Chelsey Macias

A Woman’s Right or an Unborn Child: A Literature Review

While women’s reproductive rights have been a huge topic for many years now, it has

recently become an even bigger issue, especially in the United States, due to certain laws and

regulations put in place against abortions. Just this year, several states including Texas and Idaho

have enacted the six week abortion ban, which, as it sounds, bans abortion six weeks of

pregnance with very limited exceptions.1 All around the world, women have had to endure

numerous encounters of disrimination in regards to their reproductive rights. A few years ago, a

woman by the name of Savita Halappanavar was denied an abortion in Ireland even though her

membranes had ruptured and she had become seriously ill.2 Unfortunately, she ended up passing

away, which could have been prevented if the government had allowed her to receive a medically

operated abortion. Many stand up to make the argument that the act of abortion is unethical since

it is essentially killing an unborn child, but people fail to realize that in certain situations, it may

also be a life or death scenario for the mother herself, as seen in the previous instance. However,

not all instances of abortion will be this way; each woman will have their own reason as to why

they decide to go through with this outcome. A large number of those government officials who

are creating these laws that limit women’s reproductive rights are essentially men, and instead of

supporting women they are discriminating against them. For as long as history has been going

on, women have been treated unfairly in most aspects of society, reproductive rights being one.

This literature review covers both academic and non-academic sources that go over the harsh

realities of women having to endure obstacles surrounding sexism when fighting for access over

abortion. The essay goes over recent events taking place that are reversing the progress society
1
Naide, Sophia and Elizabeth Nash. “State Policy Trends at Midyear 2021: Already the Worst Legislative Year Ever
for U.S. Abortion Rights” Guttmatcher Institute, 1 July 2021.
https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2021/07/state-policy
-trends-midyear-2021-already-worst-legislative-year-ever-us-abortion?gclid=CjwKCAjwr56IBhAvEiwA1fuqGjqt0y
7Ff4WPvd531IK664l4k2EolbTZU---SVbFFXms5gG9CPyD3BoCR-UQAvD_BwE.
2
Norman, Wendy V and Dorothy Shaw. “A Tale of Two Countries: Women’s Reproductive Rights in Ireland and the
US.” BMJ, 7 June 2018, doi:10.1136/bmj.k2471.
has been able to make throughout the years surrounding abortions, how men can positively

contribute to this fight, and how other countries are handling this specific issue in comparison to

the United States.

Current events in the United States government have come to reveal a reversal in how

this society views a woman’s right to her own body on the topic of abortion. A recent news story

explains that the supreme court may have new rulings and laws put into place surrounding

abortion. Jackie Blank, a federal legislative strategist at the center of reproductive rights, says

that if Roe v. Wade is overturned “twenty-four states can act immediately to ban abortion.”3

Instead of progressing forward and being in support of women and their bodies, the government

is instead making a decision towards having more control. Mary Rose Short, the director of

Outreach, Right to Life, California, is an advocate for anti-abortion and makes the point that

overturning Roe v. Wade will actually give back the power that was lost from the states, and even

if this case is overturned, most states with major democrat influence will not immediately make

any changes to their abortion regulations.4 This source allows us to view a bit of both sides, from

those who are pro-choice and against regualting abortion laws, to those who are against abortion

and believe that it is important for the states to be more secure on abortion laws.

A second source that gives a better look into how unjust the government is towards

women and their reproductive rights is a peer reviewed scholarly publication written by Alice M.

Miller and Mindy J Roseman. The authors introduce the CEDAW, the Convention on the

Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and state that it “played a critical

but circumscribed role in the struggle for sexual and reproductive rights,”5 adding on that when it
3
Nguyen, Em. “Rep. Chu Reintroduces Women’s Rights Bill Ahead of SCOTUS Abotrion Case” Spectrum News 1,
July 9, 2021. News Report. https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/politics/2021/06/17/rep--chu-reintroduces-
women-s-rights-bill-ahead-of-scotus-abortion-case#.
4
Nguyen, Em. https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/la-west/politics/2021/06/17/rep--chu-reintroduces-
women-s-rights-bill-ahead-of-scotus-abortion-case#.
5
Miller, Alice M and Mindy J Roseman. “Sexual and Reproductive Rights at the United Nations: Frustration or
Fulfilment?” Reproductive Health Matters, November 2011, Vol. 19, No. 39, pp.107.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0968-8080(11)38585-0.
comes to abortion, “CEDAW appears to be distancing itself rather than moving forward.”6 Here

is a corporation that appears to be in support of women and their reproductive rights, as well as

their sexual rights, but in reality they are not fully going through with what they are supposedly

advocating. Instead of focusing on the harm that restrictive laws on abortion brings to women,

CEDAW is concentrated on the harm women face from illegal an unsafe abortions.7 The

CEDAW fails to see that since the laws are putting all of these restrictions and regulation around

abortion, women are turning towards unsafe options, putting themselves in danger. This

corporation is fixating on a subordinate problem instead of what’s most important: “women are

denied the right of autonomous decision-making.”8

People seem to be doing a lot against women when it comes to their reproductive rights.

In current society, various important men have made public their views on abortion, numerous of

them being against it. For instance, a few years back, twenty-five white Republican men voted

for an anti-abortion ban, demonstrating their beliefs of the unimportance of women’s

reproductive rights.9 Along with these twenty-five men, there have been even bigger public

figures showing their position being against women’s rights. Take Donald Trump for instance,

who served as president from 2016 to 2020. During his presidency, the Trump administration

proposed to stop federal funding towards several family planning facilities if they were to supply

any support towards abortions.10 Having Trump as an important male figure, he was able to

influence countless amount of people, especially men, to think the way he did. However, in the

article “What Do Men Have To Do With Women’s Reproductive Rights,” the authors Gary

Barker and Serra Sippel give examples of how men can be of support towards women in this
6
Miller, Alice M and Mindy J Roseman. 109.
7
Miller, Alice and Mindy J Roseman. 109.
8
Miller, Alice and Mindy J Roseman. 109.
9
Penny, Laurie. “The Criminalization of Women’s Bodies Is All About Conservative Male Power.” The New
Republic, 17 May 2019. https://newrepublic.com/article/153
942/criminalization-womens-bodies-conservative-male-power.
10
Norman, Wendy V and Dorothy Shaw. “A Tale of Two Countries: Women’s Reproductive Rights in Ireland and
the US” 2018.
current issue. They speak out on how men are indeed a part of women’s reproductive rights: men

should be a support towards their female partners and family members, not the issue.11 The

authors give ways in which men can support the women in their life, by using contraceptives

during sex with their partner, and to be respectful and understanding towards their partner if the

topic of abortion were to ever come up in conversation.12 There is much that men can do to be a

solution towards the unfair treatment women recieve on the issue of abortion.

Although women’s reproductive rights and abortion is a current issue in the United

States, there have been some governments and countries that have made positive contributions

towards this. Take Ireland for example. Not too long ago, Ireland’s government decided to

overturn their restriction laws on abortion.13 Ireland had extremely restrictive laws surrounding

the issue of abortion, but once noticing that these laws were causing women much danger

throughout the years, the government decided it to be best to repeal these ristrictions, for the

health of women. Ireland’s government had been able to recognize that putting restrictions on

abortion wouldn’t actually stop it, but instead would lead to women turning towards dangerous

options like doing it themselves. Unlike them, the United States had recently proposed a new

rule known as the “domestic gag rule” which would “undermine fundamental principles of the

standard of care provided to women.”14 This means that women would be provided with limited

information when going through an unplanned pregnancy; only information on continuing the

pregnancy would be available.15 The United States would essentially be pressuring women to go

through with an unwanted pregnancy, which is a violation of their rights. The United States, as
11
Barker, Gary and Serra Sippel. “What Do Men Have To Do With Women’s Reproductive Rights?” Population
Connecticut. https://www.populationconnection.org/article/what-do-men-have-to-do-with-womens-
reproductive-rights/.
12
Barker, Gary and Serra Sippel. “What Do Men Have To Do With Women’s Reproductive Rights?”
13
Norman, Wendy V and Dorothy Shaw. “A Tale of Two Countries: Women’s Reproductive Rights in Ireland and
the US” 2018.
14
Norman, Wendy V and Dorothy Shaw. “A Tale of Two Countries: Women’s Reproductive Rights in Ireland and
the US” 2018.
15
Norman, Wendy V and Dorothy Shaw. “A Tale of Two Countries: Women’s Reproductive Rights in Ireland and
the US” 2018.
well as other countries encountering this specific issue, should take note of the way Ireland has

been handling this issue in their country and make positive changes instead of demonstrating

control over women’s bodies and their freedoms.

All of these sources give different perspectives on the topic of women’s reproductive

rights, specifically that having to do with abortion. Putting them all together allows for these

different perspectives to build on top of one another, giving insight on topics the other sources

may not have gotten to or opened up on. Having these various documents allows the reader to

pull information from each and formulate their own opinions based on details and facts that they

find to make the most sense to them and their views. It is important for others to be educated on

this topic of abortion and women’s reproductive rights, especially in today’s society where it has

become a sensitive topic to many. The more that people become aware of these issues, the closer

everyone is to making progress.

 Bibliography

Barker, Gary and Serra Sippel. “What Do Men Have to Do With Women’s Reproductive

Rights?” Population Connecticut. https://www.populationconnection.org/

article/what-do-men-have-to-do-with-womens-reproductive-rights/.

Miller, Alice M and Mindy J Roseman. “Sexual and Reproductive Rights at the United Nations:

Frustration or Fulfilment?” Reproductive Health Matters, November 2011, Vol.

19, No. 39, pp.102-118. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0968-8080(11)38585-0.

Naide, Sophia and Elizabeth Nash. “State Policy Trends at Midyear 2021: Already the Worst

Legislative Year Ever for U.S. Abortion Rights” Guttmatcher Institute, 1 July

2021. https://www.guttmacher.org/article/2021/07/state-policy

-trends-midyear-2021-already-worst-legislative-year-ever-us-abortion?gclid=Cjw

KCAjwr56IBhAvEiwA1fuqGjqt0y7Ff4WPvd531IK664l4k2EolbTZU---SVbFFX

ms5gG9CPyD3BoCR-UQAvD_BwE.

Nguyen, Em. “Rep. Chu Reintroduces Women’s Rights Bill Ahead of SCOTUS Abotrion Case”

Spectrum News 1, 9 July 2021. News Report. https://spectrumnews1.com/ca/

la-west/politics/2021/06/17/rep--chu-reintroduces-women-s-rights-bill-ahead-of-s

cotus-abortion-case#.

Norman, Wendy V and Dorothy Shaw. “A Tale of Two Countries: Women’s Reproductive Rights

in Ireland and the US.” BMJ, 7 June 2018, doi:10.1136/bmj.k2471.

Penny, Laurie. “The Criminalization of Women’s Bodies Is All About Conservative Male

Power.” The New Republic, 17 May 2019. https://newrepublic.com/article/153

942/criminalization-womens-bodies-conservative-male-power.