Public Agenda Issue Guide: Abortion

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Grading Teachers, Measuring Success

Scott Bittle
Sep 2, 2010

When databases and disenchantment collide, the results can be explosive – as the debate over "value-added" grading of teachers showed this week.

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Boosting Community College Success

Francie Grace
Sep 2, 2010

Even before the economy hit the wall, community colleges were already a vital part of the American dream, enrolling about half of all college students in this country.

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ISSUE GUIDE: Abortion

OVERVIEW

Abortion

More than a generation after the 1973 Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision that made abortion legal in the U.S., public debate on the subject continues to follow the well-worn path between condemnation and choice. Public attitudes do not.

Where advocates on both sides tend to lay out their arguments in terms of absolute moral rights and wrongs, the public seems to see conflicts and conditions. Solid majorities support a woman's right to choose abortion - if her reasons seem sound and if it's not too late in the pregnancy.

On an individual level, medical technology is making the issue more complex. In some respects, changing technology - such as the "abortion pill" and ultrasound-guided abortions available as early as eight days after conception – have made abortion both easier and more accepted. In other respects, new technology – such as ultrasound photos from the womb and developments making a fetus viable at earlier stages of pregnancy – has sparked new questions.

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CONSIDER THE CHOICES

Opposing Abortion

Supporting Abortion Rights

Respecting Differences

By ushering in an era of abortion on demand, the Supreme Court's Roe decision cheapened human life. The unborn child, which is no less human than its mother, has an inalienable right to life. The sanctity of human life is a moral claim that cannot be violated or superceded by other claims. For this reason, abortion cannot be condoned as an individual decision or as a matter of public policy. Abortion must be prohibited or at least sharply restricted.
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The principles on which the Roe v. Wade decision was based -- an individual's freedom of choice, as well as freedom from government intrusion into personal matters -- need to be reaffirmed. The fetus is not yet a person and its rights do not outweigh the mother's right to choose. Decisions about such a personal matter as whether to continue a pregnancy must be left to the individual who is most directly involved, the pregnant woman.
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Laws regarding abortion must reflect a concern for two different values. Because we value the human potential of the unborn, we must try to minimize the number of abortions performed. At the same time, public measures must be taken to prevent the tragic dilemma posed by unwanted pregnancy. As members of a pluralistic society, we are obliged to acknowledge that individuals differ about the status of the fetus. For this reason, and because outlawing abortion would be impracticable, thus undermining respect for the law, abortion should be permitted early in pregnancy. After that, it should be sharply restricted.
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