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Across the United States, abortion remains one of the most heated and widely contested topics of modern times. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the issue in the groundbreaking case of Roe V. Wade in 1973. That case, decided mainly on the grounds of the privacy protections afforded Americans under the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, set a landmark precedence which has yet to be overturned. This controversial decision can be so fiercely contested that when the President was given the job of appointing a new Supreme Court Justice, among the first areas investigated was where the potential justice presently sits on the issue and the chances that their appointment would upset the judicial status quo on the issue.

The highest court in the land is not the only venue for such debates on the subject though. This complex topic is one that arouses a lot of opposing and compelling rationales as to why this concept should be employed or resisted, with a basis for support and opposition rooted in moral, cultural, logical, and personal values. The debate often becomes muddled when particulars are involved. It is not at all uncommon for proponents of abortion to say that human society would be more satisfied without having additional children in the world with diminishing resources at our disposal, especially if prenatal screening can scientifically show that if the child were born, it would be damaged. This has directed many to resist such claims by referencing the illegality of homicide in the United States, including doctor assisted suicide, arguing that 'legalized murder' should be unquestionably barred on all levels.

As the law stands now though, per the judicial holding in Roe V. Wade, a mother has a right to decide on whether or not she wants to see a pregnancy to completion, subject only to a set of exceptions which have been narrowly tailored and are the smallest restrictive means by which other values have been protected.

Several exceptions that bar a woman from choosing to get rid of her pregnancy include the gestational stage of her pregnancy and the method she wants to employ. For example, partial-birth abortions, once somewhat common place, have now become prohibited by US law. Specifically, the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, which defeated a constitutional challenge four years later in Gonzales V. Carhart, provides criminal penalties for performing such a procedure. Maybe the next avenue for this constant debate takes the form of a pill.