The Democrats and the Republican on Abortion

The Democrats and the Republican on Abortion
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(April, 2013)
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Introduction
Abortion refers to the voluntary termination of a pregnancy, resulting in the death of the fetus or embryo. According to Grabber (1996) abortions performed prior to the third trimester are legal in the United States. This has created a lot of controversially over the years in the United States. Ideally the issue has polarized mainstream political parties. Almost all state Democratic Party policies support abortion while almost all state Republican Party policies oppose it. The Democratic Party is for pro-choice while the republicans are for pro-life. The pro-choice ideology believes that women have the right to access any health care that they need and should have the control over their bodies. On the other hand, the republicans (pro-life) believe that the fetus or the embryo is ‘alive’ hence aborting equates to murder (Grabber, 1996). This raise the question, to what degree should the government have a say on pregnancy. According to the national abortion rights action league (NARAL), the woman reproductive rights are more controlled today than in the times of Roe (1973). This debate has raised two questions that need to be answered: should intact dilation and extraction be legal and should first trimester remain legal in United States. Mcbride (2007 asserts that these two issues have made abortion to remain one of the most controversial issues in United States culture and politics, with the main protagonists most often labelled either as ‘pro-choice’ or ‘pro-life’, though shades of opinion exist. Studies puts United States abortion rate at about 1.37 million abortions per year, and this is about 3700 a day. The magnitude of the debate have forces Politicians to make it clear whether they are for or against abortion. Even though it is legal to have abortion federally, it can be turned over by making state laws against abortion (Mcbride, 2007).
History the abortion issue
In view of Mckay (2005) abortion in America became legal in 1973 by a Roe versus Wade which is a US Supreme Court case. After this judgment, abortion became one of the most controversial issues in America. It divided the country into two sides: pro-choice and pro-life (Mckay, 2005). To understand this issue more clearly one has to understand the root cause of the problem which leads to looking unto the history of the topic.
Before 19th century, Americans adopted English Common Laws for judging sins. According to the common law, abortion before quickening was legal. And although abortion after quickening was illegal, only women could know whether they had a quickening. However, in early 19th century, written laws restricting abortion were made in about 10 states. And, through mid to late 19th century, Doctors hold out a campaign to ban abortion. The reason why doctors tried to forbid abortion was mainly because they wanted to build up their status as regular doctors (Mckay, 2005). Doctors in this time were not as high ranked as today. They wanted to abolish midwives, Indian doctors, and unlicensed doctors from medical field. Their goal was achieved when laws banning abortion were settled in every state.
However, this situation changed in 1960s. Mckay (2005) says specialists such as doctors, lawyers, and Planned Parenthood, mobilized a movement for deregulation of abortion laws. They felt America needed reforms to ensure the number large of women who died as a result of illegal abortion was eliminated. Other associations joined in to push for the aimed agenda. These movements paid off in 1973 when Roe versus Wade case took place and abortion became legal (Mckay, 2005).
Why is abortion topic then so critical?
The issue of abortion is critical because of many elements. As I mentioned in the beginning, politicians are required to give their stand on abortion and secondly according to Seger (1995) most of the politicians in Democratic Party are pro-choice, while on the other hand, most of the politicians in Republican Party are pro-life; all this contributes to its intensity (Seger, 1995). The other factor according to Leege (1993) contributing toward this debate is religious issues attached to abortion. Many pro-life believe birth begins when the fertilization occurs, and so that abortion at any stage is murder. For them abortion is not only ethically wrong but a sin which is highly disregarded in the bible, Murder is forbidden in the Mosaic Law. It also goes against Gods words unto his people, “be fruitful and multiply.” The pro-choice belief women should be given the full will to decide for themselves what is best for them (Leege, 1993). Women should be given the right to decide to abort or to keep the pregnancy; the life of the unborn rests on the hands of the mother. This kind differences are very difficult to solve, hence gives the discrepancy in the two apposing sides of the topic, Abortion.
The stand of the American population on abortion
A quick analysis of the polls which have been done on abortion according to Tatalovich (1998) signifies the great division among the American people, making the country at stalemate. Tatalovich notes that a research which was conducted by Pew research centre in 2009 showed 45% of the American people in favour of illegalizing abortion while 47% was for abortion to be legal. The researcher was to the view that Americans seemed to say that abortion was immoral while still supporting the Roe verses Wade (Tatalovich, 1998).
He goes further to say another research done by American national Elections Studies in 2008 suggested that 15% of the population regretted the legalization of abortion in 1972 case. 11% supported the verdict of the case. However, support for legal abortion in a case of “clear need” beyond rape, incest or health was at 19 percent. And legal abortion “always as a personal choice” captured between 35 percent and 40 percent of the support (Tatalovich, 1998). This two researches show a great division among the American people.
Republican Party Position on Abortion
The republicans are for pro-life Gushee (2008) explains. They strongly believe that the unborn child has fundamental right of life which can not be infringed. They support a human life amendment to the constitution which covers the unborn child in the fourteenth amendment protection. They highly support the traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life. They highly oppose the promotion of entities that promote, perform, or fund organizations which perform abortion and more important they disagree with the subsidizing health care that includes abortion coverage (Gushee, 2008).
Secondly, Gushee admits that the Republicans promote adoption and abstinence as opposed to abortion clinic referrals. Their view is that teens should be encouraged and educated on the importance of abstinence. It is true that American teenagers have contracted sexually transmitted diseases which have caused them emotional harm, serious heath consequences and even death. They believe in the responsibility of parents in educating their teenagers on the disadvantages and advantages of abstinence and if they can not then the use preferred tools like contraception is necessary ...