By Cleo-Symone Scott
The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the views of Her Campus.
It’s 2018 and Uterus-owning people are still dealing with politicians attempting to restrict their access to safe, affordable reproductie healthcare 45 years after the landmark Roe v. Wade case that gave women the constitutional right to privacy when it comes to her personal medical decisions — including abortions.
Planned Parenthood states that abortion is now one of the safest medical procedures in America. There is now a safety record of over 99 percent for the procedure, which is drastically different from the 60’s when illegal abortions made up one-sixth of all pregnancy and childbirth-related deaths.
And, yet, in 2018 it still needs to be said that women have an absolute right to safe and legal abortions, that abortion is not murder, that an abortion happens before the fetus develops into a human, that Personhood begins at birth, not at conception and that there are multiple studies (yes, legitimate peer-reviewed science) showing that at the time of abortion, fetuses are incapable of feeling pain.
Additionally, it still needs to be said that many women have abortions because they don’t want to have children. Some women do not have the financial, mental, physical security they would need iin order to take care of a child. Some women already have children and know that their family wouldn’t thrive with another child. Why force a woman to go through unnecessary hardships by restricting her access to abortions? Forcing a person to remain pregnant and to give birth for any reason is unethical —and it is ridiculous that we are still having to say this.
Abortions should also not be restricted to victims of rape or incest (though they should most definitely have access to this care without question.) Just because a woman consents to having sex doesn’t mean her right to an abortion should be taken away. Consenting women should be able to choose whether or not they want to have a child themselves. No one other than me has the right to tell me what to do with what is going on inside of my body. Full stop.
Pregnancies often happen due to a mistake, such as unprotected sex or missed birth control; people make mistakes. We now live in a day and age where women can safely and legally rectify these mistakes. Do not take this ability away from them. Making abortions illegal will only increase the rate of unsafe abortions. This will take us back to the days before Roe v. Wade where women were dying every day from unsafe, back-alley abortions (and couldn’t seek proper care in the aftermath of those procedures for fear of legal repercussions.)
Obviously, I know there are many that will disagree with me, and that’s okay. Abortion is a complicated and emotional procedure, for those that have them and also for those that don’t. It’s similar to the gay marriage debate: if you don’t believe in gay marriage, don’t get gay married! If you don’t agree with abortions, simply don’t have one. But don’t try to take away someone else’s fundamental and constitutional right to do what they want with their body.