Throughout history, women have been a second thought, treated less, and were only there to watch the children, cook, clean, and take care of their husbands. Recently in Texas, they passed a law where it is illegal for people to get an abortion after 6 weeks and with no expectations to rape or incest. The U.S. The Supreme Court had decided they would not be acting against the new law. 

This is an attack on women’s rights to their own bodies, reproductive system, and rights. I strongly believe that a woman should be able to choose what she wants to do with her body and government officials should not be putting laws on women’s bodies. 

The Governor of Texas Abbot had recently said, “Rape is a crime, and Texas will work tirelessly to make sure we eliminate all rapists from the streets of Texas by aggressively going out and arresting them and prosecuting them and getting them off the streets. So goal no. 1 in the state of Texas is to eliminate rape so that no woman, no person, will be a victim of rape.” I would look forward to seeing his plan of removing rapists from “the streets”, but unfortunately this is very close to impossible. Rapists aren’t just “from the streets” it can be either family members or young students “who deserve a future”. But we can teach consent and make sure they understand they have to ask and if they say no then it means no.

There are many other reasons why women would get an abortion; not ready to be a parent yet, not the right timing, want to finish school or accomplish other things, not in a relationship they want to have a child in, abusive relationship, or sexually assaulted, pregnancy is dangerous for their health, fetus won’t survive or will suffer at birth, not finically stable, not mentally stable, or simply just to want to be a parent (planned parenthood).

Some believe that you should “just” put the baby up for adoption. Yes, some children might find a loving and nurturing home but for others, that is not always the case. I would also like to bring up the fact that banning abortions does not stop them from happening. Almost half of the abortions that are performed in the world are not safe. In many countries where abortion is banned, they lack contraceptives that could prevent these pregnancies. When women have access to safe abortions data shows that the abortion rates decline due to the fact they also have access to contraceptives. Since Roe vs. Wade was enacted abortions were at the lowest. (Ahmed, 2020)

There are ways to reduce the rates of abortions without banning them as a whole. One way is having a good curriculum for sex ed; teaching safe sex and consent. Another way is having access to contraceptives and making sure they are safe. Bettering the foster care system is also a great way to lower the rates and give the time and effort to make sure these kids are in safe and loving homes.  

It is also brought up that we should be thinking about logic rather than emotions or say “facts over feelings” but the abortion argument is something that brings a lot of emotions. A person who has to carry a pregnancy to term that they didn’t want is a lot of added stress and emotion in their lives. 

Abortion is health care and should be kept legal. Women are capable of making the best decisions on their own bodies. There is nothing wrong with carrying the pregnancy to full term and raising the child but not everybody wants that.