{|style="float: right; width:250px;border: #FFFFFF solid 1px" | and Gloria Feldt on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court to rally for abortion rights on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade]] |} Pro-choice describes the political and ethical view that a woman should have the choice to continue or terminate a pregnancy. This entails the guarantee of reproductive rights, including access to sexual education, to safe and legal abortion, and to contraception and fertility treatments. Individuals and organizations who support these positions make up the pro-choice movement.

On the issue of abortion, pro-choice campaigners are opposed by pro-life campaigners who generally argue for the rights of unborn fetuses.

Overview

Pro-choice advocates argue that whether or not to continue with a pregnancy is an inviolable personal choice, as it involves a woman's body, personal health, and future. They believe that both parents' and children's lives are better when abortions are legal, thus preventing women from going to desperate lengths to obtain illegal abortions. More broadly, pro-choice advocates frame their beliefs in terms of individual liberty, reproductive freedom, and reproductive rights. The first of these terms was widely used to describe many of the political movements of the 19th and 20th centuries (such as in the abolition of slavery in Europe and the United States, and in the spread of popular democracy) whereas the latter terms derive from changing perspectives on sexual freedom and bodily integrity.

Pro-choice individuals rarely consider themselves "pro-abortion," because they consider abortion an issue of bodily autonomy, and find forced abortion to be as legally and morally indefensible as the outlawing of abortion. Indeed, some who are pro-choice consider themselves opposed to some or all abortions on a moral basis, but believe that abortions would happen in any case and that legal abortion under medically controlled conditions is preferable to illegal back-alley abortion without proper medical supervision.

Some who argue from a philosophical viewpoint believe that an embryo has no rights as it is only a potential and not an actual person and that it should not have rights that override those of the pregnant woman until it is viable.

Many pro-choice campaigners also say that anti-abortion activists oppose sex education and contraception, thus increasing the demand for abortion, and that pro-choice activists, in contrast, support policies that decrease this demand. Proponents of this argument point to cases of areas with limited sex education and contraceptive access that have high abortion rates, either legal, illegal or de facto exported (i.e., where a high proportion of abortions from a state occur outside that state in another country with a more liberal abortion regime). Irish women who visit the United Kingdom for abortions are one example, as were the Belgian women who travelled to France (before Belgium legalized abortion).

Some people who are pro-choice see abortion as a last resort and focus on a number of situations where they feel abortion is a necessary option. Among these situations are those where the woman was raped, her health or life (or that of the fetus) is at risk, contraception was used but failed, or she feels unable to raise a child. Some pro-choice moderates, who would otherwise be willing to accept certain restrictions on abortion, feel that political pragmatism compels them to oppose any such restrictions, as they could be used to form a slippery slope against all abortions.

Pro-choice campaigns worldwide

[[Image:AbortionLawsMap-NoLegend.png|thumb|right|350px|International status of abortion law ]] The issue of abortion remains one of the most divisive in public life, with most political parties in democracies divided on the issue, and continuing battles to liberalise or restrict access to legal abortion. Pro-choice groups are active in all states in the USA, campaigning for legal abortion with varying degrees of success. Few of these states allow abortion without limitation or regulation, but most do allow various limited forms of abortion. Pro-choice campaigners themselves are frequently divided as to the types of abortion that should be available and to what extent access is to be restricted.

Africa

South Africa allows abortion under its Choice on Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1996. Most African nations, however, have abortion bans except in cases where the woman's life or health is at risk. A number of pro-choice international organizations have made altering abortion laws and expanding family planning services in sub-Saharan Africa and the developing world a top priority.

Europe

Most European countries have legalized abortion (in at least some cases) through certain laws (United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, Poland, etc.). Russia, which has one of the highest rates of abortion in the world, legalized the procedure in 1955.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the Abortion Act 1967 legalized abortion, except in Northern Ireland. In Great Britain, the law states that pregnancy may be terminated up to 24 weeks if it:

#puts the life of the pregnant woman at risk #poses a risk to the mental and physical health of the pregnant woman #poses a risk to the mental and physical health of the fetus #shows there is evidence of extreme fetal abnormality i.e. the child would be seriously physically or mentally handicapped after birth and during life.

However, the criteria of risk to mental and physical health is applied liberally, and de facto makes abortion available on demand, though this still requires the consent of two NHS doctors. Abortions in Great Britain are provided for free by the National Health Service. .

The Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats are predominantly pro-choice parties, though with significant minorities in each either holding extremely restrictive definitions of the right to choose, or subscribing to a pro-life analysis. The Conservative Party is more evenly split between both camps and its leader, David Cameron, supports abortion on demand in the early stages of pregnancy.

Ireland

Abortion is illegal in the Republic of Ireland except when the woman is threatened by a medical condition or a suicide risk, since a 1983 referendum amended the constitution. Subsequent amendments – the thirteenth and fourteenth – guaranteed the right to travel abroad (for abortions) and to distribute and obtain information of "services" not available in the country, such as abortion, which are lawful in other countries. A proposal to remove suicide risk as a ground for abortion was struck down in a 2002 referendum. Thousands of women get around the ban by privately traveling to the other European countries (typically Britain and the Netherlands) to undergo terminations.

The Labour Party, Sinn Féin, Communist Party and Socialist Party are in favor of liberalizing the laws. For many other parties (such as the Green Party), it is a 'matter of conscience' and they have no official line on the issue.

Abortion is also illegal in Northern Ireland, except in cases when the woman is threatened by a medical condition, physical or mental.

North America

United States

in Washington, D.C., at the March for Women's Lives in 2004]] Prior to 1973, abortion was not subject to United States constitutional law, but was purely a matter for the individual states, all of which chose to apply some level of restrictions. The first legal restrictions on abortion appeared in the 1820s, forbidding abortion after the fourth month of pregnancy. By 1900, legislators at the urgings of the American Medical Association had enacted anti-abortion laws in most U.S. states. In its landmark 1973 case, Roe v. Wade where a woman challenged the Texas laws criminalizing abortion, the U.S. Supreme Court reached two important conclusions: That abortion law was a federal constitutional law issue, not a state one, and was therefore subject to the Constitution of the United States and federal law;

That the procurement of an abortion was a constitutional right during the first and second trimesters of a pregnancy based on the constitutional right to privacy, but that the state's interest in protecting "potential life" prevailed in the third trimester unless the woman's health was at risk. In subsequent rulings, the Court rejected the trimester framework altogether in favor of a cutoff at the point of fetal viability (Cf. Planned Parenthood v. Casey).

Planned Parenthood, NARAL Pro-Choice America, National Organization for Women, and the American Civil Liberties Union are the leading pro-choice advocacy and lobbying groups in the United States. Most major feminist organizations also support pro-choice positions.

In the United States, the Democratic Party's platform endorses the pro-choice position, stating that abortion should be "safe, legal, and rare". Not all Democrats agree with the platform, however, and there is a small pro-life faction within the party, expressed in such groups as Democrats for Life of America. Although the 2004 Republican platform was pro-life, advocating a Human Life Amendment to the constitution banning abortion, there are several nationally prominent Republicans who identify themselves as pro-choice, including former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former New York Governor George Pataki, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, and late former President Gerald Ford.

Term controversy

Both "pro-choice" and "pro-life" are examples of political framing: they are terms which purposely try to define their philosophies in the best possible light, while by definition attempting to describe their opposition in the worst possible light ("Pro-choice" implies the alternative viewpoint is "anti-choice," while "pro-life" implies the alternative viewpoint is "pro-death" or "anti-life"). Similarly each side's use of the term "rights" ("reproductive rights," "right to life of every unborn child") implies a validity in their stance, given that the presumption in language is that rights are inherently a good thing and so implies an invalidity in the viewpoint of their opponents. (In liberal democracies, a right is seen as something the state and civil society must defend, whether human rights, victims' rights, children's rights, etc. Many states use the word rights in fundamental laws and constitutions to define basic civil principles; both the United Kingdom and the United States possess a Bill of Rights.) Other examples of political framing frequently employed in this context are: "unborn baby", "unborn child", and "pre-born child".

The Associated Press and Reuters encourage journalists to use the terms "abortion rights" and "anti-abortion", which they see as neutral.

See also

Abortion debate

Abortion fund

Bioethics

Clinic escort

Feminism

George Tiller

Pro-choice organizations

Pro-life

Reproductive rights

References

Sources & additional reading

Books

Ninia Baehr, Abortion without Apology: A Radical History for the 1990s South End Press, 1990.

Ruth Colker, Abortion & Dialogue: Pro-Choice, Pro-Life, and American Law Indiana University Press, 1992.

Donald T. Critchlow, The Politics of Abortion and Birth Control in Historical Perspective University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996.

Myra Marx Ferree et al., Shaping Abortion Discourse: Democracy and the Public Sphere in Germany and the United States Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Marlene Gerber Fried, From Abortion to Reproductive Freedom: Transforming a Movement South End Press, 1990.

Beverly Wildung Harrison, Our Right to Choose: Toward a New Ethic of Abortion Beacon Press, 1983.

Suzanne Staggenborg, The Pro-Choice Movement: Organization and Activism in the Abortion Conflict, Oxford University Press, 1994.

Raymond Tatalovich' The Politics of Abortion in the United States and Canada: A Comparative Study M.E. Sharpe, 1997.

Articles & Journals

Mary S. Alexander, "Defining the Abortion Debate" in ETC.: A Review of General Semantics, Vol. 50, 1993.

David R. Carlin Jr., "Going, Going, Gone: The Diminution of the Self" in Commonweal Vol.120. 1993.

Vijayan K. Pillai, Guang-Zhen Wang, "Women's Reproductive Rights, Modernization, and Family Planning Programs in Developing Countries: A Causal Model" in International Journal of Comparative Sociology, Vol. 40, 1999.

Suzanne Staggenborg, "Organizational and Environmental Influences on the Development of the Pro-Choice Movement" in Social Forces, Vol. 68 1989.

External links

NARAL Pro-Choice America

National Abortion Federation

Guttmacher Institute

Ipas

Abortion Access and Information

Women's Abortion Action Campaign

Pro-choice

Name	Laura Bush |
Birth date	November 04, 1946|
Birth place	Midland, Texas|
Occupation	Author, Teacher, Librarian, First Lady|
Order1	First Lady of the United States|
Term start1	January 20, 2001|
Term end1	January 20, 2009|
Predecessor1	Hillary Rodham Clinton|
Successor1	Michelle Obama|
Order2	First Lady of Texas|
Term start2	January 17, 1995|
Term end2	December 21, 2000|
Predecessor2	Rita Crocker Clements|
Successor2	Anita Thigpen Perry|
Alma mater	Southern Methodist University (SMU) University of Texas at Austin|
Religion	United Methodist|
Spouse	George W. Bush (m. 1977-present)
Children	Barbara Pierce Bush (b.1981) Jenna Bush Hager (b.1981)|
Relations	Harold Welch (father) and Jenna Hawkins (mother)|
Signature	Laura Bush signature.svg|

Laura Lane Welch Bush (born November 4, 1946) is the wife of the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush. She was the First Lady of the United States from January 20, 2001 to January 20, 2009.

Laura Bush has had a love for books and reading since childhood, and her life and education have reflected that interest. She graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1968 with a bachelor's degree in education, and soon took a job as a second grade school teacher. After attaining her Master's degree in Library Science at the University of Texas at Austin, she was employed as a librarian. She met George Walker Bush in 1977, and they were married later that year. The couple had twin daughters born to them in 1981.

Bush's political involvement began with her marriage. She campaigned in her husband's unsuccessful 1978 run for the United States Congress and later his successful Texas gubernatorial campaign. As First Lady of Texas, Bush implemented many initiatives focused on health, education, and literacy. In 1999, she aided her husband in campaigning for the presidency of the United States in a number of ways, most notably delivering a keynote address at the 2000 Republican National Convention, which gained her national attention. She became first lady of the United States after her husband defeated Democrat Al Gore in the controversial 2000 election.

Polled by Gallup as one of the most popular first ladies, Her father was a home builder and later successful real estate developer while her mother worked as the bookkeeper for her father's business. She graduated from Lee in 1964 and went on to attend Southern Methodist University in Dallas where she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. The driver of the other car was her close friend and classmate Michael Dutton Douglas. By some accounts, he had been Welch's boyfriend at one time. Welch and her passenger, both 17, were treated for minor injuries. Bush's spokesman said, "It was a very tragic accident that deeply affected the families and was very painful for all involved, including the community at large."

After graduating from SMU, she began her career as a school teacher of the second grade at Longfellow Elementary School in the Dallas Independent School District. She then taught for three years at John F. Kennedy Elementary School, a Houston Independent School District school in Houston, until 1972.

In 1973, Welch attained a Master of Science degree in Library Science from the University of Texas at Austin.

Marriage and family

She met George W. Bush in July 1977 when mutual friends, John and Jan O'Neill invited her and Bush to a backyard barbecue at their home. He proposed to her at the end of September and they were married on November 5 of that year at the First United Methodist Church in Midland, the same church in which she had been baptized. Laura bought a tan, two-toned dress off the rack for the wedding. The couple honeymooned in Cozumel, Mexico.

and Barbara Bush, Kennebunkport, 1990]]

The year after their marriage, the couple began campaigning for George W. Bush's 1978 Congressional candidacy. According to George Bush, when he asked her to marry him, she had said, "Yes. But only if you promise me that I'll never have to make a campaign speech." After narrowly winning the primary, he lost the general election. She is also credited with having a stabilizing effect on his private life. Asked about her interest in politics, she responded, "It doesn't drive me." Laura worked for women's and children's causes including health, education, and literacy. Bush further established "Rainbow Rooms" across the state, in an effort to provide emergency services for neglected or abused children. In July, she delivered a keynote address to the delegates at the 2000 Republican National Convention, which put her on the national stage. In December 2000, her husband resigned as Governor of Texas to prepare for his inauguration as President of the United States in January 2001.

First Lady of the United States

As First Lady, Bush was involved in issues of concern to children and women, both nationally and internationally. Her major initiatives included education and women's health. She also focused on early child development.

The following day, she composed open letters to America's families, focusing on elementary and middle school students, which she distributed through state education officials. She took an interest in mitigating the emotional effects of the attacks on children, particularly the disturbing images repeatedly replayed on television. On the one-year anniversary, she encouraged parents to instead read to their children, and perhaps light a candle in memoriam, saying, "Don't let your children see the images, especially on September 11, when you know it'll probably be on television again and again — the plane hitting the building or the buildings falling." The conference, held in September 2006, encouraged a constant effort to promote literacy and highlighted many successful literacy programs. She coordinated this as a result of her many trips abroad where she witnessed how literacy benefited children in poorer nations. It is an organization established by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute to raise awareness about heart disease in women, and how to prevent the condition. She serves in the honorary position of ambassador for the program She has participated in fashion shows displaying red dresses worn on celebrities as well.

Bush's mother, Jenna Welch, was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 78. She endured surgery and currently has no further signs of cancer. Laura Bush has become a breast cancer activist on her mother's behalf through her involvement in the Susan G. Komen for the Cure. She applauded the foundation's efforts in eliminating cancer and said, "A few short years ago, a diagnosis of breast cancer left little hope of recovery. But thanks to the work of the Komen Foundation... more women and men are beating breast cancer and beating the odds."

In November 2001, she became the first person other than a president to deliver the weekly presidential radio address. She used the opportunity to discuss the plight of women in Afghanistan during the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, saying, "The brutal oppression of women is a central goal of the terrorists." In May 2002, she made a speech to the people of Afghanistan through Radio Liberty, a radio station in Prague, Czech Republic.

Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health

In August 2007, the Laura W. Bush Institute for Women's Health (LWBIWH) within the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center was approved. This institute began the effort to establish a multi-campus women's health institute in Amarillo, El Paso, Lubbock and the Permian Basin. The institute seeks to integrate research, education and community outreach in a multidisciplinary approach to women’s health.

Named for Bush's mother, the Jenna Welch Women’s Center of the LWBIWH, opened in Midland, Texas, on August 10, 2010, to deliver expert medical care for women and their families. Operating in partnership with LWBIWH, the Jenna Welch Women's Center strives for excellence in research, education and community outreach.

Popularity and style

, as Laura Bush and daughters Barbara and Jenna look on.]]

Laura Bush's approval ratings have consistently ranked very high. In January 2006, a USA Today/CBS/Gallup poll recorded her approval rating at 82 percent and disapproval at 13 percent. That places Bush as one of the most popular first ladies.

During the January 2005 second inauguration ceremonies for her husband, Laura Bush was looked highly upon by People magazine, The Washington Post, and others for her elegance and fashion sense. At the inauguration she wore a winter white cashmere dress and matching coat designed by Oscar de la Renta. The tulle gown was also designed for her by de la Renta. According to The Washington Post, "[I]t made her look radiant and glamorous." The purpose of these has mostly been to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and malaria, but Bush has also stressed the need for education and greater opportunities for women. She has taken many other trips to other countries to promote and gain support for President Bush's Emergency Plan for AIDS relief; these countries include Zambia (2007), Mozambique (2007), Mali (2007), Senegal (2007), and Haiti (2008). She defined the trip as successful, saying that stereotypes were broken on both sides. She did say, however, that the country should do "what we can to limit the number of abortions, to try to reduce the number of abortions in a lot of ways, and that is, by talking about responsibility with girls and boys, by teaching abstinence, having abstinence classes everywhere in schools and in churches and in Sunday school."

On July 12, 2005, while in South Africa, Bush suggested her husband replace retiring Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor with another woman. On October 2, during a private dinner at the White House with Laura, President Bush nominated Harriet Miers to replace O'Connor. Later that month, after Miers had faced intense criticism, Laura Bush questioned whether the charges were sexist in nature.

On May 11, 2010, during an interview on Larry King Live, Bush was asked about same-sex marriage. She said she views it as a generational issue and said she believes it will be made legal in the future. Bush offered support for the issue by saying, "...when couples are committed to each other and love each other...they ought to have the same sort of rights that everyone has." Bush referred to her 2000 interview, reaffirming her support for Roe v. Wade: "I think it's important that [abortion] remain legal. Because I think it's important for people - that for medical reasons and, and other reasons."

Awards and honors

with U.S. President George W. Bush and Laura Bush (2001).]]

During her tenure as the First Lady, Laura Bush received a number of awards and honors. In October 2002, the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity honored her in recognition of her efforts on behalf of education and the American Library Association honored her for her years of support to America's libraries and librarians in April 2005. The Progressive Librarians Guild opposed her being honored, because of her support of the USA PATRIOT Act and her cancellation of a poetry forum due to concern that some of the poets would express opposition to the war in Iraq.

She received an award in honor of her dedication to help improve the living conditions and education of children around the world, from the Kuwait-American Foundation in March 2006. She accepted The Nichols-Chancellor's Medal on behalf of disaster relief workers around the world in May 2006 from Vanderbilt University.

Three learning facilities have been named for her: the Laura Welch Bush Elementary School in Houston, Texas, the Laura W. Bush Elementary School in the Leander ISD just outside Austin, Texas, and the Laura Bush Education Center at Camp Bondsteel, a U.S. military base in Kosovo. She was awarded the 2008 Christian Freedom International Freedom Award.

She is portrayed by Elizabeth Banks in Oliver Stone's film W.

Curtis Sittenfeld's bestseller novel "American Wife" is based on much of Laura Bush's life.

References

Further reading

Felix, Antonia. Laura: America's First Lady, First Mother. The first biography on Laura Bush. ISBN 1-58062-659-9

Gerhart, Ann. The Perfect Wife: The Life and Choices of Laura Bush. A biography. ISBN 0-7432-4383-8

Gormley, Beatrice. Laura Bush: America's First Lady. A biography. ISBN 0-689-85366-1

Kelley, Kitty. The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty. ISBN 0-385-50324-5

Kessler, Ronald. Laura Bush: An Intimate Portrait of the First Lady. A biography. ISBN 0-385-51621-5

Montgomery, Leslie. Were It Not For Grace: Stories From Women After God's Own Heart; Featuring Condoleezza Rice, First Lady Laura Bush, Beth Moore & Others. Laura Bush shares her story about how God has had his hand on her life. ISBN 0-8054-3178-0

External links

First Lady biography at Whitehouse.gov

"The book on Laura Bush" by Dennis B. Roddy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"A Laura Bush we don't know" by Eugene Robinson, San Francisco Chronicle

US-Middle East Partnership for Breast Cancer Awareness and Research

Laura Bush Interview About Life After The White House, Reinvention Convention Broadway.tv Blog

Category:Laura Bush Category:1946 births Category:American librarians Category:American Methodists Category:American schoolteachers Category:Bush family Category:First Ladies of the United States Category:Living people Category:People from Midland, Texas Category:Southern Methodist University alumni Category:First Ladies and Gentlemen of Texas Category:University of Texas at Austin alumni Category:United Methodists