Research Paper about Reproductive Rights

The topic of reproductive rights is a big issue today, specifically female reproductive rights. There was a long path of getting women the rights they deserve with reproduction including abortion, Sterilization and birth control or contraceptives. There was a time with no thoughts on any of these topics. To dive deeper, there are male rights too female rights have been the most pressing of the issues. Problems like availability to abortion, minor laws about accessibility to all forms of reproductive rights and the first advancements to help women gets the rights they deserve will be discussed in this essay. 

The article “Abortion is as old as pregnancy” states “The earliest written record of abortion is more than 4,000 years old. Pregnancy has always been accomplished by the seeking and sharing of methods for ending pregnancy” (Paragraph 1, Schenwar). This is an astonishing fact to most people because you think of abortion being very technological as it is today but there were so many ways of performing abortions back in the day. There were reasons 4,000 years ago just like there are today and although some are similar or even the same there are some that have differed since so much time has passed and there has been so many advances in the world. Another article “Sterilization” discusses sterilization as a form of punishment when it was first created and a little abused because it gave someone so much power states “By 1895, he had castrated 11 inmates. Around 1895, he expanded the castrations to women. His practice drew the attention of several regional medical journals and local papers. Eventually, the publicity became a state scandal, with officials expressing both support and opposition for Pilcher's surgeries. Nevertheless, he continued his practice, and by 1897, he had castrated 47 additional inmates, 14 women and 33 men” (Paragraph 3, Trent). Many opinions revolve around birth control or contraceptives, as the article “Are you using the right birth control?” states “Birth-control pills, Depo-Provera and Norplant are three highly effective methods and the easiest to take. Other methods are a diaphragm, IUD and condoms”(Paragraph 1,Graeber). These methods differ in how they work but ultimately, they all are made to do the exact same thing which is prevent someone from getting pregnant if they do not want to. The rates for success of preventing pregnancy is differing with all of these methods also. The types of birth control have changed slightly over the years but have been about the same since the late 90s. There are well-known side effects and precautions and risks which make it a lot more appealing to many people since it is deemed safer. Another issue about birth control is what age should females be allowed to obtain these methods or even learn about them. According to “Minors’ Access to Contraceptive Services” “23 states and the District of Columbia explicitly allow all minors to consent to contraceptive services” (Paragraph 2).