自由女性主義者從權利語言出發，將婦女的墮胎權立基於憲法所保障的隱私權中，而忽略了女性在現實社會中的不利處境；相對的激進女性主義者則從「個人即政治」的角度出發，剖析兩性權力資源不對等的現象，並在這樣的基礎上建構其墮胎論述。

In the 1960s and 1970s, abortion was a controversial issue in women's movement. In the landmark dicision “Roe V. Wade”, the lawyers argued that abortion was part of women's right to privacy protected by the 14th amendment. This is, obviously, to base women's right to abortion on the theory of liberalism--right to control one's own body and freedom of choice--as if women were equal with man in privacy. Radical feminism reads the case very differently, arguing that private sphere is male domain and that the personal is politeical. With this view, women's right to abortion of reproductive freedom means to be free from male oppression in sexuality.