This paper will argue in favor of the pro-choice point of view in the current abortion issue. A movement has recently developed in America in which members of various fundamentalist Christian and right-wing conservative groups are seeking to outlaw the practice of abortion. One such group, known as "Operation Rescue," has sought to dramatize this issue by blockading women's health and family-planning clinics. At the same time, pro-choice rallies across the United States have begun to attract hundreds of thousands of participants who want to protect women's rights to legal abortion. Indeed, the right to choose whether or not to have an abortion has been a constitutional right for women in the United States since the 1973 Supreme Court decision in the Roe v. Wade case "extended the protection of the Constitution to women's right to an abortion." The controversy which has arisen over abortion has inspired passionate arguments on both sides. However, it is clear that most Americans today favor the right of women to make their own choices regarding their own bodies. A recent editorial in The Nation stated that "upward of 70 percent of Americans are pro-choice." Personal freedom is a fundamental right in America and women must retain their rights to choice and self-determination without government interference.
The United States government must recognize that abortion is a matter of personal choice and should not seek to impose greater restrictions upon it. Above all, the right to choose whether or not to continue a pregnancy is constitutionally guaranteed. In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court interpreted the Constitution as allowing women the freedom to make their own decisions in such matters. The Constitution makes it clear that moral or religious issues such as abortion should be left up to individual choice and that government should not pass laws to prevent individuals from making such decisions. Asking the Supreme Court ...