How many years has abortion been an issues?

Answer 1

Long before roe vs. wade. They just brought it out into the public eye. Before the law was passed abortions were done in back alleys with hangers if you were lucky you got a doctor that cared.

Answer 2

Abortion has been practiced, and still is, throughout the world, and as far back as we have records of human civilization. Some cultures use massage, others use herbs, still others have instruments, or a combo of the above. As for it being an "issue", this depends mainly on the culture. In some cultures, (like pre-War China and various South American Indian tribes), not only is abortion practiced routinely, but infanticide as well.

Even as recently as Victorian times, women sought out abortion as a way to get rid of unwanted pregnancies, either through a practitioner, midwife or even on their own.

Emily Dickinson's sister-in-law aborted at least one fetus, and unsuccessfully tried with another, causing severe defects. No one thought this at all strange, even in the strict moral climate of 19th- century New England. However, there were some anti-abortion laws in the U.S. as early as the 1820's.

In this country, abortion began to take center stage with the new push for Women's Rights in the late 1800's, peaking with the deportation of activist Emma Goldman in the 1910's, for advocating birth control, which had been banned in 1875 by the "Comstock Law", which was abolished in 1938, thanks to the efforts of activists like Margaret Sanger. Abortion was banned in most states in 1900, with all of them banning it in 1965.

Abortion during the early-to-mid 20th century (in America) "went underground", in part, due to cultural values which encouraged rampant reproduction after WWII. Women who wanted abortions were either forced to go to illegal practitioners or if they had money, went to other countries.

Once the Supreme Court passed "Roe v. Wade" in 1973, declaring most abortion bans illegal, combined w/the mass availability of the Pill and the legalization of contraception education, fueled the Sexual Revolution in the 1960's, that still continues, in different forms, today.

Now, that right to reproductive freedom is being assaulted, mostly by Christian and right-wing groups. South Dakota recently made it illegal to have an abortion and groups such as NARAL and Planned Parenthood are fighting this. While most pro-choice advocates acknowledge the right of a women to advocate anti-abortion, they protest the right of anyone, in or out of government, to interfere in a woman's right to have an abortion.

Many reproductive rights activists maintain that, if Congress would force stricter laws permitting schools to teach contraception, the need for abortion would drop dramatically.
The debate will rage on for a long time, IMO.

Answer 3

In 1968 I signed a petition to make it legal. Before it was legal, many women were getting illegal backroom abortions. This has been going on for centuries. Nothing new.

Answer 4

Since it was ever made an option and always will be...not everyone is ment to believe the same things! I am against abortion but there are plenty of people out there who are for it.

Answer 5

It has been an issue since before the 1950's. At one time, it was even illegal to discuss birth control. I am not sure of the exact date that it has been an issue. I hope this is helpful.

Answer 6

Abortion has always been with us it only became an "issue" when it was proposed to legalise abortion in law.

Answer 7

since the concept of abortion came in to being.

Answer 8

This is a rude response, and I will probably have bad Karma later because of it, but if you're going to ask a loaded question, please say "an issue" versus "an issues".

Answer 9

In response to tigerlilly, you were lucky if you got a doctor.

Answer 10

centuries.. women who didnt want kids used to perform them themselves with sharp objects and many died thank god for modern medicine