I am pro-abortion. Yes, I am also pro-choice, but being pro-choice means that I am pro-adoption, pro-birth, pro-birth control, pro-condom usage, pro-natural family planning and pro-whatever a woman decides is the best decision for her, and yes, that includes abortion.
Our society understands the debate as predicated upon the notion of a false dichotomy: pro-choice and pro-life. This sets up the discussion in such a way that pro-choice people such as myself are often accused of advocating in favor of murder or killing a child. Additionally, saying that one group of people is in favor of life while the other is not ignores the fact that those who support restricting a woman's right to choose are statistically more likely to also support war, the death penalty, and lax gun regulations.
To be fair, I am 100 percent pro-choice from the moment of conception all the way until the last day of the pregnancy, whenever that happens to be. Some may see this as an unpopular or immoral opinion, but it is still mine. This way of thinking is one which I arrived at based on one simple notion: women should have the right to make their own medical decisions, and bodily autonomy is something which should be afforded to all people as a basic part of the human experience.
Often times, even those who would characterize themselves as pro-choice say that they support abortion in the first and second trimester. This may have to do with the fact that, in the third trimester, the fetus has developed significantly and looks more like what we associate a 'child' with. However, this does not change a few key points about third trimester abortions:
1. Less than one percent of all abortions in the United States occur within the third trimester.
2. Third trimester abortions are only allowed to be performed if there are extenuating circumstances, including fetal anomalies or the life of the woman or the fetus being in danger.
3. Only four clinics in the entire country perform third trimester abortions.
4. There is no federal source of public funding for third trimester abortions, due to a legal provision known as the Hyde Amendment.
We should not define rights as ending at an arbitrary point in time, saying that once one week ends and another begins that suddenly the freedom to choose goes away.
Because third trimester abortions actually help women and are an incredibly safe procedure, we can see that this is a life-affirming procedure that does not meet the scientific or legal definitions of murder. The pro-choice movement need not shy away from activism in favor of third trimester abortions, but rather should seek to protect it as a fundamental woman's right.
