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People on the side of pro-choice and people on the side of pro-life demonstrate the idea of group polarization.  Group polarization begins with a conflict and their different ideological sides emerge.  Once, they come together to voice their opinion on the idea they believe in, their ideas grow and become more extreme.  The good side of group polarization is that, it unit people for the belief that are common among them.  In the example of Abortion, people on both sides argue over when life begins, and no one really knows it.  But, as group polarization emerges, people continue to argue about it.

People on the side of Pro-choice want women to have access to safe and legal abortion when they needs it.  Pro-choice people don’t want the government to involve in making decision when it comes to women issue.  They believe that politician don’t belong in women’s personal medical decision about their pregnancies, because these decisions should be made between women and their doctors.   They believe that a fetus is not a human but an organism that grows in a woman’s womb that becomes a baby.  By legalizing abortion, they could reduce the back alley abortion which is more dangerous and unsafe for women.   Recently in Texas, a senate democrat named Wendy Davis performed an 11-hour-filibuster for a strict abortion law signed by the Governor, Rick Perry.

Wendy Davis Filibusters Texas Anit-abortion Bill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P6hm3ofEe4

Pro-life also known as anti-abortion derives from many religious ideology or people who believe the right of a fetus.  They believe that “life begins at conception”, and a fetus is a human and should have constitutional rights; therefore, abortion is a murder and should be illegal.   Religious groups such as Catholics and Pro-life Republicans believe that abortion should be banned in all states.  They want to defund abortion clinics such as planned parenthood in all states.  Texas, for example, wants to close down all and defund all abortion clinics across their state that recently, Governor Rick Perry signed a strict abortion law in Texas which include banning abortion over 20 weeks.  

2012 Vice Presidential Debate over Abortion

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9N9x1ONbGzU

Discussions and debate about abortion, demonstrate Karl Popper’s theory of an Open society. In Popper’s understanding, an open society, people are encouraged to express their opinions, and to make changes without violence. In the issue with abortion, women in many state had speak out publicly about abortion. In 1960, women organized a women’s liberation movement. They fought, marched, and lobbied to make abortion safe and legal. At speak-outs, women talked publicly for the first time about their illegal abortion experiences. The women’s movement, joined by sympathetic allies within the medical profession, made visible the millions of women who were willing to break the law and risk health and life to obtain an abortion. The movement also connected abortion rights to gender equality.

In the YouTube video “Abortion Debate Scott Klusendorf vs Nadine Strossen”, Klusendorf had provide both scientific evidence and religious view of why women’s should not go through abortion. On the other hand, Nadine Strossen explained women’s right to their body and explained abortion will endanger mother’s life when the mother had a medical problem. Both party had backup their reasons to support abortion or to stop abortion by providing examples and scientific report.

In many cases of illegal abortion, women’s life treated for health complications due to botched, unsanitary, or self-induced abortions; many died, or were left infertile or with chronic illness and pain. These extreme abortion methods perform by unlicensed physicians and self-abortion brought up laws and regulations to protect women’s life and health. These connect to Karl Popper’s idea of Paradox of Intolerance, because we should not tolerate the unsanitary and self-induced abortion methods that endanger women’s life.

http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/index.html

http://www.debate.org/opinions/is-abortion-murder

Abortion is one of the huge ongoing controversial issues in the United Sates.  Almost daily, people on both sides argue and politicians debate on whether abortion should be legal or illegal in the United States.

Abortion was legal in the United States until about late 1800s.  Since then, states have been passing laws that made abortion illegal.  Today, most states banned abortion with an exception to save the life of the mother in some cases.

 Abortion laws differ from states to sates from the strictest Texas to pro-choice, New York.  The debate over why abortion should be legal or illegal continues to split the opinions of Americans since the famous case of Roe vs. Wade (1973) in Texas.  Jane Roe was a 21-year- old Taxes women, who wanted abortion, but she could not get it legally through safe medical procedure.  Her case was brought to the Supreme Court by an attorney named, Henry Wade, who wanted to prevent abortion to be legal.  However, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Jane Roe because the Taxes law violated a person’s right to privacy including a women’s right to decide whether she wanted children or not.

Roe vs. Wade

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_roe.html

There are many reasons why women abort their babies.  The main reasons are that they want to postpone having children or have relationship problems or cannot afford to raise a baby or are too young or have maternal and fetal health problems.  There are some cases when parents decide to abort their child later in the pregnancy after they found out that their child will have certain health problem such as Down syndrome or autism, and they are afraid to have abnormal child.

“While almost all abortions are performed in the first trimester, sometimes, as this case illustrates, women learn later that they are carrying a fetus with devastating anomalies or experience pregnancy complications that place their life or health at risk. Many of these complications are simply not detectable until later in pregnancy.”

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/new-york-new-abortion-laws-article-1.1288959#ixzz2iyJ4b1dL

New YorkState is mostly pro-choice allowing women to make their own decision on abortion.  However, there are statutory laws against illegal and legal abortion.

http://statelaws.findlaw.com/new-york-law/new-york-abortion-laws.html

http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/features/15248/