last 3 ½ years helping foster children transition W r i t i n g

A Women’s right to Choose
Abortions are one of the most controversal topics on today’s society. There is a
lot of disagreements that spark around this topic and whether or not the action of
abortion should be legal. There’s a large population of people who believe in a woman’s
right to choose whether or not to abort her fetus who are pro-choice. There also a large
population of individuals who feel abortion is murder to an innocent child and those
recieving them should be held to the highest punishment who are considered pro-life.
There are many facts known about abortions that support the statment that abortion can
actually be beneficial to life and banning all abortions can cause more harm than good.
Abortions should be legal because adoption isn’t always an option, people should be
able to choose if they are ready to be parents, and legal abortions can actually help
save lives.
Abortions should be legal because adoption isn’t always a good option. Many
people argue that if somebody is unfit or too young to raise a child they can put the child
up for adoption instead of terminating their pregnancy. They feel putting a child up for
adoption will give them a good life with a loving family. What many people don’t realize
is that there is already an overflow of children in the foster care system who have been
waiting their entire childhood to be adopted. According to Foster-America.org there are
over 400,000 children in foster care in the U.S alone (2020). A large percentage of
these children in foster care are suffering greatly. Statistics on Foster-America.org show
“1 in 8 American children is abused or neglected by age 18. 50% of foster youth will not
graduate from high school on time. 60% of child trafficking victims have histories in
foster care and 33% of homeless young adults were previously in foster care” (2020).
This isn’t one example of abuse, this is a pattern shown throughout foster care children
year after year. Foster-American.org also states “kids in foster care are 4x more likely
than other children to attempt suicide” (2020). The Probation Officers Professional
Association of Indiana shares the story of one foster child who landed himself life in
prison. The article gave some backstory. “From the time he was 3 until he turned 14,
Dominic Williamson was bounced to 80 different foster homes,” (Bauer 2019). The
article also states “For the past year, The Kansas City Star has examined what happens
to kids who age out of foster care and found that, by nearly every measure, states are
failing in their role as parents to America’s most vulnerable children” (Bauer 2019).
Brent Kent, a man who has spent the last 3 ½ years helping foster children transition to
adulthood stated “We are sending more foster kids to prison than college, And what do
we lose as a result? Generations of young people” (Bauer 2019). Most people
considering abortion choose to do so because they feel they can’t provide a good life for
their child. Whether they don’t have the time, money, resources, or emotional stability,
many decisions are made based on the life they would or wouldn’t be able to provide for
their future child. According to Guttmacher Institute in the United States there were
“862,000 abortions in 2017” (Nash 2019). So if 862,000 women put their child up for
adoption yearly instead of receiving an abortion, the number of children in the foster
care system would triple yearly, and considering most children are in the system until
they turn 18, the amount of overflow would continue to increase and get even more out
of control than it already is resulting in even worse conditions for the children in foster
care. A mother doesn’t want to put a child into a system that is proven to be abusive,
have high sucide rates, and provides a higher chance of being incarcerated than
graduating high school.
Another reason abortions should continue to stay legal is because people should
be able to choose if they are ready to be parents. Abortion gives a mother the choice to
terminate her pregnancy if she decides she in unable to or unfit to raise a child at a
given point in her life. Many pro-life people will argue that the mother chose to be a
parent when the child was conceived but this isn’t always the case. According to
Planned Parenthood “If you use condoms perfectly every single time you have sex,
they’re 98% effective at preventing pregnancy. But people aren’t perfect, so in real life
condoms are about 85% effective” (2020). This means that out of 100 people using
condoms, 15 of them are likely to result in an unplanned pregnancy. Even though an
individual plans on practicing safe sex and uses a form of contraceptive to prevent
pregancy, the individual can still end up pregnant. In addition, according to the CDC,
Center for disease control, the “pill, patch, ring, and diaphragm result in 6-12
pregnancies in 100 women” (2011). Those are all other examples of common
contraceptives used by women to prevent pregnancies. There is no birth control that is
100% effective in preventing unwanted pregnancies so it’s impossible to completely
eliminate them. That being said if an individual who doesn’t have the intention of
becoming a parent becomes pregnant, they should have the right to decide whether or
not they are ready to be a parent. In addition to contraceptives failing, an individual can
become pregnant due to no choice of her own. Unfortunately in today’s society, rape is
something that seems to be more common than not. Often individuals who deny
consent to participate in intercourse are forced against their will. Due to absolutely no
decision of their own, this can lead to becoming impregnated by their rapist. In this
case, if a woman experiences trauma that results in her becoming pregnant against her
own will, she should not have the responsibility of going through an entire pregnancy,
childbirth, and parenthood with it as a constant reminder of her trauma everyday.
Although some feel that abortions should be made legal for rape victims only, it is much
more complicated than that. According to the Guardian.com data shows “Just 1.5% of
all rape cases lead to charge or summons” (2019). This is because rape cases are hard
to prove since it is so often the rapist’s word against the victim’s. The Gaurdian.com
also states in another article “There’s also something particularly troubling about forcing
women to “prove” their abuse before the state allows them to have a medical
procedure” (2018). A women should not have to prove her rape in a system where only
1.5% of rape cases lead to charges because that still leaves 98.5% of victims helpless.
Abortion needs to be legal for all women so they can choose if they are ready or not to
be a parent without any challenges in their way.
One of the most common arguments against abortion in today’s day and age is
that abortion is brutal murder to an innocent child. The pro-life community feels that
women should not be allowed to make a decision to terminate a fetus’s life who can’t
speak or defend themselves. An article written by Tomas Ryan informs us “Crucially,
the co-ordinated brain activity required for consciousness does not occur until 24-25
weeks of pregnancy” (Ryan 2018). That being said, the idea that abortion is a
trumatizing experience for a fetus is untrue to any case of the abortion being performed
before the 24-25 week mark in a women’s pregancy. In addition, Fact Check.org
informs us “‘Evidence regarding the capacity for fetal pain is limited but indicates that
fetal perception of pain is unlikely before the third trimester.’ The third trimester begins
at 27 to 28 weeks from conception” (Levitan 2015). That being said, a fetus is not
conscious, nor does it feel any pain when being terminated before the 24 week mark.
Some might wonder about th abortions that are performed in the later stages of
pregancy. According to facts from the FDA / CDC in the year of 2017 “65.3% of
abortions were performed at a gestational age of 8 weeks or earlier, with 25.6%
occurring at 9-13 weeks” Franki 2017). That accounts for over 90% of abortions
performed in the first trimester of pregancy before the fetus has any brain conciousness
or ability to feel pain. That being said the only person the abortion is traumaitzing and
painful to might be the mother.
Another major reason that abortions should be legal is because providing legal
abotions can actually save more lives than it can harm. In more situations than some
may realize, a pregnancy can be life threatening to some expectant mothers. According
to the National Women’s Law Center “Abortions do save lives. When a woman faces a
medical decision, time is precious and her decision should be respected. The law
should not force women to wait and risk bodily harm or even death when medical care
is available; no family should be left to wonder why a hospital refused to treat their
daughter, sister, wife or mother” (Grant 2012). This article goes on to tell the story of
Savita Halappanaver, a young pregnant woman, who went to the doctor with pain and
was told she was miscarrying her fetus and it had no chance of survival. “Knowing this
and in tremendous pain, Savita asked the doctors to terminate the pregnancy. They
refused. The hospital denied Savita life-saving medical care for three days while her
family watched her health deteriorate. The prolonged miscarriage resulted in blood
poisoning, and although the doctors operated when the fetal heartbeat ceased, Savita’s
heart, kidneys, and liver were already failing. She died seven days after first seeking
(and being denied) medical care” (Grant 2012). If a safe, legal abortion was available to
her during this time, Savita would’ve been able to receive the medical care she needed
and went on to live her life. Instead, she was denied an abortion for a fetus who already
had no chance of survival and lost her chance at life as well. In addition to medical
conditions, a carrying mother who has decided she is going to abort her child is a
decision she likely didn’t come to lightly so she likely is not changing her mind
regardless if it is legal or not. In an Article by “Every Mother Counts” it states “What
happens to women who live in countries where all abortions are illegal? They have the
procedure under conditions that aren’t safe and often result in death for both mother
and child’ (2013). It goes on to say that abortion yearly cause “the deaths of 47,000
women” and “statistics show that unsafe abortions represent 13% of all maternal
deaths” (2013). If all women had access to a safe and legal way to receive an abortion,
it would save the lives of 47,000 women yearly.
It is evident that there are a lot of opposing views when it comes to abortions but
some things are for certain. While some feel that adoption is an option for a better life as
opposed to abortions, it is proven that putting a child in the foster care system can do a
child more damage than good. In addition, while some may feel a women should have
decided whether or not she was ready to be a parent prior to incourse, this isn’t always
a valid argument for those who have been failed by contraceptives or have been a
vicitm of rape. Lastly, some may argue that abortion is tramautizing murder to an
unborn fetus but it is statistically shown that over most abortions are performed in the
first trimester where a fetus has no brain conciuosness or ability to feel pain and are
only performed later when deemed medically necessary.
That being said, there are a lot more positive benefits from providing legal
abortions than negative. To begin, it gives those who are not financially, mentally, or
physically ready to be a parent the option not to carry on to parenthood. It also prevents
an exponential increase in children in the foster care system, a system that currently
cannot support that many children effectively. It provides a safe option for rape victims
to terminate a pregancy brought on by trauma and against their own will. Legal
abortions will also provide pregnant mother’s with the proper medical care needed if a
pregnancy is threatening their own lives. It is time people start putting the lives of the
mother’s before the unborn fetus and take a look at the bigger picture. Banning
abortions everywhere will only make matters worse and result in the loss of more lives.
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