Ability to choose must remain intact

Editorial

Michael Harp/The Collegian

More state legislatures are looking to control women’s bodies by banning abortion. In doing so, they are trying to bypass the right established by Roe v. Wade in 1973.  

It’s ‘her’ blood, health, tissue and body. And no ‘he,’ ‘she,’ ‘they,’ or any others have any reasons to violate that. 

Many people view the U.S. as a land of freedom, and one would think that its citizens have the right to make choices that benefit themselves, so long as it isn’t illegal. 

And since abortion is legal, state governments somehow believe they can singlehandedly make decisions about someone’s body.

Anti-abortion movement members say that the Supreme Court’s decision in the Roe v. Wade case, which legalized abortion, overturns an idea that America has always opposed. That’s not true. 

Women have had access to advertisements that use coded words for abortion resources since the 1820s according to The New York Times. In the 17th and 18th centuries, if the fetus is less than 16 weeks old, it’s legal for women to have an abortion. 

Yet women cannot have that freedom anymore if states ban or limit the procedure. 

People have preached about the future and how one should be more open-minded. But now, nine U.S. states decided they can dictate whether a woman can protect herself by hoping to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Banning abortion after 6 weeks is a ridiculous standard that these states have set. Most women don’t experience any pregnancy symptoms at that stage.

Pro-lifers believe that abortion is murder, and that’s simply incorrect. Murder is when one human being unlawfully kills another human being, according to the Legal Information Institute. It’s nonsense to equate a fetus in the early weeks of pregnancy to a fully breathing human.   

Some people believe that once there’s a ban on abortion, it will suddenly stop. It will not. 

Instead of letting them go through a secure procedure, this ban will harm women even more than imagined, as they will try to find unsafe places for the process. 

Giving birth is an exhausting process mentally and physically that will affect two human beings in the long run, and only the women can plan out the whole journey themselves. If one is not ready to take on the responsibilities of raising a child, they are simply not ready. 

If a woman is underage, having a child may affect her future. Once she can’t find the support needed, she may have to give up her education to earn a living for two people.

Or if she is mentally unstable, sexually assaulted, or simply too poor to raise a child, she may choose not to bring another human being into this world. 

She has a right not to give birth to a child that she cannot provide with necessary human needs: education, food and somewhere to live. 

But those are not the only women who may want to get an abortion. Humans have sex, and even with protection, sex sometimes leads to unprepared pregnancy. 

If a woman has a choice to end her unscheduled pregnancy to go to college and earn a degree, build a life for herself, marry then have children on her own terms, nobody should have any right to refuse her that opportunity. That decision will not only improve her life but also help her children’s life.

Having a child is hard. When a woman gives birth to their first child, it doesn’t guarantee that she will have the same experience for the second child. If a woman feels uneasy or uncomfortable with her condition, she has the right to protect herself and do what’s best for her. 

This is not the early centuries where women didn’t get access to education. It’s way past time for them to live under anyone’s dictatorship. They are smart, and they don’t need any person or government agency to make decisions regarding their health or future for them. 

Women should never have to explain their reasons as to why they need an abortion. It’s their choice, and that is their decision.