WA2 first draft

Abortion is a topic frequently debated between politicians in the United States. For those who have not had to deal with decisions involving unwanted pregnancy, abortion can seem just “wrong” or “evil”. This issue is so important because choosing whether or not to abort one’s baby is a choice that affects the child and parents for the rest of her lives. When we attempt to solve problems in society like poverty, hunger, and teen pregnancy, we often fail to link these problems to one another. Abortion is should be a legal option for women in America because the decision involves her body and should therefore be her choice and making abortion illegal forces pregnant women to resort to dangerous, “home solutions” to an unwanted child.

Decisions involving pregnancy and birth control involve a woman’s body and life should be made by the woman and the father of the unborn child. It just makes sense. The woman and her sex partner may have failed to use a contraceptive device, but they still have a chance to prevent having children. In so many cases, a child when the parents aren’t ready for one create a bad family situation for the child, who may be unloved and uncared for and for the parents, who are forced to raise a child they do not want. Currently there are 10 million single mothers living in the U.S. Most women who become pregnant before they are married are forced to sacrifice their education in order to support for their children. The children are raised on a low income and lack a father figure to guide them. Abortion should be the last resort for a pregnant woman, but that choice should be hers, not a group of primarily male congressmen who are too focused on the morals of the issue than the situation facing women across the country.

Where abortion is made unlawful or frowned upon by a community, women desperate for a way out of motherhood may choose to perform an illegal abortion. When a woman attempts to abort the baby by inserting a clotheshanger into the uterus, eating herbal remedies or poisons, or trying to kill the fetus by beating her stomach—serious complications such as infection, excessive bleeding, and even death can occur. If a woman is determined to terminate the pregnancy, she will do it even if it is against the law. We cannot turn the other cheek when women are hurting themselves to abort the baby while we have able doctors across the country willing to perform the procedure safely.

In conclusion, abortion is—rather should be a woman’s choice. As Americans, we are guaranteed the right to make other decisions about our bodies, and family planning should be viewed no differently. If a woman has made the difficult decision not to take her baby to term, she should be respected for that choice and be treated like any other person seeking medical attention. She should not be made to view photographs of aborted babies or guilted into making an unwise decision. If giving birth to the baby poses health concerns for the mother, than abortion is the clear choice. The human who has evolved into their own “person” should come first. Prevention by means of abstinence or contraceptive devices should come first, but if that fails then other ways of dealing with the problem need to be considered in the case of an unwanted fetus.