Background on Abortion

Basic terminology of the abortion debate

• ‘Roe v. Wade’ refers to the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.
• ‘Right to Choose’ refers to a pro-choice stance, upholding Roe v. Wade.
• ‘Right to Life’ refers to a pro-life stance, seeking to overturn or limit Roe v. Wade
• Pro-life advocates refer to Roe v. Wade as an example of ‘Judicial Activism’ or ‘legislating from the bench’, i.e., that judges are making the law rather than interpreting it. In these terms, pro-life advocates believe in ‘Strict Constructionism’, or a literal interpretation of the Constitution with no implied rights.
• A ‘Litmus test’ requires Vice Presidential & Supreme Court nominees to agree with one’s abortion view.
• ‘The Human Life Amendment’ would be a Constitutional Amendment overturning Roe v. Wade. There is currently no such Amendment pending, but proponents regularly introduce ‘Human Life Bills’ in Congress.
• States’ Rights: Most pro-life legislation aims at overturning Roe v. Wade, which means returning the decision about abortion to the states. In contrast, a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution would ban abortion in all states. Overturning Roe v. Wade would NOT ban abortion -- it would then become a state decision, with some states allowing abortion and some restricting or banning it.

New issues for the 2020 campaign

• Planned Parenthood "delivers vital reproductive health care, sex education, and information to millions of women, men, and young people worldwide. The heart of Planned Parenthood is in the local community. Our 49 unique, locally governed affiliates nationwide operate more than 600 health centers, which reflect the diverse needs of their communities." (from their website)
• At issue with Planned Parenthood is their abortion funding, which comes partly from federal sources.
• Pro-choice advocates point out that most of Planned Parenthood's funding and activities focus on contraception and family planning: "Research shows that Planned Parenthood health centers are better able to deliver high-quality, timely contraceptive care to more women than other types of publicly funded family planning providers. Policies excluding Planned Parenthood from the family planning safety net disregard the facts and would have negative consequences for women nationwide."
• Pro-life advocates focus on cutting the abortion funding by cutting all funding to Planned Parenthood. They also point out the origins of Planned Parenthood in the eugenics movement, which applies both to abortion and contraception: "It is certainly a welcome acknowledgment of historical fact that Planned Parenthood is owning the racist, eugenicist history of Sanger. But this does not excuse their continued perpetuation of her legacy through their insidious practice of targeting the most vulnerable, especially poor women and women of color (both of whose populations so often intersect), by locating the vast majority of Planned Parenthood clinics within walking distance of nonwhite neighborhoods."

• TRUMP: Unpredictable abortion funding good; Planned Parenthood bad (Nov 2016)
• BIDEN: Opposes Hyde Amendment, after decades of support (Jul 2019)
• PENCE: Tie-breaker vote to defund Planned Parenthood (Mar 2017)
• HARRIS: Repeal Hyde Amendment; unacceptable that Biden voted for it (Jul 2019)
• Birthday Party Nominee Kanye WEST: Planned Parenthood founded for eugenics against blacks (Sep 2020)
• News on Contraception (Candidates' recent excerpts)

  
  
  

• Human Fetal Tissue is the new term for limiting stem-cell research, encompassing a broader definition than just "stem cells" (see below).
• Federal government defintion (NIH): "Human fetal tissue is defined as tissue or cells obtained from a dead human embryo or fetus after a spontaneous or induced abortion or stillbirth. This definition does not include established human fetal cell lines. Research involving the transplantation of human fetal tissue must be conducted in accordance with applicable Federal, State and local laws."
• The Human Fetal Tissue Research Ethics Advisory Board: (decides federal grant acceptance or rejection): "New U.S. ethics board rejects most human fetal tissue research proposals: At least 10 of the board's 15 members have publicly opposed abortion, fetal tissue research, human embryonic stem cell research, contraception, or a combination of these. The administration's fetal tissue research restrictions are not law and could be reversed by a different presidential administration."
• Regeneron antibody cocktail from fetal tissue: "The experimental antibody treatment taken by Trump to treat COVID-19 was developed using cells derived from human fetal tissue -- a research technique that his administration has sought in general to limit. 'President Trump has been an outspoken opponent of fetal tissue research -- and he used it. I just think it's incredibly hypocritical across the board,' said Lawrence Goldstein, member of the Human Fetal Tissue Research Ethics Advisory Board."
• Did President Trump breach his own fetal cell guidelines? (No!):
  Q: "Did Regeneron use aborted fetal cells to make the monoclonal antibodies that Trump received?"
  A: "No. Although the monoclonal antibodies infused into Trump were not made from or in fetal cells, Regeneron did develop that treatment with the help of a long-lived line of cells established from the kidneys of a fetus electively aborted in the Netherlands around 1972."
  
  
• Fetal Rights: Do the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution apply before birth? The 14th Amendment (and other laws) begins with "All persons born", not "All persons conceived", but that distinction is not settled law....
• Pro-choice viewpoint (ACLU): "A pregnant woman and her fetus should never be regarded as separate, independent, and even adversarial, entities. Yet that is precisely what some anti-choice organizations, legal theorists, legislators, prosecutors, doctors, and courts have attempted to do. They have tried to build support for the notion that the fetus has legal rights independent of the woman carrying it in her womb."
• Criminal prosecution aspects: (ABC News) "In most fetal abuse cases, women have been arrested and charged with various crimes including possession of a controlled substance, delivering drugs to a minor, corruption of a minor, and child abuse and neglect. A pregnant Massachusetts woman was imprisoned for refusing to see a doctor on religious grounds."
• Pro-life viewpoint (Alliance Defending Freedom): "In 1868 when the 14th Amendment was ratified, abortion was illegal in virtually every state most by statute, several by court decision. When the 14th Amendment declared that no person should be denied life without due process of law, it was agreed that unborn children were included in the category of protected persons. The Constitution has been pro-life since 1868."

• TRUMP: End medical research that uses tissue from aborted fetuses ((Jun 2019))
• BIDEN: Voted NO on criminal penalty for harming unborn fetus during other crime (Mar 2004)
• PENCE: Voted YES on making it a crime to harm a fetus during another crime ((Feb 2004))
• HARRIS: Born-Alive Survivors bill tries to illegalize abortion (Feb 2020)
• Reform Party Nominee Rocky De La FUENTE: Reform Party takes no stance on abortion (Jun 2020)
• News on Stem Cells (Candidates' recent excerpts)

New issues for the 2016-2018 campaigns

• ObamaCare abortion funding: Since ObamaCare allows insurance plans to cover abortion services, it has become the focus of the abortion debate:
• Pro-life ruling: (Dec. 2019): "Insurers providing policies on the Obamacare exchanges that cover abortions will have to issue separate bills for that in an effort by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to separate abortion from government funds. 'This rule will ensure that taxpayers do not contribute funds to pay for coverage of abortion services.'"
• Pro-choice ruling: (July 2020): "A federal judge blocked a new federal regulation that would have required insurers on the Obamacare exchanges that cover abortions to issue separate bills for that coverage. [The ruling cited above] ran afoul of a section of the Affordable Care Act barring "unreasonable barriers" to health care, since 'it makes it harder for consumers to pay for insurance because they must now keep track of two separate bills.'"
  
  
• Hyde Amendment: "The Hyde Amendment, named for Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), an anti-abortion champion who died in 2007, prohibits federal funding of abortion in Medicaid and several other health programs run by the Department of Health and Human Services. The Hyde Amendment is not permanent law. It has been included as a rider every year since 1977 to federal spending bills and its exact language changes from time to time."
• Pro-life viewpoint: The Hyde Amendment is "credited with saving literally millions of lives since its enactment. Sadly it is also under attack by pro-abortion forces and lawmakers who want abortion to be free for all women and paid for by taxpayers."
• Pro-choice viewpoint: The Hyde Amendment came about because "Federal restrictions on public funding for abortion affect women other than those who receive Medicaid. Congress had added restrictions to other federal programs. In addition to low-income women on Medicaid, federal employees and their dependents, military personnel, and federal prisoners have all been denied abortion coverage in their health care."
  
  
• Mexico City Policy: Explainer: "Trump reinstated and expanded the Mexico City Policy, renaming it 'Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance.' The policy requires foreign non-governmental organizations to certify that they will not 'perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning' using funds with any source (including non-U.S. funds) as a condition for receiving U.S. government global family planning assistance."
• Pro-choice viewpoint (HRW): "This policy is widely known as the 'Global Gag Rule' due to the restrictions it places on how organizations use their own non-US government funds, including through limiting conversations that health providers can have with their patients and preventing them from pressing for legal change in their own countries."
• Pro-life viewpoint (USCCB): "The 'Mexico City Policy' is the most significant policy initiative on abortion taken by the United States in the area of foreign assistance in the last twenty years. To state it clearly: the Mexico City Policy simply requires non-governmental organizations receiving U.S. aid to refrain from performing or promoting abortion as a method of family planning in developing nations."

New issues for the 2012 campaigns

• Contraception was the surprise issue of the 2012 election campaign. It became relevant because ObamaCare requires that employers provide health insurance for employees, including contraceptives. At issue is when the employer is a church or other organization morally opposed to contraception. Conservatives call this a ‘freedom of religion’ issue; liberals call it a ‘war on women.’
• Burwell v. Hobby Lobby is a landmark Supreme Court decision, made on June 30 2014, allowing corporations to be exempt from providing contraception in their healthcare plan, if its owners religiously object, and there is a less restrictive means of furthering the law's interest. It is the first time that the court has recognized a for-profit corporation's claim of religious belief. The decision is an interpretation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Roe v. Wade

Planned Parenthood v. Casey

Fetal Viability

Abortion Legislation

The details of abortion legislation focus on what the states can regulate and what they can ban in later trimesters:
• ‘Partial-Birth Abortion’ refers to a late-term abortion method which induces a breech delivery and collapses the fetal skull before completing delivery. This procedure is banned in 24 states, but pro-choice advocates, including President Clinton, have sought to overturn state laws with a federal ruling.
  - In April 2000, the Supreme Court rejected a Nebraska law banning partial birth abortions.
  - In June 2000, the Court said that the Nebraska ban was unconstitutional because it had no exceptions and barred second trimester abortions.
• Each state decides if ‘Parental Consent’ is required for teenagers seeking abortions. The Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that spousal consent cannot be required by the states.
• Each state also determines rules about ‘informed consent’, about 24-hour waiting periods, and about when viability occurs after the 1st trimester.
• In Nov. 2005, the Supreme Court heard the case ‘Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood,’ on the issue of parental consent (its first abortion case since 2000). They ruled in 2006 that states may require parental involvement, but not when it risks the health of the minor. No precedents were overturned nor set.
• In April 2007, the Supreme Court upheld the ban, but allowed for future cases about how it is applied.

Stem Cell Research

• ‘Stem Cells’ are undifferentiated cells, which are useful in research for cloning and for treating many diseases. Stem cells are best taken from human fetuses; hence the pro-life opposition. Many pro-life advocates support fetal stem cell research because of the medical potential. In 2001, Pres. Bush announced that the federal policy would be to allow fetal stem cell research on existing stem cell lines but not on new ones.
• ‘Embryonic Stem Cells’ are stem cells derived from embryos, newborn's umbilical cords, etc. The 2008 election debate focuses entirely on embryonic stem cell research, because adult stem cell research (with source cells from non-embryonic sources) is no longer controversial.
• Pro-life advocates generally oppose embryonic stem cell research because of its use of pre-born human source material. There are notable exceptions, however, such as Nancy Reagan and Sen. Orrin Hatch (R, UT) where otherwise pro-life people support embryonic stem cell research for its healthcare benefits.
• As with the rest of the abortion debate, defining the playing field has become important in stem cell research. Defining stem cells as a healthcare issue is a pro-research stance. Defining stem cells as an issue about sanctity of life (e.g., as related to human cloning) is an anti-research stance.
• Most relevantly to presidential elections, the terminology focuses on the term "embryonic". Anti-research advocates will usually say they are "pro-stem cell research," omitting the key term "embryonic" to avoid alienating victims of diseases that might be cured by embryonic research. pro-research advocates will often say they are "for ALL stem cell research," omitting the controversial term "embryonic" to avoid alienating pro-life voters.
• Voters can discern candidates' views on the issue by listening to how the candidate describes adult stem cell research. If the politician considers adult stem cell research just another form of stem cell research, morally equivalent to embryonic stem cell research, then they are pro-embryonic research. If the politician sings the praises of adult stem cell research, for example, specifyinh medical accomplishments that arose from ADULT stem cells, then they are anti-embryonic research.
• In March 2009, Pres. Obama ended the ban on funding embryonic stem cell research. In signing the executive order, Obama said: “When it comes to stem cell research, rather than furthering discovery, our government has forced into what I believe is a false choice between sound science and moral values. In this case, I believe the two are not inconsistent.”

Related Legislation