The issue of whether or not a woman should be able to obtain an abortion is a highly debatable one. Due to the disagreements between different political parties on whether or not abortion is morally correct, this area of women’s rights has been extremely amplified by news media and other sources of information. While I agree 100 percent with the fact that a woman should have the right to an abortion if she wishes to receive one, I also believe that the political discussion of the legality of abortions has blinded us from being able to see the other areas of reproductive rights. These other rights need an equal amount of attention and should be supported regardless of if you are pro-choice or not.
Immediately, when someone says the term “reproductive rights” many people associate the term with “abortion rights.” They think it simply means a woman should have the right to choose whether or not she wants to go through with a pregnancy. However, this is an extremely small focus on a very large issue. A woman should also have the access to an abortion in addition to being able to obtain other resources regarding her health and the health of her family if she has one. This includes ensuring that she has access to STD/STI testing, ovarian/cervical/breast cancer screenings, an OBGYN, family planning, contraceptives, general health, assistance when suffering from emotional/physical/sexual abuse and anything else that falls into these categories. All of these can be provided at a low cost by the Planned Parenthood Foundation, which is bashed all too often because they offer abortion services. Meanwhile, they assist women with all these things no matter their income.
Furthermore, not only should a woman have the right to these kinds of organizations, but she should be able to learn about them as well. Sex education is often neglected from the very start of a student’s schooling. At my old high school, the “sex education” unit was more or less scaring us into abstinence by teaching us about every kind of STD under the sun. Not to underscore the importance of this branch of reproductive health, but there are many other things a woman has the right to know about her body without having to ask a doctor about it. For example ways to prevent pregnancy without participating in abstinence, options if you have an unwanted pregnancy (including adoption centers or teaching you how to raise a child if you decide to give birth), how to self-check for signs of cervical/breast/ovarian cancer, etc.
Furthermore, Planned Parenthood has an array of programs for sex education for schools that surround their locations that are, for the most part, free of charge. These programs have done a remarkable job in impacting the communities (such as Hempstead, Long Island) especially when it comes to teen pregnancy. Not only are many teens in this area uneducated about safe sex, but many of them cannot afford to purchase any form of birth control. Programs that Planned Parenthood in Hempstead have brought to schools have done their share in telling the students what options they have based on the financial and personal states they are in. In fact, according to President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Nassau County JoAnn D. Smith, as of the spring of 2015, informative programs that Planned Parenthood in Hempstead has created informing about this issue have “led to a reduction in the teen pregnancy rate of 30 percent in Roosevelt and 18 percent in Hempstead.”
Because the education they offer is not just about preventing pregnancy, but also about having a healthy family if one chooses to do so, the accusation that Planned Parenthood has “killed millions of babies” is invalid. Regardless of whether or not you think abortion is “murder,” Planned Parenthood has assisted millions of women in gaining knowledge about how to have the healthiest pregnancy possible. This advice has helped to lower the chances of a miscarriage or a birth complication among many of the women that have received this help.
Despite the fact that many people will continue to shun women for supporting women’s rights because they are pro-life, we need to create a new mentality. We should all stand together, unpolarized, as women (and men AND the transgender community) in order to gain ALL rights that protect our health. We need to stop letting political debates further divide us on these liberties that no one should be denied of in the first place.
