women’s bodies? The original Supreme Court decision surrounding Roe vs Wade took place in 1973 and saw a 2-7 vote in favour of the motion that governments lacked the power to prohibit abortions. The landmark decision declared that denying a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy came under the freedom of personal choice in family matters as protected by the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution. The name of the case Roe vs Wade comes from a 25-year-old woman, called Norma McCorvey under the pseudonym “Jane Roe”, who challenged Texan criminal abortion laws that forbade abortion as unconstitutional except in cases where the mother’s life was in danger. ‘Wade’ was Henry Wade: the Texan Attorney General who was on the defence, in support of the anti-abortion laws.
HOW HAVE ABORTION REGULATIONS CHANGED SINCE THEN? However, since the Supreme Court decision almost half a century ago, this ruling has been argued to have been gradually unwound. In 1980, the Supreme Court upheld a law that banned the use of federal funds for abortion except when necessary to save a woman’s life. Later, in 1989, further restrictions on this were imposed including allowing states to prohibit abortions at state clinics or by state employees. However, arguably the most significant ruling since has been in 1992 in Planned Parenthood vs Casey which apparently continued to uphold Roe vs Wade, introducing new legislation which established that states could restrict abortions, for non-medical reasons, even in the first trimester.
