The Right to Choose

Every single decision we make in life will affect us in the future. A crucial part of life that every woman will have to face has to do with children. Whether females decide to have children or not to have children; it should always be a woman’s right to choose. For the women that do not want children or not ready for a child, they have the options of abortion. Abortions have become a very contreversial topic over the past years, some states have even labeled them as a crime. This is unacceptable and unconstitutional. Many call it inhumane, or proportional to taking another’s life, which are both extremely false claims. Women should have a right to choose since it is their body and futures in question, not anyone else’s.

            As a women in this society, we face many obstacles that put us in danger. According to the National Sexual Violence resource center, one in five women will be raped at one point in their lives. On the other hand, one out of every 71 men will expirence rape in their lives. These statistics say a lot about our society, but even more about the high risks of unwanted pregnancy. It takes one out of every five of those women to be at risk of getting pregnant. Why would we take abortions away all because of a situation we can not physically control? Rape victims are trauamatized after such an expirence, taking abortions away may cause them to have the cause of their trauma’s baby. There are many other reasons women may not want to carry a baby for nine months of their lives and resort to abortion. 73% of women can not afford a baby, and 48% do not want to be a single mother or an inconsistent home life. Putting a baby in the hands of a mother who does not want them is not only insensitive, but it highers the chance that baby will be put for adoption. All of the reasons women are getting abortions are selfless. Not having enough money to properly raise a kid, risks of having a rapists baby, and unloving father, etc.  No one wants to put a child in a bad environment that will put them in a bad state in their future.

            Many critics of women abortions do not realize that it is not an easy process for the mother either, but it is their constitutional right to choose. Alabama is one of the few states that have already taken this right away by passing the Human Life Protection Act. This act does not only outlaw almost all abortions, but it charges abortion providers as a felony with up to 99 years or life in prison. This act is inhumane and takes away a woman’s right to make a decision that will affect her the rest of her life. Not only is the Alabama’s attempt inhumane, it is unconstitutional. In the Roe v. Wade case from 1973, the Supreme Court ruled that it is women’s constitutional right to abortion. This ruling is based on the 9th and 14th amendment, which is an implied privacy right. We follow amendments for multiple issues such as guns, voting, due process, but not for an abortion? Many argue that abortions are cruel, but isn’t it cruel to force a women into nine months of an unwanted pregnancy followed by the rest of her life with an unwanted baby? These are questions critics need to ask themselves before taking away an already difficult decision from women in this society. 

            The leader of our country, Donald Trump, has made it clear that he is pro-life and plans to hire pro-life judges in hopes to overturn Roe v. Wade and take away funding to Planned Parenthood. These statements do not only worry me, but they disappoint me. Many women going for abortions are poor and can not afford to bring another human into this world and raise it properly. Taking away funding to Planned Parenthood takes away any possible chance a person dealing with poverty can turn their life around.  In an article by Anna North in Vox, Doctor Kristyn Brandi responds to Trumps remarks on abortions. One of our President’s worries about abortions are that women have them too late in the third trimester, basically taking away a human life. But, according to Doctor Brandi, this is very uncommon. “I should say that when we’re talking about these abortions later in pregnancy, this is about 1 percent of all abortion care. The majority of abortions happen in the first trimester.” 1 percent of women getting abortions later in pregnancy shows that this process does not involve any kinds of “murder” or killing of the baby. Brandi even states that women only have abortions late if they are diagnosed with a complication that will affect their pregnancy. This takes away any accusation that the process of abortions are equivilent to murder, since the “baby” is only killed when it is a cell; not a real baby. 

            Abortions are not a decision any female is happy making. No woman wants to take away the possible human that can come out of their pregnancy; but we are not that woman. I am not the woman who is too poor to have a child, I am not the woman who was just raped and does not want to have her rapists child, and neither is Trump, Alabama’s legislature, or anyone else who goes against abortions. I may not be this woman, but I am a woman who wants the right to be able to choose. I want to have the option if I need to, I want to feel secure in my country. Abortions are a constitutional right to all females and should rightfully stay that way.