Abortion as a Divisive Social/Political Issue

The issue of abortion is the most divisive social and political issue in America today. There are two opposing armies of dedicated true-believers, one opposing abortion under any circumstances because they view it as the murder of an unborn child, and the other upholding the idea of choice as an absolute allowing the woman to secure an abortion without hindrance at any point in her pregnancy. Standing between these two extremes are millions of Americans with a more moderate view. This view includes a concern for the trauma of the woman and an understanding that abortion is a choice not to be made lightly. These millions of Americans area also willing to allow some restrictions on abortions without banning the option altogether. The issue to be explored here is government funding for abortions.

The rigid positions of the two extremes are well-known because both are articulated by core groups of advocates who present the issue in black and white, with an either-or rhetoric that can be puzzling to the majority of Americans who do not see the issue in such stark terms. Those with a "pro-choice" position hold that the fetus is not yet a human life but only a tissue that is part of the woman's body and thus under her control. Those with a "pro-life" position do not favor abortion as an option except under very limited circumstances, if at all. These people assert that the fetus is a human life and that abortion is murder (Luker, 1984)

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thout recognizing that it is also tied up with the issues of sexual freedom and sex 'difference'" (Eisenstein, 1988, 184). ARGUMENTS The issue of government funding for abortions pits competing views and rights. Even though the Roe v. Wade decision ma abortion legal, it did not provide for abortion on demand as some people think. "Abortion on demand" has never been the law, though that is what the pro-choice position has demanded and at times what supporters have insisted is the case. Roe v. Wade did impose some restrictions on the abortion "right," which is thus not a full right at all. The government has taken the position that it can decide not to provide funding for abortions, and Congress has voted several times against funding for abortions. The Roe v. Wade decision made abortion itself legal but did not assure that it would be provided. Many of the subsequent cases have dealt with questions of government funding for abortions. The Court has sustained statutes that deny funding to poor women who want abortions. The first of these cases involved a Connecticut regulation that paid for childbirth but not for abortion, and the Court upheld the law reasoning that it did not constrain women's liberty because it placed

Category: Psychology - A