When researching a highly politicized topic like Roe v. Wade and abortion laws in America, it is important to stay mindful of the potential bias of a source. To start this project, I first tried to find an academic source that correlated to my topic. I found one by going to JSTOR and looking for key words like “Roe v. Wade” and “abortion”. I ended up choosing an article called “Before (and After) Roe v. Wade: New Questions About Backlash” that was published by the Yale Law Journal. The source was reliable because it had been peer reviewed and had a lot of research put into it. It also helped my project when I started to look into the effects of Roe v. Wade on American society. To find the case files and other judicial aspects I mostly looked at Oyez because it has details about each case and the way that the judges swayed and for what reasons. I also got a lot of information about the current state of affairs for abortion rights for women across the country through both the Planned Parenthood website and the US News and World report site. When reading from the planned parenthood site, I did note that the organization is a pro-choice organization that brings awareness to the limited access to abortion. I, however, didn’t think that it was too biased that it had to be removed because most of the information that I used from the site was factual historical information that I did fact check through other sites. Once I started getting further into the more recent aspects of Roe v. Wade and the conflict between pro-life and pro-choice that has taken stage in the upcoming elections. I thought it was important to recognize media bias. To do so, I found the same event or instance on both a more liberal leaning website, the Washington Post, and a conservative leaning site, Fox News. I did this both for Biden and Trump’s stance on abortion rights in America and read through both articles to help sift out any potential bias. Overall, because the topic is very political and has been a large part of the conflict between conservatives and liberals for the past couple of elections, it is important to note that there is a bias when reading about the topic. Specifically when it comes to presidential candidates, newspapers and sites that lean toward a certain side are more likely to paint their candidate in a positive light and the other in a negative light.
Since the creation of the United States, abortion has been a topic of discussion. From the colonial days until the mid-1800s abortion was completely legal and was a regular part of life for some women. The first law against abortion outlawed it after a period that they referred to as “quickening” which was a term for fetal movement that primarily occurs about four months into a pregnancy. The idea of the outlaw of abortion was and is still to a certain point deeply rooted in white supremacy and the patriarchy. In the beginning days of the United States, abortion was allowed but regulated for white women, but black enslaved women were outlawed from having abortions because their owners had control over what they were allowed to do with their bodies. In the period of the civil war, many white male doctors with backing from the Catholic church, wanted to control women’s bodies and completely outlaw abortion. By 1910, abortion was completely outlawed. The discussion around the topic of abortion continued until the 1960s when individual states began to pass their own laws regarding the legality of abortion. (Planned) This all led up to the passing of Roe v. Wade in 1973, and the overturning of that decision in 2022. The debate about abortion has always been rooted in patriarchy and men having control over women’s bodies. The history of the event reveals that the intense ban did not come about until the Civil War period in which white supremacist and patriarchal men chose to begin the journey and movement that is now referred to as “pro-life”.
“A Timeline of Abortion and Mainstream Medicine | ANSIRH.” n.d. Www.ansirh.org. https://www.ansirh.org/research/infographic/timeline-abortion-and-mainstream-medicine.
Roe v. Wade Decision and overruling:
The debate about a woman’s right to abortion has been argued for decades. People argue both sides, some wondering if the government should be given control over a woman’s body while others question the morality of killing a potential life. Roe v. Wade was a revolutionary court ruling that was passed in 1973 that granted federal constitutional right to abortion. The case was between a woman nicknamed “Jane Roe” and Henry Wade, the district attorney for Dallas County in Texas. Wade denied Roe of an abortion because the pregnancy was not a threat to her life. (“Roe v. Wade: Behind the Case That Established the Legal Right to Abortion”) In Texas, at this point, abortion was a crime unless the pregnancy was a threat to the women’s livelihood. In addition to Texas, 43 other states also outlawed abortion with some exceptions in the instance of danger to life of the mother, rape, incest, or fetal anomaly. Overall, women at the time had a hard time finding legal and safe abortions and many like “Jane Roe” felt that this was unfair. The case’s outcome resulted in a win for Roe that said the 14th amendment protected a woman’s right to choose to end their pregnancy prior to viability. Viability is a term that refers to a fetus that may survive on its own outside of the womb.This typically occurs at around 24-28 weeks. The ruling stated that a woman’s right to an abortion fell within the Due Process clause of the 14th amendment that addresses a citizen’s right to privacy. (Oyez)
In this time period, the debate was not one that involved political parties or religious affiliation. In fact, many catholics moved for the decriminalization of abortion. Republicans campaigning for Richard Nixon were those that tried to draw catholics and social conservatives away from the Democratic party. The post-Roe period shows that this was a large part of the shaping of the political conflict over Roe v. Wade(Greenhouse). In June of 2022, this ruling was overturned. The ruling meant that a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion that lasted for half of a decade no longer existed. Since then, states have begun to make rulings about the specific abortion laws. There are 14 states that have ruled abortion to be completely against the law at any point during the pregnancy with very limited exceptions.(Julia) Even so, pro-life and pro-choice agencies and organizations both argue for either total ban or total legalization. Today, in 2024, a woman in Georgia has six weeks until an abortion is illegal, a time period in which most women will not even know that they are pregnant, and which is punishable by jail time. (“Where can I get an abortion?”) Throughout the past couple of years, states have begun to have cases for abortion in which there are rulings made establishing a state’s status on abortion. Florida just recently passed a six-week ban that will go into effect very soon. Other states have continued to have cases brought up that argue both for and against abortion. There are four ongoing cases that address abortion. Two in Ohio, one in Kentucky, and one in Alabama. (Julia)
KFF. 2022. “Https://Www.kff.org/Womens-Health-Policy/Dashboard/Abortion-In-The-u-s-Dashboard/.” KFF. July 12, 2022. https://www.kff.org/womens-health-policy/dashboard/abortion-in-the-u-s-dashboard/.
Abortion and the election:
The recent election has begun to introduce more conflict in the battle for the right to abortion. Because the topic has been highly politicized, the candidates from both political parties have begun to make statements on their position on abortion rights. Trump released a video through social media that infuriated both sides of the debate. He claimed pride for being the person responsible for the nationwide ban of abortion and reiterated that he believed the right thing was to place the decision with the state, contending that it was then up to the state to “do the right thing”(Knowles). He did however emphasize that states should decide their position on abortion as long as there are exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother. Many anti-abortion groups are upset with Trump’s statement as it continues to keep the decision in the states hands where the groups want a total ban across the country. Many people have said that Trump’s statement lets down the pro-life voters that have supported him through the past two elections (Paul). Biden has also come out with a statement supporting the national mandate of the legalization of abortion. In January, He signed an executive order expanding access to contraception, abortion medication, and emergency abortions. He denounced republican lawmakers that were considering punishing people who travel out of state to receive an abortion and in one state threatening to prosecute people who help family members travel for that reason. He said that these extreme laws had no place in American society. (Wang) Biden, though, does not believe in full-term abortion which has upset many of his pro-life supporters because they hope for a full legalization no matter the length of the pregnancy. He said that he believes Roe v. Wade got it right the first time when they legalized it until viability. (Morris) The election will be a deciding factor in the status of abortion throughout the United States. The candidate’s position on the subject will also be a deciding factor in who takes over the presidency in January of 2025.
Palosky, Craig. 2022. “Analysis Reveals How Abortion Boosted Democratic Candidates in Tuesday’s Midterm Election.” KFF. November 11, 2022. https://www.kff.org/other/press-release/analysis-reveals-how-abortion-boosted-democratic-candidates-in-tuesdays-midterm-election/.
Works Cited
GREENHOUSE, LINDA, and REVA B. SIEGEL. “Before (and After) Roe v. Wade: New Questions About Backlash.” The Yale Law Journal 120, no. 8 (2011): 2028–87. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41149586.
The Six day war was a major part of the Arab-Israeli conflict because it played a huge part in redrawing the region’s landscape. The six day war is said to be the most important and most researched event in the Middle East since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. (Wilson Center)
The Six day war was a war fought between Israel and the Arab countries of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan that lasted from June 5, 1967 to June 10, 1967. With Israel losing around 1000 men and the combined troops of the Arab countries losing over 20000 soldiers.
Before the war, tensions between Israel and it’s surrounding countries were high. A lot of this tension was caused and amplified by Palestinian guerrilla attacks from bases in Syria. These attacks were due to the fact that Syria’s leaders believed that Palestine should be liberated. (Britannica) Syria’s information minister, Mohamoud Zubí even said “(this battle will be)…followed by more severe battles until Palestine is liberated and the Zionist presence ended.” (Timeline) on April 8th 1967, just two months before the six day war.
This hostility of Israel in response to these attacks led Syria to believe that an attack from Israel was impending. Because of this fear, they appealed to Egypt for support. In response, Egypt removed its UN peacekeeping forces from the Sinai peninsula and instead moved troops there. Egypt also signed a defense contract with Jordan. A UN ambassador spoke on these strategic moves and said, “An army, greater than any force ever assembled in history in Sinai, had massed against Israel’s southern frontier. Egypt had dismissed the United Nations forces which symbolized the international interest in the maintenance of peace in our region. Nasser had provocatively brought five infantry divisions and two armored divisions up to our very gates; 80,000 men and 900 tanks were poised to move.”(Jewish Library)
Israel was surrounded by these countries and began to feel like an Arab attack was imminent, so they launched an attack against the three Arab states on June 5, 1967. The war lasted six days as the name suggests, and in those six days, Israel managed to beat all three Arab armies and gain control of territory making its new boundaries almost four times its original size.
After the war, Israel occupied new territory that included the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, West Bank of the Jordan River, the Old City of Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights. (Why was the Six-Day War a turning point?)Over 300,000 Palestinians were forced to flee from the West Bank and 100,000 Syrians were forced to flee from the Golan Heights. It created hundreds of thousands of refugees and brought more than one million Palestinians under Israeli rule. The occupation of these areas became a major point of tension between the two sides. This victory established Israel as a preeminent military power in the region and a regional powerhouse.
June 5, Day 1 – Israel destroys most of Egyptian air force. Jordan, Syria and Iraq attack Israel June 6, Day 2 – Fighting continues on all fronts. June 7, Day 3 – Jerusalem taken. Blockade of Straits of Tiran broken. June 8, Day 4 – Israel consolidates hold on West Bank. June 9, Day 5 – Israel and Syria in heavy fighting on the Golan. June 10, Day 6 – Israel gains control of the Golan Heights.
