I do not know why, but I noticed that people often seem to think that the term “pro-choice” is interchangeable with “pro-abortion.”

Pro-choice is not anti-life, and pro-choice is certainly not pro-murder.

The values of people who classify themselves as pro-choice are all in its title. These people are in favor of giving women the choice on what they want to do with their fetus!

People who are pro-choice do support the rights of women to have a safe and legal abortion, and they also support adoption and parenting.

Other than those three choices for potential mothers, much more lies behind the meaning of pro-choice.

It is not just about reproduction. It is about having the freedom to choose what path of life a woman wants to go down.

Having all options equally available to pregnant women, allows her to think about and research which is best for her physically, financially and emotionally.

A woman does not need to stand before a judge and beg to have an abortion because she is not ready to have a child. It is a personal decision made by her. This being said, pro-choice is a celebration of freedom and women’s rights.

Hypothetically though, if women did have to seek government approval for abortions, this would not make them stop. If a woman wants an abortion, she would get one.

I know this because this is how America used to be prior to Roe vs. Wade in 1973. This was the court case that made abortions as available as they are today.

If a woman was denied an abortion at this time, she would get one done unprofessionally. They were performed illegally with coat hangers and blunt objects, and many women themselves died in these unsafe practices. Making something illegal does not make it stop.

So there are two options, because abortions always have and always will happen. Either outlaw them and women can go back to doing it themselves, or keep it a safe medical procedure, putting women in the hands of professionals.

I understand some people may be against having an abortion for themselves, but if another woman wants one no one has any right in the world to judge or stop her.

What I think is that everyone needs to stop worrying about the unborn and start caring about the thriving children already in the world that need help. Find homes for the millions of children in foster care, feed the children whose parents struggle to put food on the table, help families pay hospital bills for their terminally ill children.

Abortion is not murder. It is a common medical procedure to terminate a fetus. Within the timeframe most abortions are legally performed, the fetus is a blob of cells. Honestly, you would kill more skin cells scratching your arm than you would in an early abortion.

According to Discovery magazine, a fetus cannot feel pain until the 28th week of a woman’s pregnancy. Although, it does begin to grown pain receptors during week 8, the necessary nerve pathways to actually feel pain are not formed yet. The thalamus, the part of your brain that sends information to other parts of the body, does not completely form until week 28.

There is a reason why most abortions are performed prior to the 28th week of pregnancy.

A woman’s body is her choice. If you do not like abortions, do not get one and do not try take away other women’s rights to get one.

Share