Many people do not really know how the process of abortions works. One major aspect that people so commonly overlook is that there are restrictions put on abortions. There are times that doctors tell patients that it is too late to have that as an option. When fetuses become independently viable is when things need to get controversial. The fact that there are so many restrictions on when a woman can and cannot have an abortion should be comforting to a lot of people who were not aware. Currently the maximum number of weeks you can be pregnant is 24.
Abortions are currently legal before a woman is 24 weeks pregnant. If a pregnant woman were to go into labor and give birth anytime before 24 weeks, the fetus would not survive even in intensive care. Although there have been few exceptions, there have not been enough to outweigh the percentage that are not able to survive independently of the mother. This being establish, one of the stereotypical arguments saying that the fetus is a living child and that all abortions are “murder” is not only a malicious attack on the woman, but also flawed seeing as the overwhelming amount of fetuses are not even independently viable at this point. The restrictions do not stop at the 24 week rule, there have been restrictions and limitations placed in certain circumstances on when and if a woman can have an abortion, they include, but are not limited to: mandatory counseling sessions, waiting 24 hours (or any wait period), informing parents if underage, and informing the father.
Although these restrictions discussed are present, as mentioned above they are not limited. Each state has its own limitations, most of them varying with wait period, or whether or not they have to inform the father. Currently, abortions are legal, to some extent, in every state. The 24 week rule is the absolute longest a woman can be pregnant and still there have to be serious complications that usually have to be life threatening to the mother to even be considered. If a fetus cannot live on its own without being incubated by the woman, why would it be considered a living being?
"National Abortion Federation: History of Abortion." National Abortion Federation: History of Abortion. National Abortion Federation, n.d. Web. 6 Apr. 2014. <https://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/history_abortion.html>
This source tells about the history of the legality and issues regarding abortion. It offers a timeline as well as court cases.
This source is helpful because it offers many examples to use. It also puts everything into a perspective time frame. The source does seem like it may be a little bias when looking around at the links on the website, but the information was extremely helpful. It can be assumed that it is correct because it is a .org
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