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Meghan Posey

Emily Kretzer

ENG 1201

21 November 2019

Abortion: Who Really Has the Choice?

For as long as I can remember, I have always thought that it was an awful thing for a

woman to have an abortion. As I have grown older and started to branch out into the world more

I have come to the realization that abortions are not as terrible as the news and propaganda

makes them out to be. Every woman should be able to have complete control of her own body

and not be judged on the decisions she makes, nobody is perfect. Every individual woman has

the right to choose if she gets an abortion and she should not be looked down upon because of

her choice, many women get raped and should not be forced to keep a child that comes out of

sexual violence, women can be too young and not financially or mentally stable enough for a

baby, or a woman could be born with health problems which would make her unable to even

give birth and she should not have to face the decision or her life or the baby’s. Recently,

abortion has been a big topic in the political world, with male lawmakers trying to enforce their

opinions of what they believe women can do with their bodies. I strongly believe that if you do

not have a uterus you are not entitled to an opinion over abortion. My main question for this

paper and my number one goal is to explain an answer: Is abortion a female right or a human

right?

Throughout the last couple of weeks, I have discovered multiple websites on the topic of

abortion each covering different topics and laws. These sources not only discussed abortion rules

and regulations in the United States but also in multiple other countries. Something that really
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intrigued me is that in different countries there are very strict abortion laws and a woman having

an abortion comes with harsh repercussions, but these women are treated as next to nothing

anyway. Here in the United States, those same laws are trying to pass in the legislature, in “the

Land of the Free” and “Where All Man/Woman Is Created Equally” they are not being fair to

women’s rights.

Rape is very common in the world we live in today, with that being said, so is an

unwanted pregnancy caused by that act sexual violence. No woman should have to go through

the mental and physical pain that rape causes, but on top of that, an unwanted child and then

have to take care of it for the rest of your life and have the memory of your pain every time you

see your child. Children should be a gift and joy in your joy, they should not be an unwanted

burden that you have to deal with all alone.”Physicians' agreement with and willingness to

provide abortion services in the case of pregnancy from rape in Mexico” states ”Physicians who

had performed legal abortions, knew about existing abortion legislation and practiced general or

family medicine were significantly more likely to agree that abortion should be legal when

pregnancy is caused by rape and was more likely to be willing to provide abortion in the case of

rape.”

Michelle Oberman in “Motherhood, Abortion, and the Medicalization of Poverty.” states

“Finally, the high cost of motherhood for poor women and their offspring manifests in

disproportionately high lifelong rates of poverty, ill-health, and mortality for offspring and

mothers alike”. Babies, in general, cost thousands of dollars and most families today don’t even

make enough money needed to support a child. I feel that a young single mother has a right to

choose her life before the life of an unborn child that she can’t guarantee a good life for. Not

only finance a common issue but also the psychological effects of an unplanned pregnancy, the
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woman will start to become depressed because she has nothing for her baby and she is the only

one for can provide for her child.

Health problems can also become a major factor in a woman’s decision to get an

abortion. If she is born with a certain condition that puts her life at risk if she ever gives birth she

should not have to choose between her life and the life of a fetus, or if it is a known fact that

once the baby is born, he or she will have a hard life because they will bear a child with a birth

defect that will completely take over that child’s life, the mother should have that right to make

the decision if she knows the quality of their life will never be good.

Although there still are many reasons that do not justify getting an abortion. If a woman

is going out every night and sleeping around and not being careful because she thinks that if she

ends up getting pregnant she can just go to a local clinic and get an abortion, she is in the wrong.

There are so many forms of contraception in the world today and no one has the right to use

abortion as one of them. If a woman decides to use abortion as her birth control she should have

to live with the consequences of her actions and take of her baby. If a woman believes she is

unfit to raise a baby then she should put it up for adoption but just simply killing it right off the

bat is a childish act.

All women should have the right to do what is best for their life and not be judged by

their choice, if a woman is unfit, mentally or physically unprepared for what a child will bring

into their lives, if she has been raped, she does not have the financial means to provide for her

child, or it will degrade her or future child's life, then she is justified in her choice to get an

abortion. At the end of the day, it is that woman’s life not anyone else's so no one else has a right

to tell her what is right and wrong. Only if a woman is going out and with a careless mindset that

she can do whatever she wants and she won’t have any repercussions caused by her actions is
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she in the wrong for getting an abortion, but in the end it is still her body which makes it her

choice, no one else gets a say because at the end of the day it is not their choice.

With all of that being said, abortion recently is something that has become more talked

about and in the spotlight. While I do not believe it is acceptable to use abortion as a form of

birth control, I do believe that every woman has earned a right to her own body and she at least

deserves the right to a choice. With not only male lawmakers but female lawmakers trying to

make abortion illegal, my main question comes into play.

In my research, I read an article in, “Abortion as One Aspect of Women's Health.” about

how abortion is an aspect of healthcare for women. Meaning that abortion in some way or

another is an essential part of healthcare for some women and should be provided to all women

with no questions asked or second looks from bystanders. “Additional aspects of women's sexual

and reproductive rights are included in this comment, such as access to contraceptives,
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emergency contraceptives, cost coverage and quality of health care. Given the development of

the political situation in Europe, women's rights and Women's Health are in danger of becoming

a victim of recent political developments. Thus, a close look at these matters is needed”

(Abortion as One Aspect of Women's Health).

“Drawing upon existing research showing that married white women report lower levels

of gender-linked fate than their non-married counterparts, we assess these relationships for

abortion attitudes applying the 2012 American National Election Survey (n = 2,173). Using

mediation analysis, we show that lower levels of gender-linked fate among married white women

(vs. non-married white women) explain their stronger opposition to abortion. As many state

governments are increasingly legislating restricted access to legal abortion, understanding factors

explaining opposition to legal abortion is urgently important” (Gender Linked Fate Explains

Lower Legal Abortion Support Among White Married Women). While my main point of the

article was to focus on how men are in control and pushing for the ban of abortion, I have also

found statistics showing women on the opposition as well. In reading this article I found that

more than likely the number one opposers for abortion are married white women, this statistic

took me by surprise at first. As I continued to read I discovered the main reason for this: the

Catholic Church. The majority of caucasian people in the world just so happen to be Catholic

and abortion goes against their belief system, therefore, giving no support for women to use their

freedoms granted to them in the constitution on their own bodies. (As you can see in the picture

below from a pro-life protest, you are able to see that every person in the picture is a white

woman).
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“Where Roe Doesn’t Reach.” is an informative article talking about the struggles women

have to go through to be able to get an abortion today. The article is based on Mississippian

women who desire medical attention but are denied it. There is only one remaining abortion

clinic left in the state, Jackson Women’s Health Organization. Women in Mississippi are having

to travel out of state seeking medical attention because it is no longer available to them in their

own state. As if the medical fees aren’t enough, these women now have to pay extra for the

travel expenses and this is really taking a toll on the low-income women in our society. These

women have difficult times trying to find funds for their medical attention.

In “EVERY WOMAN'S LIFE IS WORTH SAVING: The Right to Safe Abortion in

Asia.” I read about how Asia is giving its women the right to have a choice and giving them the

insurance of a safe abortion along with their choice. There are women across the world in

undeveloped countries and in less-fortunate situations who are given more rights than the women
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in “The greatest country on Earth”. It is easier for women in most other countries to receive the

medical attention they need then in our own country.

Something else that plays a large role in abortion is the race and income of the woman

who is undergoing the procedure. “Using state-level data, a synthetic control model (SCM) and a

fixed effects model, results of the present study suggest that ultrasound laws have no

statistically-significant effects on state-level abortion rates. In the SCM analysis, 21 states were

in the treatment group (state had enacted an ultrasound law) and 22 states were in the potential

control group. Results also suggest that states with lower per capita incomes, more non-Whites,

and more abortion providers had higher abortion rates (Using the Synthetic Control Method to

Determine the Effect of Ultrasound Laws on State-Level Abortion Rates).”This article discussed

a study done in 21 different states who have already had some type of abortion law already in

place. This study showed that abortion laws affected non-Whites and lower-income individuals

the most.

“For decades, a group called Feminists for Life (FFL) has insisted that the founders of the

women's rights movement, including Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, opposed

abortion and worked to make it illegal. In fact, most early feminists expressed decided

skepticism about outlawing abortion. This article revisits the sources and context to show that the

early feminists condemned abortion but also predicted that anti-abortion laws would not work

because they did not consult women's interests. The theories of sexuality on which these

feminists premised their ideas about abortion soon became outdated, but their insight about the

laws was prescient. A fuller understanding of this piece of women's history offers little support

to anti-choice activists; indeed, it calls their whole project into question. (Women's Rights

Advocates and Abortion Laws).” For over 100 years women have been fighting for change and
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fighting for our freedom. Freedom to do as we please and to not have to get approval from

anyone else, we are in fact living our own lives but we do not quite have control over them yet.

As I was undergoing my research process I came across an intriguing and helpful article

from, Relationship of Knowledge and Attitude Towards Legal Abortion Laws with the

Performance of Midwives in Qazvin, Iran. “Abortion is one of the main causes of maternal

mortality. The lack of knowledge of physicians and midwives about the abortion laws can lead to

the deficiency of presenting accurate information to pregnant women, and consequently to

increase unsafe abortions. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship of knowledge

and attitude towards legal abortion laws with the performance of midwives in Qazvin, Iran. This

descriptive-correlational study was conducted on 122 midwives with private offices in Qazvin,

Iran, from May to September 2012. The subjects were chosen according to the convenience

sampling method. After obtaining informed consent for participation in the study, four

questionnaires, including demographic characteristics, knowledge, attitude, and performance

questionnaires were distributed by the researcher among the referrals. The obtained results

showed that approximately half of the midwives had good knowledge about abortion laws

(55.7%); however, their attitude towards abortion laws was mostly negative (86.9%). In addition,

their performance of abortion was reported as average (60.7%). There was no significant

relationship between the knowledge and midwives' performance; however, a significant

statistical relationship was observed between their attitude and performance. Regarding the fact

that providing abortion services is one of the healthcare strategies for preventing the

complications of unsafe abortion, it is advised to increase the knowledge level of medical

personnel by including the relevant courses in the university, holding retraining courses and

congresses on the issue of abortion, and informing new guidelines.” I found this to be helpful and
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it also opened my eyes to the outside world instead of what was just happening in our own

country.

Women all around the world, not just in America, should have the freedoms they desire.

From the right to vote to the right to have an abortion, it is every individual woman’s right to

chose how they feel on the topic and how they choose to represent it. We should have complete

and total control over our own bodies, as well as any man, should too, no person should take

control and tell us what is right and wrong. Women are the only sex who can get pregnant so at

the end of the day abortion is a woman’s right and that is how it should stay.

Works Cited

“Abortion as One Aspect of Women's Health.” Health Care for Women International, vol. 38,

no. 9, Sept. 2017, pp. 907–912.

“EVERY WOMAN'S LIFE IS WORTH SAVING: The Right to Safe Abortion in Asia.”

Colombian Journal of Anesthesiology, vol. 47, no. 3, 2019, pp. 11–13.

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“Gender Linked Fate Explains Lower Legal Abortion Support among White Married Women.”

PLoS ONE, vol. 14, no. 10, 10 Oct. 2019, pp. 1–16.

”Physicians' Agreement With and Willingness to Provide Abortion Services in the Case of

Pregnancy From Rape in Mexico” Contraception [Contraception] 2009 Jan; Vol. 79 (1),

pp. 56-64. Date of Electronic Publication: 2008 Sep 18. October 20, 2019.

Oberman, Michelle.“Motherhood, Abortion, and the Medicalization of Poverty.”Journal of

Law, Medicine & Ethics (J LAW MED ETHICS), Fall2018. October 20, 2019.

“Relationship of Knowledge and Attitude Towards Legal Abortion Laws with the Performance

of Midwives in Qazvin, Iran.” Health, Spirituality and Medical Ethics., June 2019,

http://jhsme.muq.ac.ir/article-1-251-en.html.

“Using the Synthetic Control Method to Determine the Effect of Ultrasound Laws on State-Level

Abortion Rates.” Atlantic Economic Journal, June 2019.

“Where Roe Doesn’t Reach.” Mother Jones. , vol. 45, no. 5, 2019, pp. 24–60.

“Women's Rights Advocates and Abortion Laws.” Journal of Women's History, vol. 31, no. 3,

2019, pp. 102–123.