Erin 40, was a young girl at a party when a so called friend raped her. Erin only being a teenager at the time didnt know what to do. She didn’t have a mother to talk to and she didn’t want to tell her father because he was a dedicated christian man and she didn’t want to break his heart so she thought of commiting suicide. She latter knew that after her death an autopsy would of revealed that she was pregnant and she didn’t want to disappoint her father, so she tried to collect money to have an abortion. She started selling her personal items and her neighbor noticed that something wasn’t right.
The neighbor talked to erin and they discussed what had been going on. When they had finished talking her neighbor had said that she was willing to pay for her abortion. The debate whether or not abortion should be an option continues to be a topic that is very controversial in today’s society but pro-Choice is right, pregnant women should have the right to choose to have an abortion. There are multiple reasons why women today choose to go threw with an abortion. Rape and other forms of sexual violence are unfortunately quite popular in the united states today.
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, they stated that “In the U.S., one in three women experience some form of sexual violence in their lifetime” (NSVRC 4). Women who become pregnant don’t deserve to be shamed they don’t want continue with a pregnancy. Have we ever thought of how denying an abortion might affect these women Do we ever care to think about a woman’s mental health if they continues through an unwanted pregnancy? In 1998, El Salvador passed a law banning abortion under all circumstances.
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Since then, El Salvador has worked to enforce its ban, mounting an intensive effort to identify and prosecute those who violate the law. If we’re hoping to understand what happens when abortion is banned, El Salvador is the perfect place to study. As stated in an article presented by The Washington Post, “Suicide is the leading cause of death among pregnant teenagers in that country.” (Michelle Oberman Paragraph 4) Needless to say, when El Salvador banned abortions throughout the whole country, it didn’t stop women from seeking abortions. An article published by Guernica states that. “Abortion does not go away Indeed, the rates of abortion in countries with the most restrictive abortion laws are higher” says (Michelle oberman).
When we take a look at this chart we know that the rates of unsafe abortions are even higher in latin America. When abortion is illegal, it is unsafe. In El Salvador, women are dying every year from illegal abortions. Is this what we want for our America? Do we want the government stepping in place of a women’s choice over her body? Do women really need to fight for their own right to continue through an unwanted pregnancy, despite the circumstances of the health of the child or themselves? There is absolutely no reason to restrict women’s options for abortion access and we should not interfere with it now.
The movement of abortion in The united states has come a long way since the 1800’s. Some regulations related to abortion were placed in the 1820s and 1830s. They approached the sale of dangerous medication that women used to induce abortions. Despite these regulations and the fact that the drugs sometimes proved fatal to women, they continued to be advertised and sold and in the 1870’s abortions had been banned through the whole country. Around the 1960’s the women’s right movement opened up the topic of contraceptives for women. These cases where the foundation for the Roe vs. Wade decision.
In the 1970’s Roe Vs. Wade was a decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court turned down Texas for banning abortions. The court said that it’s “a woman’s right to have an abortion was implicated in the right to privacy protected by the 14th Amendment to the Constitution” (History. Com edditors). Although there are many arguments that go against pro – choice there are also many viewpoints that can contradict Pro-life arguments. Many individuals who are pro-life often bring up the dispute of why kill a child when you can give it up for adoption. When individuals say this they often don’t think of the mother. Many assume that going threw a pregnancy is easy and something that’s enjoyable but this is not the case at all.
Women have to endure threw nausea, contractions and the most painful part, the delivery. Rebecca from Indianapolis says that labor felt like the worst menstrual cramp or gas pain that you’ve ever had, combined with someone stabbing you in the stomach!¨(kate kelly 6). We can’t just expect women to experience this when they don’t have to. Forcing a woman to go threw an unwanted pregnancy not only affects the mother but the baby as well. An article by The Durango Herald discussed a study done by Czech Psychologist tracking what it means to be born from an unwanted pregnancy and the results did indeed show a difference between children who where desired.
One of the Czech psychologists had a list of women who had been twice denied an abortion. These children, both those who were unwanted before birth and the normal controls, were examined and tested at age 9, in adolescence and again in their early 20s. The groups of people selected to be studied Grew up in similar circumstances to show the differences. The investigators also looked at records and interviewed their parents and teachers. The study concluded that ¨Specifically, the babies who had been unwanted were not breastfed as long, and did not achieve as well in school even though their intelligence tests were as good as the more desired children. They were more likely to be less social and more disruptive and hyperactive and were more likely to have criminal records.¨(Richard Grossman 15) they also asked the young adults tested and asked if they where content in life.
These people stated that they were ¨less satisfied with their lives, with their love relationships, with their own mental health and with their jobs.” (Richard Grossman 17) the study also showed that their sexual debut was at an earlier age aswell and ¨they had more sexual partners than control people¨.(Richard Grossman 17). This shows that people are more likely to continue the chain of unwanted pregnancies. With this we can conclude and say that An unwanted pregnancy can be devastating. Sometimes things work, but delivering and raising an unwanted child may be traumatic for the parents, and scar these children.
References
- Planned Parenthood: Abortion
- National Center for Biotechnology Information: Abortion and Mental Health
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Abortion Statistics
- The New York Times: Abortion
- American Pregnancy Association: Emotional and Psychological Effects of Abortion
- National Center for Biotechnology Information: Legalization of Abortion and Subsequent Impacts on Adolescent Fertility in Chile, Kenya, and South Africa
- World Health Organization: Preventing Unsafe Abortion
- National Center for Biotechnology Information: Abortion and Maternal Mortality in the Developing World
