Recently, John Oliver did a segment on his show about abortion, and it was hit with some strong backlash—people proclaiming that abortion is murder, goes against religion, is only done by evil women, and so on and so forth. Every argument in the book was used against his stance, and not a single one holds up. The fact of the matter is that abortion remains a right held by women.

As people, at least here in America, almost everyone has bodily autonomy—meaning they can refuse treatment, not donate an organ to a dying person, and pretty much most other things of that nature. Hell, even dead people have bodily autonomy—people who are no longer alive have equal control and right over their body as a young woman.

If a dead person has a right to their own body, why do people think it's okay to tell a woman she can choose what goes on in her own body? If anything, a living woman has even more of a right over her own body.

“Oh what about the life of the child?”

First off, it's not a child, it's not sentient, it cannot survive outside of the womb. Secondly, the woman is in no way responsible to give up her body for nine months in order to support the fetus. Are people legally required to donate organs to family members who would definitely die without them? No, because nobody can tell them what to do with their body even if someone will die as a result.

How about not allowing abortion even if the fetus isn't viable/dies before birth?

If a woman cannot abort under any circumstances, then this is also a possibility. I cannot even begin to imagine the emotional trauma that a woman must suffer under such circumstances. As John Iadarola of ThinkTank puts it: “forcing them to give birth and then watch the child potentially die, or give birth to a child who has already died—I don't know what could be more evil.”

How about in the case of rape?

If you believe that even rape isn't grounds to get an abortion, then go ahead and tell a young 12-year-old girl who was raped by a family member—go tell her to carry to term. Look someone in the f*cking eye and tell them to suck it up. No woman should be forced into such an emotional and physical ordeal. If you think such types of abortion are intentionally killing a fetus, then forcing her to carry is intentionally killing her mentally and emotionally.

How about if the fetus poses significant health problems to the mother?

Firstly, a fetus isn't a child or a baby. It's a fetus. Secondly, how is it an "absurdity" to try and save a woman's life when the fetus inside of her is killing her? Look at a woman who has a fetus inside of her that will kill her if she isn't allowed to abort—go ahead and look her in the eye and cast your death sentences upon her, you heartless bastards. Do exactly what you say you’re against—murder.

Why people are still debating the issue of abortion is beyond my comprehension. Organizations are devoting thousands of hours and millions of dollars trying to take away this right from women. People are still clinging to backwards ideals for no reason other than their stubbornness to consider an opposing viewpoint. Being totally against abortion is incredibly damaging, and causes more hardships than it seeks to prevent. This is why I believe a woman has a right to choose.