By: Danny Spencer
Abortion has been one of the most highly debated topics in The United States in its recent history. Pro-Life is the argument that abortions are cruel for taking the life of an unborn child and should be made illegal. Pro-Choice is the belief that women should continue to have access to abortions legally. People who identify as Pro-Choice aren’t necessary Pro-Abortion, they just want women to have the option to do what they feel is best for themselves in a given situation. Abortions should remain legal in the United States because it provides a safe and regulated option for unwanted pregnancies as well as reducing the number of unwanted children born.
Making abortions illegal won’t stop them from happening; it’s just going to take away a safe and legal way for women to have them done. Its estimated by the Guttmacher Institute that between the years 1950-1970 that anywhere from 200,000 to 1.2 million illegal abortions were performed in the United States alone each year (History.com Staff). This, to me, is forcing too many women a year to turn to illegal and dangerous alternatives. The methods to perform these illegal abortions are dangerous and pose a serious risk to the woman’s health. Some of these unsafe methods include: breaking the amniotic sac with a sharp object (coat hanger, wire, etc.), putting toxic mixtures inside womb (peppers, Lysol, plant poison etc.), and over-the-counter drugs that cause miscarriages or uterine contractions (oxytocin, prostaglandis). All of these methods can pose severe health issues to the woman that sometimes even result in death. These drastic measures seem absurd considering we have the technology for safe abortions at our disposal.
Another important aspect that Pro-Life supporters over look is how many kids are in foster care in the United States today. These kids grow up bouncing around from group home to group home, or to different orphanages for years at a time. According to the Administration for Children & Families of the Department of Health and Human Services, in 2016 there were roughly 437,500 kids in foster care at the end of the fiscal year. That’s an increase of 10,000 kids from 2015 when 427,400 kids were reported at the end of the year (Gozales). These kids end up getting abandoned or taken by child services at a young age because their parents can no longer take care of them. If abortions were made illegal the number of parentless kids in the United States would only grow.
Abortions should continue to be accessible to the women everywhere in an effort to provide women with a choice that makes sense for their own situation. Making them illegal will only make women resort to more dangerous methods of abortion, which could prove to be hazardous to their health. Abortion rates have also been declining over the past years since women have gained access to and had the choice in using contraceptives. The United States doesn’t need more children growing up in the foster care system either. Overall, the only people getting hurt in the decision to make abortions illegal are the women who would need access to one, and yet it seems they are the only ones who get no voice on the topic.
Works Cited
History.com Staff “ROE V. WADE” History.com staff, https://www.history.com/topics/roe-v-wade
Gonzales, Richard “Number of American Children in Foster Care Increases for 4th Consecutive year” https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/11/30/567615510/number-of-american-children-in-foster-care-increases-for-4th-consecutive-year