An Argument Against Abortion Rights The United States Supreme Court ruled in the case of
Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 133 [1973]) that women seeking an abortion had the right to do so legally under a "penumbra" of privacy rights implicit in the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution (Hall, 740). Today, American women are legally entitled to obtain an abortion during the first trimester of a pregnancy without restrictions. In the second trimester, states can regulate access to abortion and in the third trimester states can prevent abortion because of their "vested interest" in protecting the potential life of the fetus (Hall, 740). In this essay, it will be argued that the "right" to an abortion, regardless of its timing, should be re-examined by the courts and statute protecting this right over the rights of the unborn should be overturned.
From a social perspective, Ponnuru (1) believes that the most profound change in the effects of Court decisions on abortion rights since 1973 revolve around a