Call Me Pro Choice
The issue of abortion is one of the most controversial topics in the United States. A women’s choice to have an abortion should be there’s and should remain a legal option for women to have because a women’s right to choose abortion is a fundamental right recognized in the 1973 U.S Supreme Court case Roe vs. Wade. Abortion is defined as a "termination of pregnancy that results in the removal of the fetus” (Abortion). Abortion is a healthy and legal way that can aid women that are not ready to have a child at that given time.
Abortion should remain a legal choice for women. If abortion was made illegal women would be forced to turn to illegal or “back yard” abortions. Having women to be forced to turn to illegal measures in backyard abortions can cause a danger to many women. The number of deaths caused by illegal abortions is 8 times greater than death rate from legal abortions. Furthermore, every 8 minutes a woman dies needlessly as a result of an unsafe illegal abortion (Dudley). Proven, abortions should stay legal to protect women and their decisions to keep or terminated a pregnancy.
One of the main reasons that I feel the way that I do is because of my aunt. When my aunt was a teenage back in the 1960’s abortion was illegal. My aunt was too young and was not mature enough to have a child and was not financially stable. She felt her only option was to get rid of the child. My aunt went to an illegal abortionist and had a back yard abortion performed on her. Her going to this back yard abortion was not safe, the person was not trained to do that type of procedure because abortions were illegal and it resulted in my aunt not being able to have kids later on in life.
Regardless of abortions being legal or illegal people will find ways to get them. Wealthier families could probably find ways for themselves to go to other countries performed and the struggling low and middle income families will not have that opportunity. They will have to turn to these unsafe “back yard” abortions. As long as abortions are legal it gives citizens the ability to have the procedures done accurately and safely protecting the health of these women.
Allowing the termination of pregnancies to be made illegal can hurt not only the mother, but the child as well. A child being born to an unfit mother can cause the child problems in early and later life. Children of adolescents are more likely to be born prematurely and 50% more likely to be low-birth weight babies. Children of adolescent mothers grow up with more health problems than children of mothers who are twenty and above. For instance, 38% of children born to adolescent mothers had “excellent” health, as compared to 60% for children born to mothers over twenty(Dexter). Forcing a mother that is not ready or fit to raise a child can have serious effects on the mother. Many reason women choose to terminate their pregnancies is because they are not financially secure, they are too young and insecure or they would be forced to raise the child alone as a single mother. Moreover, having a child when you’re not ready could interfere with school work or careers and a mother should not be forced to have a child and risk not completing their careers or schooling.
Abortion should remain legal because there are many circumstances of why people get pregnant. There are numerous cases of women who get rapped and become pregnant. 14,000 women have abortions following rape or incest (Dexter). This shows that there are numerous rape incidents and by forcing that many women to keep those unwanted pregnancies. This could cause women to resent their children and put the child in an abusive home situation.
I found an article on www.prochoice.org. The title of the article that I have chosen is “history of Abortion” and the author of the article is the National Abortion Federation. The author’s main point was to explain the history of abortion and the effects that it had. The author