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Research paper

Abortion Must Stay Legal

Abortion has been a sensitive topic to talk about, for decades, there have been arguments with respect to this issue, which many people are agreed and others disagree with this practice. Women know what is best for their life, what is best for their health, and what will be best for their future. There are circumstances in life when abortion is the best decision that women could make. Abortion gives women a second chance to grow and gives their future or present children the opportunity to have a better life. Get an abortion might be difficult for some people, either because of the amount of money or because some states are passing bills to restrict abortion or bills that ban abortion at a certain time of the pregnancy. History cannot be repeated, before the law that made abortion legal, many women put their lives in danger trying to get abortion in an unsafe way. The law that legalized abortion was passed in 1973, that is why we can state and support that women must have the right to choose what to do with her body, whether she will save the fetus or terminate the fetation because of the solid reasons.

Before 1973, abortion was illegal all around the United States, but it does not mean that women did not practice abortion, they did it unsafely. The case that changed the future of abortion happens around 1968, with a girl called Jane Roe. She was not married, and she hadn’t finished her nurse training, that is why her fiance and she decided that terminating the pregnancy was the only option. Since abortion was not permitted, “Jane did what thousands of young women were forced to do in the 1960s — she underwent a back-alley abortion” (Ingelfinger, Julia R.). Many women have taken the risk of an unsafe abortion which puts in risk their lives or their health. These women could not complain because abortion was prohibited, and they knew the risk that was being exposed. Unlucky, Jane, after this procedure was not in a good condition. She developed a serious condition called sepsis from an infection and had several organs’ failure. It did not stop there, weeks later, more complications were developed, she died. Jane Roe had a big impact in the United State because, with her story, the people could see the importance of having a legal and safe abortion. Jane’s story was just one more of the many women that suffered from these unsafe abortion methods. This event shows the importance of legal abortion, and how in the early years many suffered because it was not available and it was against the law. Abortion must be legal and practice safely to protect women’s health and life.

After five years of Jane Roe’s death, abortion was legal around the United State thanks to the supreme court decision in Roe v. Wade case. In 1973, the supreme court ruled that unduly restrictive state regulation of abortion is unconstitutional. The Judge Harry A. Blackmun stated “that a set of Texas statutes criminalizing abortion in most instances violated a woman’s constitutional right of privacy, which is found to be implicit in the liberty guarantee of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (“…nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”)” (Britannica). This shows that the government was striking the right of people according to the constitution of the United State, the right of privacy. Women have the right to do whatever they want with their body, her body, her choice!  

Abortion can be the right decision to make when it comes to saving the lives or the health of pregnant women. If someone is having an abortion because they don’t want to be pregnant, pregnancy is not compatible with their life, medically necessary or whatever reason they have, it must have to take care because abortion is health care. Some women have “‘…certain cases where ending the pregnancy is the only option, cases where it would be putting the mother’s life at risk to continue the pregnancy,” Erika Levi says”(Painter, Kim). Abortion is the safer way to go when women have health problems which can affect women’s mentally and physically. There are cases where the mother has to decide on her life or for the life of the child. Others where the pregnancy causes physical problems in the mother’s body. For example the story of Cecily Kellogg who had a problem when she was nearly six months pregnant with twin brothers. “One fetus had already died and “…my liver had shut down, my kidneys had shut down and they were expecting me to start seizing at any minute,” she says”(Painter, Kim). The doctor says that they could perform her an abortion to save her life, she had to decide between her and her son or just her son. She decided to abort, and in 2006 she and her husband had a daughter. This true-life story shows the importance of legal abortion. If the abortion was not available, this woman could have died, but thanks to its availability, she had the opportunity to save her life and her health. No matter what is the reason, abortion needs to stay legal around the country to save lives and protect women’s health either physical or mental. 

Women have the capacity to think for herself and decide what’s best for her, non-rights, non-benefit, non-freedom should be denied. Even though abortion goes against religion, still, it is her decision if she wants to follow the religion or not. The government cannot force women to have unwanted pregnancies, that is why they cannot make abortion illegal in the country. Some woman even though they think in an abort, they do not do it either because of her believes, the family believes, lack of the availability of abortion, etc. But “…mandatory childbearing makes the woman hostage to the will of others — those unfamiliar with her story, her life experience, and her needs, and may have disastrous consequences for the children” (Scraper, Donna). We never know the life experiences of others, their situations, or problems, that is why people can not say “She did not protect her-self during sex, that is those are the consequences of it”. Each woman has her reasons and situation, and need to be treated the same way. Women know what is best for her, and how capable and prepared she is to be pregnant and have a child.  That is why Abortion should be available for every woman that wants it and needs it no matter in what state she lives in. 

Some states are trying to ban abortion, and many are against this action. A march in Alabama is an example of this, hundreds marched to protest the decision of banning abortion, claiming that if their body, their choice. Alabama is one of the states that is fighting and challenging the Roe v Wade, that legalized abortion in all United State. Other governors like in “Kentucky, Mississippi, Ohio, and Georgia have approved bans on abortion once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can happen as early as the sixth week of pregnancy”(Press, Associated).  However, none of the laws have been passed, and people hope that they will be blocked by the supreme court. A speaker in the march shared and story when she said, “I had friends who had illegal abortions and barely survived,”(Press, Associated). This supports the idea that Staci Fox, the CEO, and president of Planned Parenthood Southeast, addressed to the crowd in the march, saying that “Banning abortion does not stop abortion. It stops safe abortion”(Press, Associated). This idea of Staci Fox covers the purpose and why abortion needs to be legal. Many think that banning abortion will stop it from happening, but the truth is that it is not like that. People will practice abortion in an unsafely, like in early centuries before Joe v Wade. Abortion must stay legal in all states to prevent the deaths of many women. 

    Abortion can happen for various reasons, but the most common reason with the highest percentage is “Not ready for a child” or “can’t afford a baby”. The data that will be provided is from Guttmacher Institute(AGI), which published every three years, and from the Center For Disease Control (CDC), which published annually. Surveys were taken and answers were given, according to collecting data in 2004, 25% of the women are not ready for a child, and 23% of women cannot afford a baby.  These are strong reasons to abort because if a woman is not ready to have a child, she should not be forced to have the baby. Also, that could have a mentally or economical effect in the future baby or the child/children she already has. 19% of the woman in the survey had an abortion because they are done having children. Some women do not have the time and the money to add another member to the family. Some of these women can be single mothers who have to work to maintain their other children. Women are the only ones who can decide for their body and for their life, sometimes women get pregnant in difficult times when they are not ready to have a baby or to add a baby. That is why abortion should be accessible and safe for those unwanted pregnancies. 

    When a woman wants to end an unwanted pregnancy because they do not want more kids, it’s important to grant abortion because the children they already have can suffer the consequences. According to statistics, “60% of women in the U.S. who have an abortion already have children, the study authors said”. (Netburn, Deborah) This means that they decided to abort for solid reasons, these could be that they cannot afford a new baby, not capable of taking care of a new baby, or for the simple reason that they don’t want more babies. Either way, abortion needs to be accessible to those women. When women are denied abortions, are most likely that the children they already have suffered the consequences. These children “are less likely to hit development milestones on time, and more likely to live in poverty”.(Netburn, Deborah) this could be because mothers would spend more time taking care of the new baby, than with the ones they have causing a delay in their development. Also, is more likely to increase proveerá, or live in poverty, since they will work less and adding a baby is expensive, meaning that it could be hard to cover basic bills. When abortion is denied, not only it affects the woman, but it can also affect the children she already has in a negative way, this is why abortion should be legal to everyone and every way. 

    Abortion can be the beginning of a new opportunity for women to continue with their lives and learn from the past. Many women have abortions because they are not ready to be parents and wanted to continue with studies so in the future they can afford a baby. Base on statistics, “…women in their 20s accounted for the majority (58.7%) of abortions and had the highest abortion rates (19.9 and 17.9 abortions per 1,000 women aged 20–24 and 25–29 years, respectively)”(Atlaoui TC). The 20s are the most productive decade in life when you are getting your degrees when your life starts shaping. Having a baby can affect the development of your life if you are not ready to have it. An anonymous woman shared her story from when she had an abortion, she was 28 years old and she did not have $50 to buy a buy Plan B pill. She had to sell some of her things to get a medical abortion. After she had the abortion, she “decided right then that [she] was going to go back to school and make a better life for [herself] and [her] kids”(Anonymous). She saw a second opportunity to do the right thing and continue her studies to have a better future. Nowadays she is a teacher and she stated that it would not have been possible if she had had the baby at that time. This is one of the many examples in with abortion acted as a second opportunity to think in the future and have a better life because of that difficult, but right decision.

 Women should not feel sorry if they had an abortion, and people cannot judge them by this act. It is their body, their choice, and people need to respect their decision because they are the only one that knows what is best for them. Abortion can be a second chance to continue, is an opportunity to grow, and can cause a positive change in people’s life. There are many stories of women that had abortion and after that, continue their study or had a better life. One of these women is Ilyse Hogue, she is president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, and she explains why people cannot judge her because of her abortion. She called this article, “It’s a chapter in my life, but it’s not my whole life.” representing the message of her story, meaning that abortion do not define women life, it is just something that happens and those women took benefit from it by changing for better. 

Not feeling comfortable talking about this chapter of her life, Ilyse Hogue says, “It’s what my decision allowed me to go on and do in my life, is how I hope I will be judged. I was able to go on and finish my education and dedicate my life to human rights and environmental work and political change and that’s all because I was able to make my own decisions without interference”. She hoped to be judged positively, that people would see abortion as a positive thing to do, as the right decision to make. Abortion gave her a second chance to finish her studies, and she became who she is today because she was able to make her own decision without no interference. Every woman should have the chance to a second opportunity is her life, and change things for the better. 

Abortion must be legal, safe and accessible because abortion is a right that every woman needs to have.  Denying women access to necessary medical care is inherently discriminatory and constitutes a violation of their human rights. Throughout history, abortion has been one of the most controversial and debated issues by many, and this paper explained why abortion must stay legal. We saw how in early centuries women had had illegal abortion which put many of them in danger. Thanks to the supreme court decision in 1973, abortion was legalized in all United States. Because of the legalization of abortion, many women have had a second chance to change or continue their life for better. Abortion is part of women’s human rights and has to be respected by all people. Women have the right to decide what they want to do with their body, and what is good for them. Abortion must stay legal around the country because is more than just a termination of the fetus, abortion is health care.

Work Cited Page

  • “U.S. Abortion Statistics.” Abort73.Com / Abortion Unfiltered, https://www.abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/.