Recently, Arizona revived an abortion law from 1864 that states that abortion is illegal from the point of conception, and anyone convicted of performing an abortion can be sentenced to two to five years in prison.
Many people consider this to be a violation of their rights and freedoms. Many people find this law outdated and unjust. Abortion laws like this have been enacted around the United States since Roe v. Wade was overturned in June of 2022. Roe v. Wade protected the abortion rights of people around America but was overturned because the right to abortion was not “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history or tradition.” This caused uproar around the United States from men and women alike and caused hundreds of protests against the overturning and the new laws being created in the wake.
Arizona’s law made a massive wave in the fight to return abortion rights because of how old the law was. Most women have expressed extreme dislike for the government controlling their bodies with a 160-year-old law. No abortion past the point of conception and jail time for any doctor convicted of performing an abortion is a lot harsher than a majority of other state’s laws. Most laws put a ban that could allow a mother to find out she’s pregnant and decide what to do, but Arizona’s law doesn’t provide this opportunity.
Morgan Clark (9) says she doesn’t think the law is just: “If the mother’s livelihood is at risk, that should come first. It’s also none of anyone’s business; it’s a very personal and hard choice to make, and I think people should have that choice to begin with.” Morgan’s point of view is vastly shared with millions of women around the United States.
A common misconception is that abortion isn’t a hard choice to make. When women find out they’re pregnant, they have to pick between having the child, which will harm their bodies and drain them, and could potentially kill them, then having to financially and emotionally support them for the rest of their lives.
The other option is getting an uncomfortable procedure done where she will face prejudice for the choice she makes and will potentially have to live with the guilt of aborting the child. Women feel that putting time limits on when you can get an abortion and making it illegal only makes it more stressful and dangerous. “You can ban it, but you’re not gonna stop it; you’re just gonna cause more damaging ones,” said Elizabeth Duffy (11) about how abortion laws affect women. That is also a severe issue with the abortion laws. The government will never stop abortions from happening; it will just make it more dangerous for everyone involved. It will be more hazardous for the person receiving the abortion because they’ll have to travel farther, go to dingy buildings, not be able to receive proper aftercare, and might not get as skilled of a doctor as they could’ve gotten if there wasn’t the threat of jail time for anyone caught having performed an abortion. The pro-choice movement in America continues to grow as more and more people join the cause. They fight to keep abortion safe and accessible for all.
Not all find this law terrible, and some even hope for more laws like the one in Arizona. There are a plethora of reasons that people could be against abortion, the majority being for religious reasons. Ella Meyer (10) is part of this majority; she says she agrees with the Arizona law: “The Bible states that he (God) knows what you’re gonna do when you’re made in the womb, so there’s always a plan even for people who aren’t born yet.”
Millions around America and the world share Ella’s opinion. The United States is a Christian-dominated country, and many Christians and other religions believe that abortion is wrong. They believe that God has a purpose for every new life created, including unborn babies. This is the base for many pro-life laws across America. Some people are ok with abortion up to a certain time, like 6 to 8 weeks, and many abortion laws reflect these beliefs, but some people take it to the extreme. Believing that no life should be wasted, more and more anti-abortion laws that prohibit abortion past conception are coming into play, and jail time for doctors involved is becoming more common, too. That is the case with the Arizona 1864 law, the purpose being to scare doctors away from doing them, therefore making it harder for people to receive abortions, but not impossible.
