Why Abortion Needs to Remain Legal

According to Studies, 62 percent of adults in the United States believe that abortion should be legal in most cases. Despite what most Americans believe, abortion is still banned in 13 states with another state (Georgia) having a temporary 6-week ban on it. Abortions used to be assessable to all women until 2020 when the infamous Supreme Court case “Roe v Wade” was overturned. This meant that decision of abortion rights were now decided individually by the states instead of being legal everywhere. This is quite unfair to women because it takes the choice out of the women's hands and causes lots of trouble for the women who need abortions. Banning abortion does not stop abortion from happening. It makes it more unsafe and harder to get one for people who truly need it. Abortion needs to be legal everywhere as banning it is unjust, and unsafe and does not stop any problem. Though banning abortions seems like it ends a problem, it actually creates multiple other problems. Women can need abortions for many reasons such as health, finances, or if the baby is conceived by sexual assault. An example of this is teen pregnancy. The CDC reported that “Only about 50% of teen mothers receive a high school diploma by 22 years of age, whereas approximately 90% of women who do not give birth during adolescence graduate from high school”. A teen that is forced to keep a baby can have their life path heavily altered if abortion rights were banned. Women who live in states where abortion is already at risk. This puts women who want an abortion in an awful situation. Either move to a state where it is legal or have a kid, they do not think they are ready for. Making abortion illegal can also force women into unwanted pregnancies. This is unjust as it forces women to do something they do not want to do. If a woman is forced to have a baby while young it can cause health issues for both the young mother and the baby. Another problem that could arise is if the mother has financial issues. This can create an unhealthy environment for the child to grow up in. A woman with one of these issues can still decide to carry out the pregnancy and decide to put it up for adoption. This, however, adds to another problem as foster care systems are overcrowded and possibly by people who treat foster kids poorly.

Even though 62 percent of Americans believe in legalizing abortion, 36 percent of Americans still think that abortion should be illegal. I went to a Catholic School my whole life so, many of my Catholic teachers and classmates had Pro-Life beliefs. In religion class, we were always taught that abortion is bad because a fetus is still a human even before it gets its heartbeat. Questions would be asked by classmates such as “What if the mother would die because of the birth?” or “What happens if the baby was conceived by sexual assault?”. Every teacher would respond to this question the same way. My teachers would always say something along the lines of “In those special cases the church would give the exception that it is not a sin due to the severity of the situation”. I had one specific teacher who would always mention that the special cases were “just an extremely small percentage of all abortions.” This never made sense to me as it doesn't matter if it's only a small percentage of abortions. Abortion needs to be legal for when special cases actually happen. People shouldn’t disregard a “small group” because everyone should be treated equally. If abortion rights are taken away this can cause both financial and mental hardships for women who could truly need one. Another argument that can be made against abortion is that if it is legal then women are just going to use it as a form of birth control. This argument disregards that there are cheaper and easier ways to prevent pregnancy like condoms, plan b, and birth control. With options like these, it is hard to think that abortion would be a woman's first choice. On top of this, abortions are time-consuming and can be extremely hard not only physically but mentally for a woman. Women who get abortions are already making a hard decision to get an abortion or not. This means that women who get an abortion likely have a valid reason to get one and/or it was not the first prevention they had taken.

Abortion will be a topic of debate as long as “Roe V Wade” is overturned. This ruling affects mu; multiple women in America as more states continue to make abortion illegal. There are many reasons why people should keep fighting for abortion rights. Making abortion illegal takes away the choice for women who could need one due to health or financial reasons. It can also lead to women birthing kids in unfortunate situations or giving their child up for adoption. With all these drawbacks, banning abortion still does not stop abortion from happening. Women could attempt to do it themselves which is unsafe. All these reasons show why abortion needs to be legal. Banning abortion is unjust, unsafe, and creates far more problems than it prevents.