Why We Have the Right to Choose

Many people, when they hear “pro-choice,” immediately think of abortion. They see those fighting for these rights as savages who simply want to “kill fetuses.” I am here to clear things up and say that this is not the case.

Nobody wants an abortion. The people who believe that need to open their minds and just try to understand. Then they’ll get it. Abortion is not pretty. But, sometimes, it is unfortunately necessary.

It can protect a woman’s life or livelihood. One woman wrote on Tumblr of how she would not have been able to continue school if she had been pregnant – and that includes if she had planned to have the child adopted. Simply by being pregnant, she would have lost her scholarship, and thus would not have been able to afford to continue school.

Some could claim that she should not have made such a mistake, but such things happen sometimes even with every precaution. Also, she is human. We as a species are prone to mistakes. Should someone’s life be altered for one faulty moment?

Now, she could have decided to keep the child, which would have been fine. The important thing is that she had the choice. She had a right to choose if she was ready for motherhood.

Imagine if she did not have that right. She would have lost her education, would have struggled for work and would have added to the lower class that we as a nation are trying to lift. Now, imagine this on a large scale – imagine no one had the right to choose. This girl would not be the only one who could not finish her education. Graduation rates would decrease, and the lower class would increase in size. More single-parent homes – surely something pro-life supporters would dislike – would increase.

If a woman wants a child and is ready to raise the child, we support that fully. But she should have a choice for herself of what she does with her body and her time.