Whether you are anti-abortion or pro-choice, there is one thing that is clear — women should have full control over their own bodies — and here’s why.
Roughly 200,000 teenage girls get an abortion every year in America. The flipside to that scenario — not terminating the pregnancy — is not as heroic as you may think. Children born to teen mothers are more likely to be born prematurely and at a low birthweight which consequently increases the chances of infant death. The children of teenage mothers are also more likely to endure higher rates of abuse and neglect than children born to adult mothers.
Teenage pregnancy doesn’t just affect the girl and her child but unexpectedly American taxpayers too. According to a study done by The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, teen childbearing across the nation costs taxpayers at least $7 billion each year in direct costs associated with health care, foster care, criminal justice and public assistance.
…people who don’t agree with abortion are entitled to their opinion
Despite this, people who don’t agree with abortion are entitled to their opinion. But, if you are going to be pro-life then support the foster care systems, pour money and resources into schools in lower socioeconomic areas and support children born into poverty. If you are really pro-life then support them during their life — not just when they’re in utero.
Avoiding unwanted pregnancies is the common goal in both anti-abortion and pro-choice legislation. But not all of those who are pro-life are supporting better, more affordable access to birth control or improved and updated sex education in schools. Merely two platforms that, if implemented on a national level, would decrease the rate of unwanted pregnancies drastically.
Those who are against abortion rights are entitled to their opinion, but that is exactly how it should remain — an opinion. It is as if the government wrote legislation banning people from eating animal products because the legislators believe being vegan will save the Earth. Sounds ludicrous right? People should be able to choose to be vegan or not. Often religious values are brought into these types of comparisons, but the fact remains that there is a separation of Church and State established in the First Amendment of our Constitution. I, and neither are many Americans, looking to have another’s religious ideologies forced upon us by the government.
Norma McCorvey (Jane Roe, left) and her Lawyer Gloria Allred. They carried a sign that read, ‘Keep Abortion Legal.’ Ultimately, McCorvey and Allred won the supreme court case, called ‘Roe v. Wade.’
The world before Roe v. Wade was a scary one for sexually active women in America. Only four states had repealed all anti-abortion laws, 13 had reformed laws and the remaining 37 had extremely severe laws against the procedure.
Although there were strict laws against abortion, this didn’t stop women from seeking them out one way or another. According to various estimates, there were an estimated 200,000 women per year who performed ‘self-abortions’ that were exceptionally dangerous and often times fatal.
The only catch to the seemingly progressive supreme court decision in Roe V. Wade was that it only mandated a women’s right to privacy concerning the abortion procedure within the first trimester of pregnancy (the first 12 to 14 weeks of pregnancy). It was up to states to dictate their stance on abortion law for the remaining two trimesters.
Ever since then, every state has had varying levels of freedom and restriction when it comes to how much control they gave women over their own bodies. Alabama and Georgia recently passed new legislation restricting the right so much so that the right itself is essentially non-existent.
The Georgia law implements the “fetal heartbeat” rule in which you can no longer get an abortion when a heartbeat is detected. Often heartbeats can be detected around six to eight weeks and some argue that oftentimes women don’t even know they are pregnant at that time.
…every state has had varying levels of freedom and restriction when it comes to how much control they gave women over their own bodies
The Alabama law took a much harsher stance, the law bans abortion entirely with the only exception being if there is a ‘serious health risk.’ There is no exception if the pregnancy was caused by rape or incest. The Alabama law does not punish a woman for getting an abortion, however, it would punish doctors with 10 to 99 years in prison for providing an abortion. The Alabama state government is hoping for their legislation to challenge the rulings of Roe V. Wade in the supreme court.
This law is problematic for many reasons. The 25 Alabama senators who signed this bill were all white and male. It is blatantly absurd and simultaneously terrifying for a group of men to write and sign off legislation to dictate what women can and cannot do with their bodies.
The Alabama Governor, Kay Ivey— a woman, did sign the bill.
This brings to light a different issue— the complicity of white women in the context of abortion. White privilege is not only present but prominent in the fight for the reproductive rights of women. Anti-abortion laws disproportionately affect black and minority women by a landslide. A study by the Centers for Disease Control shows that 18% of births to Hispanic women were unwanted and 23% for black women— compared to the 9% reported from white women.
Three women demonstrate their first amendment rights by protesting for their reproductive rights. Throughout history, protesting has been a way to get the attention of politicians to pay attention to issues that the people care about.
The higher percentages of unwanted births are directly attributed to the lack of accessibility to contraception and lack of healthcare providers in low-income areas. As long as the disparities in the economic and health care security continue, minority women, will continue to be affected by a large rate of unwanted pregnancies.
Women’s reproductive rights bring up a lot of skeletons in the closet for America such as equal representation in government and the lack of competent sex-and-health-education in public schools and unequal access to health care. These are issues that America often brushes under the rug and moves on, all the while Americans are stunted in their understanding of women, their bodies and their rights.
Ultimately, it should never be up to a male-dominated government, a religion or even fellow citizens who disagree with abortion to decide what a woman can do with her body.
A woman should always have a choice.
Bill Zhang ◊ May 27, 2020 at 10:44 pm
Good old days when this was all we had to worry about.
Darius Rahmanian ◊ Jun 5, 2019 at 1:27 pm
Honestly this is pretty cool to see. Almost 100 comments of people deliberating about a controversial topic with each response being paragraphs long. Its great to see that the editors simply weaned out jokes or shieBeposting and let everyone speak. Great maturity and moderation ,if only people were as adamant at respectful deliberation in the classroom. Great job Sage team.
Chris ◊ Jun 5, 2019 at 8:36 am
Mfw this becomes the most commented and most viewed article on the sage after hitting 2,000 views.
I’m so proud of this community.
Connor ◊ Jun 3, 2019 at 10:32 am
I knew this would end up with a lot of comments, but CHRIST this is insane.
John ◊ Jun 3, 2019 at 9:48 am
How about this, just dont have sex. Wait till you are married. Simple. If woman want to get an abortion, move out of alabama to kill their babies in another place. I think taxes should go to adoption organizations so women dont have to abort and babies can live a good life.
David Kim ◊ Jun 3, 2019 at 8:11 am
Maddy, by that logic, why aren’t women paying for condoms? And if the guy is responsible enough, he will help check and pay for pregnancy tests.
Connor ◊ Jun 2, 2019 at 9:36 pm
Maddy Riley, of course the man can help pay for tests. Like I said as well, if you can’t accept the risks, don’t have sex. You seemed to ignore that point. You won’t have to pay for them often if you aren’t having sex often. Also, “Acorns reports that the average American spends about $1,100 per year on coffee, which breaks down to roughly $92 a month”. So if the average spent on coffee per month is that high, why should a pregnancy test be less of a priority? It seems like you are using money as excuse to eliminate a human life. Why is it okay to spend so much on coffee but when it comes to pregnancy tests and a human life, it doesn’t matter? If women do not want to deal with the emotional weight, why not spend some extra cash. You can get one pregnancy test, but you should have to face the consequences of your own irresponsibility. I would also like to include the part about how you hope we are focusing on the kids in the school shootings. The way to tackle problems is not all at once but one at a time, or a few at a time. This controversial topic is unexpectedly in the spotlight again so obviously people are going to focus on this more for now.
Citations:
https://www.fool.com – How much spent on coffee by average American
Tom ◊ Jun 2, 2019 at 11:12 am
Also, about the whole ‘next aborted baby being the next potential Einstein’ argument: it’s just as likely that said baby could grow up to be the next authoritarian dictator. Just saying.
Darius Rahmanian ◊ May 31, 2019 at 11:02 pm
Maddy that was the most buzzworded response yet. People work and make money, minimum wage in alabama is 7.25 and working 40 hours a week not including overtime is 290 dollars so a two week paycheck is 580. Ten dollars is 1/58th of an entire paycheck, that is completely doable if one is smart with her money. Even if its a teenage girl working seasonally or part time, ten dollars isnt that big of a deal, however it adds up when one continues to make the poor decisions that lead up to having to constantly pay for one. Saying “all of the school shootings” is fear mongering, like its Mad Max out there or something and its unfair to equivocate two completely separate issues as having the same foundation
Zach S ◊ May 31, 2019 at 1:38 pm
Maddy, obviously women are humans but killing that embryo is ending a life. If the child’s birth would definitely kill the mother, abortion is acceptable. If the child’s birth would kill them both, abortion is acceptable. If the abortion is just for the comfort of the mother, that is absolutely unacceptable, and quite frankly murder.
If you want to talk about school shootings, go to the school shooting article. I’m happy to have a debate about that, but it is not relevant to this article, so I don’t know why it’s in the comment section. Kids being scared at school is not relatable to abortions in any way. They are both big issues, but are not associated with each other in any way.
Ansel ◊ May 31, 2019 at 12:54 pm
Maddy,
I have no clue how you managed to claim that we think women aren’t human out of “A life is more important than your comfort.” Believe it or not death is far more extreme than your discomfort. If you want to claim that woman die in pregnancy you can. A grand total of 0.0175% of women die a year from pregnancy in the U.S. Also saying that it costs too much to buy a $20 pregnancy test is completely absurd considering that an abortion in the first trimester will cost an average of $700.
Connor ◊ May 31, 2019 at 9:33 am
Maddy Riley, of course the man can help pay for tests. Like I said as well, if you can’t accept the risks, don’t have sex. You seemed to ignore that point. You won’t have to pay for them often if you aren’t having sex often. Also, “Acorns reports that the average American spends about $1,100 per year on coffee, which breaks down to roughly $92 a month”. So if the average spent on coffee per month is that high, why should a pregnancy test be less of a priority? It seems like you are using money as excuse to eliminate a human life. Why is it okay to spend so much on coffee but when it comes to pregnancy tests and a human life, it doesn’t matter? If women do not want to deal with the emotional weight, why not spend some extra cash. You can get one pregnancy test, but you should have to face the consequences of your own irresponsibility. I would also like to include the part about how you hope we are focusing on the kids in the school shootings. The way to tackle problems is not all at once but one at a time, or a few at a time. This controversial topic is unexpectedly in the spotlight again so obviosuly people are going to focus on this more for now. Also a final message to people reading this, while I am not endorsing sexual acts, visit https://www.teensource.org/ if you are thinking about engaging in them and do not have the money to spare to pay for condoms. Teen source offers free condoms to avoid unsafe sex and the possible consequences like pregnancy and causing more of these issues. Thanks for reading hopefully you take these points into consideration. I will continue to correspond if more clarification is needed.
Citations:
https://www.fool.com – How much spent on coffee by average American
Maddy Riley ◊ May 30, 2019 at 8:53 pm
To the people saying just take a bunch of pregnancy tests after sex: For a reference, one test is $10.49 at CVS, without tax. These tests can cost between $8-$20 typically. Tell me why a woman who can’t afford to pay for the baby to be born, but can afford multiple tests after every time just to make sure? Also where are the men paying for these tests? They have an equal part in getting the women pregnant, so they should be equally helping out with buying tests and any other procedure if the woman gets pregnant. Also of the “200,000 teenage girls” getting abortions per year, I wonder how many have to sneak around their parents to do this? If one’s parents were to be against abortions, or even just against their child having sex, they might make it hard or delay the process (possibly past 6 weeks).
Getting an abortion would definitely be emotionally difficult to do so claiming that it is “a way out” makes it seem like you’re disregarding the emotional toll this event would have on a woman.
Zach S.,
“A life is more important than your comfort.” So are you claiming a woman is not a human, but a 2 week old embryo is? Women’s rights are human rights.
No one is mentioning that she proposed donating to foster care systems because it’s a good point. Pro-life isn’t pro-life if they only care about what’s in a woman’s uterus. Hopefully they also care about the living kids that are going to school scared for their life every day because of all of the school shootings.
Darius Rahmanian ◊ May 30, 2019 at 1:11 pm
Animals do not have the potential of human life, animals are unable to create solutions to save the environment, animals cannot administer populations with structured solutions. Yes they are alive, yes our food should be cared for and treated humanely in order to create a proper ethical transactions. Animal life needs to be cared for for the general health of the planet and one of our main food sources, however they are not the same value as humans. A human child has infinitely more possibility than a piglet, that is why natural selection favored the genus Homo and its biocultural evolution over animals that literally exist to be companions or a food source.
Ansel ◊ May 30, 2019 at 12:59 pm
Tom,
Just because the animals can feel pain doesn’t mean they should be treated as people. The problem is that many people disagree with people killing other people. If you were a cow and other cows were killing each other than that would be a problem. Species have been going extinct because of their lack of an ability to adapt to their surroundings since life existed. Complaining that animals are dying won’t do anything. Animals don’t take priority over people, because if they were in our position they wouldn’t hesitate to do the same “genocide” to us.
Connor ◊ May 30, 2019 at 9:49 am
Just putting it out there that 2 weeks after sex you should get multiple pregnancy tests to see if you are pregnant. Then you can get an abortion before it is actually developed at all. If you are having sex, you already know the risks of sex and possible outcomes (pregnancy, STDs, etc.) and to not take responsibility is absurd. Complaining that it was unintended is like getting an STD when not using birth control or condoms. You should use both if you want to avoid pregnancies and don’t have sex at all if you can’t handle the risk. 63.8% of abortions are after 6 weeks, and if those people actually took proper measures instead of seeing abortion as a way out (like pregnancy tests) they could know well before 6 weeks and have it earlier. According to statistics on NCBI, in 2012 80 in 133 pregnancies, or approx. 60% are intended pregnancies and approx. 40% are unintended. With that many unintended pregnancies, people should work more pregnancy prevention than keeping abortions in place. According to the CDC, “intended pregnancies account for a very limited percentage of abortions (<5%)". Do what you want with this information. Personally, I am anti-abortion and believe there are other ways to stop unplanned pregnancies and abortion should not be allowed for planned pregnancies in the first place. I will respond to comments if I remember to.
Citations:
https://www.healthline.com/
https://abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4727534/
Christian Rocha ◊ May 30, 2019 at 9:47 am
Tom thats the whole reason vegans are a thing. People talk about it so much its annoying. Also the animals don’t come close to our intelligence so we cant really relate to them.
Zach S. ◊ May 30, 2019 at 9:44 am
Also why is nobody mentioning Taylor saying pro-life people should dump money into foster care systems and stuff. If I had the money I would be down for that 100%.
Zach S. ◊ May 30, 2019 at 9:41 am
No matter what:
A LIFE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN YOUR COMFORT.
Tom ◊ May 30, 2019 at 9:19 am
No one asks sheep or pigs if they want to be killed and eaten. No one asked the Amur Leopard if it wanted to lose its habitat to human settlements. But pro-life advocates don’t care about endangered species. They don’t care if the Earth is rendered inhospitable to the children that aren’t aborted, which will continue to be the vast majority of pregnancies that do not result in a natural miscarriage. They support the seeing-through of ALL human pregnancies until birth without thinking of the strain on our one planet Earth that each new child causes. They don’t care if we exceed food production capabilities. They don’t care about women’s rights. They only care about foisting a huge burden on unprepared parents that could upset their lives forever. And then there are the potential children who might be forced into a life of hunger and poverty.
Tom ◊ May 29, 2019 at 9:47 am
Another thing: humans have a right to live, but what about non-human animals? You never hear people talking about how cows or chickens have a right to life. But they are alive and feel pain, as well. And what has human population growth caused? The sixth mass extinction in Earth’s history. Thousands of innocent, helpless species are gone forever because humans have taken their land to feed and house their expanding population. Animals have as much of a right to life as people.
Tom ◊ May 29, 2019 at 9:25 am
If abortions were legalized, however, laws and regulations (but not bans) over abortion would be necessary. There should be certain requirements for abortions so that babies aren’t aborted because of certain characteristics, such as disability, being intersex, and belonging to a racial/ethnic minority.
Tom ◊ May 29, 2019 at 9:19 am
Darius, I respect and honor your opinion but hear me out. I’m not suggesting genocide or anything. Ideally, women shouldn’t have to go through abortions. But this is not an ideal world. Abortion is a last resort to be used when all other options have been exhausted. Instead of abortion, we should take steps to educate women about the risks of uncontrolled, rapid population growth. We should make birth control more accessible to all. Even if abortions became legal everywhere, there would still be way more women giving birth than women having abortions. The best way to keep the world population at a sustainable level would be for women to have fewer children. Although, considering how bad climate change will become over the course of this century, that might already happen. Now, I’m not totally misanthropic. I want humanity to survive our potentially hellish future. I just don’t want our natural resources to be used up in the process. The world still needs children to be born, so that us humans don’t go extinct. But if the population continues to grow unchecked, eventually there would be, like you said, a Malthusian Collapse, which would be just as catastrophic. But I certainly don’t think killing off our fellow humans is in any ways an acceptable solution to our population crisis. Besides, most women who have abortions aren’t ready to have kids. And a lot of women feel horrible after an abortion. Very few women get an abortion simply because for no reason or because they feel like it. Most do so because they don’t have the resources to raise a child. Another alternative to abortion would be adoption, but adoption isn’t very common.
Nikita Ovchinniko ◊ May 29, 2019 at 8:46 am
So isn’t communism, zach
Jordan Cappadona ◊ May 28, 2019 at 7:54 pm
Sebastian, premature births that result in the baby surviving past infancy don’t occur nearly around the same time frame as that of when most abortions take place. Fetuses are said to be viable after about 24 weeks of gestation, but the first trimester of pregnancy ends at about 12 weeks. Also, almost every state prohibits abortion after the point where the fetus is viable anyway. Getting an abortion that late outside of cases of rape or mother mortality is different from getting one when the embryo is too underdeveloped to even be considered a fetus.
Zach, you need to keep in mind that your statement about white men being discriminated has inaccuracies. While I do believe that Halley could have worded her statement more specifically, those subcategories of white men were not discriminated for the color of their skin, unlike the racism that people of color have faced and continue to face to this day. First of all, the Irishmen during the colonial era were not slaves; they were indentured servants, and they willingly gave up their freedom temporarily to re-obtain it in the New World. Later Irish immigrants did face discrimination, but that was based around the fact that most of them were Catholic in a country that was heavily dominated by Protestants. Second of all, Jews were also discriminated based on their religion despite Judaism itself being ethnoreligious in nature, especially given the fact that Europe came to be dominated by Christianity. Yes, Hitler spoke of Jews and Aryans as races, but older examples of pogroms and the like focused mostly on the religious aspects of Jews. And either way, present-day American society is still plagued by racism and sexism despite the steps that it has taken since 1865, such as persisting and growing racial wage and gender gaps that are a direct result of unequal pay based on race and the cause of the disparity in economic statuses between white people and people of color. White privilege does exist on a general level, and no matter how many steps the United States has taken towards racial equality under the law, they don’t prevent discrimination from happening in practice. As for the point that you’re trying to argue against, women are the people that become pregnant, yet all of the bill’s signatories were men. They belong to the opposite sex, thereby being completely incapable of empathizing with the women that have faced rape or were unable to prevent unplanned pregnancies even if they used contraception or their partners didn’t try to “stealth” by secretly removing their condom. Even though a woman wrote the bill and another one finalized the signing, it doesn’t change the fact that all of the people who enabled the process were male.
Joy ◊ May 28, 2019 at 11:24 am
I agree with Georgena when she pointed out that the article doesn’t discuss how mentally tolling getting an abortion can be for the mother. For example, in an interview Nicki Minaj opened up about having an abortion when she felt she & her boyfriend weren’t ready for the commitment. She acknowledged it as, “…one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make in my life.” There are also non-profit organizations such as Project Cuddle that provide safe, legal alternatives to abortions. I also agree with all the other comments that a better comprehensive sex ed program would also help decrease the number of teen pregnancies. I can understand how awful it is to have a bunch of male senators trying to tell women what to do with their bodies. However, calling them “white privileged” for doing so is an inaccurate label & accusation. It’s simply throwing terms around. I think the bill should include the acceptation of rape, and incest, and jail the doctors for a lot less time.
John ◊ May 26, 2019 at 6:11 pm
people should donate to adoption organizations though. But if a pregnancy is past the second trimester, abortion is an absolute crime. But,before the second trimester, its all good.
Zach Stansell ◊ May 26, 2019 at 9:46 am
“Never faced discrimination”.
Irish slaves during the colonization of the Americas, and Jews are constantly attacked all across history, among other things.
Also, I have never seen a study hall besides the main one at a university that allows straight white men. Never.
Ansel ◊ May 25, 2019 at 5:07 am
An impregnated woman is pregnant for 10 months and she can be completely active during most of that time. Saying that no one knows the potential of those women during their term is unimportant considering the big picture. When you would “choose” to take a child’s life you take the entire life of the child (78 years average in the US) not just a small fraction.
The facts don’t lie.
78 years>10 months
James ◊ May 24, 2019 at 2:26 pm
I feel like this can be boiled down to a simple question, “When does life start”. People obviously have different opinions ab this, but there has to be a right answer, I mean scientifically life begins at a defined time. Whats the actual answer to that.
Sebastian ◊ May 24, 2019 at 2:17 pm
I’d like to just repeat that saying “abortion should be an option, just not the only option” really minimizes the humanity of the fetus/embryo/baby/zygote. We may not know when human life gets a soul, but we have certainly seen babies come out of the womb early and live full, complete lives. For me, if abortion is possible it shouldn’t be a choice, it should be the only feasible option. I think that’s where many pro life commenters are coming from.
Jordan Cappadona ◊ May 24, 2019 at 1:01 pm
Speaking of restating things, Darius, I already said in a prior comment directed at you that the your “nobody knows the potential” argument can be applied to the impregnated woman, too. Scroll up, and you can read my justification if you haven’t already. Also, I never said that it was impossible for a child born under impoverished circumstances to succeed in life; I just said that the odds are incredibly low because of the Catch-22 it creates. Nor was I saying that poor women SHOULD be having abortions; I was just trying to provide an explanation for the reason behind the statistics I provided. Just as I’ve said before and just as several pro-choice commenters have said since I wrote my first comment on this article, abortion should be an option but it shouldn’t be seen as the only option.
Jade, outlawing abortions doesn’t necessarily discourage abortion. Paradoxically enough, abortion rates actually INCREASE to a higher degree when abortions are outlawed than when abortion is extremely accessible. When abortions are illegal, many women will resort to unsafe abortions that put their lives in danger. In fact, in the three years after Roe v. Wade, both the number of illegal abortions and abortion related deaths decreased by over 85%. As some of us have already said in the comments, there are definitely other ways to encourage people to avoid unplanned pregnancies, such as improving sex ed and allowing easier access to contraception.
https://www.guttmacher.org/perspectives50/abortion-and-after-legalization
Max Wiggins ◊ May 24, 2019 at 10:38 am
The kids die when you abort them. “Facts don’t care about your feelings” (Ben Shapiro).
Evan ◊ May 24, 2019 at 9:59 am
If trying to save a fetus that only weighs 0.4 of an ounce at 8 weeks kill the mother, doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of the law?
Halley ◊ May 24, 2019 at 8:34 am
It is upsetting that this issue is even being discussed when a supreme court case (Roe v. Wade) set the precedent 4 decades ago. It is a right to make a choice on what to do with YOUR body. Before you attack this article for saying “white men,” while you ignore every other solid point made, I urge you to remember that white men are the only demographic that have never faced discrimination in our country. They have no uterus and they have no possible experience that is equivalent to a woman’s experience with abortion.
Many women do seek out alternative procedures first (i.e. plan b, condoms, birth control), however, sex ed today teaches us about abstinence and STIs. Showing us the sad stories of people with AIDS who are regretful they did not use a condom. If they would choose to teach us about the preventative measures (such as where/how to get condoms, how to bring up the conversation of birth control with your parents, start of conversation about consent and healthy relationships, maybe more women would understand how to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Regardless, there are plenty of stories of women who used a condom, were on the pill, and still got pregnant.
Focusing on the issue of rape and incest, these “exceptions” to the ban that are not supported because they would make things more complicated? You know whats difficult? Being a teenager with PTSD because some person decided they would hold you down and send the message that you are worthless, your body is not yours, and you are a slut. It’s difficult living in a society where survivors have to defend their stories because rape culture says nshe “asked for it.” Pregnancy permanently changes your body. Being forced to live with a rapist’s offspring growing inside you is TRAUMATIC. Survivors of sexual assault already had a choice regarding their bodies taken away with them during a horrific assault and now another choice is taken away. A choice that forces them to endure 9 months of sickness and swollen ankles and medical bills and no support and judgement from others and cravings and all the other side effects women endure during pregnancy. Pregnancy is a beautiful thing but it is only beautiful when a woman chooses it. The empowerment is not a message that abortion is the right choice, it is that abortion is a CHOICE.
The reality is abortion bans places all the burden on the women. Lets connect some dots here. If you criminalize abortion and imprison those offenders who can only be women (if we exclude the doctors who chose to carry out safe abortions) and felons are unable to voter than you are placing voting restrictions on voting. The reality is the 26 white Alabama male senators have no idea what kind of oppression they are inflicting and are not an accurate representation of who would be effected by this ban.
THIS IS A HUGE DEAL. It is a start of dominoes falling. Alabama, Ohio, Georgia, and several other states begin to place restrictions until the issue is brought to the supreme court. A court that decides the ultimate laws, rights, and restrictions placed on the country. A court that is largely conservative. The timing of this initiative by anti-abortion views is not random, it is strategic.
Pro-life is anti-abortion. Pro-choice is wanting women to be in control of their bodies.
Avish Tomar ◊ May 24, 2019 at 8:17 am
1) men aren’t making these laws and you’re oblivious if you disagree, the governor of alabama is a woman
2) less than <.5 percent of abortions are because the person is a victim of rape
3) <.01 of abortions are because the pregnancy resulted from an incestuous relationship
4) between 1973-2014, 437 women died due to abortion complications
5) 23% of abortions are because they can't afford a baby and 25% is not ready for a child
6) 20.0% of woman aborted for social or economic reasons
.
if men have the rights then women should too and besides, we're already two million people above the predicted amount of people in the US so you can stop worryin about us going extinct
.
https://abort73.com/abortion_facts/us_abortion_statistics/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kay_Ivey
https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/data_stats/abortion.htm
https://www.all.org/learn/abortion/abortion-statistics/
Maddy RIley ◊ May 24, 2019 at 8:03 am
Jade,
I respect your opinion but one thing stuck out to me.
“Even if a woman is raped, that is not the baby’s fault, and they should not be punished for someone else’s actions.”
But it is okay to punish the woman for the rapists actions? When the women have to pay for others actions (which they can’t control), why are they burdened with a child they don’t want/can’t support? Who’s to say that the woman isn’t going to become a doctor or have the cure for cancer? We won’t know if she has to put her time and money into a baby she isn’t ready for.
Some young girls are being raped and are expected to have the rapist’s baby at ages as young as 11. How absurd is that? In my opinion, most girls are not physically or mentally mature enough to give birth at that age.
Kalani Emde ◊ May 23, 2019 at 11:00 pm
Jade, the point the article is trying to make when mentioning the taxes related to caring for children is not to state that abortion is the only option, but to show that many people who are “pro life” aren’t willing to pay higher taxes which would be beneficial to those children who would have otherwise been aborted. Many people who are anti abortion aren’t willing to pay the higher taxes or donate to associations that would help the unwanted children. You are obviously anti abortion, but others may believe it is the correct choice in certain circumstances. This article is not telling you to not have that opinion, it’s actually telling you otherwise and wants individuals to be able to make the choice of abortion for themselves. People should be allowed to have the choice of having and abortion. When you aren’t or haven’t been in a situation yourself, it is hard to judge others for their actions. Also, if a woman is raped, her baby would most likely not be the only one suffering the consequences of the actions. Raising a child is extremely difficult and could be extremely detrimental to a woman’s health, not only physically but mentally. If a woman is financially unstable and sick, her baby will suffer and many women who consider an abortion take this factor into account. A rapist is not gonna step up and help raise a child, leaving a woman to do all the parenting herself. Why would someone want to bring a human into the world only to suffer? Adoption may be an option, and it needs to be made more accessible to women. Unfortunately, many women who do put their children up for adoption are shamed because they “weren’t strong enough to raise a child”. If adoption wasn’t as “humiliating” maybe it would be a more considerable option, and less fetuses would be aborted. To the point you made about living a sad or happy life vs living no life at all is up for debate, as the suicide rate increases especially in cases where the person has lived a very depressing and malnourished life. You’d have to step inside someone’s shoes to really be able to answer that question, you can’t predict the life someone will have based off of their parent’s economical status, it’s easier to assume that someone with a rough childhood will only have arougher future. Lastly, associations like planned parenthood discourage unwanted pregnancies and promote birth control, and as this association has become more effective in educating and providing contraceptives, we have seen abortion rates go down. However, many people who are anti abortion are also against contraceptives. Many anti abortion groups don’t promote many practical forms of birth control, if any at all, which would inevitably lead to more unplanned pregnancies, leading to more abortions. If more organizations like planned parenthood were supported, abortion rates will continue to decline as they have been for a few decades. Abortion is at its lowest rate since Roe vs. Wade, the legalization of abortion in 1973.
Thanks for writing this article Taylor!
James ◊ May 23, 2019 at 7:07 pm
So if they’re gonna be born into a abusive or impoverished life its ok to kill them? Seems right.
Jade Chen ◊ May 23, 2019 at 5:35 pm
I am shocked that the article mentions how much teen pregnancies costs taxpayers as an argument for abortion. People should not choose who lives and dies based on how much it costs to support them. And for everyone saying it’s OK to have an abortion before the third trimester, no matter when you have an abortion, you are still taking that child’s chance at living. Having an abortion is no less a murder than killing a newborn. Even if there is a higher chance that teenage mothers will abuse or neglect their child, there is also a chance that the child will live a happy life. And isn’t having a chance of being unhappy better than not having a chance to be anything at all? Plus, adoption is always an option, which the article seems to completely ignore. What women do to their bodies should be their choice, but having an abortion is not just doing something to your body. It’s doing something to your child’s body as well. Even if a woman is raped, that is not the baby’s fault, and they should not be punished for someone else’s actions. Outlawing abortions does not completely prevent people from having abortions, but it does discourage it and discourages people from having unwanted pregnancies in the first place.
Maddy Riley ◊ May 23, 2019 at 4:53 pm
While it is completely okay to have an opinion on whether abortion is “right” or not, there should never be a law that forces those opinions onto others. There are differing opinions on when the cluster of cells become considered a baby, so there is no 100% right way to argue this, however, I believe that if a woman is the one pregnant, she should have the choice what to do with it.
With “Roughly 200,000 teenage girls” getting abortions per year, it is clear that not many young women are ready to raise a baby. If you think about it this way, since a period cycle is usually about 4 weeks, a young woman with not fully regular periods yet might skip periods or have delayed ones, which can extend those typical 4 weeks. This seems quite dangerous to have abortions become illegal after 6 (or 8) weeks, when many of these young women might not even know they are pregnant at that point.
Additionally, 25 men voting on what WOMEN can do with their bodies seems a bit ridiculous. I understand that they were voted for, but that doesn’t mean that their perspective isn’t coming from a more privileged place than a woman who can actually get pregnant.
I’m not saying that abortions are always the best and only option, but that choice is ultimately up to the pregnant woman herself.
Darius Rahmanian ◊ May 23, 2019 at 3:40 pm
Jordan you are essentially restating the whole kill poor people thing, rather let the poor people abort their babies because poor people cant provide. You don’t know that, no one knows the potential, you can only guess and guessing doesn’t mean you get to revoke a human life before they even get a chance to try. This is wrong, everyone has the ability to make their lives better and provide for a child. Poverty statistics and singling out women of color is like me saying 13% and 50% respectively for crime reports. That mother made a choice with her body, she doesn’t get to say whether or not her child is viable so she can go back and make the same mistakes over and over. Its all responsibility, its all about the common wellbeing of a greater good. Saying poor people should abort their babies just cause they are poor is absurd.
Jordan Cappadona ◊ May 23, 2019 at 2:12 pm
To Zach and James: The difference between comatose patients and fetuses, in this case, is that the people in the former group have actually been born and lived a life, allowing them to have developed minds. But like abortion cases, the comatose patient’s family members and/or legal guardians are effectively required to act in their stead and think about what their vegetative loved one would want when it comes to managing life support, and it can be very mentally tolling on them. With all of this considered, however, doctors often advise the patient’s family to take the patient off of life support if there is no hope for recovery. Likewise, there are plenty of abortion cases in which women know that carrying the fetus to full term would only cause the child to be born into a life that would be too difficult for the woman to support. A Guttmacher Institute study notes that most abortions take place for women who are legally considered to be in poverty, heavily reflecting upon racial income gaps in addition to the reasoning I mentioned. Even if a woman who chose not to have an abortion could give birth to a future scientist or whatnot, this is never a certain prospect, and growing up in a low-income family of minorities makes any opportunity for that harder.
https://www.guttmacher.org/news-release/2017/abortion-common-experience-us-women-despite-dramatic-declines-rates
Zach S. ◊ May 23, 2019 at 1:45 pm
Eli,
Most people in a coma need a pacemaker so they don’t have a pulse without outside help.
David Kim ◊ May 23, 2019 at 12:23 pm
Did yo know that 48.6% of African american babies are aborted? “486 abortions per 1,000 live births in 2007” (Abortion Surveillence 2012) https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss6410a1.htm
And remember to governer of ALABAMA is a WOMAN. And also remember that the people who voted the people who voted for this law were also mostly women if you looked at the polls of alabama in 2018. Get yer darn facts down, please stop writing articles and arguments if you can’t defend em.
Chance ◊ May 23, 2019 at 11:16 am
Women should be allowed to get abortions because it prevents overpopulation
Eli ◊ May 23, 2019 at 10:30 am
Don’t talk dumb like that, saying that a person in a coma isn’t alive makes no sense. They have already been living for possibly many years before the coma so if they don’t have consciousness then they have had some kind head trauma to put then in that coma. So they could be temporarily unconscious but they are not dead because the still have a pulse. A 2 1/2 week old baby doesn’t have a pulse .
Gavin ◊ May 23, 2019 at 9:24 am
I for one can’t imagine telling a young girl that she has to be the one to carry her rapist’s child to term
James ◊ May 23, 2019 at 8:13 am
Eli, if the baby isn’t feeling pain or having any consciousness, then does that mean someone who is born with extreme mental and physical handicaps, someone who is nearly braindead, do they have no feeling or thoughts. Does that mean that they have no intrinsic value. do they not get to have a life. By this logic, someone in a coma wouldn’t be considered a human life, because they don’t feel pain, or have consciousness. They are dependent on other people to survive, just like the baby.
Zach S. ◊ May 23, 2019 at 7:55 am
Also, IVF is murder as well. Imo.
Zach Stansell ◊ May 23, 2019 at 7:52 am
To Jordan’s point on the baby’s consciousness and senses being the determining factor;
Someone in a coma is completely unconscious and can’t feel anything. Does that make it okay to take them off life support? They are nothing but a burden at that point….
Ansel ◊ May 23, 2019 at 7:50 am
Many of you are talking about how you should have control of your own body, however in the case of abortion its not only your body, but both yours AND the baby’s body. When your control of your “own” body comes to the point where it requires you to control another’s it stops. Now what I’m saying should be taken with a grain of salt because I do think there are circumstances where an abortion can be necessary. I’m against the abuse of the right to “choose” not the right to “choose”. There are a few circumstances when it is okay. For example when the abortion will kill the mother the right to “choose” is perfectly fine. Or if it was a rape case. Of course though if it was legal to abort in a rape case women everywhere would be claiming that they got raped. For people who claim my opinion is not valid because I’m a man, I may not know the specific pain you feel. However you can’t act as if we cant feel pain. Just because its not the same pain doesn’t mean its not the same pain.
Eli Washington ◊ May 23, 2019 at 7:48 am
I think abortion is great, it’s an option if a girl gets pregnant to early or isn’t ready yet. I’m pretty sure that the baby doesn’t even have a brain yet in the first 3-8 weeks out of 9 LOOONG MONTHS. If so that means there is no pain receptors or memories, therefor the baby isn’t feeling the pain or having any consciousness yet. This is what I determine if a baby is alive or to early to tell. They should have abortion legal everywhere but just have a certain deadline to get one, like in the first 2 weeks. Also if girls just took a pregnancy test a week after they have sex then this would all be fine, then you could determine if people are just being lazy and don’t want to take them. So all in all just be careful and smart about it.
Jordan Cappadona ◊ May 23, 2019 at 6:40 am
Darius, your logic about the children being able to grow up to save the planet could also be applied to the women facing the unplanned pregnancy in the first place. This is especially true when it comes to teen pregnancies, which occur at a time when the girls haven’t been able to establish themselves in the workforce where they could make big contributions to society; forcing these girls to carry a child to full term could prevent them from being able to do this. While I agree that someone’s socioeconomic status shouldn’t define their worth in society, using it to justify saving a fetus completely ignores the person on the other end of the unplanned pregnancy.
Darius Rahmanian ◊ May 22, 2019 at 9:23 pm
Kaila, when a sperm enters an egg it is no longer an egg. It is a zygote consisting of unique genetic code. It has its own genes coding for everything from its hair color, eye color, genitalia, amounts of hormones, literally everything a normal human being has except not grown. For all intensive purposes, the zygote is genetically a human being depending on its mother to help it grow. Sperm and egg only contain your genetic material and have not fused to create a new being.
To Jordan, a miscarriage is a natural event, abortion is a man made tool. There are so many gray lines per the individual however, law makers nor doctors can stop a miscarriage, however they can stop the murder of a child in the womb just because the mom “isn’t ready”. In the case of the mothers life,yes, in the case of rape,yes, just getting an abortion because you were selfish and made choices off of your own agency, the literal definition of being in contro of your bodyl? No. This entire debacle was manufactured in order to show California and New York the other side of the spectrum. If they are going to kill children in the womb, then these states will revoke the ability to end a life in the first place because technically “all life is sacred” in their viewpoint and must be protected by the government. These state legislatures have every right to do so due to the 9th amendment.
The Supreme Court will decide this matter once and for all, putting a cap on the issue for the next ten years or so. These are trying times and its good to see everyone on the subject.
ainsley ◊ May 22, 2019 at 9:17 pm
Lets consider a trade for abortion rights, Alabama gets their abortion rights back but California gets all their gun restrictions removed. A pawn for a pawn. All this for a drop of blood.
Angel Perez ◊ May 22, 2019 at 7:43 pm
I agree completely that it is the womens body and its their choice but what I completely disagree with is that your murdering an innocent unborn child that hasn’t even had a chance and I think abortions should be illegal not only is it kind of murder it is murder and I feel like if it does become illegal women out there if they really don’t want that baby they will have a self-abortion and if they choose so not only with they be murdering a child they will be putting there own life at risk. Also If the women was impregnated it is possibly 95% there fault for not using a condoms, Birth control,.ect and in that 5% if she was impregnated while using a condom there’s always that 85% (15 out of 100 people) who will get pregnant but that still is not a good reason to have an abortion because you chose that descision to have intercorse in the first palce. The only acceptable abortion reason if there’s something wrong with the baby that will take effect when giving birth. And i also agree the government should be involved in this like i said before its the womens body but you should proceed with the pregnancy instead of an abortion and the father should have a say to keep the baby since it is his as well in all this is just my opinion abortion shout be illegal.
Ethan ◊ May 22, 2019 at 7:19 pm
this my body my choice should be more like our body my choice
Parmis Sanaei ◊ May 22, 2019 at 7:10 pm
To Eli Washington, this is an opinion article written on a school news platform. This is an issue that needs to be discussed, in a mature manner. We live in the first world, so this is a first world problem. The states are taking away a woman’s right to do what she chooses. It is a big problem when a woman doesn’t have a say or a right to make a decision just like voting as you said. Just because it isn’t YOUR problem and it doesn’t affect you, doesn’t mean it’s no one else’s. It’s that woman’s problem who has to be escorted out of an abortion clinic wearing clothing that covers her face for protection to avoid being attacked or ridiculed by religious pro-life activists. It is a teenage girls problem where she has to a carry a baby to full term after being raped. It is someone’s problem somewhere and it matters.
Darius Rahmanian ◊ May 22, 2019 at 6:42 pm
Dang Tom you are going full Thanos. You are talking about a Malthusian Collapse but genocide is not the answer. Its wrong to take another persons life no matter what, you arent smart for saying ” we just kill people make planet healthy”. Do you know what ensuring a birth rate allows? It allows for so many new people to come up with ideas to help save the planet, so many new lives that are working together for the betterment and saving of this planet. The idea that being born poor puts value on your contribution to society is indeed wrong. Humans cant inherit the earth if you kill them before they are even born.
John ◊ May 22, 2019 at 6:35 pm
Women in the U.S dont have problems. And its not even the womens bodies, its the babies bodies. I agree with Eli 100%. Women in other countries have real problems.
Kaila ◊ May 22, 2019 at 4:47 pm
Don’t want an abortion? Simple, just get a vasectomy! It’s completely irreversible, so what’s the problem? It’s a shame that y’all think EGGS should have more bodily autonomy than grown, adult women. Periodt.
Jordan Cappadona ◊ May 22, 2019 at 3:37 pm
It’s hilarious that the majority of commenters here are guys who oppose abortion. While I can commend most of you for taking the initiative to find statistics or attempt to express a nuanced opinion about the bill, the fact that there are guys here who are vitriolically condemning abortion only reinforces the problem discussed in the article itself. As someone who was also assigned male at birth, I acknowledge that I have no say in women’s decisions to have abortions; however, I still feel that I should speak my mind on this matter as a whole, as well as on the people who don’t share my train of thought.
While I, personally, am opposed to third-trimester abortions, it should be noted that two-thirds of all abortions performed in the United States occur within the first eight weeks of pregnancy and that over 90% of them occur within the first trimester as a whole. Even though a fetus’ neural tube begins to develop around the six-week mark, it won’t develop senses until after the first trimester, let alone make a conscious decision to want to be carried to full term, unlike the woman whose womb hosts it. That being said, I also agree with some of you that abortion shouldn’t be the first option to prevent unplanned pregnancies, and if anything, it’s effectively a contingency plan in the case of contraceptive failure. Pro-choicers aren’t trying to pressure women to abort unplanned pregnancies, they just want this option to exist due to the complications that the mother and the child could face without access to legal abortions.
In the end, though, I am not and never will be entitled to choose whether not my girlfriend, my wife, or any other girl or woman should get an abortion. A lot of my perspectives on this matter is in line with the perspective Taylor shows in her article, but I would still like to address some of the counterarguments I’ve seen here with one crucial observation: the people who do believe that they are entitled to do so, especially if they are men, really don’t show the same level of support towards other circumstances that end pregnancies prematurely.
To start, many of the same people who consider themselves “pro-life” aren’t expressing the same outrage against abortion towards in-vitro fertilization clinics, which discard embryos on a constant basis regardless of their viability. By their logic, this would also count as murder, yet you only hear outrage about abortions. Furthermore, opponents of abortion don’t express the same concern for fetuses in the context of natural miscarriages (which, mind you, make about half of all pregnancies), especially since the act of abortion is literally just an unnaturally-induced miscarriage. This gives me the impression that the supporters of the bill are more concerned about curtailing women’s rights as opposed to supporting the development of the fetus, permeating an image of women that prioritizes their role in reproduction over their humanity.
Under the law, men have full control over the management of their reproductive systems, so it is unreasonable for women to not possess this freedom. No matter how anyone views abortion, no matter how responsible the woman and the man who impregnated her are, inequality in reproductive freedom is inherently sexist. And that does not sit well with me as these bills are garnering national attention.
ryan ◊ May 22, 2019 at 1:46 pm
TBH darius’s comment was more enjoyable to read than the actual article and (for this next part i’m just commenting on Ansel’s comment about asking the baby what it wants) like how in the world are you gonna ask a unborn baby if it wants the mother to get an abortion like i don’t know what others think about it but when you make comments like that you seem uneducated and nobody is going to listen to you/her
Jane ◊ May 22, 2019 at 1:05 pm
You can never ban abortion, you can only ban SAFE abortion.
Georgena ◊ May 22, 2019 at 1:00 pm
Women should be entitled to their body, absolutely. However, it doesn’t take away from the fact that the abortion bill is sparking a very radical response on both sides, and making it seem like abortion is completely normal, or on the other hand an irredeemable choice. It’s not. To both options. Men AND women speak on behalf of other women who have actually gone through an abortion, but even those who are pro-choice don’t acknowledge how mentally tolling getting rid of a potential child can be on a mother. The same goes for carrying a baby to term. Science and technicalities are important (i.e. the ‘baby’ being a clump of cells, at what point it qualifies as human, or on a different spectrum how 1.6% of abortion is due to rape), but empathy is as well, especially if society is not amoral.
If I were to get pregnant when I was not ready, I would not be emotionally , financially, or psychologically equipped enough to carry said baby to term, but if I were to abort it, it is also a decision that could potentially haunt me for my life if I were to regret it (which is another part of why the 6-week bill is bunk, because of its weight). You can use protection- which is not always entirely reliable, and that is important to acknowledge- or you can abstain, but an entire governing body should not have the overarching power to make that decision for an entire populous.
Georgena ◊ May 22, 2019 at 12:48 pm
Eli,
Your concern is completely understandable, but invalidating a current issue by bringing up other, present issues is a bit of a fallacy! I’m sure if the author intended to cover the other aforementioned issues, they would write a completely separate article. And in turn, a two pillars of journalism are to cover relevancy and location, in which both of these applies. One issue does not constitute another one being important.
duke ◊ May 22, 2019 at 12:36 pm
why is my comment gone
Kylie Valency ◊ May 23, 2019 at 8:08 am
Duke,
We decided to remove your comment because as it states in the area before you submit a comment, “[we aim for] this area to be used to foster healthy, thought-provoking discussion,” and we felt like your comment about Darius, simply did not do that. We are working on making the comments on our articles add more to the article instead of jokes related to what is written.
If you have questions or concerns about it, I am more than happy to discuss it with you.
Thank you,
Kylie Valency
Editor-in-Chief
Eli Washington ◊ May 22, 2019 at 11:28 am
You can call me an biased or whatever but i don’t hate women, I mean I even am an advocate for women and care about their rights. This is not that big of a problem, an example is that women in Saudi Arabia just got the right to drive last year. Maybe writing about that would help and I don’t know make a Go-Fund Me if you have such a strong biased opinion.
Wesley ◊ May 22, 2019 at 11:25 am
There are many things to take into consideration here. Sometimes things happen, and a condom can break and Plan B costs nearly fifty dollars at the pharmacy, not everyone has the money or ability to access these forms of contraception. As Seb said, most women do not even know that they are pregnant until nearly seven to eight weeks , so it would be difficult to get an abortion before the six week mark because most women do not know that they are even pregnant.
Eli Washington ◊ May 22, 2019 at 10:49 am
Honestly, things like this are first world problems and women’s problems compared to those of Jews and African Americans are nothing. I just think that there should be better things in this world that are written about. These are the simple problems, just like you hair article, it did not need to be written because they are small problems that have already been decided and is nothing compared to poverty or homelessness. Just think if that hair article could’ve changed the world. Yes…no… OK now that we got that over with. Maybe an article about an actual problem that is not thought up and can actually change the world. Obviously women did have problems like unequal pay and stuff but abortion is just something that people should be able to do, and what is writing an article going to fix, next time try to physically do something please.
Darius Rahmanian ◊ May 22, 2019 at 10:39 am
You know Im proud of this comment thread. Here is everyone giving stats and properly giving their opinion, this, this puts a smile on my face.
Tom ◊ May 22, 2019 at 10:34 am
There are benefits to legalising abortions besides giving women control over their bodies. For instance, there are currently 7.5 billion people alive at this very moment, and it is projected that the world’s population will reach well over 9 billion by 2050. That is way more than our planet Earth can support. I’m not saying we should kill off humans, we shouldn’t, because we’re not evil and we’re not Nazi eugenicists, but we should certainly take steps to regulate population growth, such as abortion. Even if abortions were legalized everywhere for every kind of circumstance, there would still be many more people than would be sustainable. While abstinence would be preferable, as would condoms, abortions should be legalised as a last resort just the same. If sex ed and birth control were available to everyone, the population probably wouldn’t be growing at such a ridiculous rate. You might say babies have a right to life, and I must admit that we would still need babies to replace the elderly when they die. That said, you can’t live in a world that’s been rendered uninhabitable by the endless consumption of resources by past generations. Future generations have a right to a healthy, green Earth. Say what you like, call me a liberal, a monster, whatever, but we owe it to future generations to leave them a world teeming with biodiversity where the air is healthy and there is enough food for all.
Christian Rocha ◊ May 22, 2019 at 10:25 am
The its my body my choice argument is idiotic. Its not your body it is another living human being. It was your body when it was a egg. You can take plan B, be on birth control, if its not rape which in most cases its not USE A CONDOM, or don’t wait till the baby is like a month from being born to kill it. If your gonna kill another human do it before the first 3 months.
Sulemaan ◊ May 22, 2019 at 10:24 am
“The 25 Alabama senators who signed this bill were all white and male.”- Why does the races’ of senators matter? Is that not a form of discramanation.
Sebastian ◊ May 22, 2019 at 10:22 am
I read Mikey’s comment about rape accusations and I have to say he’d be right. Rape and incest accusations would certainly escalate if this law becomes enforceable. The thing I want to know is who decides what qualifies as a medical emergency? Isn’t it possible for a doctor in Alabama to feel the need to save all life and deny pregnant women the ability to abort?
Sebastian ◊ May 22, 2019 at 10:09 am
The article doesn’t say this, but most women don’t even know they are pregnant until 6-8 weeks. Additionally, abortion providers will receive 99 years of prison if convicted under the new law. Meanwhile, actual murderers get convicted and receive 5-10 years of prison time. If you attempt to get an abortion out of state, you and the abortion provider will be able to charged on “conspiracy to commit murder”. This law, along with the other stringent abortion laws, are totally unenforceable and designed to go to the Supreme Court.
In my personal opinion, being anti abortion doesn’t mean you are pro life. It’s completely natural, as a human being, to think it is reprehensible to kill ones child. But abortion is typically the last possible procedure available to mothers. There has to be a counterweight for restricting abortion, and that should come in support for pregnancy awareness, state sponsored pre natal classes and subsidized contraception.
Natalie ◊ May 22, 2019 at 9:56 am
What is sad to me about this is the way in which it degrades women empowerment and leads them to believe that abortion is their only option and that they will not be able to endure motherhood, which in reality is a beautiful thing.
Zach S. ◊ May 22, 2019 at 9:51 am
The only reason abortion would be acceptable is if birth of the child will result in death of both the mother and child. Abortion would therefore save the life of the mother. Any other reason for abortion is purely murder, and should be treated as such.
Zach S. ◊ May 22, 2019 at 9:46 am
This is racist towards white men and I don’t appreciate you telling me that I’m privileged.
Nikita Ovchinnikov ◊ May 22, 2019 at 9:39 am
I read in a correct scientific investigation were they found out that 75% of abortions are for no reason at all. Idk about anyone else, but I feel that if that many are for no reason, they shouldn’t be allowed to kill a baby.
Christian Rocha ◊ May 22, 2019 at 9:36 am
This has nothing to do with race at all. If there are more minorities have unwanted pregnancies than other races thats not the other races fault. White people dont just decide as a whole to make sure all of their pregnancies are wanted. This is stupid stop blamming white people for all your problems. Numbers will never be the exact same.
MIkey Moran ◊ May 22, 2019 at 9:32 am
I know the school’s news forum is not exactly the place to give your opinion, especially on such a touchy subject, but personally, I have always felt like there are other options than having to terminate the life of a living child. There is plan B, condoms, birth control, and most importantly, abstinence. Now some might say “what if it was rape?”. Well according to abort73.com, less than 0.5% of reported abortions are from rape. Now this scenario makes it difficult, but making an exception for rape would only be more of an issue than a solution. By making an exception, the amount of rape accusations would sky rocket and people would use it as a reason for getting an abortion whether the action took place or not. Now moving on to the law aspect. I don’t think the government should be telling people what to do with their body, however, I think people need to make smarter choices. If you are not ready for the responsibilities of a child then try your best to avoid the situation by using other options to prevent pregnancy. Now if these options aren’t available because of location or financial reasons, then abstinence is always a solution. It’s not exactly “easy” for most, but it is for sure a solution to the death of over 800,000 kids (Abort73).
I am more than happy to hear what anyone has to say and I don’t intend to cause any argument or uncivil discussion, so let me know how you feel, i’d be more than happy to hear 🙂
Ansel ◊ May 22, 2019 at 9:07 am
A Baby’s Right To Be Alive Is Not Up For Grabs
How can people be selfish enough to put their own comfort before another’s life?
Yes, I understand the woman pregnant can die during pregnancy but that is a very small minority of people as only 0.0175% of women die because of pregnancy complications. That 4 month period of discomfort is not worth a life.
Ziggy Ulugia ◊ May 22, 2019 at 9:03 am
Honestly if you don’t want a baby don’t have sex or use protection it’s really the mother and the father’s fault because they weren’t safe. Because abortion is basically murder, like give the kid a chance it’s not their fault the mom got pregnant. Another thing if there is a large number of unwanted pregnancies don’t you think that it’d be smart to oh I don’t know USE A CONDOM. Babies don’t deserve to be killed before they’ve been given a chance. You just have to be smart about these types of things, sex is not something that should be taken so lightly, and if you do get pregnant you’d better own up to it be a good parent and take full responsibility of that child, because your parents could’ve easily aborted you. Plus it may be YOUR body, but what about the BABY’S BODY?!
Jack ◊ May 22, 2019 at 9:02 am
I don’t see why the government needs to get involved. If a woman decides to have an abortion she can live with that herself. The government doesn’t need to make choices for you.
Ansel ◊ May 22, 2019 at 8:44 am
It’s the baby’s body too, maybe you should ask the baby what it wants….
Andrew Carty ◊ May 22, 2019 at 8:36 am
Practice safe sex, take ALL possible precautions, and if you are suspicious, go talk to a doctor about possible outcomes. I am pretty sure, don’t quote me on this, but in Alabama, you can abort before 8 weeks.
Darius Rahmanian ◊ May 21, 2019 at 9:35 pm
Also I audibly laughed out loud when I read the “white male” part. Those men are qualified and voted on the people to make these laws, it shouldn’t matter their skin color or gender. You know discrimination against an individuals abilities and rights to perform actions based on the color of their skin is called racism right?
Before I get into this, I understand this topic is a really big issue and I mean not to offend anyone who has had the experience. My following argument explains I disagree with the South and Midwest. In my personal opinion I believe Taylor did a good job in getting the main argument down and that any further discussion in the coming comment thread should be completely aware of the burden this topic carries and to make your arguments as clear and objective as possible.
You know I dont agree with what the south and midwest are doing, and you are right about the lack of sex education in schools. Instead of emphasizing just the biology, schools need to reinforce the fact that having a child is a gigantic life choice, and when you openly partake in the act of consensual sexual intercourse both the male and female bear the responsibility of that choice. However being poor doesn’t place value on human life, neither does the place the child is being born, or the ethnic make up of that child. The only people who believe that those factors place value on life are race eugenicists. Science is amoral, simply the facts, and I find it funny that “progressives” will deny basic biology of gender but then use that same exact science to say that the genetically unique zygote within their womb is not a human life in the first term of pregnancy. For all intensive purposes, society is based upon virtue and ethics, not amorality and a strict rule of biological facts. This is the exact same for using ones faith and religion as an argument against abortion, the theological basis is just the other side of the coin. Instead of using science, one uses the supreme law of “God” which is technically intangible to dictate all manners of life.
I am not a woman, I am a man. I will never feel the immense life choice it takes to end the life of something growing inside my womb and then look upon children the very next day. However, I as a man have the ability to make conscious choices and take responsibility for putting 50 percent of MY DNA into a woman. People need to be taught responsibility , to make the right choices for the future, not just for them. What those states are doing is wrong, but so is late term abortion created by New York, which is the actual ending of a human life.
Darius Rahmanian ◊ May 21, 2019 at 9:08 pm
I knew it was coming, I knew this article would arrive. Dread it, run from it, comments still arrive, rather I have.