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Alpha Stage
Abortion
April 19, 2007


The Boston Globe is running an article entitled, "High Court Upholds Ban
on Abortion Procedure." The subtitle states, "5-to-4 ruling underscores
shift on bench."

The article states, "The 5- to- 4 decision upholding the Partial- Birth
Abortion Ban Act, which President Bush signed in 2003, represented a
major victory for social conservatives. The federal law bans an abortion
technique that involves partially extracting the fetus intact before
destroying it, with a narrow exception allowing the procedure only to
save a woman's life."

The article adds, "The question of how far the government may go in
restricting abortion access has been a legal battleground since 1973,
when the Supreme Court first declared that the Constitution contains an
unwritten right for women to choose to have an abortion."

Read the Article!!


Discussion-Starters for Younger Children

  • Ask your students to tell you about a time that they made an art
    project. What did they make? How did they decide when their
    work was done? How would they have felt if the finished product
    was ruined? How would they have felt if their supplies were
    ruined before they had the chance to finish the product? Why?
  • Consider asking students to write a story or draw a
    picture. When they say they have completed the task ask
    them why they are done. Can't they add anything else?

  • Ask your students if they remember seeing a new sibling or
    cousin for the first time. (If not, perhaps they've seen an animal
    giving birth.) How did it feel to see this? Encourage your students
    to explain! Are babies special? Why/why not?
  • Consider creating a class "Board of Birth," in which
    pictures of newborns connected, in some way, to the
    children in your class will be posted.

  • Do your students think it would be hard to be a mommy or a
    daddy? Why/why not? Ask your students to name some of the
    things that might be difficult about being a parent.
  • After having this conversation with students, they could
    make "Thank You Cards for My Parents."

  • Have your students ever disagreed with somebody? What did they
    disagree about? How did they resolve this disagreement? Do your
    students think it's smart to ask an adult to help when they have a
    disagreement with another child? Why/why not?
  • Consider asking students to make a list of three things that
    they could do when they get into an argument with another
    child to resolve the argument.


Discussion-Starters for Older Students

  • Vocabulary terms to discuss: Abortion; "Social Conservatives";
    Deference; and, Dissent.

  • Do your students think that women should be allowed to have an
    abortion? Why/why not? Can they think of any circumstances in
    which their answers would change? Explain!
  • Consider asking students to write five point papers in
    response to these questions. These essays could be posted
    onto a wiki. As a class consider how responses varied
    between boys and girls.

  • What do your students think is more powerful, the Supreme
    Court of the United States or the Constitution of the United
    States? Explain!
  • Consider asking students to develop a graphic organizer in
    which they demonstrate the relationship between the
    Supreme Court and the Constitution.

  • Pose: Assume for the moment that neither you nor anybody you
    know ever considers having an abortion. Is this case important?
    Why/why not? What can we learn from this case about the
    culture of the United States? Explain!
  • These questions might prompt an interesting class
    discussion.
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(C) 2007, Andrew Pass Educational Services, LLC.