The Alabama governor recently signed the most restricted abortion law in the country. On Wednesday Alabama governor, Kay Ivey, signed the states "near-total abortion ban". It bans all abortions in the state except when "abortion is necessary in order to prevent a serious health risk" to the woman. It criminalizes the procedure and is punishable by up to 99 years in prison for doctors who perform the procedure. it makes no exceptions for victims of rape or incest.

Adding to this just last week, the Georgia governor signed into law the states "fetal heartbeat" bill. This bill will prohibit abortions after a heartbeat is detected in the embryo, which is around 5-6 weeks into pregnancy. Six states have passed similar laws in the past few weeks.

A pregnant 11-year-old rape victim in Ohio would no longer be allowed to have an abortion under the new state law. Ohio had recently passed the same "heartbeat" bill. There is no way an 11-year-old girl would know she was pregnant after her rape. As a young girl, your menstruation is not completely in sync and on time. Your body is still trying to figure out its rhythm so it is common to miss a period and not think anything of it. Which means she would have to carry and deliver her rapist's child. That is just disgusting. Even though this law hasn't gone into effect yet and this 11-year-old won't be subject to it, thousands of other women in the future would be. According to data 4,000 women were raped in Ohio in 2017.

There is a vast movement growing online which is against the passing of these laws. Typically women do not even know they're pregnant until around 6 weeks or even after that mark in their pregnancy. So how is it okay to take a woman's decision away before she even knows she's pregnant.

Why is it okay to allow middle-aged men to make laws that would give women life in prison, for having an abortion after rape, a more severe penalty than for the rape itself? It's purely insane for men to be making laws dictating what a woman can or cannot do with her own body. Why should there be stricter laws about abortions or a woman's choice than on guns?

Women get abortions for many different reasons. A huge majority of women get their abortions for fear that they won't be able to afford a baby. Taking away a woman's choice could cause them to seek out other methods of doing so or cause an influx of children in foster care. The right to choose abortion is essentially ensuring a woman can decide for herself if, when and with who to start/grow a family.

When the right to abortion is endangered, the fundamental equality of women is threatened. A woman will never be equal if she is denied a basic right to make decisions for herself.

Let's keep abortions legal and safe for all women.