Roe v. Wade Research Paper.

Olivia Peters

May 20, 2011

English

Mrs. Curry

Roe v. Wade: What if this had not happened?

     The Roe v. Wade court case is what made abortion legal. Abortion is a surgical procedure in which an unborn child is willingly killed. Jane Roe, truthfully Norma McCorvey, was a woman trying to get an abortion. Henry Wade was the defendant in the case. Life before and after this case is very different in the terms of pregnancy and abortion. The Roe v. Wade court case is what made abortion legal. But what if it had gone the other way? Would the world still be the same?

     The Roe v. Wade court case made abortion legal. It created pro-life vs. pro-choice. It angered many people and it changed many people’s opinions on abortion, but what if Roe had not won?

     The terms “pro-life” and “pro-choice” usually get down to the question of whether people do or do not support abortion. The term “pro-life” says that the person believes that the government has the obligation to preserve all human life, not matter of intent, viability, or quality of life concerns. The term “pro-choice” is to believe that a person has unlimited self-governing with honor to their own reproductive systems as long as they honor the self-governing of others. It has   angered many of people, such as protesters. During the case, Chief Justice Burger and the majority of others were so angry that the draft was short (Deborah S. Romaine).

     Abortion being made legal changed many people’s views on the matter. Abortion is the most common surgical procedure nowadays, and that angers a lot of people (Nancy Tompkins).

      In the mid/late 1800s, states began passing laws to make abortion illegal. One of the reasons was the fear that population would be dominated by new immigrant children. But what if Roe had not won? Would abortion still be legal? People in ancient times were often overcome; amazed when gazing towards the night sky. “The vastness of what we see with our naked eye seems to dwarf our own locale by comparison.” King David mentioned this thousands of years ago:

LORD, our Lord,
   how majestic is your name in all the earth!

You have set your glory
   in the heavens.
Through the praise of children and infants
   you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
   to silence the foe and the avenger.

When I consider your heavens,
   the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
   which you have set in place,

what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
   human beings that you care for them?

You have made them a little lower than the angels
   and crowned them with glory and honor (Psalm 8:1-5).

     If David was so awestruck by the heavens, why is the world not by the miracle of life? It’s much greater in comparison.

     Abortion affects the mother and child in many ways, such as physical and emotional. There are 6 different types of abortion: suctions, D&C (Dilation and Curettage), D&E (Dilation and Evacuation), salt poisoning, Hysterotomy, and Prostaglandin abortion.

     Suction, also called vacuum aspiration, is the most common form of abortion. In the procedure a suction tube is inserted through the dilated cervix into the womb. The vacuum tears the placenta from the uterus and dismembers the body of the child, sucking it into a jar. There is a risk that the uterus can be punctured during the procedure. Also, the abortionist must be careful as to remove all the fetal and placental tissue or infection and hemorrhage can occur.

     In D&C, usually performed between 7 and 12 weeks, the doctor puts a curette, a loop-shaped steel knife, into the womb. As the curette scrapes the wall of the uterus, the baby is cut into pieces. Bleeding is not much. As with suction, abortionist must reattach the pieces of the baby to make sure the uterus is clean. In D&E, similar to D&C, the abortionist must use forceps to grab the baby due to advanced development. The baby is again cut into pieces as the abortionist tears the body and placenta away from the uterus. Bleeding is extensive. The procedure is mostly safe for the mother, but most hospital staff and doctors refuse to do advanced D&E, because it is so devastating.

     Salt poisoning is the second most common method of inducing abortion. The doctor puts a long needle through the abdomen and injects a saline solution into the amniotic fluid surrounding the baby. The baby is killed by swallowing the salt and the skin is all burned away. It takes about an hour for the baby to die. After dead, the mother goes into labor and gives birth to the dead baby. Saline injections have been outlawed in some countries because it can cause lung and kidney damage if salt gets into the bloodstream. In some cases, babies have survived the “salting out” and have been born alive.

     A Hysterotomy is similar to a cesarean section whereas the baby is taken from the mother’s womb and is “allowed” to die by neglect or killed by voluntary act. This method is the highest risk to the mother and usually results in live births. It is only used in late term pregnancies and is sometimes used if salt poisoning or prostaglandin abortion has failed to complete. In prostaglandin abortion, a chemical hormone that induces violent labor and premature birth is injected into the amniotic sac. Since most prostaglandin births are live, salt and other toxins are injected first. The risk to the mother is greater when using prostaglandin and complications can even include cardiac arrest (ProChoice Home).

     There are also many emotional effects to the mother , such as becoming an alcoholic, hating life, being unable to “connect” with anyone, depression, medical problems, mood swings and eating disorders, panic disorders and promiscuity, and post-abortion syndrome (guilt, anxiety, “numbing”, depression, suicide, anniversary syndrome, re-experiencing the abortion, wanting to become pregnant again, anxiety over fertility issues, self-harm, and brief psychosis) (A Voice in the Wilderness).

     Now is abortion murder? Imagine feeling safe and secure and then seconds later, someone is killing you and you can’t get away or cry for help. Like fashion, the word “choice” is being substituted for abortion by using political framing. It’s telling women that their children are not worthy to be born.

     The Golden rule states simply, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” If we apply this rule to that holiness of life, it means “I should refrain from committing murder if I want others to refrain from murdering me.” If someone were still in their mother’s womb, would they want to be murdered? (Sproul, 34)  

     “If people are fighting and hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined whatever the woman’s husband demands and the court allows. But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise.” (Exodus 21:22-25).

     “What is a fetus? The question is objective, not subjective. To determine the status of a fetus is not a matter of personal, arbitrary caprice. The fetus is either alive or not alive. The fetus is either human or not human. The fetus is either a person or not a person. What I think the fetus is does not determine which of these it actually is. If a fetus is a living person but I do not believe or think that it is a living person, my thoughts have no bearing on what the fetus actually is. By merely thinking or believing, I cannot change what is a person into a nonperson, what is loving into unloving, or what is human into nonhuman. By the same token, if the fetus is not a living person, then whatever I believe or think cannot change it into a living person.” (Sproul, 9).

      More frequently the question is not “Is it murder?” it’s usually “When is it murder?” Murder, in the way we as people define it, is intentionally killing another human (Civil Liberties). Therefore, abortion is murder because a fetus is just a scientific term for baby. A baby is still a baby whether or not it is inside the mother. “I think it’s safe to say that the entire abortion industry is based on a lie… I am dedicated to spending the rest of my life undoing the law that bears my name.” says Norma McCorvey (California Right 2 Life).

     Before Roe v. Wade, abortion was not legal. So, most abortions were “back-alley” abortions. Just years before abortion was legal, hospitals were full of women who had been hurt or become sick while getting an abortion, or others who had tried to perform the abortion on themselves. While some chose from “back-alley” abortionists, more often women chose homemade options such as; bleach douche or inserting sharp objects into their cervix. That is why the coat hanger became the symbol of the abortions rights movement.

     Some also traveled out of the country or to the few states where anti-abortion laws had been repealed. It required a lot of money though.

     After Roe v. Wade, there were abortion clinics all over the country. So all the hospital wards dedicated to helping the mishaps or the failed abortions were no longer needed.

     Roe, whose real name is Norma McCorvey, chose the fake name, Jane Roe, to protect her reputation. McCorvey was born in Simmesport, Louisiana, on September 22, 1947. She was raised in Houston, Texas. In 1963, at age 16, she married Woody McCorvey but said he was abusive towards her. She left him while pregnant with her first child, became pregnant again, and gave the child up for adoption. Then while living with her mother, Norma shared she was attracted to women. Her mother disowned her and took custody of Norma’s daughter. Norma had indeed become pregnant with her third child when two attorneys’ found her, Sarah Weddington and Linda Coffee. McCorvey claims that her attorneys simply used her to get back at the state for criminalizing abortion. All they really wanted was a plaintiff. They tried to convince McCorvey that her child was just a piece of tissue. That she just missed her period.

     Norma stated that she had very little involvement in the case. She signed the affidavit without reading it, was never invited to court, and found out the decision from the newspaper. The court decided on a 7-2 vote that it was violating a women’s liberty of the 14^th amendment to make abortion a crime. So how was Wade involved (Encyclopedia Brittanica)?

     Henry Wade was born on November 11, 1914 in Rockwall County, Texas. Along with 5 of his brothers, he entered the legal profession. In 1939, he joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). During World War II, Wade served in the U.S. Navy, participating in the invasions of the Philippines and Okinawa. Wade, being a lawyer participated in two of the most notable U.S. court cases in the 20^th century, the prosecution of Jack Ruby, and the U.S. Supreme Court legalizing abortion. The people came to the conclusion that the law against abortion was unconstitutional because it deprived a woman of “fundamental rights” to choose whether and when to bear a child (Brief of Appellee).

     Before and after abortion was legalized, life remained the same in a way, though it was also drastically changed. Before Roe v. Wade, abortion was not a crime and was common in the U.S. during the 1700s and 1800s. During this time, striking a pregnant woman’s stomach or placing foreign tools into the uterus to induce abortion, and it quite often killed the woman. In the mid-1800s, laws passed around the country to prohibit abortion at any time during the pregnancy. “Back-alley” abortions were still very much available. Through the next century though, about 50 percent of all maternal deaths resulted from illegal abortions during the early 1900s. “A high regard for human life is not the exclusive legacy of Christianity or other religious faiths. In the natural law arising in many cultures, in belief systems, and in nature itself, we find a persistent devotion to the sanctity of life.” So why people not preserving that holy right to life (Sproul, 33)?

     Today, after Roe v. Wade, legal abortion has earned credit with bringing down maternal death rates. Abortion is now one of the most common clinical procedures. Each year, half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unplanned and half of all those are terminated. So, since 1977, there have been over 59,000 acts of violence at U.S. abortion clinics, including 7 murders, 41 bombings, 343 death threats, and 942 acts of vandalism (Before and After Roe).

     But what if Roe had not won? We would probably go back to the way life was before the case. We would go back to the “back-alley” abortions; the population would most likely stay the same due to the abortions still taking place. There would definitely be another case because the Roe v. Wade has already been revisited so many times. But would there be more special children? So many STD’s are coming up now, so if they could not terminate the pregnancy, then that disease could be passed to the child. They could suffer from low birth weight, conjunctivitis, pneumonia, neonatal sepsis (infection of baby’s blood), neurologic damage, nepatitis, meningitis, liver disease, and even being stillborn.

     So, sadly, abortion was made legal by the Roe v. Wade case. Abortion is a horrible way of ending a child’s life, and is easily accessible to anyone nowadays. The case turned out in Roe’s favor, who actually never received an abortion, but put the child up for adoption.

     Life would probably remain the same if Roe had won, because people still do not obey the law. 

Works Cited

"Before and After Roe." National Organization for Women (NOW). Web. 30 Apr. 2011. <http://www.now.org/issues/abortion/roe30/beforeafter.html>.

"Brief for Appellee." Encyclopedia.com. Web. 30 Apr. 2011. <http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Brief_for_Appellee.aspx>.

Head, Tom. "Rights of the Fetus - Does the Fetus Have Rights." Civil Liberties at About.com - Your Guide to Civil Liberties News and Issues. Web. 30 Apr. 2011. <http://civilliberty.about.com/od/abortion/p/fetus_rights.htm>.

Holy Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007. Print.

"Prochoice.com | Abortion... How Is It Performed?" ProChoice Home. Web. 30 Apr. 2011. <http://www.pro-choice.com/abort_how.html>.

"Roe v. Wade Report." California Right To Life. Web. 30 Apr. 2011. <http://www.calright2life.org/RoevWade.htm>.

"Roe vs. Wade." Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition. Web. 30 Apr. 2011. <http://www.school.eb.com/eb/article-9125053?>.

Romaine, Deborah S. Roe v. Wade: Abortion and the Supreme Court. San Diego, CA: Lucent, 1998. Print.

Sproul, R. C. Abortion: a Rational Look at an Emotional Issue. Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust Pub., 2010. Print.

Tompkins, Nancy. Roe v. Wade The Fight over Life and Liberty. New York: Franklin Watts, 1996. Print.

"VW: Matters of Life (Roe v Wade)." A Voice in the Wilderness - Oasis of Biblical Truth. Web. 30 Apr. 2011. <http://www.a-voice.org/main/mat-life.html>.

  Blogger would not let me fix the font or the color of the verse to match the rest of the text. I'm sorry Mrs. Curry.