One of the most divisive issues in American politics today is abortion, with strong feelings on both sides and with two unyielding perspectives in direct conflict. The pro-life perspective sees human life as beginning at conception, and therefore any abortion for any reason is considered murder. The pro-choice movement sees the issue as being the right of the woman to control her own body, and for this movement abortion is to be provided on demand, with no governmental controls on the matter at all. While there are some pro-life people who make allowances for abortion under some circumstances, such as when the life of the mother is endangered or in the case of rape or incest, the core of the movement holds abortion as wrong under any circumstances. For millions of people in the middle, abortion is allowable under some circumstances, but some controls are also to be allowed. The supreme Court decided the issue in 1972 in the case of Roe v. Wade, a complicated decision with 7 votes affirming that there was a constitutional protection for women seeking an abortion and 2 votes against. There were more than two views of the issues involved and the meaning of the final decision, however.
Justice Blackmun wrote the majority decision for Roe v. Wade, affirming the opinion of a total of seven justices that there was a constitutional right to abortion. Blackmun wrote that the state had the right to assert important interests in safeguarding health, in maintaining medical standards, and in protecting unborn life, and at some point in the pregnancy this governmental right comes into force so that the state may interpose in the abortion decision (Mason and Stephenson 443). This means that the right to an abortion is not absolute. The interests of the mother are upheld in general, but at some point they may give way to the rights of the unborn child. "Abortion on demand" has thus never been the law and was not suggested in Blackmun's w...