Return to your journal and write down your first thoughts and reflections after reading the article. Then, make a list of the questions you still have, perhaps sharing your list with others in your class. Finally, choose a question and try to answer it with one of the pieces from the list below, which includes both news reporting and analysis and data visualizations from the Times section The Upshot. (Please note that this is just a starting point. As news about this issue continues to break, you can follow live updates here.)

When you’ve found answers to your questions, you might share the information with others in your class. Then, return to your journal to answer this question: Did the facts or information you just learned help you understand the issue differently? Why or why not?

Part 2: Reflect

In the fall, in the wake of judicial decisions that restricted abortion rights in Texas and expanded access to abortion in Mexico, we asked students how they felt about the status of abortion rights. Scroll through some of their answers. Can you find some statements you agree with? Are there some that you take issue with?

In Part 1 of this exercise you learned more facts and context about the issue of abortion in the United States. Now we invite you to further develop your opinions about the issue. To do that, you might read a range of pieces from the Times Opinion section, as well as from other sources. Or, consult a site like ProCon.org, the mission of which is to “promote civility, critical thinking, education and informed citizenship by presenting the pro and con arguments to debatable issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, freely accessible way.” Here are the site’s resources on abortion, and here are some essays from the Times Opinion section to get you started:

Opinion | Roe Is as Good as Gone. It’s Time for a New Strategy.

Opinion | I Am Pro-Life. Don’t Call Me Anti-Abortion.

Opinion | Texas Is the Future of Abortion in America

Finally, share your reflections to the following questions in your journal or in a class discussion. If you choose to discuss this in class, ensure that you have a classroom contract, and experiment with a discussion strategy like a silent Big Paper conversation or a Fishbowl discussion.

Here are some questions that might help:

• What is your reaction to the draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade? Why?

• How do you think that governments should address abortion, if at all? How do your personal feelings about abortion inform — or not inform — your political beliefs?

• What arguments have you heard in favor of abortion rights? Are any of them compelling to you? Why or why not?

• What arguments have you heard against abortion rights? Are any of them compelling to you? Why or why not?

• After all the reading and thinking you have done on this issue, are there any conclusions you can draw? What questions do you still have?

Want more Lessons of the Day? You can find them all here.