The Democrats and the Republican on Abortion

The Democrats and the Republican on Abortion
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(April, 2013)
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Introduction
Abortion refers to the voluntary termination of a pregnancy, resulting in the death of the fetus or embryo. According to Grabber (1996) abortions performed prior to the third trimester are legal in the United States. This has created a lot of controversially over the years in the United States. Ideally the issue has polarized mainstream political parties. Almost all state Democratic Party policies support abortion while almost all state Republican Party policies oppose it. The Democratic Party is for pro-choice while the republicans are for pro-life. The pro-choice ideology believes that women have the right to access any health care that they need and should have the control over their bodies. On the other hand, the republicans (pro-life) believe that the fetus or the embryo is ‘alive’ hence aborting equates to murder (Grabber, 1996). This raise the question, to what degree should the government have a say on pregnancy. According to the national abortion rights action league (NARAL), the woman reproductive rights are more controlled today than in the times of Roe (1973). This debate has raised two questions that need to be answered: should intact dilation and extraction be legal and should first trimester remain legal in United States. Mcbride (2007 asserts that these two issues have made abortion to remain one of the most controversial issues in United States culture and politics, with the main protagonists most often labelled either as ‘pro-choice’ or ‘pro-life’, though shades of opinion exist. Studies puts United States abortion rate at about 1.37 million abortions per year, and this is about 3700 a day. The magnitude of the debate have forces Politicians to make it clear whether they are for or against abortion. Even though it is legal to have abortion federally, it can be turned over by making state laws against abortion (Mcbride, 2007).
History the abortion issue
In view of Mckay (2005) abortion in America became legal in 1973 by a Roe versus Wade which is a US Supreme Court case. After this judgment, abortion became one of the most controversial issues in America. It divided the country into two sides: pro-choice and pro-life (Mckay, 2005). To understand this issue more clearly one has to understand the root cause of the problem which leads to looking unto the history of the topic.
Before 19th century, Americans adopted English Common Laws for judging sins. According to the common law, abortion before quickening was legal. And although abortion after quickening was illegal, only women could know whether they had a quickening. However, in early 19th century, written laws restricting abortion were made in about 10 states. And, through mid to late 19th century, Doctors hold out a campaign to ban abortion. The reason why doctors tried to forbid abortion was mainly because they wanted to bu...