Abortion rights for women around the world are limited. Abortion rights are available to women in the United States but only allowed in twenty-one states and prohibited in twenty-six states. Women's right to accept a child into their lives is restricted to some. In these states no matter what the case might be either rape, state of life, financial state, etc. Women are denied basic human rights, the Bill of Rights protects freedom of speech, religion, the right to bear arms, and petition but does not serve all women the right to choose what needs to be done with their bodies. Why is our society like that though? Some say it will be unfair to the fetus in their womb who must suffer death, others say it is not acceptable for a woman to abort her baby as it's not the child’s fault.
Women around the world struggle financially to bring a child into their lives, risking everything they have in life. There are two ways to have an abortion, a clinic abortion and an abortion pill are also available, both unpainful for the baby and yet a struggle for women. Abortion is a need for many women, living in a world where 1 in 6 women have been a victim of rape or in a situation where it was attempted. Woah, women are affected but others have a say? Exactly. But abortion is for various reasons, a woman's mental and physical state must be in an adequate condition to take care of a child. Pregnancy under dreadful conditions can take a toll on women which can lead to perinatal depression after birth. If abortion around the world is not provided to women, they will turn to unsafe procedures leading to more difficulties for the child and birthgiver. In many developing or struggling countries unsafe abortions add up to 97% and globally the death rates make up 4.7-13.2% of maternal deaths.
In 1973, the Supreme Court ruled in a decision establishing constitutional rights, protecting the general right to have an abortion. This court case was named after Jane Roe and Henry Wade, two Texas citizens, one overturning and supporting this law. The court's decision was agreed to give the right to have an abortion under the Fourteenth Amendment, the case was won by 7-2. However, today almost half of the states have banned pregnancy until a certain point, where if the fetus has developed enough women are not allowed to terminate the fetus. Many conservatives to this day, want to overturn this decision, but this settlement can only be decided by the Supreme Court.
In June of 2022, a decision was made by the U.S. Supreme Court. For the first time in Supreme Court history, they repelled Roe vs Wade, to shield basic human rights. This choice started in Mississippi to get rid of abortion, Dobbs vs Jackson Women's Health Organization. The Center for Reproductive Rights brought in this case. The court allowed Mississippi to veto the rights given by the constitutional laws. With this law being passed, it not only allowed Mississippi to ban abortions but made way for other southern conservative states to prohibit abortions. In August 2023, lawsuits appeared in the Texas Supreme Court to aid women with difficult pregnancies. District Judge Jessica Mangrum argued that women with complicated pregnancies should have the right to abort their embryo, however, it was put on hold. Today in Texas, it is illegal to perform abortions unless to save a life, this law was passed by the Texas legislature. Any medical member who performed abortions on their patients would be against a lawsuit against the state. Texas is a conservative state, many of these states have the same beliefs about abortions; “abortion is wrong because it kills babies”. Conservatives do not agree with getting rid of unwanted pregnancies, as most are Southerners with older mindsets. Conservatives’ and liberals’ ideas do not line up, the north-eastern and north-western states desire to keep abortions for women in need, unlike the southern states.
Women today mostly do not have a choice on what to say about their bodies and rights. Laws are being passed without women themselves agreeing upon them but instead, men believe it is their right to make an option about their physique. Not having the freedom of choice to do anything to your body goes against the Constitution itself. Does this mean we are going back in time? Women and men are allowed to keep weapons in their homes and possibly even use them if threatened on their property, but getting rid of a fetus that does not have the human cells we adults have yet, isn’t it? For hundreds of years, women did not have the preference to make a choice out loud about their bodies. The twentieth and twenty-first centuries changed the perspective of men on women, men gave us the right to vote, get an education, get paid equally, etc. Those are basic human rights females should have received at birth and yet today we fight for what is right, abortion being one of them. Our society has always been biased toward women, believing we are not capable of doing enough or the same as men, and that our opinions are not sophisticated enough for them. Men, society, and the government forget that women's rights are human rights.
Comments