Legal Abortion = Freedom Of Ch Essay, Research Paper

Legal abortions are essential in a free society that values women and their rights.

Abortion is never an easy decision, but women have been making that decision for

thousands of years. Whenever a society attempts to outlaw abortions, it ignores the same

urgent reasons for safe, legal abortions that have always existed.

Choice is good for families. There are many programs such as family planning

counseling, sex education, and contraception which diminish the number of unwanted

pregnancies before they occur. Even when precautions are taken, accidents can and do

happen. For some families, this could be devastating. An unwanted pregnancy can

increase tension, disrupt stability, and push people, particularly women and children

below the line of economic survival. A high percentage of teenage girls will become

pregnant before they celebrate their twentieth birthday. This could happen to your

daughter or someone else close to you. The penalty for lack of knowledge or a moment s

carelessness should not be enforced pregnancy and childbearing. It should not hurt to be

a child. If women are forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term, the result is

unwanted and often neglected children. These children are among society s most tragic

cases, often unloved, brutalized, and abandoned. When they grow up, these children are

often seriously disadvantaged, and sometimes inclined toward brutal behavior to others.

This is not good for children, for families, or for society. Children need love and families

who will care for them. Family planning is the answer and all options must be open.

Outlawing abortions is discriminatory. Anti-abortion laws discriminate against

low-income women, who are driven to dangerous self-induced or back-alley abortions.

That is all they can afford, but the rich can travel wherever necessary to obtain a safe

abortion. Being a mother is just one option for women. Many hard battles have been

fought to achieve political and economic equality for women. These gains will not be

worth the effort if reproductive choice is denied. To be able to choose a safe, legal

abortion makes many other options possible. Otherwise an accident or a rape can end

women s economic and personal freedom. Pregnancy is the most personal private matter

for women. There is no more extreme invasion of privacy than forcing women to carry

an unwanted pregnancy to term. If the government is allowed to force women to bear a

child, where will the government stop? This violates individual rights and freedoms.

To prohibit abortions does not stop them, it only makes them dangerous for

women. If they feel it absolutely necessary, women will have abortions whether or not

they are legal; often in secret and without proper medical attention. For many women

with heart disease, kidney disease, sickle-cell anemia, severe diabetes, and other life

threatening illnesses, the availability of legal abortions has helped avoid serious medical

complications that could have resulted from childbirth. Even before abortions became

legal, millions of women sought them out. Thousands of women died, tens of thousands

were mutilated and all were forced to behave as criminals. Legal abortions protect

women s lives.

To believe in legal abortion is to believe that a woman has the right to decide for

herself when and whether to have a child. It means believing that a woman can decide

on her own, based on her personal beliefs, health, and life circumstances, without

government interference. It means working towards a world where all women s

reproductive options, whether it s motherhood, abortions, or adoptions, are safe legal and

accessible. It also means supporting responsible sex education and access to birth control

so that women and men have the tools to make and implement their own private

decisions and take charge of their lives and futures. Anti-abortionists oppose most ideas

or programs which can help achieve equality and freedom. They also oppose programs

which protect the health and well-being of women and children. Anti-abortionists claim

to act in defense of life. If so, why have some worked to destroy programs which

serve life, including prenatal care and nutrition for dependent pregnant women? Is this

respect for life? Anti-abortionists also say they are trying to save children, but they have

fought against health and nutrition programs for children once they are born. The

anti-abortionists groups seem to believe life begins at conception, but ends at birth. Is

this respect for life? Anti-abortionists oppose the programs which reduce the number of

unwanted pregnancies before they occur. Clinics providing such service have been

bombed. Is this respect for life?

No society committed to rights and freedoms for the individual could seriously

consider returning to back-alley abortions, and to the government forcing women to bear

children against their will. Many women today will not accept that. They can now select

their own paths in society including when and whether to have children. Legal abortions

are critical in maintaining freedom of choice for women.

342