A Heated Debate: Abortion Laws
Few laws create so much debate and strong feeling as abortion laws. Pro-choice groups note that abortion laws prevent many women - especially younger women - from getting access to medically safe abortions. Pro-life groups argue that current abortion laws do not adequately protect the life of unborn children. No matter what side of the debate you stand on, you are likely not pleased by at least one facet of abortion laws. In fact, abortion laws try to strike a delicate balance. Abortion laws exist to determine who can legally get abortions, who can legally perform abortions, and what the process for getting these medical procedures is. Abortion laws today do allow women to get abortions, but there are limits placed upon women in many states. Abortion laws which limit who can perform abortions also can affect how women can get access to abortions. Only a certain number of doctors are licenced to perform the procedure, and the procedure can only be done in most cases up to certain month of pregnancy. This creates potential backlogs of cases, more difficult access for some women, and create problems for women who find out they are pregnant relatively late. Many pro-choice groups note that many states place age limits on abortion, and this causes many young women to seek unsafe or illegal abortions. Some groups also claim that abortion laws governing medical coverage of abortions mean that low-income women have less access to the medical procedure. Pro-life groups claim that abortion laws today favor women but do little to protect either unborn persons or fathers who may disagree with an abortion. These groups claim that abortion laws make abortion accessible even without medical reasons for the procedure. Some groups also worry