Persuasive Essay Against Abortion

Abortion is an issue of competing rights between women and a non-autonomous entity, or babies if you will. Some believe there is never any good reason to have an abortion. Others think there are exceptions that make abortion justifiable such as rape, incest, unhealthy, or high-risk pregnancies in which the woman’s health in on danger. Others think abortion is never justifiable in any situation. This debate on whether the rights of an non-autonomous, unconscious entity outweigh that of a woman is simple, the woman’s rights are always more important since the unborn are not protected under the law. There are a number of reasons that abortion should remain legal. One of those reasons being that denying access to abortion services endangers women’s

health. Secondly, laws against abortion are forms of gender discrimination because they do not allow women to participate equally in society. Lastly, abortion should remain legal simply because taking away the right to abortion is a violation of bodily autonomy.
Outlawing abortion is an endangerment to the life and health of women. For those dealing with a high risk pregnancy carrying a baby to terms puts her at risk of losing her her own life. For her abortion is absolutely necessary. There are also women who are capable of giving birth but do not want to have a child. If she can’t get an abortion legally she may go through measures to end her pregnancy that put her life at risk. Writer Tamar Thompson states, “ Criminalizing abortion will only lead to death and infringe upon women’s right to make decisions about their reproductive life.” She is right, placing restrictive bans on abortion does not by any means prevent women from ending unwanted pregnancies. It only forces her to go through unsafe procedures. When women are denied access to abortion and can’t rely on a skilled clinician to perform the procedure she may put her life at risk. Some women resort to drinking rubbing alcohol or using a coat hanger to cause herself to lose her baby. One teen girl even asked her boyfriend to punch and kick her in the stomach and push her down stairs. Since the government ensures citizens the right to health, including sexual and reproductive health, it is essential that it remove obstacles preventing access to sexual and reproductive health services. It is the job of the government to make sure citizens have access to proper health care including abortion services. Making abortion safe and legal for everyone, for any reason makes it less likely that women will experience the type of health threats present when she goes through other means of ending a pregnancy. Things like infection, permanent deformity, serious injury or even death could all be prevented by simply making abortion available to women in any circumstance. Making safe abortion services available decreases rates of maternal mortality. Legalizing abortion makes it safe and protects women’s health.
Any law that prevents women from exercising human rights equally with men is discriminatory and that’s exactly what anti-abortion laws do.

Since only women live with the results of an unwanted or unhealthy pregnancy it is biased to criminalize abortion and punish women for undergoing the procedure. Motherhood typically limits resources to education and employment as well as other areas of life. Forcing women to become mothers places us in a submissive role in society further strengthening the inequalities women face in economic, educational, and political life. Whereas, abortion allows women to participate equally in society because she can choose when she wants to enter into motherhood. Laws that deny access to abortion effectively remove women’s ability to make decisions about her own body and life and keep women from equally exercising her human rights and fundamental freedoms. This is similar to denying women from making political, social, economic, social, and cultural decisions. Society never makes any attempts to control men’s bodies the way they do women. Abortion has made women equal by giving us the chance to manage our own bodies. Abortion restrictions are typically shaped after enforcing stereotypical sex roles of society, therefore they should be

eliminated.
There are a lot of people who disagree with women’s right to choose. They believe that abortion is murder and that they are morally obligated to make sure the practice becomes outlawed. “Our goal is unequivocal: Every unborn child protected in law and welcomed in life.” Christine Watkins uses statement from the court case Planned Parenthood vs. Casey in support of her argument. Watkins states, “Casey was right in saying that the American people are being tested by the regime of Roe, but the test is whether we have the decency and the will to overthrow it.” Plenty of others like her want to outlaw one of the most common medical procedures performed simply because she doesn’t believe it’s moral. Some pro-lifers even put abortion in the same category as child abuse/neglect and murder therefore, they feel it’s their responsibility to protect the unborn. They see their attempts to criminalize abortion as the morally responsible thing to do. Watkins says, “Millions of lives depend upon it, our moral self-respect depends upon it,” when discussing her reasons for believing that abortion should be illegal. But we have to give women the chance to be moral actors especially when it comes to reproduction. Regardless of whether or not you agree, abortion is personal and intimate decision. When a woman confronts an unwanted or unhealthy pregnancy only she can decide what is right for her. Pro-lifers can’t expect people to put aside their autonomy and equality in respect for someone else’s personal values and morals. Aside from the fact that pro-lifers see abortion as murder and morally wrong, there also usually seems to be an underlying reasoning behind the guise of concern for innocent life. That being that they see women’s sexuality outside of the purpose of reproducing as shameful. Therefore they believe that the appropriate punishment for those who willingly partipate in sex is childbearing. It seems they just want to punish women for being sexual creatures more than they want to protect the right to life. Whether right-to-life leaders genuinely are concerned for the life of the unborn or not, women are entitled to make decisions about their own bodies and whether they will carry a baby or not. Women who get abortions are not immoral, and sexual behavior is not a crime punishable by being forced to give birth.
Concern for women’s health, protection of bodily autonomy and the right to choose, plus the fact that outlawing abortion is a form of gender discrimination should be reason enough to keep abortion legal. Support women’s right to choose, regardless of whether you would have an abortion yourself or not. I encourage everyone to be pro-choice, and if there are laws in your state with the purpose of making abortion inaccessible challenge those laws. Let’s work to make abortion legal everywhere.