Keeping abortion legal would protect women’s health, provide families with an alternative choice, and eliminate pregnancy laws that conflict with our free society. L. Protect women’s health A. Abortion methods 1. Legal methods 2. Illegal methods B. Illegal abortion mortality rate . Choice A. Unintended pregnancy B. Age C. Marital status D. Religion Pregnancy laws Ill. A. Government Involvement Over the years, abortion has been stigmatize by those who view it as the least desirable, or a completely unacceptable, reproductive option.
It is critical not to give in to the pressure to slur abortion as the one invalid procreative choice among all the options facing a pregnant woman. Keeping abortion legal would protect women’s health, provide families with an alternative choice, and eliminate pregnancy laws that conflict with our free society. Since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, abortion has become one of the safest medical procedures in the country. By keeping abortion legal, we help protect the lives and safety of women facing unplanned pregnancies.
Anti-abortionists frequently claim that abortions are unsafe, when in fact surgical and medical abortions have extremely high rates of safety. Ninety-seven percent of women obtaining surgical abortion before 13 weeks report no complications; two and a half percent have minor complications that can be handled at a medical office or abortion facility; and less than half of a percent have more serious complications that require additional surgical procedure and/or hospitalizing (Has Para. 17). Rates of adverse events for medical abortion are also very low. In the back alley days of unsafe abortion in America, before Roe v. Wade, the estimates of illegal abortions ranged as high as 1. Million per year (Dietz and Handsaw). Although, no accurate records could be kept of illegal procedures; what is known is that between 1880 and 1973, many thousands of women died or suffered serious medical problems after attempting to self-induce their abortions or going to untrained practitioners who performed abortions with primitive methods or in unsanitary conditions (Dietz and Handsaw).
However, since the legalization of abortion, the risk of death resulting from abortion is many times less than a woman’s risk of death during pregnancy and childbirth. The ability to access safe and legal abortion has been critical for many women as they seek to define and live their lives with dignity. Honoring women means honoring their choices, including the choice of whether and when to have children. Women are capable of making intelligent decisions about their own lives and families. Each year, almost half of all pregnancies among American women are unintended (Finer and Handsaw). About half of these unplanned pregnancies, 1. Ages of 15 and 19 account for about 19% of all abortions; women 20 to 24 account for another 33%; and about 25% of abortions are obtained by women who are 30 or older Cones, et al). Most women getting abortions, 83%, are unmarried; 67% have never married, and 16% are separated, divorced, or widowed Cones, et al). Married women are significantly less likely than unmarried women to resolve unintended pregnancies through abortion. Women who Hartman 3 obtain abortions represent every religious affiliation. 13% of abortion patients describe themselves as born-again or Evangelical Christians; while 27% of abortion patients in the U.
S are Catholic Cones, et al). Nevertheless, women deserve the autonomy and dignity to act in accordance with their personal convictions, and to decide what is best for their own lives and families. Frances Killing, former President of Catholics for a Choice, stated, “Abortion should be legal, a private matter between a woman and her doctor, with no restriction or regulation beyond what is absolutely necessary to protect the women’s health… ” (Killing Para. 2). Abortion is a valid personal decision within the continuum of health care- a decision that ultimately belongs to each woman.
Abortion is a private decision and the state has no power over a woman’s body (Pickett Para. 6). Women should be trusted and respected to exercise the choices about their bodies and lives that are best for them, and not be forced by the government into personal reproductive decisions that are against their will. Abortion “wars” will always continue because there will always be a mother somewhere that can’t or won’t want to raise her child or go through with giving birth. There will always be cases of health issues that will come into play on deciding if aborting the fetus is a better option in the long run.
