Ourselves Unborn: A History of the Fetus in Modern America

In his dissent in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services in 1989, Justice Harry Blackmun called abortion "the most politically divisive domestic legal issue of our time." 1 Over two decades later, his observation retains its cogency. In 2005, state legislators enacted 34 abortion restrictions. 2 Only six years in later in 2011, this number almost tripled: states passed 92 provisions limiting access to abortion services. 3 That same year included Congressional efforts to defund Planned Parenthood, largely because its clinics provide abortions. Speaking on the Senate floor, Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona proclaimed, "If you want an abortion, you go to Planned Parenthood, and that's well over 90% of what Planned Parenthood does." 4 Kyl later recanted, given that the organization, in fact, only spends three percent of its budget on abortion services. 5 Debate became so heated on the House floor that Representatives Gwen Moore (D-WI) and Jackie Speier (D-CA) felt compelled to share their personal experiences with unplanned pregnancy and abortion. Moore told of her first pregnancy, unplanned, at age 18. 6 "I just couldn't resist letting [the Republicans] know that they didn't know what the hell they were talking about," Moore explained. 7 Upon hearing Republican Chris Smith of New Jersey read a particularly grisly description of a second-trimester abortion, Speier felt compelled to respond. "That procedure that you just talked about was a procedure that I endured ... . But for you to stand on this floor and to suggest ...