fbpx
Wikipedia

United States anti-abortion movement

January 16, 2023

The United States anti-abortion movement (also called the pro-life movement or right-to-life movement) contains elements opposing induced abortion on both moral and religious grounds and supports its legal prohibition or restriction. Advocates generally argue that human life begins at conception and that the human zygote, embryo or fetus is a person and therefore has a right to life. The anti-abortion movement includes a variety of organizations, with no single centralized decision-making body.[1] There are diverse arguments and rationales for the anti-abortion stance. Some anti-abortion activists allow for some permissible abortions, including therapeutic abortions, in exceptional circumstances such as incest, rape, severe fetal defects, or when the woman's health is at risk.

Demonstrators at the 2004 March for Life

Before the Supreme Court 1973 decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, anti-abortion views predominated and found expression in state laws which prohibited or restricted abortions in a variety of ways. (See Abortion in the United States.) The anti-abortion movement became politically active and dedicated to the reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision, which struck down most state laws restricting abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy.[2][3] In the United States, the movement is associated with several Christian religious groups, especially the Catholic Church and Evangelical churches, and is frequently, but not exclusively, allied with the Republican Party.[4][5] The movement is also supported by secular organizations (such as Secular Pro-Life) and non-mainstream anti-abortion feminists.[6] The movement has campaigned to reverse Roe v. Wade and to promote legislative changes or constitutional amendments, such as the Human Life Amendment, that prohibit or at least broadly restrict abortion.[1]

On the other side of the abortion debate in the United States is the abortion-rights movement (also called the pro-choice movement), which argues that pregnant women should have the right to choose whether or not to have an abortion.

In June 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, ending federal abortion rights and allowing individual states to regulate their own abortion laws.[7]

History

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, a movement to liberalize abortion laws gained momentum due in part to the second-wave feminist movement and to a number of high-profile therapeutic abortion cases, such as that of Sherri Finkbine.[8] In 1965, a Supreme Court decision in Griswold v. Connecticut set a precedent for an expansive right to privacy in the area of reproductive healthcare. In the late 1960s, in response to nationwide abortion-rights efforts, a number of organizations were formed to mobilize opinion against the legalization of abortion.[9] Most of these were led by Catholic institutions and communities; most evangelical Christian groups did not see abortion as a clear-cut or priority issue at the time. The first major U.S. organization in the modern anti-abortion movement, the National Right to Life Committee, was formed out of the United States Catholic Conference in 1967.[8]

The description "pro-life" was adopted by the right-to-life (anti-abortion) movement in the United States following the Supreme Court 1973 decision Roe v. Wade,[1] which held that a woman may terminate her pregnancy prior to the viability of the fetus outside of the womb and may also terminate her pregnancy "subsequent to viability ... for the preservation of the life or health of the mother."[10] The term pro-life was adopted instead of anti-abortion to highlight their proponents' belief that abortion is the taking of a human life, rather than an issue concerning the restriction of women's reproductive rights,[1] as the pro-choice movement would say. The first organized action was initiated by U.S. Catholic bishops who recommended in 1973 that the U.S. Constitution should be amended to ban abortion.[1]

Roe v. Wade was considered a major setback by anti-abortion campaigners. The case and the overturning of most anti-abortion laws spurred the growth of a largely religious-based anti-abortion political and social movement, even as Americans were becoming, in the 1970s and 1980s, increasingly pro-choice. The first major anti-abortion success since Roe's case came in 1976 with the passing of the Hyde Amendment prohibiting the use of certain federal funds for abortions. In Harris v. McRae, anti-abortion advocates won a 1980 challenge to the Hyde Amendment. That same year, anti-abortion politicians gained control of the Republican Party's platform committee, adding anti-abortion planks to the Republican position, and calling for a Human Life Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, banning abortion.[1] Four anti-abortion U.S. Presidents – Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump – were elected.

Lisa Miller of The Washington Post wrote about the younger, more feminine face of the anti-abortion movement with the rise of leaders such as Lila Rose of Live Action, Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List, Charmaine Yoest of Americans United for Life, Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America, and Kristan Hawkins of Students for Life, all "youngish Christian working mothers with children at home" who seek to combat the image of the anti-abortion movement as made up of "old white men" who cannot relate to the experience of pregnant women.[11]

The anti-abortion movement has been successful in recent years in promoting new laws against abortion within the states. The Guttmacher Institute said eighty laws restricting abortion were passed in the first six months of 2011, "more than double the previous record of 34 abortion restrictions enacted in 2005—and more than triple the 23 enacted in 2010".[12]

In 2019, six U.S. states (Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, and Ohio) enacted fetal heartbeat abortion bills.[13] These heartbeat bills generally restrict abortion to the time period in pregnancy before a fetal heartbeat can be detected (which can be as early as six weeks of gestation or as late as twelve weeks). The bills face legal challenges, with their supporters stating they hope the legislation will allow the United States Supreme Court to reconsider Roe v Wade.[13] Other abortion-related laws passed in several US states during this time period, which were upheld by the judicial system, include laws requiring an ultrasound before an abortion[14] and laws that mandate fetal burial or cremation after an abortion.[15]

In June 2022, the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade, allowing states to regulate their own separate abortion laws and effectively ending the nationwide right to abortion.[7]

Overview

See also: Abortion debate, Ethical aspects of abortion, and Emergency contraception

The anti-abortion movement includes a variety of organizations, with no single centralized decision-making body.[1] There are diverse arguments and rationales for the anti-abortion stance.

Many socially conservative organizations are involved in the anti-abortion movement. Some groups focus solely on promoting the anti-abortion cause, such as American Life League, the Susan B. Anthony List, National Right to Life Committee, Americans United for Life, and Live Action, among many others. Other groups support not only the anti-abortion cause but the broader family values cause, such as Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, American Family Association, and Concerned Women for America, among many others.

Abortion opponents generally believe that human life should be valued either from fertilization or implantation until natural death.[citation needed] The contemporary anti-abortion movement is typically, but not exclusively, influenced by conservative Christian beliefs and has influenced certain strains of bioethical utilitarianism.[16][vague] From that viewpoint, any action which destroys an embryo or fetus kills a person. Any deliberate destruction of human life is considered ethically or morally wrong and is not considered to be mitigated by any benefits to others, as such benefits are coming at the expense of the life of what they believe to be a person. In some cases, this belief extends to opposing abortion of fetuses that would almost certainly expire within a short time after birth, such as anencephalic fetuses.

Some abortion opponents also oppose certain forms of birth control, particularly hormonal contraception such as emergency contraception (ECPs), and copper IUDs which may prevent the implantation of a zygote. Because they believe that the term pregnancy should be defined so as to begin at fertilization, they refer to these contraceptives as abortifacients[17] because they cause the fertilized egg to be flushed out during menses. The Catholic Church endorses this view.[18] There are, however, anti-abortion physicians[19] who concur with the view that hormonal contraception does not block implantation.[20]

Attachment to an anti-abortion position is often but not exclusively connected to religious beliefs about the sanctity of life (see also culture of life). Exclusively secular-humanist positions against abortion tend to be a minority viewpoint[citation needed] among anti-abortion advocates; these groups say that their position is based on human rights and biology, rather than religion.[21][22][23] Some holding the anti-abortion position also hold a complementarian view of gender roles, though there is also a self-described feminist element inside the movement.[24]

Views in opposition to abortion

See also: Religion and abortion, Sanctity of life, and Culture of life

The variety in opinion on the issue of abortion is reflected in the diverse views of religious groups. For example, the Catholic Church considers all procured abortions morally evil,[25] while traditional Jewish teaching sanctions abortion if necessary to safeguard the life and well-being of the pregnant woman.[26]

Christian groups

 
Anti-abortion monument of a parish church in Brooklyn, New York
See also: Christianity and abortion and History of early Christian thought on abortion

The only coordinated opposition to abortion in the United States during the late 1960s and early 1970s before the Roe v. Wade decision was from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and its Family Life Bureau. Mobilization of a wide-scale anti-abortion movement began immediately after 1973 with the creation of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC).[27]

Before 1980, the Southern Baptist Convention officially advocated for loosening of abortion restrictions.[28] During the 1971 and 1974 Southern Baptist Conventions, Southern Baptists were called upon "to work for legislation that will allow the possibility of abortion under such conditions as rape, incest, clear evidence of severe fetal deformity, and carefully ascertained evidence of the likelihood of damage to the emotional, mental, and physical health of the mother."[28] W. Barry Garrett wrote in the Baptist Press, "Religious liberty, human equality and justice are advanced by the [Roe v. Wade] Supreme Court abortion decision."[28] By 1980, conservative Protestant leaders became vocal in their opposition to legalized abortion,[28] and by the early 1990s Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition of America became a significant anti-abortion organization.[29] In 2005, Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, said that making abortion illegal is more important than any other issue.[30]

Much of the anti-abortion movement in the United States and around the world finds support in the Roman Catholic Church, the Christian right, the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod, the Church of England, the Anglican Church in North America, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).[31][32][33][34] However, the anti-abortion teachings of these denominations vary considerably. The Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church consider abortion to be immoral in all cases, but may in some cases permit an act[citation needed] which indirectly and without intent results in the death of the fetus in a case where the mother's life is threatened. In Pope John Paul II's Letter to Families, he simply stated the Roman Catholic Church's view on abortion and euthanasia: "Laws which legitimize the direct killing of innocent human beings through abortion or euthanasia are in complete opposition to the inviolable right to life proper to every individual; they thus deny the equality of everyone before the law."

The National Association of Evangelicals has adopted a number of resolutions stating its opposition to abortion, but "recognizes that there might be situations in which terminating a pregnancy is warranted – such as protecting the life of a mother or in cases of rape or incest."[35][36] The position of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) is that "elective abortion for personal or social convenience is contrary to the will and the commandments of God" but that abortion may be justified where the pregnancy endangers life of the mother, or where the pregnancy is the outcome of rape or incest.[35] The Taskforce of United Methodists on Abortion and Sexuality (TUMAS) was formed in 1987 to further the anti-abortion ministry in The United Methodist Church.[37] The Southern Baptist Convention believes that abortion is allowable only in cases where there is a direct threat to the life of the woman.[35]

Among Mainline Protestant denominations, the Episcopal Church recognizes a right of a pregnant woman to terminate a pregnancy, but opposes "abortion as a means of birth control, family planning, sex selection or any reason of mere convenience."[35] The United Church of Christ supports abortion rights, viewing it as a matter of reproductive health and justice.[35] The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) adopts the view that abortion is a personal choice, but acknowledges "diverse conclusions and actions" within the church on the issue.[35] The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's position is that abortion prior to the point of viability "should not be prohibited by law or by lack of public funding" but that "abortion after the point of fetal viability should be prohibited except when the life of a mother is threatened or when fetal abnormalities pose a fatal threat to a newborn."[35]

Consistent life ethic

Supporters of the consistent life ethic also oppose abortions as one of the acts that end human life. In 1979, Juli Loesch linked anti-abortion and anti-nuclear weapons arguments to form the group Pro Lifers for Survival. In 1987 this group defined an ethic of the sanctity of all life, and formed the group Seamless Garment Network. This group was against abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, militarism, poverty and racism.[38] Beginning in 1983, American Catholic Cardinal Joseph Bernardin argued that abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, and unjust war are all related, and all wrong. He said that "to be truly 'pro-life,' you have to take all of those issues into account."[39] Paul M. Perl studied 1996 voter statistics and found that the consistent life ethic is difficult for religious leaders to promote because it combines the generally conservative anti-abortion stance with a liberal social attitude.[40]

Legal and political aspects

 
Democrats for Life of America demonstrates at the 2006 March for Life.

The Republican Party platform officially advocates an anti-abortion position,[41] which developed alongside the modern pro-life movement. Before Roe v. Wade, the majority of Republicans were not anti-abortion, including most of the party's leadership, which typically cited abortion rights as included within an ideology of limited government and personal freedom.[42] At the 1976 Republican National Convention, the party adopted an anti-abortion amendment as part of their platform, for strategic reasons.[42]: 1  The party's leadership hoped to appeal to Catholics, a demographic which had traditionally voted Democratic, a party at the time containing fairly liberal economic views with mixed opinions on social ones, but who might be put off by growing cultural liberalism and who made up the core of the anti-abortion movement.[42] Over time, the anti-abortion plank of the Republican platform became one rallying point for a growing conservative religious coalition in the party, which drove out many pro-choice Republicans and led to a long-term shift in the party's public image and identity.[8]

However, there are some pro-choice Republicans. The Republican group The Wish List supports pro-choice Republican women just as EMILY's List supports pro-choice Democratic women. The Susan B. Anthony List (SBA List) is dedicated to "increasing the percentage of anti-abortion women in Congress and high public office,"[43] and seeks to eliminate abortion in the U.S.[44] The Democrats for Life of America are a group of anti-abortion Democrats on the political left who advocate for an anti-abortion plank in the Democratic Party's platform and for anti-abortion Democratic candidates. Former vice-presidential candidate Sargent Shriver, the late Robert Casey, a former two-term governor of Pennsylvania, and former Rep. Bart Stupak (D-Mich), a former leader of the bipartisan anti-abortion caucus in the United States House of Representatives, have been among the most well-known anti-abortion Democrats.[45] However, following his vote in favor of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Marjorie Dannenfelser of the SBA List reported that her organization was revoking an anti-abortion award it had been planning to give to Stupak,[46] and anti-abortion organizations accused Stupak of having betrayed the anti-abortion movement.[47][48][49]

The New York Times reported in 2011 that the anti-abortion movement in the United States had been undergoing a disagreement over tactics. Since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, the movement had usually focused on chipping away at Roe through incremental restrictions such as laws requiring parental consent or women to see sonograms, restricting late-term abortions, etc., with the goal of limiting abortions and changing "hearts and minds" until there is a majority on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe. However, some activists were calling for "an all-out legal assault on Roe. v. Wade", seeking the enactment of laws defining legal personhood as beginning at fertilization or prohibiting abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detectable at six to eight weeks in the hope that court challenges to such laws would lead the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade. Such activists believed that then-Justice Anthony Kennedy, who nearly decided to overturn Roe in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, was open to rethinking Roe. Others feared that such a legal challenge would result in the solidification of the 1973 decision in Roe. Evangelical Christian groups tended to be in the former camp and Catholic groups in the latter.[50]

Among those who believe that abortion is murder, some believe it may be appropriate to punish it with death. While attempts to criminalize abortion generally focus on the doctor, Texas state Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R) introduced a bill in 2017 and 2019 that may enable the death penalty in Texas for women who have abortions,[51] and the Ohio legislature considered a similar bill in 2018.[52]

Demographics

Within the movement

Studies indicate that activists within the American anti-abortion movement are predominantly white and religious. Scholars continue to dispute the primary factors that cause individuals to become anti-abortion activists. While some have suggested that a particular moral stance or worldview leads to activism, others have suggested that activism leads individuals to develop particular moral positions and worldviews.

A 1981 survey of dues paying members of the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) by sociologist Donald O. Granberg found that survey respondents held conservative views on sex, sex education, and contraception. Additionally, Granberg's survey provided basic demographic characteristics of his sample: 98% of survey respondents were white, 63% were female, 58% had a college degree, and 70% were Catholic. Granberg concluded that conservative personal morality was the primary mechanism for explaining an individual's involvement in the anti-abortion movement.[53]

A 2002 study by Carol J.C. Maxwell drawing on decades of survey and interview data of direct-action activists within the anti-abortion movement found that 99% of the sample was white, 60% was female, 51% had a college degree, and 29% were Catholic. Like Granberg's 1981 study, Maxwell concluded that anti-abortion and abortion-rights activists held two different worldviews which in turn are formed by two different moral centers.[54]

In 2008, sociologist Ziad Munson studied the characteristics of both activists and non-activists who considered themselves anti-abortion. The anti-abortion activists of Munson's sample were 93% white, 57% female, 66% Catholic, and 71% had a college degree. Of non-activists who considered themselves anti-abortion, Munson found that 83% were white, 52% were female, 45% were Catholic, and 76% had a college degree. In Munson's analysis personal moralities and worldviews are formed as a consequence of participation in anti-abortion activism. Munson's analysis differs from previous scholarly work in its assertion that beliefs result from activism rather than causing activism. For Munson, life course factors make an individual more or less likely to become an activist.[55]

Popular opinion

A 2019 Gallup poll found that men and women in the United States generally hold similar abortion views: "19% of both men and women say abortion should be totally illegal; 31% of women and 26% of men want abortion to be totally legal."[56] In addition, 53% of men and 48% of women favored abortion being legal, but only under certain circumstances.[56]

Gallup polling in 2019 found that 25% of Americans believe abortion should be legal under any circumstances; 13%, under most circumstances; 39%, under only a few circumstances; and 21%, under no circumstances.[57] A 2020 poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research similarly found that 37% of Americans believed abortion should be legal under only a few circumstances. This answer was provided by 45% of Catholics and 67% of white evangelical Protestants.[58]

In the Gallup poll, when respondents were first asked about the legality of abortion, 49% described themselves as "pro-life" and 46% as "pro-choice." However, among people who were not asked about legality first, 43% described themselves as "pro-life" and 52% as "pro-choice." Gallup's 2019 polling also found that 50% of Americans believe abortion to be morally wrong, while 42% believe it to be morally acceptable, and 6% believe that it depends on the situation. When asked whether the Supreme Court should reverse their 1973 decision of Roe v. Wade, 60% opined that the Court should not, while only 33% said that it should. Polling in 2020 revealed that 32% of Americans are either very or somewhat satisfied about abortion policies as they currently stand, while 24% report being dissatisfied and desire stricter policies and another 22% also express dissatisfaction but desire less strict policies.[59]

According to a 2013 Gallup poll, 15% of Americans with no religious identity are anti-abortion and slight majorities of Catholics, Protestants, Southerners, seniors and nonwhites reported as anti-abortion.[60] A 2019 Gallup poll found that Mormons, the Southern Baptist Convention, and Jehovah's Witnesses have the highest majorities who believe abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, while atheists, agnostics, and Jews have the highest majorities who think the reverse.[61]

Controversies over terminology

Main article: Abortion debate § Terminology

Anti-abortion advocates tend to use terms such as "unborn baby", "unborn child", or "pre-born child",[62][63] and see the medical terms "embryo", "zygote", and "fetus" as dehumanizing.[64][65]

 
Protest outside clinic in the Bay Area, 1986.

Both "pro-choice" and "pro-life" are examples of terms labeled as political framing: they are terms which purposely try to define their philosophies in the best possible light, while by definition attempting to describe their opposition in the worst possible light. "Pro-choice" implies that the alternative viewpoint is "anti-choice", while "pro-life" implies the alternative viewpoint is "pro-death" or "anti-life".[66] In part due to this viewpoint, the Associated Press encourages journalists to use the terms "abortion rights" and "anti-abortion".[67]

In a 2009 Gallup Poll, a majority of U.S. adults (51%) called themselves "pro-life" on the issue of abortion—for the first time since Gallup began asking the question in 1995—while 42% identified themselves as "pro-choice",[68] although pro-choice groups noted that acceptance of the "pro-life" label did not in all cases indicate opposition to legalized abortion, and that another recent poll had indicated that an equal number were pro-choice.[69]

A March 2011 Rasmussen Reports poll concluded that Americans are "closely divided between those who call themselves pro-life" and those who consider themselves as "pro-choice".[70] In a February 2011 Rasmussen Reports poll of "Likely U.S. Voters", fifty percent view themselves as "pro-choice" and forty percent "say they are pro-life".[71] In a July 2013 Rasmussen Reports poll of "Likely U.S. Voters", 46 percent view themselves as "pro-choice" and 43 percent "say they are pro-life".[72]

Methods and activities

Demonstrations and protests

  • Mass demonstrations: every year, American anti-abortion advocates hold a March for Life in Washington, D.C., on January 22, the anniversary date of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the United States. The event typically draws tens of thousands of attendees[73][74] and, since 2003, frequently features notable politicians as speakers. Similar events take place on a smaller scale in other U.S. cities, such as the Walk for Life in San Francisco, California.
  • The life chain: The "Life Chain" is a public demonstration technique that involves standing in a row on sidewalks holding signs bearing anti-abortion messages. Messages include "Abortion Kills Children", "Abortion stops a beating heart" or "Abortion Hurts Women". Participants, as an official policy, do not yell or chant slogans and do not block pedestrians or roadways. Many Right to Life chapters hold Life Chain events yearly[75] and the annual worldwide 40 Days for Life campaigns also use this technique.
  • The rescue: A "rescue operation" involves anti-abortion activists blocking the entrances to an abortion clinic in order to prevent anyone from entering. The stated goal of this practice is to force the clinic to shut down for the day. Often, the protesters are removed by law enforcement. Some clinics were protested so heavily in this fashion that they closed down permanently. "The rescue" was first attempted by Operation Rescue. Ever since President Bill Clinton signed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act into law, the rescue has become prohibitively expensive, and has rarely been attempted.
  • The truth display: Involves publicly displaying large pictures of aborted fetuses. Some anti-abortion groups believe that showing the graphic results of abortion is an effective way to dissuade and prevent others from choosing abortion. The Pro-Life Action League has used this form of activism in its Face the Truth displays. Members of one group, Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, are known for setting up truth displays on university campuses. This group has faced legal battles over the use of such graphic imagery, and they have generated debate regarding the protection of such displays, by freedom of speech. "Truth displays" are controversial, even within the anti-abortion movement.[76]
  • Picketing: The majority of the facilities that perform abortions in the United States experience some form of protest from anti-abortion demonstrators every year, of which the most common form is picketing. In 2007, 11,113 instances of picketing were either reported to, or obtained by, the National Abortion Federation.[77]

Counseling

  • Sidewalk counseling: "Sidewalk counseling" is a form of anti-abortion advocacy which is conducted outside of abortion clinics. Activists seek to communicate with those entering the building, or with passersby in general, in an effort to persuade them not to have an abortion or to reconsider their position on the morality of abortion.[78] They do so by trying to engage in conversation, displaying signs, distributing literature, or giving directions to a nearby crisis pregnancy center.[78]
    • The "Chicago Method" is an approach to sidewalk counseling that involves giving those about to enter an abortion facility copies of lawsuits filed against the facility or its physicians. The name comes from the fact that it was first used by Pro-Life Action League in Chicago.[79] The intent of the Chicago Method is to turn the woman away from a facility that the protesters deem "unsafe", thus giving her time to reconsider her choice to abort.[80][non-primary source needed]
  • Crisis pregnancy centers: "Crisis pregnancy centers" are non-profit organizations, mainly in the United States, established to persuade pregnant women against having an abortion.[81][82] These centers are typically run by anti-abortion Christians according to a conservative Christian philosophy,[83] and they often disseminate false medical information, usually but not exclusively about the supposed health risks and mental health risks of abortion.[84][85][86][87]: 1  The centers usually provide peer counseling against abortion, and sometimes also offer adoption referrals or baby supplies.[88] Most are not licensed and do not provide medical services,[89] though some offer sonograms, claiming that women who see such sonograms decide not to have an abortion.[82] Legal and legislative action regarding CPCs has generally attempted to curb false or deceptive advertising undertaken in pursuit of the anti-abortion cause.[90] Several thousand CPCs exist in the United States,[83] often operating in affiliation with one of three umbrella organizations (Care Net, Heartbeat International, and Birthright International), with hundreds in other countries. By 2006, U.S. CPCs had received more than $60 million of federal funding, including some funding earmarked for abstinence-only programs,[91] as well as state funding from many states.[82]

Specialty license plates

In the United States, some states issue specialty license plates that have an anti-abortion theme. Choose Life, an advocacy group founded in 1997, was successful in securing an anti-abortion automobile tag in Florida. Subsequently, the organization has been actively helping groups in other states pursue "Choose Life" license plates.[92][93]

Abortion health risk claims

Some anti-abortion organizations and individuals disseminate false medical information and unsupported pseudoscientific[94][95] claims about alleged physical and mental health risks of abortion.[96][87] Many right-to-life organizations claim that abortion damages future fertility, or causes breast cancer,[97][98] which is contradicted by the medical professional organizations.[99][100][101][102][103][104] Some states, such as Alaska, Mississippi, West Virginia, Texas, and Kansas, have passed laws requiring abortion providers to warn patients of a link between abortion and breast cancer, and to issue other scientifically unsupported warnings.[105][106]

Some right-to-life advocacy groups allege a link between abortion and subsequent mental-health problems.[107] Some U.S. state legislatures have mandated that patients be told that abortion increases their risk of depression and suicide, despite the fact that such risks are not supported by the bulk of the scientific literature,[107][108][109][110][111] and are contradicted by mainstream organizations of mental-health professionals such as the American Psychological Association.[112][113][114]

Violence

Main article: Anti-abortion violence

Violent incidents directed against abortion providers have included arson and bombings of abortion clinics, and murders or attempted murders of physicians and clinic staff, especially the doctors that provide abortions. Acts of violence against abortion providers and facilities in North America have largely subsided following a peak in the mid-1990s[115] which included the murders of Drs. David Gunn, John Britton, and Barnett Slepian and the attempted murder of Dr. George Tiller. Tiller was later murdered in his church in 2009.[116]

As of 1995, nearly all anti-abortion leaders said that they condemned the use of violence in the movement, describing it as an aberration and saying that no one in their organizations was associated with acts of violence.[117][118] A small extremist element of the movement in the USA supports, raises money for, and attempts to justify anti-abortion violence, including murders of abortion workers, which this fringe element calls "justifiable homicides". An example of such an organization is the Army of God.[119][120][121]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Schultz, Jeffrey D.; Van Assendelft, Laura A. (1999). Encyclopedia of women in American politics. The American political landscape (1 ed.). Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 195. ISBN 1-57356-131-2.
  2. ^ Staggenborg, Suzanne (1994). The Pro-Choice Movement: Organization and Activism in the Abortion Conflict. Oxford University Press US. p. 188. ISBN 0-19-508925-1.
  3. ^ Greenhouse, Linda (2010). . Kaplan Publishing. ISBN 978-1-60714-671-1. Archived from the original on January 14, 2013.
  4. ^ Susan Welch; John Gruhl; John Comer; Susan M. Rigdon (2009). Understanding American Government (12 ed.). Cengage Learning. p. 150. ISBN 978-0-495-56839-1.
  5. ^ "Democrats for Life". Democrats for Life. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
  6. ^ Oaks, Laury (Spring 2009). "What Are Pro-Life Feminists Doing on Campus?" (PDF). NWSA Journal. 21 (1): 178–203. ISSN 1040-0656.
  7. ^ a b Mangan, Dan; Breuninger, Kevin (June 24, 2022). "Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, ending 50 years of federal abortion rights". CNBC. from the original on June 25, 2022. Retrieved June 24, 2022.
  8. ^ a b c Karrer, Robert N (2011). "The Pro-Life Movement and Its First Years Under Roe". American Catholic Studies. 122 (4): 47–72. JSTOR 44195373 – via Project MUSE.
  9. ^ "The American Historian: Abolishing Abortion: The History of the Pro-Life Movement in America". tah.oah.org. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
  10. ^ Roe v. Wade (98–1856) 410 U.S. 113 (1973). Retrieved April 29, 2011.
  11. ^ "A feminine face for the anti-abortion movement". Washington Post. October 24, 2011. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
  12. ^ "States Enact Record Number of Abortion Restrictions in First Half of 2011". Guttmacher.org. July 13, 2011. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
  13. ^ a b "Abortion Bans: 9 States Have Passed Bills to Limit the Procedure This Year". The New York Times. May 29, 2019.
  14. ^ Mairead Mcardle (December 9, 2019). "Supreme Court upholds Kentucky law requiring abortionists to describe an ultrasound to woman". National Review.
  15. ^ "Supreme Court upholds Indiana provision mandating burial or cremation of fetal remains". National Public Radio. May 28, 2019.
  16. ^ Holland, S. (2003). Bioethics: a Philosophical Introduction. Cambridge: Polity Press.
  17. ^ Finn, J.T. (April 23, 2005). ""Birth Control" Pills cause early Abortions". Pro-life America — Facts on Abortion. prolife.com. Retrieved January 2, 2009.
  18. ^ "Emergency 'Contraception' and Early Abortion". United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. August 1, 1998. Retrieved January 2, 2009.
  19. ^ Crockett, Susan A.; Donna Harrison; Joe DeCook; Camilla Hersh (April 1999). "Hormone Contraceptives Controversies and Clarifications". American Association of Pro Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Retrieved February 22, 2011. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  20. ^ Belluck, Pam (September 7, 2018). "Science Does Not Support Claims That Contraceptives Are 'Abortion-Inducing'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 11, 2020.
  21. ^ Wallace, James Matthew. "Atheist and Agnostic Pro-Life League Homepage". Retrieved November 4, 2006.
  22. ^ "Secular ProLife". Retrieved December 6, 2010.
  23. ^ "Atheist, Secular, and Pro-Life". Catholic World Report.
  24. ^ . Feminists for Life. Archived from the original on December 27, 2009. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  25. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church para.2271, "Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law: 'You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish'". Vatican website. Accessed February 5, 2011.
  26. ^ ANALYSIS (September 30, 2008). "Pew Forums". Pewforum.org. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
  27. ^ Munson, Ziad W. (2008). The making of pro-life activists: how social movement mobilization works. University of Chicago Press. p. 85. ISBN 978-0-226-55120-3. Retrieved December 31, 2011.
  28. ^ a b c d Randall Herbert Balmer (July 3, 2006). They Kingdom Come. p. 12. ISBN 9780465005192.
  29. ^ McKeegan, M (1993). "The politics of abortion: A historical perspective". Women's Health Issues. 3 (3): 127–131. doi:10.1016/s1049-3867(05)80245-2. PMID 8274866.
  30. ^ Baptist Press June 15, 2011, at the Wayback Machine"Sparks fly in Land's appearance at black columnists' meeting"
  31. ^ Ferguson, Susan J (1999). Mapping the Social Landscape. ISBN 9780767406161. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  32. ^ Sex, Politics, and Religion: The Clash Between Poland and the European Union over Abortion by Alicia Czerwinski in the Denver Journal of International Law and Policy, 2003
  33. ^ "Официальный сайт Русской Православной Церкви". Mospat.ru. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
  34. ^ "Abortion". churchofjesuschrist.org. Intellectual Reserve, Inc. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
  35. ^ a b c d e f g Religious Groups' Official Positions on Abortion, Pew Research Center (January 16, 2013).
  36. ^ "Resolution on Abortion". National Association of Evangelicals. 2010.
  37. ^ The rebirth of orthodoxy: signs of new life in Christianity. HarperCollins. December 12, 2002. ISBN 978-0-06-009785-1. Retrieved January 4, 2009.
  38. ^ Krier Mich, Marvin L. (1998). Catholic Social Teaching and Movements. Twenty-Third Publications. p. 216. ISBN 9780896229365.
  39. ^ Kaczor, Christopher Robert (2006). The Edge of Life: Human Dignity and Contemporary Bioethics. Philosophy and Medicine. Vol. 85. Springer. p. 148. ISBN 9781402031564.
  40. ^ Hester, Joseph P. (2003). The Ten Commandments: A Handbook of Religious, Legal, and Social Issues. McFarland. p. 221. ISBN 9780786414192.
  41. ^ 2004 Republican Party Platform: A Safer World and a More Hopeful America February 26, 2008, at the Wayback Machine p. 84.
  42. ^ a b c Williams, Daniel (2011). "The GOP's Abortion Strategy: Why Pro-Choice Republicans Became Pro-Life in the 1970s". Journal of Policy History. 23 (4): 513–539. doi:10.1017/S0898030611000285. S2CID 154353515.
  43. ^ Its connected Candidate Fund increases the percentage of pro-life women in politics., http://www.suzyb.org/blog/Elections Retrieved September 25, 2008.
  44. ^ . Susan B. Anthony List. 2008. Archived from the original on October 27, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2010. To accomplish our ultimate goal of ending abortion in this country ...
  45. ^ PATRICK O'CONNOR (March 21, 2010). "Historic win close after Bart Stupak deal". Politico. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
  46. ^ "Choice, Life Groups Slam Obama Order on Abortion Funding". Fox News. March 21, 2010.
  47. ^ "Stupak: From Prolife Groups' Hero to Villain 'In a Nanosecond' | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction". Christianity Today. March 22, 2010. Retrieved September 19, 2011.
  48. ^ "Bart Stupak's Retirement Stirs Mixed Reactions, Christian News". Christianpost.com. April 10, 2010. Retrieved September 19, 2011.
  49. ^ Parker, Kathleen (March 24, 2010). "Stupak's fall from pro-life grace". The Washington Post.
  50. ^ Eckholm, Erik (December 4, 2011). "Anti-Abortion Groups Are Split on Legal Tactics". The New York Times.
  51. ^ Gstalter, Morgan (April 10, 2019). "GOP Texas lawmaker reintroduces bill to allow death penalty for women who have abortions". The Hill. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
  52. ^ Panetta, Grace (November 20, 2018). "Ohio's legislature is considering laws to ban abortion after 6 weeks, and could punish patients and abortion providers with the death penalty". Business Insider. Retrieved April 10, 2019.
  53. ^ Granberg, Donald (1981). "The Abortion Activists". Family Planning Perspectives. 13 (4): 157–163. doi:10.2307/2134620. JSTOR 2134620. PMID 7286166.
  54. ^ Maxwell, Carol J.C. (2002). Pro-life activists in America. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521660440.
  55. ^ Munson, Ziad (2008). The making of pro-life activists. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226551203.
  56. ^ a b Saad, Lydia (June 14, 2018). "Men, Women Generally Hold Similar Abortion Attitudes". News.gallup.com.
  57. ^ "Majority in U.S. Still Want Abortion Legal, With Limits". Gallup.com. June 25, 2019. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  58. ^ "White evangelicals distinct on LGBTQ rights, abortion". NBC News. AP. January 2, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  59. ^ Abortion | Gallup Historical Trends
  60. ^ "Americans Misjudge U.S. Abortion Views". May 15, 2013.
  61. ^ "American religious groups vary widely in their views of abortion". Pew Research Center. Retrieved August 29, 2020.
  62. ^ Chamberlain, Pam; Hardisty, Jean (2007). "The Importance of the Political 'Framing' of Abortion". The Public Eye Magazine. 14 (1).
  63. ^ "The Roberts Court Takes on Abortion". New York Times. November 5, 2006. Retrieved January 18, 2008.
  64. ^ Brennan 'Dehumanizing the vulnerable' 2000
  65. ^ Getek, Kathryn; Cunningham, Mark (February 1996). "A Sheep in Wolf's Clothing – Language and the Abortion Debate". Princeton Progressive Review.
  66. ^ (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on July 27, 2011. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
  67. ^ Goldstein, Norm, ed. The Associated Press Stylebook. Philadelphia: Basic Books, 2007.
  68. ^ Saad, Lydia (May 15, 2009). "More Americans "Pro-Life" Than "Pro-Choice" for First TimeAlso, fewer think abortion should be legal "under any circumstances"". Gallup, Inc. Retrieved February 26, 2011.
  69. ^ "Majority of Americans now 'pro-life,' poll says". Associated Press. May 15, 2009.
  70. ^ "Americans Think New State Laws Will Reduce Number of Abortions". Rasmussen Reports, LLC. March 10, 2011. Retrieved March 15, 2011. While the country remains closely divided between those who call themselves pro-life and those who view themselves as pro-choice, the majority of Likely U.S. Voters think abortion is morally wrong in most cases.
  71. ^ "Half of U.S. Voters are Pro-Choice, But 53% Say Abortion's Usually Morally Wrong". Rasmussen Reports, LLC. February 17, 2011. Retrieved March 19, 2011.
  72. ^ "46% Are Pro-Choice, 43% Pro-Life". Retrieved November 27, 2013.
  73. ^ Frank Somerville; Richard O'Mara (January 24, 1997). "Keeler exhorts March for Life crowd". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved July 12, 2018. The U.S. Park Police estimated 45,000 people marched, about 10,000 more than last year.
  74. ^ Keyes, Allison (January 25, 2013). "Anti-Abortion 'March For Life' Draws Thousands In Washington". Retrieved July 12, 2018. Tens of thousands of anti-abortion protesters gathered on the National Mall on Friday to mark the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
  75. ^ "National Life Chain". nationallifechain.org. Retrieved September 25, 2008.
  76. ^ Pavone, Frank A."Should We Use Graphic Images?" Priests for Life Retrieved September 7, 2007. Quote: "Even among those who oppose abortion, answers to this question [Should we use graphic images?] vary".
  77. ^ "NAF Violence and Disruption Statistics" (PDF). National Abortion Federation. Retrieved July 28, 2008.
  78. ^ a b Hill v. Colorado (98-1856) 530 U.S. 703 (2000). Retrieved December 13, 2006.
  79. ^ "Controversy in the Activist Movement", Pro-Life Action News, August 2000 June 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  80. ^ "The "Chicago Method": Sidewalk Counseling that appeals to the Mother's concerns for her own well-being," Priests for Life.
  81. ^ Bazelon, Emily (January 21, 2007). "Is There a Post-Abortion Syndrome?". The New York Times. from the original on April 24, 2009.
  82. ^ a b c Chandler, Michael Alison (September 9, 2006). "Antiabortion Centers Offer Sonograms to Further Cause". Washington Post. p. html. Retrieved February 24, 2008.
  83. ^ a b Gibbs, Nancy (February 15, 2007). . Time. Archived from the original on February 18, 2007.
  84. ^ Bryant AG, Levi EE; Levi (July 2012). "Abortion misinformation from crisis pregnancy centers in North Carolina". Contraception. 86 (6): 752–6. doi:10.1016/j.contraception.2012.06.001. PMID 22770790.
  85. ^ Bryant-Comstock, Katelyn; Bryant, Amy G.; Narasimhan, Subasri; Levi, Erika E. (February 2016). "Information about Sexual Health on Crisis Pregnancy Center Web Sites: Accurate for Adolescents?". Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology. 29 (1): 22–25. doi:10.1016/j.jpag.2015.05.008. PMID 26493590.
  86. ^ Banerjee, Neela (February 2, 2005). "Church Groups Turn to Sonogram to Turn Women From Abortions". The New York Times. Retrieved August 18, 2013. For example, the Bowie center distributes leaflets that state there is a link between abortion and a greater risk of breast cancer. Studies by the National Cancer Institute in 2003 and the University of Oxford last year concluded that abortion did not increase such risks.
  87. ^ a b Rankin, Lauren (February 26, 2014). "The Seven Most Common Lies About Abortion". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  88. ^ Cooperman, Alan (February 21, 2002). . Washington Post. Archived from the original on February 23, 2002.
  89. ^ Committee on Government Reform—Minority Staff Special Investigations Division (July 2006). (PDF). United States House of Representatives. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 4, 2013. Retrieved November 3, 2012.
  90. ^ Lewin, Tamar (April 22, 1994). "Anti-Abortion Center's Ads Ruled Misleading". The New York Times.
  91. ^ Edsall, Thomas B. (March 22, 2006). "Grants Flow To Bush Allies On Social Issues". Washington Post. pp. A01. Retrieved November 6, 2007.
  92. ^ Burge, Kathleen: "Driving force" Boston Globe, May 5, 2006
  93. ^ Madigan, Erin: "Choose Life Car Tags Spark Debate" Stateline.org, November 25, 2002
  94. ^ Elster, Naomi (September 29, 2017). "It's time to talk about the pseudoscience corrupting the abortion debate". The Guardian. Retrieved December 19, 2019. Despite the broadening and widening of the pro-choice movement, there remains a near-total ban on abortion and an aggravating amount of pseudoscience in the air. When researchers from Johns Hopkins University examined a large number of studies on abortion and mental health, the ones carried out to the highest standards revealed that there were very few, if any, negative mental health consequences of having an abortion. ... Despite this, we are constantly hearing that abortions lead to mental health problems. Twice in the past week, we have also encountered the insidious myth that abortion causes breast cancer because of the resultant hormone changes.
  95. ^ "Naomi Elster". Retrieved December 19, 2019. Naomi Elster is a writer and a scientist. She has a PhD in breast cancer. Her nonfiction covers science, health, and an evidence-based approach to women's issues.
  96. ^ Bryant AG, Levi EE (July 2012). "Abortion misinformation from crisis pregnancy centers in North Carolina". Contraception. 86 (6): 752–6. doi:10.1016/j.contraception.2012.06.001. PMID 22770790.
  97. ^ "Fetuses Feel Pain at 20 Weeks, and 4 Other Anti-Abortion Myths". Mother Jones. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  98. ^ Jasen, P (October 2005). "Breast Cancer and the Politics of Abortion in the United States". Med Hist. 49 (4): 423–44. doi:10.1017/s0025727300009145. PMC 1251638. PMID 16562329.
  99. ^ . who.int. Archived from the original on January 13, 2011. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
  100. ^ Safe abortion: technical and policy guidance for health systems (PDF) (2nd ed.). World Health Organization. 2012. p. 49. ISBN 9789241548434. Sound epidemiological data show no increased risk of breast cancer for women following spontaneous or induced abortion.
  101. ^ "Abortion, Miscarriage, and Breast Cancer Risk". National Cancer Institute. February 20, 2003. from the original on December 21, 2010. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
  102. ^ . oversight.house.gov. Archived from the original on November 4, 2009. Retrieved April 14, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  103. ^ "Is Abortion Linked to Breast Cancer?". American Cancer Society. from the original on January 31, 2011. Retrieved January 11, 2011.
  104. ^ Committee On Gynecologic, Practice (June 2009). "ACOG Committee Opinion No. 434: induced abortion and breast cancer risk". Obstetrics and Gynecology. 113 (6): 1417–8. doi:10.1097/AOG.0b013e3181ac067d. PMID 19461458.
  105. ^ "Do abortions cause breast cancer? Kansas State House Abortion Act invokes shaky science for political gain". Slate Magazine. May 23, 2012. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  106. ^ "Misinformed Consent: The Medical Accuracy of State-Developed Abortion Counseling Materials". October 25, 2006.
  107. ^ a b Stotland NL (2003). "Abortion and psychiatric practice". J Psychiatr Pract. 9 (2): 139–49. doi:10.1097/00131746-200303000-00005. PMID 15985924. S2CID 37575499. "Currently, there are active attempts to convince the public and women considering abortion that abortion frequently has negative psychiatric consequences. This assertion is not borne out by the literature: the vast majority of women tolerate abortion without psychiatric sequelae."
  108. ^ Lazzarini Z (November 2008). "South Dakota's Abortion Script – Threatening the Physician-Patient Relationship". N. Engl. J. Med. 359 (21): 2189–2191. doi:10.1056/NEJMp0806742. PMID 19020321. The purported increased risks of psychological distress, depression, and suicide that physicians are required to warn women about are not supported by the bulk of the scientific literature. By requiring physicians to deliver such misinformation and discouraging them from providing alternative accurate information, the statute forces physicians to violate their obligation to solicit truly informed consent.
  109. ^ Bazelon, Emily (January 21, 2007). "Is There a Post-Abortion Syndrome?". New York Times Magazine. from the original on April 24, 2009. Retrieved January 11, 2008.
  110. ^ Mooney, Chris (October 2004). . Washington Monthly. Archived from the original on April 4, 2008.
  111. ^ Stotland NL (October 1992). "The myth of the abortion trauma syndrome". JAMA. 268 (15): 2078–9. doi:10.1001/jama.268.15.2078. PMID 1404747.
  112. ^ "APA Task Force Finds Single Abortion Not a Threat to Women's Mental Health". apa.org.
  113. ^ "Study: No higher mental health risk after abortion". USA Today. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  114. ^ "The big lie about abortion and mental health". Washington Post. Retrieved June 28, 2015.
  115. ^ Violence at US Abortion Clinics.
  116. ^ David Barstow (July 26, 2009). "An Abortion Battle, Fought to the Death". The New York Times.
  117. ^ "Clinic Killings Follow Years of Antiabortion Violence". The Washington Post. January 17, 1995. Retrieved November 16, 2011.
  118. ^ . cbn.com. June 1, 2009. Archived from the original on October 18, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
  119. ^ James Risen and Judy L. Thomas: Wrath of Angels: The American Abortion War, Basic Books, 1998.
  120. ^ "The Signers | Southern Poverty Law Center". Splcenter.org. September 15, 1998.
  121. ^ Aaron Winter. "Anti-Abortion Extremism and Violence in the United States". Retrieved June 28, 2015.

Further reading

Further information: Abortion § Bibliography
  • Critchlow, Donald T. Intended Consequences: Birth Control, Abortion, and the Federal Government in Modern America (2001) excerpt
  • Flowers, Prudence. "‘Voodoo biology’: the right-to-life campaign against family planning programs in the United States in the 1980s." Women's History Review 29.2 (2020): 331-356.
  • Flowers, Prudence. "Fighting the “hurricane winds” of abortion liberalization: Americans United for life and the struggle for self-definition before Roe v. Wade." The Sixties 11.2 (2018): 131-155.
  • Garrow, David J. "Abortion before and after Roe v. Wade: An historical perspective." Labany Law Review 62 (1998): 833+ online.
  • Haugeberg, Karissa. "'How Come There's Only Men Up There?': Catholic Women's Grassroots Anti-Abortion Activism." Journal of Women's History 27.4 (2015): 38–61. excerpt
  • Haugeberg, Karissa. Women against abortion: Inside the largest moral reform movement of the twentieth century (U of Illinois Press, 2017). excerpt also PhD dissertation version
  • Jeffries, Charlie. "Adolescent women and antiabortion politics in the Reagan administration." Journal of American studies 52.1 (2018): 193-213. online
  • Lewis, Andrew R. The rights turn in conservative Christian politics: How abortion transformed the culture wars (Cambridge UP, 2017).
  • Lowe, Pam, and Graeme Hayes. "Anti-abortion clinic activism, civil inattention and the problem of gendered harassment." Sociology 53.2 (2019): 330–346. online
  • McCaffrey, Dawn, and Jennifer Keys*. "Competitive framing processes in the abortion debate: Polarization‐vilification, frame saving, and frame debunking." Sociological Quarterly 41.1 (2000): 41–61.
  • Mason, Carol. "Opposing Abortion to Protect Women: Transnational Strategy since the 1990s." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 44.3 (2019): 665–692. online
  • Mohamed, Heather Silber. "Embryonic politics: Attitudes about abortion, stem cell research, and IVF." Politics and Religion 11.3 (2018): 459-497 .
  • Munson, Ziad. "Protest and Religion: The US Pro-Life Movement." Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics (2019).
  • Nelson, Jennifer. "Sterilization, Birth Control, and Abortion: Reproductive Politics from 1945 to the Present." in A Companion to American Women's History (2020): 299–317. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119522690.ch18
  • Risen, James, and Judy L. Thomas. Wrath of Angels: The American Abortion War (1998).
  • Rohlinger, Deana A. "Friends and foes: Media, politics, and tactics in the abortion war." Social Problems 53.4 (2006): 537-561 online.
  • Williams, Daniel K. "The GOP's Abortion Strategy: Why Pro-Choice Republicans Became Pro-Life in the 1970s." Journal of Policy History 23.4 (2011): 513-539 online.
  • Williams, Daniel K. Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement before Roe v. Wade (Oxford UP, 2016). xiv, 365 pp.

External links

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to United States anti-abortion movement.
 
Look up pro-life in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
  • National Right to Life Committee
  • Americans United for Life
  • American Life League
  • Physicians for Life
  • Family Research Council

January 16, 2023
united, states, anti, abortion, movement, also, called, life, movement, right, life, movement, contains, elements, opposing, induced, abortion, both, moral, religious, grounds, supports, legal, prohibition, restriction, advocates, generally, argue, that, human. The United States anti abortion movement also called the pro life movement or right to life movement contains elements opposing induced abortion on both moral and religious grounds and supports its legal prohibition or restriction Advocates generally argue that human life begins at conception and that the human zygote embryo or fetus is a person and therefore has a right to life The anti abortion movement includes a variety of organizations with no single centralized decision making body 1 There are diverse arguments and rationales for the anti abortion stance Some anti abortion activists allow for some permissible abortions including therapeutic abortions in exceptional circumstances such as incest rape severe fetal defects or when the woman s health is at risk Demonstrators at the 2004 March for LifeBefore the Supreme Court 1973 decisions in Roe v Wade and Doe v Bolton anti abortion views predominated and found expression in state laws which prohibited or restricted abortions in a variety of ways See Abortion in the United States The anti abortion movement became politically active and dedicated to the reversal of the Roe v Wade decision which struck down most state laws restricting abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy 2 3 In the United States the movement is associated with several Christian religious groups especially the Catholic Church and Evangelical churches and is frequently but not exclusively allied with the Republican Party 4 5 The movement is also supported by secular organizations such as Secular Pro Life and non mainstream anti abortion feminists 6 The movement has campaigned to reverse Roe v Wade and to promote legislative changes or constitutional amendments such as the Human Life Amendment that prohibit or at least broadly restrict abortion 1 On the other side of the abortion debate in the United States is the abortion rights movement also called the pro choice movement which argues that pregnant women should have the right to choose whether or not to have an abortion In June 2022 the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade in Dobbs v Jackson Women s Health Organization ending federal abortion rights and allowing individual states to regulate their own abortion laws 7 Contents 1 History 2 Overview 3 Views in opposition to abortion 3 1 Christian groups 3 2 Consistent life ethic 4 Legal and political aspects 5 Demographics 5 1 Within the movement 5 2 Popular opinion 6 Controversies over terminology 7 Methods and activities 7 1 Demonstrations and protests 7 2 Counseling 7 3 Specialty license plates 8 Abortion health risk claims 9 Violence 10 See also 11 References 12 Further reading 13 External linksHistory EditThis section needs to be updated Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information July 2019 Throughout the 1950s and 1960s a movement to liberalize abortion laws gained momentum due in part to the second wave feminist movement and to a number of high profile therapeutic abortion cases such as that of Sherri Finkbine 8 In 1965 a Supreme Court decision in Griswold v Connecticut set a precedent for an expansive right to privacy in the area of reproductive healthcare In the late 1960s in response to nationwide abortion rights efforts a number of organizations were formed to mobilize opinion against the legalization of abortion 9 Most of these were led by Catholic institutions and communities most evangelical Christian groups did not see abortion as a clear cut or priority issue at the time The first major U S organization in the modern anti abortion movement the National Right to Life Committee was formed out of the United States Catholic Conference in 1967 8 The description pro life was adopted by the right to life anti abortion movement in the United States following the Supreme Court 1973 decision Roe v Wade 1 which held that a woman may terminate her pregnancy prior to the viability of the fetus outside of the womb and may also terminate her pregnancy subsequent to viability for the preservation of the life or health of the mother 10 The term pro life was adopted instead of anti abortion to highlight their proponents belief that abortion is the taking of a human life rather than an issue concerning the restriction of women s reproductive rights 1 as the pro choice movement would say The first organized action was initiated by U S Catholic bishops who recommended in 1973 that the U S Constitution should be amended to ban abortion 1 Roe v Wade was considered a major setback by anti abortion campaigners The case and the overturning of most anti abortion laws spurred the growth of a largely religious based anti abortion political and social movement even as Americans were becoming in the 1970s and 1980s increasingly pro choice The first major anti abortion success since Roe s case came in 1976 with the passing of the Hyde Amendment prohibiting the use of certain federal funds for abortions In Harris v McRae anti abortion advocates won a 1980 challenge to the Hyde Amendment That same year anti abortion politicians gained control of the Republican Party s platform committee adding anti abortion planks to the Republican position and calling for a Human Life Amendment to the U S Constitution banning abortion 1 Four anti abortion U S Presidents Ronald Reagan George H W Bush George W Bush and Donald Trump were elected Lisa Miller of The Washington Post wrote about the younger more feminine face of the anti abortion movement with the rise of leaders such as Lila Rose of Live Action Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B Anthony List Charmaine Yoest of Americans United for Life Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America and Kristan Hawkins of Students for Life all youngish Christian working mothers with children at home who seek to combat the image of the anti abortion movement as made up of old white men who cannot relate to the experience of pregnant women 11 The anti abortion movement has been successful in recent years in promoting new laws against abortion within the states The Guttmacher Institute said eighty laws restricting abortion were passed in the first six months of 2011 more than double the previous record of 34 abortion restrictions enacted in 2005 and more than triple the 23 enacted in 2010 12 In 2019 six U S states Georgia Kentucky Louisiana Missouri Mississippi and Ohio enacted fetal heartbeat abortion bills 13 These heartbeat bills generally restrict abortion to the time period in pregnancy before a fetal heartbeat can be detected which can be as early as six weeks of gestation or as late as twelve weeks The bills face legal challenges with their supporters stating they hope the legislation will allow the United States Supreme Court to reconsider Roe v Wade 13 Other abortion related laws passed in several US states during this time period which were upheld by the judicial system include laws requiring an ultrasound before an abortion 14 and laws that mandate fetal burial or cremation after an abortion 15 In June 2022 the Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v Wade allowing states to regulate their own separate abortion laws and effectively ending the nationwide right to abortion 7 Overview EditSee also Abortion debate Ethical aspects of abortion and Emergency contraception The anti abortion movement includes a variety of organizations with no single centralized decision making body 1 There are diverse arguments and rationales for the anti abortion stance Many socially conservative organizations are involved in the anti abortion movement Some groups focus solely on promoting the anti abortion cause such as American Life League the Susan B Anthony List National Right to Life Committee Americans United for Life and Live Action among many others Other groups support not only the anti abortion cause but the broader family values cause such as Family Research Council Focus on the Family American Family Association and Concerned Women for America among many others Abortion opponents generally believe that human life should be valued either from fertilization or implantation until natural death citation needed The contemporary anti abortion movement is typically but not exclusively influenced by conservative Christian beliefs and has influenced certain strains of bioethical utilitarianism 16 vague From that viewpoint any action which destroys an embryo or fetus kills a person Any deliberate destruction of human life is considered ethically or morally wrong and is not considered to be mitigated by any benefits to others as such benefits are coming at the expense of the life of what they believe to be a person In some cases this belief extends to opposing abortion of fetuses that would almost certainly expire within a short time after birth such as anencephalic fetuses Some abortion opponents also oppose certain forms of birth control particularly hormonal contraception such as emergency contraception ECPs and copper IUDs which may prevent the implantation of a zygote Because they believe that the term pregnancy should be defined so as to begin at fertilization they refer to these contraceptives as abortifacients 17 because they cause the fertilized egg to be flushed out during menses The Catholic Church endorses this view 18 There are however anti abortion physicians 19 who concur with the view that hormonal contraception does not block implantation 20 Attachment to an anti abortion position is often but not exclusively connected to religious beliefs about the sanctity of life see also culture of life Exclusively secular humanist positions against abortion tend to be a minority viewpoint citation needed among anti abortion advocates these groups say that their position is based on human rights and biology rather than religion 21 22 23 Some holding the anti abortion position also hold a complementarian view of gender roles though there is also a self described feminist element inside the movement 24 Views in opposition to abortion EditSee also Religion and abortion Sanctity of life and Culture of life The variety in opinion on the issue of abortion is reflected in the diverse views of religious groups For example the Catholic Church considers all procured abortions morally evil 25 while traditional Jewish teaching sanctions abortion if necessary to safeguard the life and well being of the pregnant woman 26 Christian groups Edit Anti abortion monument of a parish church in Brooklyn New York See also Christianity and abortion and History of early Christian thought on abortion The only coordinated opposition to abortion in the United States during the late 1960s and early 1970s before the Roe v Wade decision was from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and its Family Life Bureau Mobilization of a wide scale anti abortion movement began immediately after 1973 with the creation of the National Right to Life Committee NRLC 27 Before 1980 the Southern Baptist Convention officially advocated for loosening of abortion restrictions 28 During the 1971 and 1974 Southern Baptist Conventions Southern Baptists were called upon to work for legislation that will allow the possibility of abortion under such conditions as rape incest clear evidence of severe fetal deformity and carefully ascertained evidence of the likelihood of damage to the emotional mental and physical health of the mother 28 W Barry Garrett wrote in the Baptist Press Religious liberty human equality and justice are advanced by the Roe v Wade Supreme Court abortion decision 28 By 1980 conservative Protestant leaders became vocal in their opposition to legalized abortion 28 and by the early 1990s Pat Robertson s Christian Coalition of America became a significant anti abortion organization 29 In 2005 Richard Land president of the Southern Baptist Convention s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission said that making abortion illegal is more important than any other issue 30 Much of the anti abortion movement in the United States and around the world finds support in the Roman Catholic Church the Christian right the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod and the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod the Church of England the Anglican Church in North America the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints LDS 31 32 33 34 However the anti abortion teachings of these denominations vary considerably The Eastern Orthodox Church and Roman Catholic Church consider abortion to be immoral in all cases but may in some cases permit an act citation needed which indirectly and without intent results in the death of the fetus in a case where the mother s life is threatened In Pope John Paul II s Letter to Families he simply stated the Roman Catholic Church s view on abortion and euthanasia Laws which legitimize the direct killing of innocent human beings through abortion or euthanasia are in complete opposition to the inviolable right to life proper to every individual they thus deny the equality of everyone before the law The National Association of Evangelicals has adopted a number of resolutions stating its opposition to abortion but recognizes that there might be situations in which terminating a pregnancy is warranted such as protecting the life of a mother or in cases of rape or incest 35 36 The position of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints LDS Church is that elective abortion for personal or social convenience is contrary to the will and the commandments of God but that abortion may be justified where the pregnancy endangers life of the mother or where the pregnancy is the outcome of rape or incest 35 The Taskforce of United Methodists on Abortion and Sexuality TUMAS was formed in 1987 to further the anti abortion ministry in The United Methodist Church 37 The Southern Baptist Convention believes that abortion is allowable only in cases where there is a direct threat to the life of the woman 35 Among Mainline Protestant denominations the Episcopal Church recognizes a right of a pregnant woman to terminate a pregnancy but opposes abortion as a means of birth control family planning sex selection or any reason of mere convenience 35 The United Church of Christ supports abortion rights viewing it as a matter of reproductive health and justice 35 The Presbyterian Church U S A adopts the view that abortion is a personal choice but acknowledges diverse conclusions and actions within the church on the issue 35 The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America s position is that abortion prior to the point of viability should not be prohibited by law or by lack of public funding but that abortion after the point of fetal viability should be prohibited except when the life of a mother is threatened or when fetal abnormalities pose a fatal threat to a newborn 35 Consistent life ethic Edit Supporters of the consistent life ethic also oppose abortions as one of the acts that end human life In 1979 Juli Loesch linked anti abortion and anti nuclear weapons arguments to form the group Pro Lifers for Survival In 1987 this group defined an ethic of the sanctity of all life and formed the group Seamless Garment Network This group was against abortion euthanasia capital punishment militarism poverty and racism 38 Beginning in 1983 American Catholic Cardinal Joseph Bernardin argued that abortion euthanasia capital punishment and unjust war are all related and all wrong He said that to be truly pro life you have to take all of those issues into account 39 Paul M Perl studied 1996 voter statistics and found that the consistent life ethic is difficult for religious leaders to promote because it combines the generally conservative anti abortion stance with a liberal social attitude 40 Legal and political aspects Edit Democrats for Life of America demonstrates at the 2006 March for Life The Republican Party platform officially advocates an anti abortion position 41 which developed alongside the modern pro life movement Before Roe v Wade the majority of Republicans were not anti abortion including most of the party s leadership which typically cited abortion rights as included within an ideology of limited government and personal freedom 42 At the 1976 Republican National Convention the party adopted an anti abortion amendment as part of their platform for strategic reasons 42 1 The party s leadership hoped to appeal to Catholics a demographic which had traditionally voted Democratic a party at the time containing fairly liberal economic views with mixed opinions on social ones but who might be put off by growing cultural liberalism and who made up the core of the anti abortion movement 42 Over time the anti abortion plank of the Republican platform became one rallying point for a growing conservative religious coalition in the party which drove out many pro choice Republicans and led to a long term shift in the party s public image and identity 8 However there are some pro choice Republicans The Republican group The Wish List supports pro choice Republican women just as EMILY s List supports pro choice Democratic women The Susan B Anthony List SBA List is dedicated to increasing the percentage of anti abortion women in Congress and high public office 43 and seeks to eliminate abortion in the U S 44 The Democrats for Life of America are a group of anti abortion Democrats on the political left who advocate for an anti abortion plank in the Democratic Party s platform and for anti abortion Democratic candidates Former vice presidential candidate Sargent Shriver the late Robert Casey a former two term governor of Pennsylvania and former Rep Bart Stupak D Mich a former leader of the bipartisan anti abortion caucus in the United States House of Representatives have been among the most well known anti abortion Democrats 45 However following his vote in favor of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Marjorie Dannenfelser of the SBA List reported that her organization was revoking an anti abortion award it had been planning to give to Stupak 46 and anti abortion organizations accused Stupak of having betrayed the anti abortion movement 47 48 49 The New York Times reported in 2011 that the anti abortion movement in the United States had been undergoing a disagreement over tactics Since Roe v Wade was decided in 1973 the movement had usually focused on chipping away at Roe through incremental restrictions such as laws requiring parental consent or women to see sonograms restricting late term abortions etc with the goal of limiting abortions and changing hearts and minds until there is a majority on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe However some activists were calling for an all out legal assault on Roe v Wade seeking the enactment of laws defining legal personhood as beginning at fertilization or prohibiting abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detectable at six to eight weeks in the hope that court challenges to such laws would lead the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade Such activists believed that then Justice Anthony Kennedy who nearly decided to overturn Roe in Planned Parenthood v Casey was open to rethinking Roe Others feared that such a legal challenge would result in the solidification of the 1973 decision in Roe Evangelical Christian groups tended to be in the former camp and Catholic groups in the latter 50 Among those who believe that abortion is murder some believe it may be appropriate to punish it with death While attempts to criminalize abortion generally focus on the doctor Texas state Rep Tony Tinderholt R introduced a bill in 2017 and 2019 that may enable the death penalty in Texas for women who have abortions 51 and the Ohio legislature considered a similar bill in 2018 52 Demographics EditWithin the movement Edit Studies indicate that activists within the American anti abortion movement are predominantly white and religious Scholars continue to dispute the primary factors that cause individuals to become anti abortion activists While some have suggested that a particular moral stance or worldview leads to activism others have suggested that activism leads individuals to develop particular moral positions and worldviews A 1981 survey of dues paying members of the National Right to Life Committee NRLC by sociologist Donald O Granberg found that survey respondents held conservative views on sex sex education and contraception Additionally Granberg s survey provided basic demographic characteristics of his sample 98 of survey respondents were white 63 were female 58 had a college degree and 70 were Catholic Granberg concluded that conservative personal morality was the primary mechanism for explaining an individual s involvement in the anti abortion movement 53 A 2002 study by Carol J C Maxwell drawing on decades of survey and interview data of direct action activists within the anti abortion movement found that 99 of the sample was white 60 was female 51 had a college degree and 29 were Catholic Like Granberg s 1981 study Maxwell concluded that anti abortion and abortion rights activists held two different worldviews which in turn are formed by two different moral centers 54 In 2008 sociologist Ziad Munson studied the characteristics of both activists and non activists who considered themselves anti abortion The anti abortion activists of Munson s sample were 93 white 57 female 66 Catholic and 71 had a college degree Of non activists who considered themselves anti abortion Munson found that 83 were white 52 were female 45 were Catholic and 76 had a college degree In Munson s analysis personal moralities and worldviews are formed as a consequence of participation in anti abortion activism Munson s analysis differs from previous scholarly work in its assertion that beliefs result from activism rather than causing activism For Munson life course factors make an individual more or less likely to become an activist 55 Popular opinion Edit A 2019 Gallup poll found that men and women in the United States generally hold similar abortion views 19 of both men and women say abortion should be totally illegal 31 of women and 26 of men want abortion to be totally legal 56 In addition 53 of men and 48 of women favored abortion being legal but only under certain circumstances 56 Gallup polling in 2019 found that 25 of Americans believe abortion should be legal under any circumstances 13 under most circumstances 39 under only a few circumstances and 21 under no circumstances 57 A 2020 poll by the Associated Press NORC Center for Public Affairs Research similarly found that 37 of Americans believed abortion should be legal under only a few circumstances This answer was provided by 45 of Catholics and 67 of white evangelical Protestants 58 In the Gallup poll when respondents were first asked about the legality of abortion 49 described themselves as pro life and 46 as pro choice However among people who were not asked about legality first 43 described themselves as pro life and 52 as pro choice Gallup s 2019 polling also found that 50 of Americans believe abortion to be morally wrong while 42 believe it to be morally acceptable and 6 believe that it depends on the situation When asked whether the Supreme Court should reverse their 1973 decision of Roe v Wade 60 opined that the Court should not while only 33 said that it should Polling in 2020 revealed that 32 of Americans are either very or somewhat satisfied about abortion policies as they currently stand while 24 report being dissatisfied and desire stricter policies and another 22 also express dissatisfaction but desire less strict policies 59 According to a 2013 Gallup poll 15 of Americans with no religious identity are anti abortion and slight majorities of Catholics Protestants Southerners seniors and nonwhites reported as anti abortion 60 A 2019 Gallup poll found that Mormons the Southern Baptist Convention and Jehovah s Witnesses have the highest majorities who believe abortion should be illegal in all or most cases while atheists agnostics and Jews have the highest majorities who think the reverse 61 Controversies over terminology EditMain article Abortion debate Terminology Anti abortion advocates tend to use terms such as unborn baby unborn child or pre born child 62 63 and see the medical terms embryo zygote and fetus as dehumanizing 64 65 Protest outside clinic in the Bay Area 1986 Both pro choice and pro life are examples of terms labeled as political framing they are terms which purposely try to define their philosophies in the best possible light while by definition attempting to describe their opposition in the worst possible light Pro choice implies that the alternative viewpoint is anti choice while pro life implies the alternative viewpoint is pro death or anti life 66 In part due to this viewpoint the Associated Press encourages journalists to use the terms abortion rights and anti abortion 67 In a 2009 Gallup Poll a majority of U S adults 51 called themselves pro life on the issue of abortion for the first time since Gallup began asking the question in 1995 while 42 identified themselves as pro choice 68 although pro choice groups noted that acceptance of the pro life label did not in all cases indicate opposition to legalized abortion and that another recent poll had indicated that an equal number were pro choice 69 A March 2011 Rasmussen Reports poll concluded that Americans are closely divided between those who call themselves pro life and those who consider themselves as pro choice 70 In a February 2011 Rasmussen Reports poll of Likely U S Voters fifty percent view themselves as pro choice and forty percent say they are pro life 71 In a July 2013 Rasmussen Reports poll of Likely U S Voters 46 percent view themselves as pro choice and 43 percent say they are pro life 72 Methods and activities EditDemonstrations and protests Edit Mass demonstrations every year American anti abortion advocates hold a March for Life in Washington D C on January 22 the anniversary date of the Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the United States The event typically draws tens of thousands of attendees 73 74 and since 2003 frequently features notable politicians as speakers Similar events take place on a smaller scale in other U S cities such as the Walk for Life in San Francisco California The life chain The Life Chain is a public demonstration technique that involves standing in a row on sidewalks holding signs bearing anti abortion messages Messages include Abortion Kills Children Abortion stops a beating heart or Abortion Hurts Women Participants as an official policy do not yell or chant slogans and do not block pedestrians or roadways Many Right to Life chapters hold Life Chain events yearly 75 and the annual worldwide 40 Days for Life campaigns also use this technique The rescue A rescue operation involves anti abortion activists blocking the entrances to an abortion clinic in order to prevent anyone from entering The stated goal of this practice is to force the clinic to shut down for the day Often the protesters are removed by law enforcement Some clinics were protested so heavily in this fashion that they closed down permanently The rescue was first attempted by Operation Rescue Ever since President Bill Clinton signed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act into law the rescue has become prohibitively expensive and has rarely been attempted The truth display Involves publicly displaying large pictures of aborted fetuses Some anti abortion groups believe that showing the graphic results of abortion is an effective way to dissuade and prevent others from choosing abortion The Pro Life Action League has used this form of activism in its Face the Truth displays Members of one group Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust are known for setting up truth displays on university campuses This group has faced legal battles over the use of such graphic imagery and they have generated debate regarding the protection of such displays by freedom of speech Truth displays are controversial even within the anti abortion movement 76 Picketing The majority of the facilities that perform abortions in the United States experience some form of protest from anti abortion demonstrators every year of which the most common form is picketing In 2007 11 113 instances of picketing were either reported to or obtained by the National Abortion Federation 77 Counseling Edit Sidewalk counseling Sidewalk counseling is a form of anti abortion advocacy which is conducted outside of abortion clinics Activists seek to communicate with those entering the building or with passersby in general in an effort to persuade them not to have an abortion or to reconsider their position on the morality of abortion 78 They do so by trying to engage in conversation displaying signs distributing literature or giving directions to a nearby crisis pregnancy center 78 The Chicago Method is an approach to sidewalk counseling that involves giving those about to enter an abortion facility copies of lawsuits filed against the facility or its physicians The name comes from the fact that it was first used by Pro Life Action League in Chicago 79 The intent of the Chicago Method is to turn the woman away from a facility that the protesters deem unsafe thus giving her time to reconsider her choice to abort 80 non primary source needed Crisis pregnancy centers Crisis pregnancy centers are non profit organizations mainly in the United States established to persuade pregnant women against having an abortion 81 82 These centers are typically run by anti abortion Christians according to a conservative Christian philosophy 83 and they often disseminate false medical information usually but not exclusively about the supposed health risks and mental health risks of abortion 84 85 86 87 1 The centers usually provide peer counseling against abortion and sometimes also offer adoption referrals or baby supplies 88 Most are not licensed and do not provide medical services 89 though some offer sonograms claiming that women who see such sonograms decide not to have an abortion 82 Legal and legislative action regarding CPCs has generally attempted to curb false or deceptive advertising undertaken in pursuit of the anti abortion cause 90 Several thousand CPCs exist in the United States 83 often operating in affiliation with one of three umbrella organizations Care Net Heartbeat International and Birthright International with hundreds in other countries By 2006 U S CPCs had received more than 60 million of federal funding including some funding earmarked for abstinence only programs 91 as well as state funding from many states 82 Specialty license plates Edit In the United States some states issue specialty license plates that have an anti abortion theme Choose Life an advocacy group founded in 1997 was successful in securing an anti abortion automobile tag in Florida Subsequently the organization has been actively helping groups in other states pursue Choose Life license plates 92 93 Abortion health risk claims EditSome anti abortion organizations and individuals disseminate false medical information and unsupported pseudoscientific 94 95 claims about alleged physical and mental health risks of abortion 96 87 Many right to life organizations claim that abortion damages future fertility or causes breast cancer 97 98 which is contradicted by the medical professional organizations 99 100 101 102 103 104 Some states such as Alaska Mississippi West Virginia Texas and Kansas have passed laws requiring abortion providers to warn patients of a link between abortion and breast cancer and to issue other scientifically unsupported warnings 105 106 Some right to life advocacy groups allege a link between abortion and subsequent mental health problems 107 Some U S state legislatures have mandated that patients be told that abortion increases their risk of depression and suicide despite the fact that such risks are not supported by the bulk of the scientific literature 107 108 109 110 111 and are contradicted by mainstream organizations of mental health professionals such as the American Psychological Association 112 113 114 Violence EditMain article Anti abortion violence Violent incidents directed against abortion providers have included arson and bombings of abortion clinics and murders or attempted murders of physicians and clinic staff especially the doctors that provide abortions Acts of violence against abortion providers and facilities in North America have largely subsided following a peak in the mid 1990s 115 which included the murders of Drs David Gunn John Britton and Barnett Slepian and the attempted murder of Dr George Tiller Tiller was later murdered in his church in 2009 116 As of 1995 nearly all anti abortion leaders said that they condemned the use of violence in the movement describing it as an aberration and saying that no one in their organizations was associated with acts of violence 117 118 A small extremist element of the movement in the USA supports raises money for and attempts to justify anti abortion violence including murders of abortion workers which this fringe element calls justifiable homicides An example of such an organization is the Army of God 119 120 121 See also EditAbortion law Anti abortion movements Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act Philosophical aspects of the abortion debate 180 a 2011 anti abortion documentaryReferences Edit a b c d e f g Schultz Jeffrey D Van Assendelft Laura A 1999 Encyclopedia of women in American politics The American political landscape 1 ed Greenwood Publishing Group p 195 ISBN 1 57356 131 2 Staggenborg Suzanne 1994 The Pro Choice Movement Organization and Activism in the Abortion Conflict Oxford University Press US p 188 ISBN 0 19 508925 1 Greenhouse Linda 2010 Before Roe v Wade Voices that Shaped the Abortion Debate Before the Supreme Court s Ruling Kaplan Publishing ISBN 978 1 60714 671 1 Archived from the original on January 14 2013 Susan Welch John Gruhl John Comer Susan M Rigdon 2009 Understanding American Government 12 ed Cengage Learning p 150 ISBN 978 0 495 56839 1 Democrats for Life Democrats for Life Retrieved November 16 2011 Oaks Laury Spring 2009 What Are Pro Life Feminists Doing on Campus PDF NWSA Journal 21 1 178 203 ISSN 1040 0656 a b Mangan Dan Breuninger Kevin June 24 2022 Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade ending 50 years of federal abortion rights CNBC Archived from the original on June 25 2022 Retrieved June 24 2022 a b c Karrer Robert N 2011 The Pro Life Movement and Its First Years Under Roe American Catholic Studies 122 4 47 72 JSTOR 44195373 via Project MUSE The American Historian Abolishing Abortion The History of the Pro Life Movement in America tah oah org Retrieved April 5 2019 Roe v Wade 98 1856 410 U S 113 1973 Retrieved April 29 2011 A feminine face for the anti abortion movement Washington Post October 24 2011 Retrieved November 16 2011 States Enact Record Number of Abortion Restrictions in First Half of 2011 Guttmacher org July 13 2011 Retrieved November 16 2011 a b Abortion Bans 9 States Have Passed Bills to Limit the Procedure This Year The New York Times May 29 2019 Mairead Mcardle December 9 2019 Supreme Court upholds Kentucky law requiring abortionists to describe an ultrasound to woman National Review Supreme Court upholds Indiana provision mandating burial or cremation of fetal remains National Public Radio May 28 2019 Holland S 2003 Bioethics a Philosophical Introduction Cambridge Polity Press Finn J T April 23 2005 Birth Control Pills cause early Abortions Pro life America Facts on Abortion prolife com Retrieved January 2 2009 Emergency Contraception and Early Abortion United States Conference of Catholic Bishops August 1 1998 Retrieved January 2 2009 Crockett Susan A Donna Harrison Joe DeCook Camilla Hersh April 1999 Hormone Contraceptives Controversies and Clarifications American Association of Pro Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists Retrieved February 22 2011 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a Cite journal requires journal help Belluck Pam September 7 2018 Science Does Not Support Claims That Contraceptives Are Abortion Inducing The New York Times ISSN 0362 4331 Retrieved May 11 2020 Wallace James Matthew Atheist and Agnostic Pro Life League Homepage Retrieved November 4 2006 Secular ProLife Retrieved December 6 2010 Atheist Secular and Pro Life Catholic World Report Feminists for Life Feminists for Life Archived from the original on December 27 2009 Retrieved May 7 2010 Catechism of the Catholic Church para 2271 Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable Direct abortion that is to say abortion willed either as an end or a means is gravely contrary to the moral law You shall not kill the embryo by abortion and shall not cause the newborn to perish Vatican website Accessed February 5 2011 ANALYSIS September 30 2008 Pew Forums Pewforum org Retrieved November 16 2011 Munson Ziad W 2008 The making of pro life activists how social movement mobilization works University of Chicago Press p 85 ISBN 978 0 226 55120 3 Retrieved December 31 2011 a b c d Randall Herbert Balmer July 3 2006 They Kingdom Come p 12 ISBN 9780465005192 McKeegan M 1993 The politics of abortion A historical perspective Women s Health Issues 3 3 127 131 doi 10 1016 s1049 3867 05 80245 2 PMID 8274866 Baptist Press Archived June 15 2011 at the Wayback Machine Sparks fly in Land s appearance at black columnists meeting Ferguson Susan J 1999 Mapping the Social Landscape ISBN 9780767406161 Retrieved June 28 2015 Sex Politics and Religion The Clash Between Poland and the European Union over Abortion by Alicia Czerwinski in the Denver Journal of International Law and Policy 2003 Oficialnyj sajt Russkoj Pravoslavnoj Cerkvi Mospat ru Retrieved November 16 2011 Abortion churchofjesuschrist org Intellectual Reserve Inc Retrieved May 30 2019 a b c d e f g Religious Groups Official Positions on Abortion Pew Research Center January 16 2013 Resolution on Abortion National Association of Evangelicals 2010 The rebirth of orthodoxy signs of new life in Christianity HarperCollins December 12 2002 ISBN 978 0 06 009785 1 Retrieved January 4 2009 Krier Mich Marvin L 1998 Catholic Social Teaching and Movements Twenty Third Publications p 216 ISBN 9780896229365 Kaczor Christopher Robert 2006 The Edge of Life Human Dignity and Contemporary Bioethics Philosophy and Medicine Vol 85 Springer p 148 ISBN 9781402031564 Hester Joseph P 2003 The Ten Commandments A Handbook of Religious Legal and Social Issues McFarland p 221 ISBN 9780786414192 2004 Republican Party Platform A Safer World and a More Hopeful America Archived February 26 2008 at the Wayback Machine p 84 a b c Williams Daniel 2011 The GOP s Abortion Strategy Why Pro Choice Republicans Became Pro Life in the 1970s Journal of Policy History 23 4 513 539 doi 10 1017 S0898030611000285 S2CID 154353515 Its connected Candidate Fund increases the percentage of pro life women in politics http www suzyb org blog Elections Retrieved September 25 2008 SBA List Mission Advancing Mobilizing and Representing Pro Life Women Susan B Anthony List 2008 Archived from the original on October 27 2014 Retrieved October 18 2010 To accomplish our ultimate goal of ending abortion in this country PATRICK O CONNOR March 21 2010 Historic win close after Bart Stupak deal Politico Retrieved November 16 2011 Choice Life Groups Slam Obama Order on Abortion Funding Fox News March 21 2010 Stupak From Prolife Groups Hero to Villain In a Nanosecond Christianity Today A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction Christianity Today March 22 2010 Retrieved September 19 2011 Bart Stupak s Retirement Stirs Mixed Reactions Christian News Christianpost com April 10 2010 Retrieved September 19 2011 Parker Kathleen March 24 2010 Stupak s fall from pro life grace The Washington Post Eckholm Erik December 4 2011 Anti Abortion Groups Are Split on Legal Tactics The New York Times Gstalter Morgan April 10 2019 GOP Texas lawmaker reintroduces bill to allow death penalty for women who have abortions The Hill Retrieved April 10 2019 Panetta Grace November 20 2018 Ohio s legislature is considering laws to ban abortion after 6 weeks and could punish patients and abortion providers with the death penalty Business Insider Retrieved April 10 2019 Granberg Donald 1981 The Abortion Activists Family Planning Perspectives 13 4 157 163 doi 10 2307 2134620 JSTOR 2134620 PMID 7286166 Maxwell Carol J C 2002 Pro life activists in America Cambridge University Press ISBN 0521660440 Munson Ziad 2008 The making of pro life activists University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0226551203 a b Saad Lydia June 14 2018 Men Women Generally Hold Similar Abortion Attitudes News gallup com Majority in U S Still Want Abortion Legal With Limits Gallup com June 25 2019 Retrieved May 15 2020 White evangelicals distinct on LGBTQ rights abortion NBC News AP January 2 2020 Retrieved May 15 2020 Abortion Gallup Historical Trends Americans Misjudge U S Abortion Views May 15 2013 American religious groups vary widely in their views of abortion Pew Research Center Retrieved August 29 2020 Chamberlain Pam Hardisty Jean 2007 The Importance of the Political Framing of Abortion The Public Eye Magazine 14 1 The Roberts Court Takes on Abortion New York Times November 5 2006 Retrieved January 18 2008 Brennan Dehumanizing the vulnerable 2000 Getek Kathryn Cunningham Mark February 1996 A Sheep in Wolf s Clothing Language and the Abortion Debate Princeton Progressive Review Example of anti life terminology PDF Archived from the original PDF on July 27 2011 Retrieved November 16 2011 Goldstein Norm ed The Associated Press Stylebook Philadelphia Basic Books 2007 Saad Lydia May 15 2009 More Americans Pro Life Than Pro Choice for First TimeAlso fewer think abortion should be legal under any circumstances Gallup Inc Retrieved February 26 2011 Majority of Americans now pro life poll says Associated Press May 15 2009 Americans Think New State Laws Will Reduce Number of Abortions Rasmussen Reports LLC March 10 2011 Retrieved March 15 2011 While the country remains closely divided between those who call themselves pro life and those who view themselves as pro choice the majority of Likely U S Voters think abortion is morally wrong in most cases Half of U S Voters are Pro Choice But 53 Say Abortion s Usually Morally Wrong Rasmussen Reports LLC February 17 2011 Retrieved March 19 2011 46 Are Pro Choice 43 Pro Life Retrieved November 27 2013 Frank Somerville Richard O Mara January 24 1997 Keeler exhorts March for Life crowd The Baltimore Sun Retrieved July 12 2018 The U S Park Police estimated 45 000 people marched about 10 000 more than last year Keyes Allison January 25 2013 Anti Abortion March For Life Draws Thousands In Washington Retrieved July 12 2018 Tens of thousands of anti abortion protesters gathered on the National Mall on Friday to mark the 40th anniversary of the Roe v Wade decision that legalized abortion National Life Chain nationallifechain org Retrieved September 25 2008 Pavone Frank A Should We Use Graphic Images Priests for Life Retrieved September 7 2007 Quote Even among those who oppose abortion answers to this question Should we use graphic images vary NAF Violence and Disruption Statistics PDF National Abortion Federation Retrieved July 28 2008 a b Hill v Colorado 98 1856 530 U S 703 2000 Retrieved December 13 2006 Controversy in the Activist Movement Pro Life Action News August 2000 Archived June 18 2007 at the Wayback Machine The Chicago Method Sidewalk Counseling that appeals to the Mother s concerns for her own well being Priests for Life Bazelon Emily January 21 2007 Is There a Post Abortion Syndrome The New York Times Archived from the original on April 24 2009 a b c Chandler Michael Alison September 9 2006 Antiabortion Centers Offer Sonograms to Further Cause Washington Post p html Retrieved February 24 2008 a b Gibbs Nancy February 15 2007 The Grass Roots Abortion War Time Archived from the original on February 18 2007 Bryant AG Levi EE Levi July 2012 Abortion misinformation from crisis pregnancy centers in North Carolina Contraception 86 6 752 6 doi 10 1016 j contraception 2012 06 001 PMID 22770790 Bryant Comstock Katelyn Bryant Amy G Narasimhan Subasri Levi Erika E February 2016 Information about Sexual Health on Crisis Pregnancy Center Web Sites Accurate for Adolescents Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology 29 1 22 25 doi 10 1016 j jpag 2015 05 008 PMID 26493590 Banerjee Neela February 2 2005 Church Groups Turn to Sonogram to Turn Women From Abortions The New York Times Retrieved August 18 2013 For example the Bowie center distributes leaflets that state there is a link between abortion and a greater risk of breast cancer Studies by the National Cancer Institute in 2003 and the University of Oxford last year concluded that abortion did not increase such risks a b Rankin Lauren February 26 2014 The Seven Most Common Lies About Abortion Rolling Stone Retrieved June 28 2015 Cooperman Alan February 21 2002 Abortion Battle Prenatal Care or Pressure Tactics Washington Post Archived from the original on February 23 2002 Committee on Government Reform Minority Staff Special Investigations Division July 2006 False and Misleading Health Information Provided by Federally Funded Pregnancy Resource Centers PDF United States House of Representatives Archived from the original PDF on May 4 2013 Retrieved November 3 2012 Lewin Tamar April 22 1994 Anti Abortion Center s Ads Ruled Misleading The New York Times Edsall Thomas B March 22 2006 Grants Flow To Bush Allies On Social Issues Washington Post pp A01 Retrieved November 6 2007 Burge Kathleen Driving force Boston Globe May 5 2006 Madigan Erin Choose Life Car Tags Spark Debate Stateline org November 25 2002 Elster Naomi September 29 2017 It s time to talk about the pseudoscience corrupting the abortion debate The Guardian Retrieved December 19 2019 Despite the broadening and widening of the pro choice movement there remains a near total ban on abortion and an aggravating amount of pseudoscience in the air When researchers from Johns Hopkins University examined a large number of studies on abortion and mental health the ones carried out to the highest standards revealed that there were very few if any negative mental health consequences of having an abortion Despite this we are constantly hearing that abortions lead to mental health problems Twice in the past week we have also encountered the insidious myth that abortion causes breast cancer because of the resultant hormone changes Naomi Elster Retrieved December 19 2019 Naomi Elster is a writer and a scientist She has a PhD in breast cancer Her nonfiction covers science health and an evidence based approach to women s issues Bryant AG Levi EE July 2012 Abortion misinformation from crisis pregnancy centers in North Carolina Contraception 86 6 752 6 doi 10 1016 j contraception 2012 06 001 PMID 22770790 Fetuses Feel Pain at 20 Weeks and 4 Other Anti Abortion Myths Mother Jones Retrieved June 28 2015 Jasen P October 2005 Breast Cancer and the Politics of Abortion in the United States Med Hist 49 4 423 44 doi 10 1017 s0025727300009145 PMC 1251638 PMID 16562329 WHO Induced abortion does not increase breast cancer risk who int Archived from the original on January 13 2011 Retrieved January 11 2011 Safe abortion technical and policy guidance for health systems PDF 2nd ed World Health Organization 2012 p 49 ISBN 9789241548434 Sound epidemiological data show no increased risk of breast cancer for women following spontaneous or induced abortion Abortion Miscarriage and Breast Cancer Risk National Cancer Institute February 20 2003 Archived from the original on December 21 2010 Retrieved January 11 2011 Politics amp Science Investigating the State of Science Under the Bush Administration oversight house gov Archived from the original on November 4 2009 Retrieved April 14 2008 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint unfit URL link Is Abortion Linked to Breast Cancer American Cancer Society Archived from the original on January 31 2011 Retrieved January 11 2011 Committee On Gynecologic Practice June 2009 ACOG Committee Opinion No 434 induced abortion and breast cancer risk Obstetrics and Gynecology 113 6 1417 8 doi 10 1097 AOG 0b013e3181ac067d PMID 19461458 Do abortions cause breast cancer Kansas State House Abortion Act invokes shaky science for political gain Slate Magazine May 23 2012 Retrieved June 28 2015 Misinformed Consent The Medical Accuracy of State Developed Abortion Counseling Materials October 25 2006 a b Stotland NL 2003 Abortion and psychiatric practice J Psychiatr Pract 9 2 139 49 doi 10 1097 00131746 200303000 00005 PMID 15985924 S2CID 37575499 Currently there are active attempts to convince the public and women considering abortion that abortion frequently has negative psychiatric consequences This assertion is not borne out by the literature the vast majority of women tolerate abortion without psychiatric sequelae Lazzarini Z November 2008 South Dakota s Abortion Script Threatening the Physician Patient Relationship N Engl J Med 359 21 2189 2191 doi 10 1056 NEJMp0806742 PMID 19020321 The purported increased risks of psychological distress depression and suicide that physicians are required to warn women about are not supported by the bulk of the scientific literature By requiring physicians to deliver such misinformation and discouraging them from providing alternative accurate information the statute forces physicians to violate their obligation to solicit truly informed consent Bazelon Emily January 21 2007 Is There a Post Abortion Syndrome New York Times Magazine Archived from the original on April 24 2009 Retrieved January 11 2008 Mooney Chris October 2004 Research and Destroy How the religious right promotes its own experts to combat mainstream science Washington Monthly Archived from the original on April 4 2008 Stotland NL October 1992 The myth of the abortion trauma syndrome JAMA 268 15 2078 9 doi 10 1001 jama 268 15 2078 PMID 1404747 APA Task Force Finds Single Abortion Not a Threat to Women s Mental Health apa org Study No higher mental health risk after abortion USA Today Retrieved June 28 2015 The big lie about abortion and mental health Washington Post Retrieved June 28 2015 Violence at US Abortion Clinics David Barstow July 26 2009 An Abortion Battle Fought to the Death The New York Times Clinic Killings Follow Years of Antiabortion Violence The Washington Post January 17 1995 Retrieved November 16 2011 Pro life Leaders Respond to Tiller Shooting cbn com June 1 2009 Archived from the original on October 18 2014 Retrieved October 13 2014 James Risen and Judy L Thomas Wrath of Angels The American Abortion War Basic Books 1998 The Signers Southern Poverty Law Center Splcenter org September 15 1998 Aaron Winter Anti Abortion Extremism and Violence in the United States Retrieved June 28 2015 Further reading EditFurther information Abortion Bibliography Critchlow Donald T Intended Consequences Birth Control Abortion and the Federal Government in Modern America 2001 excerpt Flowers Prudence Voodoo biology the right to life campaign against family planning programs in the United States in the 1980s Women s History Review 29 2 2020 331 356 Flowers Prudence Fighting the hurricane winds of abortion liberalization Americans United for life and the struggle for self definition before Roe v Wade The Sixties 11 2 2018 131 155 Garrow David J Abortion before and after Roe v Wade An historical perspective Labany Law Review 62 1998 833 online Haugeberg Karissa How Come There s Only Men Up There Catholic Women s Grassroots Anti Abortion Activism Journal of Women s History 27 4 2015 38 61 excerpt Haugeberg Karissa Women against abortion Inside the largest moral reform movement of the twentieth century U of Illinois Press 2017 excerpt also PhD dissertation versionJeffries Charlie Adolescent women and antiabortion politics in the Reagan administration Journal of American studies 52 1 2018 193 213 onlineLewis Andrew R The rights turn in conservative Christian politics How abortion transformed the culture wars Cambridge UP 2017 Lowe Pam and Graeme Hayes Anti abortion clinic activism civil inattention and the problem of gendered harassment Sociology 53 2 2019 330 346 online McCaffrey Dawn and Jennifer Keys Competitive framing processes in the abortion debate Polarization vilification frame saving and frame debunking Sociological Quarterly 41 1 2000 41 61 Mason Carol Opposing Abortion to Protect Women Transnational Strategy since the 1990s Signs Journal of Women in Culture and Society 44 3 2019 665 692 onlineMohamed Heather Silber Embryonic politics Attitudes about abortion stem cell research and IVF Politics and Religion 11 3 2018 459 497 online Munson Ziad Protest and Religion The US Pro Life Movement Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Politics 2019 Nelson Jennifer Sterilization Birth Control and Abortion Reproductive Politics from 1945 to the Present in A Companion to American Women s History 2020 299 317 https doi org 10 1002 9781119522690 ch18 Risen James and Judy L Thomas Wrath of Angels The American Abortion War 1998 Rohlinger Deana A Friends and foes Media politics and tactics in the abortion war Social Problems 53 4 2006 537 561 online Williams Daniel K The GOP s Abortion Strategy Why Pro Choice Republicans Became Pro Life in the 1970s Journal of Policy History 23 4 2011 513 539 online Williams Daniel K Defenders of the Unborn The Pro Life Movement before Roe v Wade Oxford UP 2016 xiv 365 pp External links Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to United States anti abortion movement Look up pro life in Wiktionary the free dictionary National Right to Life Committee Americans United for Life American Life League Physicians for Life Family Research Council Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title United States anti abortion movement amp oldid 1133685985, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.