Yes, I’m pro-choice
(no, I don’t kill babies). I have no issues with abortion, and I believe that
every woman should have complete bodily autonomy and should be able to have a
procedural abortion if she chooses to. This does not mean that I support
abortion due to sex selection/discrimination.
Motherhood is a
powerful institution, and should only be entered into if and when the woman is
willing to. I do not understand why politics, as well as religion are
considered, when a woman has made a very personal decision to have an abortion?
These backward laws are not stopping abortions; they are just making these
medical procedures unsafe. If a girl wants to have an abortion, trust me, she
will.
And what about rape victims? Victims of incest? Teenagers who are
pregnant with no fault of their own? Odds are that 1 in 3
women will be victims of sexual violence in her lifetime. Does this mean that
33% of all women should be forced to carry out a pregnancy from this violation?
Should we allow this further risk to be endured on top of what has already been
done? Why should a girl be forced to carry out a pregnancy that is only going
to remind her of an extremely disturbing and traumatizing event? Where is the
humanity in that?
Now many of you would
argue that these women could endure the pregnancy, spending nearly a year of
her life basically re-living the rape and its psychological and physical effects
over and over again, to give up a baby at the end of it for adoption. However,
we all are aware of the fact that there are millions of unwanted children
awaiting adoption as you read this, who remain unclaimed; in fact, UNICEF
estimates that there are 210 million orphans in the world right now. If they
have no one willing to be their parent or custodian, why would another baby
have a better chance?
