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Abortion and Race

This paper is an examination of the relationship between abortion and race, specifically focusing on the differences between whites and blacks. Since the passage of Roe v. Wade in 1972 made abortion legal in the United States, women have had the option of ending an unwanted pregnancy. While few have chosen this option lightly, some have been more likely to consider abortion because of religious, social, cultural, and ethnic reasons than have others. In recent years, the national abortion rate has begun to decline slightly. Although the typical abortion patient remains a young, unmarried, white woman, the number of blacks and other minorities (especially Hispanics) is rising. A greater percentage of black women than white women chooses abortion, and a variety of social and cultural pressures make this proportion likely to continue to grow.

The legalization of abortion made possible a medically acceptable means for terminating unwanted pregnancies. However, abortion continues to be a highly charged subject, with vocal and sometimes violent opponents to a procedure which some see as legalized murder. Abortion supporters argue that the practice gives women an essential choice not to bear a child they may be unwilling or unable to care for. The Alan Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization which studies and reports on reproductive issues, estimates that as many as half of all American women of childbearing age will choose to have an abortion at some point in their lives (Dillon, 1995, p. 115). At least 60 percent of these women will have become pregnant despite their use of contraceptives; for them, abortion represents a way to keep from having a child when other methods have failed.

In 1992, abortion terminated 1.5 million pregnancies, more than one-quarter of the total pregnancies in the United States that year. Although this is a significant number, abortions have actually begun to decline somewhat; the year be...

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Abortion and Race. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 05:57, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1707950.html