Historical and Modern Perspectives

Though abortion has taken a rise in prevalence in the modern day, the debate on its legality has an extensive history. Knowing the history of abortion is not necessary to have a civilized discussion, but it can be useful for understanding the origins behind the different sides of the debate.

More than just the facts related to the history of abortion, however, I have compiled a list of primary source documents and images spanning from 1973 through 2022, each of which share a unique perspective on the subject.

To read the full text, click on the document's thumbnail.

In this publication, Warren examines the part of the arguments for and against abortion that dealt with morality. She says that one of the strongest anti-abortion arguments is that the side effects of restricting abortion are not bad enough to justify murder (abortion). On the pro-abortion side, Warren considers the argument that despite the fetus having the potential for life, the moral rights of already-living people are more important. In trying to define what gives a person moral rights, Warren turns to the Constitution and suggests that the wording of the Constitution is not meant to be taken literally, which is an idea that resurfaces in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022.

In his letter to Henry Hyde, Ronald Reagan states his opinion on abortion: that it is equivalent to killing someone, and therefore can only be justified in a case of self-defense (if the mother’s life is in danger). He then describes how he would like to make a constitutional amendment to give unborn fetuses more rights and to prohibit the use of taxpayer money to fund abortions. The Hyde Amendment had been passed three years prior to his letter, and Reagan's proposed legislation would make it more extreme.

In this opinion piece, a student from St. Joseph's Seminary argues that a judge made the correct decision in not allowing a 13-year-old to obtain an abortion. Their main argument states that the opposers to the ruling are making the assumption that "a 13-year-old who conceives a child after voluntary sexual intercourse is somehow more innocent and defenseless than the child she carries." According to the author, this is not the case, and continuing with the pregnancy and putting the baby up for adoption will allow for the mother to learn "right morals and the value of human life."

In this document, Don Marquis asserts that the property that determines the morality of killing someone is whether or not they have a “valuable” future ahead of them. It is this idea that makes Marquis believe that abortion is immoral, as the fetus has the potential for a full life ahead of them. One counter to this argument are the elderly or people in nursing homes; they do not have a long future ahead of them, but killing them would be considered morally wrong by most.

The Gilman Street Project was an organization who posted a collection of punk flyers in Berkeley, California, from April through June in 1988. This flyer, in particular, makes statements about abortion; some of the phrases illustrated say, "Would you be more careful if it was you who got pregnant?" and "Protect Your Lover - Wear A Rubber!"

While sharing less of a personal perspective than some of the other documents, in this opinion piece, Dov Fox describes the changing environment for doctors after the ruling of Dobbs v. Jackson. With many states placing bans on abortions, new legislature conflicts with the moral beliefs of doctors who think that abortion should be legal. Fox argues, "If lawmakers won’t protect conscientious providers, then judges should. Courts can recognize a legal defense of medical disobedience that would significantly reduce the punitive sanctions that some states impose for supplying clinically reasonable services in the name of conscience."

Nicole Walker writes a hard-hitting opinion piece in which she describes how at the age of ten, she was molested by her babysitter, eventually becoming impregnated at the age of eleven. On the experience of getting an abortion, she writes, "I did not feel lucky to get an abortion. I felt like garbage. The babysitter did not have to go to the clinic. The babysitter was not shunned and censured by our community. Most people didn’t even know what he had done, though they seemed to know something bad had happened to me — or perhaps that I had done something wrong." This important opinion piece demonstrates the importance of allowing exceptions in restrictive abortion laws for cases of rape; eleven-year-old Nicole Walker did not want to get pregnant, and had no control over the tragic circumstances that resulted in it. This article also gets at a larger problem in the abortion world: that the blame is consistently placed on the woman, despite the fact that a man is equally --- or even more so --- to blame for a pregnancy.

Laurel Marlantes explains how she made the decision to terminate her first pregnancy five months in, because there was almost no chance of her infant surviving. In her experience of undergoing an abortion, Marlantes realized how problematic the wording “pro-life” and “pro-choice” is. These phrases don’t acknowledge the complexity of the emotions that rise with an abortion, and the endings “choice” and “life” don’t accurately reflect the feelings of the woman considering abortion. Though Marlantes had an abortion, she doesn’t feel that “pro-choice” describes her because she didn’t make the choice of whether or not her infant would survive. She believes that new words need to be created, as using incorrect language will create “internal chaos” and “exacerbate political chaos.”