There has been a lot of movement within the government concerning the appeal to Roe v. Wade which gives women the right to choose to have an abortion. This constitutional right is being attacked by conservatives who are backed by President Donald Trump. This push to take away the reproductive rights of American women is a terrifying movement due to the regression in female rights it imposes, as well as the malpractices it will elicit harming many women in the long run.
I am pro-choice, not just because I am a feminist and liberal, but because a woman should have the right to decide, take action and control her body in the free world. There are many reasons a woman decides to get an abortion; financial insecurity, physical health problems, rape and much more, but whatever the reason may be, it is not anyone's business because it is not anyone else's body.
Since conservatives are pushing the appeal to Roe v. Wade without sympathy or mercy for the current or future women who may or may not be able to choose to get an abortion, I will explain why a woman's experience and choice should trump this ban.
1. Rape
Rape and male rapists are beginning to not only become normalized but also sympathized with by conservative politicians more than the woman who experienced the trauma. Rape takes a piece of a woman's soul, life, and well being because it is not only physical trauma but a mental one as well. A woman who was raped and impregnated already has put up a fight to be believed and watch her assailant either walk free or not get the jail time deserved, while trying to heal and mend their mental and physical self. A woman who has experienced this kind of tragedy should not be forced to carry her rapist's child to term.
2. Maternal health
Many women have serious medical conditions that increase their chance of dying if they give birth such as preeclampsia and heart disease. A woman should with a health problem should be able to choose whether or not she goes through with pregnancy because of her high risk of maternal death. For these women, the abortion ban means that they lose their right to keep their life.
3. Predetermined Neonatal Death
Neonatal death is when a baby dies within the first month of its life. A fetus can be diagnosed with diseases and defective conditions while in the womb which predetermines if they will survive until the end of their term or after they are born. A woman should have the right to end her pregnancy so that her baby does not suffer longer than it needs due to its medical diagnosis.
4. Personal reasons
Many women are not financially stable, in the right mindset, or are simply too young to have a child. A woman being able to decide the fate of her body and her path of life is a constitutional right that should not be taken away by individuals in power or a popular vote.
Everyone has the free will to an opinion, whether it is pro-choice or pro-life, but no one has the right to make their opinion into a restriction. The freedom to choose whether or not abortion should be legal should not correlate into a ban that strips all women of the right to choose the decisions she makes concerning her body.
I do not want my reproductive rights diminished and controlled by a patriarchal government whose main demographic doesn't have ovaries. Do you?
