Do People have the Right to an Abortion?

Pain. A concept familiar to most in varying degrees. It can be felt after stubbing one’s toe or scraping their knee. Or perhaps losing a loved one or sentimental possession. Much pain however can stem from oppression, especially oppression in one’s rights. This month, millions of women across the United States have lost their right to make choices. The choice in question is about whether or not they have the right to an abortion. Abortions are a safe medical procedure that occur when one decides to terminate their pregnancy either through medication or surgery. The reasons to go through such a procedure are highly personal, simple and complex reasons for some. Regardless, women should have the right to an abortion depending on the circumstance of how they were impregnated and their financial status. 

As aforementioned, the reasons why people go through this procedure can be simple, complex or highly personal. The reason especially can be related to the circumstance of how one was impregnated. It is especially traumatic when it is due to rape or incest. According to the article “Rape exceptions to abortion bans were once widely accepted. No more” it expresses “... Mississippi’s 15-week ban that excludes exceptions for rape and incest. In doing so, the court will decide whether to undo its 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide…That carries grave physical and psychological implications for sexual abuse survivors who become pregnant, according to Michele Goodwin, a UC Irvine professor …“When there are no exceptions for a person who survived rape or incest, it means the state is coercing that person into a pregnancy they don’t want,””(Welch). Laws such as the ones that are being implemented in Mississippi and that have already been established in Texas threaten the psychological, financial, and physical health of victims of rape and incest. These victims have already been through a traumatic experience and when laws such as these come into effect, instead of focusing on the healing process they give these victims an anchor that weighs them down. Tying them permanently to their trauma. Forcing them to have a child that resulted from an event of abuse is not only a reminder of the abuse that occurred but takes away their rights of freedom, bodily autonomy and the ability to make choices, crucial parts in the healing process for survivors after such tragedies. Furthermore, the article continues stating  “There is little data on how often rape and incest exceptions are used to obtain an abortion. About 1% of patients getting an abortion did so because of rape and less than 0.5% did so because of incest, according to a 2005 study by the Guttmacher Institute…In addition, sexual assault is notoriously under reported A 2015 report from the University of Texas at Austin’s Institute on Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault estimated that only 9.2% of victims of sexual assault reported the incident to police. The same report estimated that 10% of sexual assaults result in pregnancies”(Welch). This explains that even with some states including rape and incest exceptions for their anti-abortion laws some women choose to opt for an abortion without disclosing the purpose of getting it. Some women do not report the assault that occurred and get abortions. They may feel intimidated by the legal processes and do not have the finances to be able to have a lawyer help them get justice. Much more importantly, the police report that is needed to qualify for such exceptions may be delayed or have other factors that affect women from obtaining it. Rape and incest exceptions are not enough as women can have difficulty acquiring the police report necessary, may not report the abuse and people get impregnated for many more various reasons. Reasons that could be pregnancy happening within an abusive relationship, such as this story from Advocates For Youth sharing “ This story could begin with the guy who impregnated me. I was young, I was naive, and I just wanted to be loved…This guy saw me pulling away, returning to high school life, and he needed to do something to keep me bound to him. So he convinced me to have unprotected sex. I remember thinking, “It’s not going to happen the first time.”... I was 16… So I ended up with this horrible person – he was a drug-dealing tattoo artist…I had no self-worth, no sense of healthy boundaries, and no understanding of love. I was an easy target for his manipulation…”(Anonymous). She continued talking about why she had made the choice to terminate her pregnancy stating that she was not emotionally mature to have a child, that she was in an abusive relationship and having the child would make the cycle of being in abusive relationships continue referencing her mom and grandma (Anonymous).  Abusers often use children as a way to make their victims feel tied to them and prevent them from leaving the toxic relationship. The victims may feel pressured to not leave their child or are sometimes told to stay for the “sake of their child”.  Hence, why laws banning abortion could result in abuse in relationships increasing as they prevent people from having abortions of pregnancies that were products of abuse. The prevention of abortion could make people in this situation have trouble leaving their abusive relationships. These laws endanger victims of abuse and are yet another anchor that result in people being tied to their trauma forever. Now there are 2 important things to note. Particularly in the story the woman was only 16 when she got pregnant and had an abortion. What will happen to all the teenagers that are impregnated for various reasons after these anti-abortion laws are fully established? Not only are most teenagers not emotionally mature as the woman explained, they are financially unable to afford to have a child. They do not have a stable job, degree or source of income. Having a child at this crucial stage of life could impact their studies and their future of college! Moreover there are reasons for having an abortion beyond abuse.Adults who have intercourse while using contraception can get pregnant either due to human error of the application or the contraception itself. There is a lot of stigma surrounding adults having intercourse and then having abortions. To state, it is their body and they are free to do what they wish. Contraception can fail, it does not matter whether due to human error or not. No one should be forced to have a child  that they did not want resulting or not resulting from circumstances previously mentioned. If a child is the product of an event of abuse and the victim is forced to keep it, it can have detrimental effects on their health and the healing process.  Women deserve the right to an abortion due to the circumstance of how they were impregnated. It does not need to be a story related to sorrow or something traumatic as each story is highly personal. Each story is worth telling and supports the need of the vital right of abortion.

Money is a tool. A power. A necessary resource in order to take care of a child.  It takes about  267,00 dollars to raise a child over an 18 year period if you and your spouse were middle class and had a middle income(Western & Southern Financial Group). Money that many do not have. Especially those without a spouse to help cover half the cost or those that are still students. Financial status does support the fact that women should have the right to an abortion. According to the research study survey “Reasons U.S. Women Have Abortions: Quantitative and Qualitative Perspectives” done by Lawrence B. Finer et al. provides ”Among the structured survey respondents, the two most common reasons were “having a baby would dramatically change my life” and “I can’t afford a baby now” (cited by 74% and 73%, respectively—Table 2)”(Finer et al.). The study elaborates “The most common subreason given was that the woman could not afford a baby now because she was unmarried (42%). Thirty-eight percent indicated that having a baby would interfere with their education, and the same proportion said it would interfere with their employment. In a related vein, 34% said they could not afford a child because they were students or were planning to study. In the in-depth interviews, the three most frequently stated reasons were the same as in the structured survey… financial concerns (28)”(Finer et al.). One of the main reasons why women choose to have an abortion was due to the fact that they could not afford to keep the child which is indisputably justifiable considering the many situations that could occur. The woman in question could be a student that is currently studying for a degree and is paying costly tuition yearly. She could be fresh out of college in a new job trying to pay off school debt and her medical debt. She could be a single mother working hard to make ends meet and providing for her 2 children. She could be anyone. The average cost of an abortion is $508 which is significantly cheaper than the price of $267,000 to raise a child which does not take into account the cost of birth and hospital fees. These mandatory abortion laws can make people slip into poverty as they try there best to manage a child while being a college student. While one may say that one can put their child up for adoption, pregnancy and birth is still a costly affair not to mention the fact that most people can’t afford to take time off to go to doctor's visits or the hospital as they are working/being a student. It is also much more easier for rich people to travel to other states where abortions are accessible which shows how losing the right to an abortion can adversely affect and target the poor. Making them even poorer. Having a child is a big responsibility and is not financially sustainable for some.

The opposition argues for anti-abortion under the guise that it is a dangerous medical procedure and is goes against what their God said. Abortion is a safe medical procedure when done by the right professionals and when using the right equipment/medication. In fact is is actually safer than birth as proven by the article “Pro-Life'? What About the Life of the Woman?” which offers “the 

CDC's most recent data, gathered from its Pregnancy Mortality Surveillance System, calculated the mortality of pregnancy or childbirth-related deaths at 17.3 per 100,000 in 2017. In the same year, "two women were identified to have died as a result of complications from legal induced abortion," according to the PMSS data. Not two per 100,000. Two”(Hesse).This shows that the risk surrounding abortion is quite low compared to childbirth something the opposition never seems to vocalize fears about. Why 17.3 per 100,000 for childbirth, compared to 2 for an indefinite number well above 100,000 for abortion proves it’s safety! There is no need for any concern. Additionally, the opposition uses religion to justify why they believe abortions are illegal which can be viewed as forcing your beliefs on others. This directly violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment which  prevents the government from supporting a religion in any shape or form. This results in why we don't have an official religion of the United States. If you believe life starts at conception and you interpret your god’s words a certain way, you are entitled to that belief unless you force it on others. Politicians that practice Christianity, that interpret words a certain way and make decisions about abortion based on their faith directly violate this clause. It is not only harmful to those that do not practice the religion or do not participate in any religion but it violates human rights. Religion and government must stay separate. Not everyone lives by the same rules, does the same customs or participates in the same cultures that you are in. Justifying not having abortion through religion is maddening as it forces your religion on others and promotes non- scientific evidence.

 Women should have the right to an abortion depending on the circumstance of how they were impregnated and their financial status. Pain increases day by day as the loss of a right to an abortion is like an anchor dragging women down… turning them into second-class citizens. Bodily autonomy and the ability to make choices are extremely important during this time as the power of an abortion can turn people’s lives around for the better. It can prevent a student from leaving their studies. Give survivors of rape/incest the comfort needed to begin the healing process. It can prevent single mothers who are already struggling to make ends meet with other children from slipping into poverty. More importantly it gives women the right to choose. The freedom to make a liberating choice. A choice for the future.