History of Abortion in the United States

Originally in the United States abortion was not only a legal option, but widely encourage and available to those who desired the procedure. This attitude was widely accepted until 1821 when Connecticut became the first state to make a law against legal abortions. After this first law barring abortions other states began to follow suit to the point where in 1860 twenty states had laws against terminating pregnancies. By 1965 all fifty states banned abortions.

For a long time period the topic stayed untouched on the political scene until 1965 when the Supreme Court, in the case of Griswold v Connecticut, ruled against prohibiting giving married couples information about birth control and contraceptives. This case showed people gave people confidence in their ability to change the political scene regarding birth control, and hinted that changes in other areas, such as abortion, were possible. Very shortly after in 1967 Colorado made the first law that allowed its people to get legal abortions.

In 1973 a landmark case on the topic of abortion was raised. In the case, Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court ruled against state laws that made abortions illegal. This hugely controversial case sparked intense debates, still alive today, on the topic of abortion and its questionable legality. After the ruling in Roe v Wade Congress made the first Hyde Amendment, saying that federal Medicaid would not be used to pay for economically challenged women to have abortions. The next year this amendment was revised, allowing abortions to be covered in cases of rape, incest, or when it would damage on a a long term level the woman.

Today abortion is still a widely debated topic that continues to appear in court cases around the nation. Legislation is still constantly changing regarding limitations and restrictions on abortion and whether or not women should have the right to an abortion.