Abortion: where to draw the line? Perhaps one of the most controversial court cases in our nation's history was settled in January 1973. In a decision known as Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court legalized abortion in the United States. United (1). Today, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, abortion practices have become the most common surgical procedure in the United States. But when is abortion wrong? Abortion practices should only be legal in certain circumstances. Many would say that abortion is wrong because as soon as the baby is conceived, it becomes a living, breathing organism. Therefore, aborting the little organism is simply murder. However, when Roe v. Wade was decided, organizations like Planned Parenthood publicly supported the decision, arguing that during the first three months of pregnancy, the fetus is nothing more than a mass of tissue (1 ). In addition to Planned Parenthood, there are also many religious organizations that support the legalization of abortion. These organizations include the American Baptist Churches USA, the Episcopal Church, the Presbyterian Church USA, the United Methodist Church, and the United Synagogue for Conservative Judaism (2). But under what circumstances should abortion practices be accepted? As time goes by, it seems that more and more women are having abortions to avoid their responsibilities. According to Institution AG, fifty percent of women who have an abortion use it as their only means of birth control (3). This is an example of how the practice of abortion is exploited and used for the wrong reasons. Additionally, approximately 45% of all abortions in the United States are performed by women aged 19 and younger. Why is this? According to a survey of 1,900 women in this country, the two most common reasons for abortion are: 1) the woman cannot afford to keep the baby and 2) the woman is not ready to assume this responsibility. These responses represented almost 42% of all responses (3). However, these reasons are far from legitimate because these problems can be easily fixed. There are too many contraceptives and other forms of birth control for these excuses to be justifiable. So, what are acceptable reasons to abort an unborn baby? On the one hand, a mother's health should never be at risk. Another understandable reason to abort is the possibility of health problems for the unborn child..