Bodies and Babies

After the law making abortions illegal in Alabama (my own state), I started to do my own research, and look around. I've known people in my own school who have had abortions, and their own children, even after having an abortion. If you ask them, they'd say that it wasn't the right time to have a child at the time of their abortion. Now, they feel a bit more confident (though still being young) to take care of a child. Just these statements tell us why we need abortion rights.

Women may have the word "men" in their name, but we are not men. We are completely different beings, with completely different needs. We need things that they do not, such as different healthcare, birth control, and the right to abort. Some might believe that women were created to produce children to put on the Earth, but that is not who we are anymore. The Earth is populated, and does not need every family to house five or more children.

Sexual intercourse is something that will happen to almost everyone before their death. While a minority will not be able to reproduce with their chosen partner, the majority will, and it's up to those people when they want to conceive. Accidents happen. A condom breaks, a pill doesn't work, or Plan B turns into Plan Baby. That doesn't mean those people should have to suffer with something they did not want, or were not ready to have.

Also, the debate about the women who are unable to conceive. If a women is infertile or having a child will result in death for one or both, it can be incredibly sad. That being said, that woman shouldn't force upon other people to have children, because she cannot. She cannot force women to have babies they do not want to have. She cannot guilt other women into going through with a pregnancy, because she is unable. Not only is it rude and unfair, but she is taking out her anger and sadness on others.

I got a message the other day from a friend of mine after I posted a small rant about how upset I was with the new law. They said, "It's wrong to kill a living being. Only 1.5 percent of pregnancies are from rape or incest. It was a woman who passed the bill, and signed it." I responded with, "That's your opinion, but a women should be able to do what she wants with her own body. Not let a man decide it for her." Needless to say, they left me on opened. What this person is trying to convince me of is that, because a woman signed the bill, it's okay. You know, because she's a woman. And ONLY 1.5 percent of all pregnancies are from rape or incest. Despite those facts and statistics, it is still not okay. The fact that there is even a percentage above 0.0 percent of pregnancies from rape or incest is scary. Those women have a hard enough time living with those memories, and now they have to carry their child too? Even if they did decide to adopt, they would still have to spend 24/7 with that unborn child for nine months, birth them, talk about them, and see their face, even if it looks exactly like their predator. That is still not okay to deal with.

Speaking of adoption, has anyone seen the statistics of the reasons why children are put into foster care? About 61 percent of all children in government care are put there because of parental neglect. Another 34 percent is from drug abuse of the parent. Just a measly 1 percent is from death of parents and no other family. When a child is born, it can be very difficult for the parent to adopt them out, because they feel that connection to them. Soon after, they ease out of that connection, because of the stress of becoming a parent when they absolutely did not want to. Over 18 percent of children in foster care are also under the age of one. So that means that 95 percent of infants in care are there because their own parent either neglected them, or was abusing drugs. That definitely turns out for a good life.

As you can see, having a child when a parent is not ready, is not only damaging for the parent, but the child as well. If pro-lifers want to complain about abortion, they need to take a long look at these statistics and reports from young and old women who have had abortions, but also children. Pro-choice does not mean aborting first, it means given the right to a woman to chose to abort, or not.

This was my first post so please don't critique too harshly! Thanks, loves <3