My body, my choice— right?
On May 14 Alabama’s Governor instated the strictest abortion laws in the country. The new law has banned abortion even in cases of incest and rape. This has sparked outrage across the country. On May 18 more than 400 rallies took place across the country. This has also brought in to question the morality of trying to ban abortion and the effect it might have on women.
photo by leah kelley from pexels.com
Alabama isn’t the only state to implement new abortion laws in the past few months. Since March, Kentucky, Georgia, Ohio, Mississippi, and Louisiana have all passed a law called The Heartbeat Law. It bans abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected at six weeks. All of these states it is still legal to get an abortion if and only if there are serious health risks and concerns. This is only because of Roe v. Wade. Many lawmakers are hoping that the lawsuits against the laws will make it to the supreme court so that they can work on overturning Roe. Overturning the law will have detrimental effects on women and will take a huge step back for women’s rights.
“Women should have the right to safe abortions, it is their bodies no one should be trying to control them,” Aleena Schadler, 10 said.
Many people believe that banning abortion will make it go away. However, this is incorrect. What they really are doing is banning safe abortion. Just because abortion is illegal doesn’t mean women will stop getting them, they will just turn to unsafe methods.
Another argument is that there is always the option to put the baby up for adoption, But this doesn’t account for the nine months that the mother is pregnant. Not every woman is financially, emotionally, or physically ready to have a baby. The American adoption and foster system are already overflowing with children who need homes. It is also a flawed system. One-third of all foster children will be abused, and according to USA Today, as of now 86.9% of kids in foster care won’t be adopted.
With the new Alabama law, if a woman is raped and she was to get an abortion, she can be sentenced to 99 years in prison, according to CNN. The average time served for a rapist is 5 years. A victim of rape can get almost 20 times as many years as their assailant.
All of the 25 “yea” votes for the new law were men. Many women have been aggravated over the fact that so many of the lawmakers proposing and approving these laws are men. Many believe that men, including the father, have no right in the decide.
“Fathers should at least be allowed to have their opinions heard but not have the final say,” Joseph Catania, 11 said.
There are men who believe that they shouldn’t be controlling women’s body as it is not their own.
“As a man, it is none of my business what a woman does with her body. While I am personally against abortion, I think it is a matter of choice and privacy,” An anonymous student said.
Overall the choice of abortion should come down to the woman, as she can decide whether she is physically, mentally, and financially ready to carry a baby.