A Woman's Natural Right

A Woman's Natural Right

What if your daughter is raped and becomes pregnant? What if she is only 13? Are you ready to be a grandparent who is actually caring for two children now? You will have no other choice if abortion is completely illegal under any circumstances. How often do you think the mothers' who chose adoption actually go through with it? The answer is not very many. Only 2-3% of unmarried women who choose to adopt actually give up their babies (Lowen, L.). We should give women the right to at least have a choice over her own body and life. Many factors that pro-life supporters argue should be taken into consideration when putting regulations on the abortion law; however women should be able to exercise her natural right to decide whether she wants to bear children or not.

The abortion controversy has been around for centuries. Aristotle, an ancient philosopher who lived from 384 B.C. till 322 B.C., talked about abortion when he said, "The line between lawful and unlawful abortion will be marked by the fact of having sensation and being alive" (Abortion Quotes). The history of abortion in the United States started back in the 1820s when laws forbidding abortions after the fourth month of pregnancy appeared. By 1900 most abortions had been banned thanks to the efforts of the American Medical Association, physicians, and legislatures. Illegal abortions were still common, though they became less frequent during the Comstock Law which

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outlawed all birth control information and devices. The American Law Institute proposed a model penal code for state abortion laws in 1959. The code advocated the legalization of abortion for reasons that included; the mental and physical health of the mother, pregnancy due to rape or incest, and fetal deformation. By 1965, abortion was banned except for states that had adopted the "liberalized" ALI-model abortion law. Governor John A. Love of Colorado in 1967 was the first to sign. Next was New York, who allowed abortion on demand up until the 24th week of pregnancy in 1970. Similar laws were then passed in Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington State. In 1974, The Supreme Court ruled on its first case involving abortion in the United States vs. Vuitch, which upheld a District of Columbia law permitting abortion only to preserve a woman's life or health (psychological and physical well-being). This effectively allowed abortion for any reason. The case of Roe vs. Wade in 1973 is where the Supreme Court ruled that state abortion laws were unconstitutional. This decision ruled out any legislature interference during the first trimester of pregnancy and put limitations on what restrictions could be put on later stages of pregnancy. The latest major conflict has been on partial birth abortions (National Right to Life).This year President Barack Obama has signed the pro-abortion government-run health care bill. Under this bill there is no ban against the government funding of abortion. At least one health care plan along with the Indian Health Service program will be promoted across the country that will pay for abortion. The bill also contains the Mikulski amendment which allows the Obama administration to define abortion as preventative care which makes insurance plans pay for the procedure (Life and Liberty PAC). Most recently,

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Oklahoma passed two new abortion laws. The first one requires all women that are entertaining the thought of abortion to undergo an ultrasound with a verbal description of the fetus. The second law prevents mothers' from suing doctors that withhold possible birth defects of the fetus (Charles M. Blow).

Those who are pro-life have many valid arguments. Their main problem is that they consider abortion as murder. Many believe that the life of the fetus begins at conception, and if you abort a child then you are murdering them. They say that adoption is a reasonable alternative to this issue. There are millions of people who are looking to adopt, because they are unable to have children. Pro-lifers also believe that if abortion is legalized, it will become another form of contraception. Women will stop practicing safe sex if they do not have to worry about having a baby. Jamaica Kincaid wrote about a mother's teachings to her daughter, "this is how to make good medicine to throw away a child before it even becomes a child" (16). Furthermore, they conclude that if a woman is old enough to make the conscious decision to lay with a man then she should have to live with the consequences that come with that responsibility. We should take all of this into consideration when it comes to the legalization of abortion.

There are many people who fight for the right to have abortions, and their reasons are