I was raised in a household of predominately women, my father died before I was born and my mother was a single mother working full time. She raised my sister and I to be strong, independent women, she raised my brother to respect women. My mother has always been a moderate, but more towards the liberal sides of things. My brother also being a liberal, my sister and I found ourselves leaning towards the liberal sides on both social and economical issues. Especially towards the end of high school I found myself becoming very involved in the liberal community largely in own personal rights, rights of women, and many other social issues affecting us nowadays. This election has brought up the topic of pro choice vs pro life and the funding of planned parenthood.

I have, and always will be pro choice. I have and always will support planned parenthood. This is not even because I am a woman and a liberal, but because I believe that everyone should have a choice. Whether you are a man, a woman, whatever, you should have a say in what you and your body goes through. Looking at young girls, teen pregnancy is not uncommon nowadays and data shows that 77% are unplanned. (Office Of Adolescent Health) Many of these young women bodies do not have the capability of carrying out a birth, many times the pregnancy may even cause her to die. A 15/16/17 years old body is not prepared for birthing yet and the baby will cause a danger to her. At 15 years old the girl will have to stop attending school and not have the ability to continue her education due to the fact that she is a new mother, she may never be able to return to school. This is EXTREMELY common because often the father will not be supportive, many times as well the family will not have the financial support to help this child thrive. Some mothers may need to give their child up for adoption or take on jobs that they may be unable to handle. It is not right to have a child taking care of another child.

As far as older women go, such as in their 20's or 30's where they may have the capabilities to take care of a child, you may say, so where is their reasoning? Well, what if they are not married and don't know if they could do it on their own? Or what if they aren't in the best mental health and do not want it to affect the child? Or, what if they just aren't ready? Many times the argument for being raped comes in. It is not ethical and not moral to force a woman to carry around the child of their rapist. Everyday she will have to look at her little boy or girl and think about this awful time and event in her life. But, even if none of these things applied, it would still be okay. A woman has the right to her body, and has the right to make the choice she feels best fit.

Making abortion illegal will not stop abortions from happening. This will just make it more unsafe. If a woman wants an abortion she will find a way to get it, with no medical help, this can cause death or lifelong complications. More than 20 million unsafe abortions occur annually and around the world, resulting in near 68,000 maternal deaths and 5 million women with health complications.

A huge reason I support planned parenthood is because they help to make sure there are less illegal and unsafe abortions in this world and that women can have a place where they feel like they have a voice and are safe. Planned parenthood offers birth control, and aid for girls and women when they feel as if they are in trouble. By supporting the cutting of funding planned parenthood you are enabling unsafe abortions and you are enabling teen pregnancies. You are taking away the rights of women and taking away their voices.

Pregnancy should not be something that is forced upon a woman, it should be a happy time in your life, when you are ready and able. Abortion is not murder.

I stand with planned parenthood and I stand with pro choice.