Abortion
Is abortion really a woman’s choice?
Axia College
COM 120 Effective Persuasive Writing
“In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade established that all women in the U.S. had the constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy via abortion.” (Sen, 2007, p.1) Yet with the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade in 2007 abortion is still being debated to this day. Although abortion is legal, some states have imposed restrictions on it- and many women, past and present, have turned to performing their own abortion or to medically unlicensed personnel. Deciding to not continue with a pregnancy is a difficult and often painful decision to make, and one that is not made lightly. Imposing restrictions on abortion could ultimately harm both the mother and child in numerous ways.
Sioux Falls in South Dakota is home to the only abortion clinic left in the entire state, run by Planned Parenthood. Due to this fact, South Dakota “has one of the lowest rates of abortion in the US (five per 1,000 women aged 15-44 compared to the national average of 16)” (Goldenberg, 2006 ¶ 14). “When the last doctor retired, no one dared take up the job” (Goldenberg, 2006, ¶ 1). Due to this, Planned Parenthood now flies in a doctor from nearby Minnesota to perform the controversial procedure (Goldenberg, 2006). Abortion is extremely limited by the one clinic, but the state also imposes restrictions making it even more difficult for young girls to get an abortion. The young minor girls of South Dakota are required to have parental notification of the procedure being done and, in addition, the girls must wait a mandatory 24-hour waiting period. An anti-abortion activist, Unruh seeks even more restrictions when it comes to abortion (Goldenberg, 2006).
Unruh, has gone to the state legislature where one of her supporters, Hunt, sponsored South Dakota’s bill which makes abortion illegal other than if the mother’s life is at risk....
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