Abortion is a medical process where a woman terminates her pregnancy. Abortion has been and still is a controversial topic. Abortions were considered taboo because many people didn’t agree to killing a child for their own need. Abortions now are still considered taboo, because of the religious aspect. For many years, the debate on abortion has only grown. The articles, “Abortion” by Barbara Hayler, “Abortion” by Gwen Landolt, and “When Opponents of Legal Abortion Dream….” by Karyn Strickler, all discuss the history and debate of abortion as well as criminal abortions. However, they all talk about a different time and how different laws of abortion are impacting women. 

          “Abortion” by Barbara Hayler is an online research essay that was published in the journal Signs in 1979. In her essay, Hayler first talks about how abortion became the most common surgical procedure after the Roe v. Wade decision. She then reveals the main components of her thesis which is, “… the history of abortion and birth control in America, (II) the abortion reform movement of the 1960s and the antiabortion movement of the 1970s, (III) the decision to abort and its physical mental health consequences, (IV) issues of race and class, and feminist theory on abortion.” (Hayler) Hayler first discusses the history of abortion and the Roe v. Wade case, and how it was a landmark case for women rights. However, many states like Missouri enacted different laws that limited or banned abortion in their own states. She then begins to talk about criminal abortions and how that impacted women and death rates, as they had increased. The essay then discusses the reforms, which includes the birth control movement. Hayler explained that women using birth control in the past was considered taboo, because it meant that a woman was characterless. As time went on, the social stigma of it decreased as the women’s rights movement was becoming more and more successful. Hayler then goes on to talk about the psychological consequences of abortion she witnessed in different studies. In the article she states, “… abortions, all concluded that the predominant responses were relief and happiness, although they might be combined with some negative feelings.” (Hayler) She then talks about her last issue which is race. She talks about how women of color weren’t able to get abortions like white women because of factors like racism and financial reasons. She ends her essay by talking about the feminist theory. She talks about how men asserting their dominance is studied in literature and how that impacts abortions. She also talks about the impacts of abortions on society. She concludes by talking about doing more research on motherhood.  

          The article, “Abortion” by Gwen Landolt is an online research article that was published in Canadian Journal of Public Health in 1976. In the article the author discusses the topic of abortion and the consequences it has on society. In the article Landolt first talks about how The Family Health Division of the Canadian Health Public Association in Canada proposed that abortion should be removed from the Criminal Code. Abortion in the criminal code was meant to protect the unborn child from an abortion by providing it civil rights. The criminal code didn’t allow abortions unless if the mother’s life and health were endangered. The author then continues to discuss the consequences of removing abortion from the code. In the article she states, “In other words, once abortions are readily available, as they already are in some areas of Canada, abortion becomes another method of birth control.” (Landolt) She talks about one study where women in different areas who were getting an abortion were asked if they knew about other birth control methods, and about 60-70% of women knew about the different methods but chose not to use it. Landolt also discusses the rates of legal abortion and criminal abortions. She says that the percent of legal abortions remained stagnant however, the rate of criminal abortions increased, even after abortion was legalized. The author ends her article by talking about the repercussions women must go through. The author says that if a woman had gotten love and support then they would’ve decided to keep their child, but they don’t because of social/economic reasons and stigmas. Instead of working in the health field people should be working to creating social change.  

          The article, “When Opponents of Legal Abortion Dream….” by Karyn Strickler is an online research article that was published in the journal Off Our Backs in 2004. The author first starts off by talking about the history of abortions. Roe v. Wade (1973) ruled that the Constitution of the United States protects a pregnant woman’s liberty to choose to have an abortion without excessive government restriction. The author then talks about former president George Bush and how he signed the partial birth abortion ban law, that didn’t allow abortion past the 3rd trimester. The partial birth law was broad as it didn’t say at what gestation period or in what time of the trimester should a woman get an abortion, so it restricted a lot of abortions. Stickler says that many pro–choice supporters were happy and were engaged in debates, however they ended up losing those debates, because denying woman’s rights were wrong. The author explained that the pro–choice side wants Bush to appoint a conservative in the Supreme Court when one of the justices retire, so they can be at 5-4 and overturn Roe v. Wade. The author then goes back to discuss the partial ban and how any doctor who performs any abortion under the partial ban will be prosecuted. Strickler ends her article by talking about teen pregnancy. In the article it states, “Children whose mothers are not fortunate enough to get an abortion safely will lose their mothers. The woman who bleeds to death from a botched abortion could be your sister, your best friend, your daughter or your favorite aunt…” (Strickler) She talks about the effects of reversing Roe v. Wade and how many women would be impacted because they were denied their right to an abortion. 

          In conclusion, the articles written by Hayler, Strickler, and Landolt had similarities and differences when talking about abortion. The central theme that all the authors discussed in their works was abortion and how it’s a woman’s right that shouldn’t be taken away by the conservative government. Although the time when Strickler had written her article was different, the content of it was almost similar to the other authors, because it discussed the hardships a woman goes through and criminal abortions. What was interesting though, is that Hayler and Landolt’s articles were both published in 1976, yet their point of views in the articles were different. Hayler had an informative tone and supported women getting abortion, whereas Landolt was against the criminal code removal. Her stance was conservative at that point, but then she argued for women’s rights later on. Strickler’s tone was similar to Hayler’s where her tone was informative and supported abortions while discussing the history of Roe v. Wade. What all the articles had in common was supporting women’s rights, and that is very important because our society keeps on becoming more and more conservative and it’s hard for women to claim and express their rights, so it’s important for not only women but people all around to support topics and issues they believe in whether it’s abortion or not. 

Works Cited 

Hayler, Barbara. “Abortion.” Signs, vol. 5, no. 2, 1979, pp. 307–323. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/3173563. Accessed 3 Mar. 2020. 

Landolt, Gwen. “ABORTION.” Canadian Journal of Public Health / Revue Canadienne De Sante’e Publique, vol. 67, no. 4, 1976, pp. 337–338. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41996033. Accessed 3 Mar. 2020.  

Strickler, Karyn. “When Opponents of Legal Abortion Dream….” Off Our Backs, vol. 34, no. 1/2, 2004, pp. 9–11. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/20837984. Accessed 3 Mar. 2020.