Abortion debate

The abortion debate is the ongoing controversy surrounding the moral and legal status of induced abortion. The sides involved in the debate are the self-described "pro-choice" movement (emphasizing the right of women to decide whether to terminate a pregnancy) and the self-described "pro-life" movement (emphasizing the right of the embryo or fetus to gestate to term and be born). Both terms are considered loaded in mainstream media, where terms such as "abortion rights" or "anti-abortion" are generally preferred. Each movement has, with varying results, sought to influence public opinion and to attain legal support for its position, with small numbers of anti-abortion advocates sometimes using violence.

For many people, abortion is essentially a moral issue, concerning the commencement of human personhood, the rights of the fetus, and a woman's rights over her own body. The debate has become a political and legal issue in some countries with anti-abortion campaigners seeking to enact, maintain and expand anti-abortion laws, while abortion rights campaigners seeking the repeal or easing of such laws while improving access to abortion care. Abortion laws vary considerably between jurisdictions, ranging from outright prohibition of the procedure to few limitations on it. Availability of safe abortion care also varies across the world.

Abortion-rights movements

Abortion-rights movements advocate for legal access to induced abortion services. The issue of induced abortion remains divisive in public life, with recurring arguments to liberalize or to restrict access to legal abortion services. Abortion-rights supporters themselves are frequently divided as to the types of abortion services that should be available and to the circumstances, for example different periods in the pregnancy such as late term abortions, in which access may be restricted.

Terminology

Many of the terms used in the debate are seen as political framing: terms used to validate one's own stance while invalidating the opposition's. For example, the labels "pro-choice" and "pro-life" imply endorsement of widely held values such as liberty and freedom, while suggesting that the opposition must be "anti-choice" or "anti-life" (alternatively "pro-coercion" or "pro-death"). These views do not always fall along a binary; in one Public Religion Research Institute poll, seven in ten Americans described themselves as "pro-choice" while almost two-thirds described themselves as "pro-life." The Associated Press favors the more neutral terms "abortion rights" and "anti-abortion" instead.

Abortion Rights

Abortion Rights may refer to: