It's one of the most controversial topics out there, and everyone seems to have an opinion about it. On one side, you have pro-lifers who tell you that abortion is immoral. They'll tell you that the killing of a baby, no matter how small, is neglect. On the other side, you have people who are pro-choice. People who tell you that a woman's body is hers and she can make her own decisions. That the decision to abort a baby comes farther than just a simple procedure. And in the middle of these two groups, lies me.
Growing up Catholic, people expect me to be pro-life, but I'm not. And even then, being a young millennial woman, people would expect me to be pro-choice, but I'm not that either. Abortion is a tricky subject. In past times, I'd say that if it was your decision to have sex, then it's your responsibility to accept the consequences, one of them being pregnancy. But now, as a broke college student, my opinion about that is slightly different. I love babies. They're cute and sweet, and pure beings. But a baby is a huge responsibility. You have to feed them, change them, shower them, and make sure they don't get hurt.
Since I'm a nurse aide, taking care of children or the elderly is as easy as pie for me, but then come the expenses. I'm a full time student working part time and I barely have enough to pay my phone bill. I can only imagine the stress that comes when you find out you're pregnant and you're struggling to keep yourself stable. Babies are expensive, and many women choose to abort because they do not have the necessary funds, time, or capability to give their child the best they deserve.
But then come the pro-life arguments. If children deserve the best, wouldn't the best be the opportunity to live? Pro-choice activists always bring up the fact that abortion is done during the early stages of conception and that the baby isn't actually a formed baby yet. Though this is true, that doesn't take away from the fact that those tiny cells inside a woman's uterus are in fact a child. They're working specifically to create another human being. It doesn't matter if they're cells and the baby has no shape yet, the cells are the baby. Abortion, believe it or not, is the ending of someone's life. Maybe it was someone who hadn't even been introduced to the outside world yet, but it is another being who never got the chance to live.
With abortion also comes the talk about adoption. "If you don't want your baby, then someone else does." Though this is necessarily true, think about all the children that are already in orphanages and homes and are not being adopted. It is true, that there are people out there who want to adopt children, but the process is long and frustrating, and by the time the process is over, children are already exposed to the cruel reality that is loneliness and abandonment.
Abortion is also viewed as a selfish act, because it is a selfish act. But there's nothing wrong with being a little selfish sometimes. When a mother aborts a child, they're thinking about their body and their lives, but they may also consider their child's life. They think about all the things their child will not get because they do not have what it takes to probably support them.
Whether or not you have an opinion about abortion, it's important to remember that everyone else lives different lives. Everyone has an opinion and it's not up to you to try to change it. I don't know if abortion is right or wrong because I do not have a solid opinion, but I will not shame others who do. Maybe someday in the future I'll be able to properly formulate my answer to the question, "Do you agree with abortion?" but for now, I'm perfectly content with listening to others and learning.
