Your Body, Your Choice


jordanuhl7 via WikipediaCommons

Protests and demonstrations have often been referred to as the “siren song” of pro-choice activists.

Dante Bernhardt, Staff Writer

Abortion has consistently remained a deep-seated (and particularly deafening) topic with countless numbers of supporters on both sides of the debate, clamoring for their team’s opinion. Despite the complexities and evidence resting on the arguments of both pro-life and pro-choice, I argue that the side giving women the right to choose is the correct one.

Unlike what many pro-life people believe, ending the freedom to have an abortion is a form of oppression since it unfairly restricts women’s choice. If the mother cannot support the child, is put in harms way due to complications, or is pregnant because of rape, the life and well-being of the mother should not be sacrificed for the unborn child.

Furthermore, some people are unprepared for motherhood and do not want to sacrifice their future. For example, women below the poverty line who are unexpectedly pregnant should not be tasked with the burden of a child that requires a full-time importance that can result in the juvenile’s stunted development, abandonment, and/or negative mental state.

Not to mention, hospital bills and numerous doctor appointments can easily result in debt. However, if abortion remains rightfully legal, women can seek the help they need before the usual cutoff date of 24 weeks, saving themselves, and their potential offspring, from a life of hardships.

Advocates of pro-life cite the opinion that an unborn child and a two-year-old child are no different in terms of existence, thus, their deaths are equivalent, labeled as murder. But consider this: the comparison between the two is like crushing the egg or slaughtering the hen. Killing a living thing that is significantly more developed and aware of its surroundings is normally considered morally wrong, more so than killing an egg. If you are still struggling to understand, imagine this scenario: If a room is on fire and in front of you there is a fertilized egg and a child, which would you rather save? Majority of people would choose to save the living child.

Roe v. Wade, the monumental 1973 court case involving the legality of abortion, decided that the act was justified by America’s Constitution “guarantee of certain areas or zones of privacy,” in a 7-2 vote. Though the decision is still the law of the land, many pro-life supporters claim the decision was foolish and defies the 14th Amendment that dictates the security of life for citizens. Whether or not life begins at conception or at birth is still undecided, making it a weak defense for pro-life advocates.

There are around seven different ways to get an abortion. One of the procedures, that happens much later in the pregnancy, can seem brutal, but reforms on abortion guidelines would stop illegal and dangerous abortions that happen regardless of what the law says.