One of the political and moral hot buttons in today's society is the issue of abortion. It seems that each election year brings a new round of protestors, from both Pro-Life and the Pro-Choice groups, marching on Washington, petitioning political leaders, and yelling on deaf ears. Legalized abortion will never be an issue that both sides can agree upon or that can be resolved, because abortion is more of a moral issue than a social or political one, and when it comes to people's personal beliefs, very few are willing to compromise. But no matter your stance on abortion, it's interesting to understand the history of this controversial practice and how it grew into the popularity (and perhaps infamy) that it has today.

Abortion practices date back to ancient times when pregnancies were terminated through a variety of methods. And the first recorded instance of an induced abortion took place in Egypt in 1550 BC. Most abortion practices then and in later centuries were non-surgical and included climbing, weightlifting, fasting, bloodletting, sitting on a pot of steam, and variety of other methods. In ancient Greece and Rome, abortions were also widely accepted and common. To abort a pregnancy, women would take certain herbs believed to terminate a pregnancy, use sharpened implements, or apply extreme pressure on the abdomen.

During the twelfth to eighteenth centuries, massage abortion was a common practice which entails applying pressure to a woman's abdomen. In countries such as Japan, induced abortion practices were common especially amongst the peasants who were under pressure to harvest fields and who suffered from high tax laws. In New Zealand, the use of miscarriage-inducing drugs became popular, as were certain ceremonial methods and the practice of wearing a restrictive belt. In England, the most common abortion practices included battery, exercise, and wearing a tightened girdle.

In the U.S., some abortions were performed in the early nineteenth century, but by the 1820s, abortion laws had been created, forbidding abortion after a woman's fourth month of pregnancy. During this time, the most common abortion practice was flushing the uterus with treated waters. In France during the nineteenth century, abortion practices were beginning to be considered as relatively safe procedures. Before the mid-half of the nineteenth century, most abortions were considered as a last result for unwed, pregnant women, but as the world moved into the twentieth century, the notion of abortion as a solution to unwanted pregnancies and family planning began to be discussed.

But by 1900, with the support of physicians, the AMA (American Medical Association), and legislators, most abortion practices in the U.S. had been outlawed. Of course, during this time illegal abortions were frequent and often dangerous as women used extreme methods, such as consuming harmful chemicals or penetrating the uterus with sharp sticks, knives, or curling irons to terminate pregnancies.

Interestingly, many who opposed abortion in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries did so on grounds of health. At the time, medical resources and practices were not as safe as they are today, and abortion procedures were especially risky--one in six women who underwent abortion died. And some early feminists such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton felt that if women were treated as equals, they wouldn't feel the pressure to have an abortion. They felt that it was the male-driven society that created oppressive circumstances for women which drove them to have abortions.

However, as medicine advanced, abortion procedures became safer. The practice of dilation and curettage was developed and became increasingly popular in the twentieth century. Vacuum devices that allowed for suction-aspiration abortion were introduced in the U.S. and Britain in the 1960s. In the 1980s, Dr. James McMahon developed the procedure of intact dilation and extraction, and around the same time, Roussel Uclaf developed mifepristone, a compound that works as an abortifacient to block hormones and terminate pregnancy.

As medical practices progressed, feminists promoted safe and effective birth control practice as a way to prevent unwanted pregnancies. By 1965, all of the fifty states in the U.S. had banned abortion (except under certain circumstances such as rape, incest, or fetus deformity). This ban did not sit well with many people, including feminists, and many groups were organized to try and liberalize these anti-abortion laws.

In 1973, the historical case of Roe v. Wade declared that most of the anti-abortion laws currently established were unconstitutional. The ruling made abortion during the first trimester of a woman's pregnancy legal and placed limitations on the restrictions that could be enforced on abortion performed during later stages of pregnancy. Although debates over whether abortion was "right" or "wrong" extend back to the early centuries, after Roe v. Wade, the debate grew even fiercer. Opposition to the ruling rose quickly. It was around this time that the labels "pro-life" and "pro-choice" were created to identify those who supported the ruling and those who didn't.

In several extreme cases, opposition to the liberalized abortion laws resulted in violence. An organization called "Operation Rescue" blocked access to many abortion clinics, and on Christmas Day in 1984, three abortion clinics were bombed by pro-life extremists.

Although abortion is now legal in most places, there is still frequent debate between different groups over the termination of late-term pregnancies, commonly called "partial birth abortions." The argument is based on whether or not the abortion is expedient to save the life or health of the mother and if the unborn fetus can survive after birth.

However, many pro- and anti-abortion organizations seem to agree that adequate sex education, more available health care, and ensuring that women have the resources to adequately support children are all necessary to help reduce the number of abortions.

Today, opposition to abortion is still active, but the practice becoming more accepted and common, as evidenced by the fact that abortion clinics are found all over the country. Whether a person is looking for an abortion clinic in New York or in California, a facility run by competent doctors and professionals using safe procedures is not difficult to find.