only placed certain mild restrictions on the procuring of abortions, but also declared that life "begins at conception" and that "unborn children" have a right to legal protection (Holden 730 and "Toward" 75). Two lover courts struck down some of the new law's provisions and Missouri appealed.
After explosive campaigns on both sides of the issue were waged before the public and outcries of injustices claimed by all, the Supreme Court handed down its decision on July 3, 1989, in a ruling affirming that states have the right to limit access to abortion. The pro-life supporters were very pleased, proclaiming that this is just the beginning. The pro-choice advocates, on the other hand proclaimed, "This Supreme Court decision once more slaps poor women in the face and says you do not have constitutional protection if your state sees fit to restrict them and you do not have the resources to circumvent those restrictions" (Szegedy-Maszak 17). The controversy would now rage before the individual state legislatures and become one of the major issues of the next elections.
The pros and cons to the abortion issue have ranged from the physical to the moral to the emotional to the legal. All have their supporters, geared to using inflammatory rhetoric to prove their Case. But the reality is that American women today are less likely to use birth control and more likely to have abortions than most other women around the world (Szegedy-Maszak 17 and "Abortion" 71). Unbelievable as it may seem, a research study by the Alan Guttmacher Institute found that American women have a harder time obtain
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