One of the main issues that face the United States today is our health care system and within that there is the issue of reproductive rights. Women today have a variety of resources that allow them to control their reproduction. These resources have been a struggle to obtain and people are still trying to take them away and make them more limited.
As the text points out “a key aspect of reproductive rights is the extent to which women can control their reproductive and therefore shape the quality and character of their lives.” The right for women to be able to choose is a concept that is continually under attack by the America society.
One of the first ways of preventing reproduction was the practice of sterilization. This includes such processes of tubal ligation and hysterectomy. It is a method of permanent birth control. These processes often carry a bad stigma because in history they have been used in the social practice called eugenics.
Another preventive practice is that of the pill. In 1965 in the Supreme Court ruling of Griswold v. Connecticut married couples were for the first time allowed to use birth control. This right was extended to single people in 1972 and then finally to minors in 1977.
The availability of birth control methods often depends on women’s socioeconomic status. For example women on welfare are more likely to be sterilized than women who are not. Another ironic fact is that Medicaid often pays for some sterilization practices while they often do not pay for other birth control options.
All of these practices are there to prevent pregnancy. However when it does occur there are two options, emergency contraception pills and abortion. These are perhaps the most controversy of the birth control methods.
Emergency contraception pill are taking within days of sex to prevent the fertilization of the egg. Thus it is not an abortion. It is also approved by the FDA.
Abortion is often a hot topic in political debates. People typically divide themselves into two categories, Pro-choice and Pro-life. Pro-life advocate’s not practicing abortion while pro-choice advocates the right for the women to choose what option she wants. A side note is that most women who consider themselves feminist also consider them selves pro-choice, however there is an exception. One of the major abortion decisions came in the ruling of Roe v. Wade which overturned the ban on abortions in the states. Since then there have been many people that have tried to go against this ruling.
The right of choice in the matter of reproduction is probably something that we all be an issue in American society. In order to maintain the women’s rights it is always something that we will have to fight for.