If a minor was sexually assaulted, should they be forced to have a child when they have no way of supporting it? No they shouldn’t- period.
Abortion is a medical or surgical procedure to deliberately end a pregnancy. In 1973 the US Supreme Court in the decision in Roe v. Wade ruled that the Constitution protects the right to an abortion prior to the viability of a fetus. This basically means you have a deadline to have an abortion. For example, a woman would not be able to have an abortion during her third trimester compared to the first.
“A 2023 Pew Research Center poll found that 64 percent of US adults believed abortion should be legal in all or most cases, compared to 34 percent who said it should be prohibited in all or most cases.”
Already the majority of the US believe abortion shouldn’t be illegal, and quite frankly I think this number is uncomfortably low. The average rate of women and females who have been sexually assaulted is around 250,000 per year. That is only in the US. Not to mention the number of children conceived by rape each year ranges from 7,750-12,500. That is just on its own. So clearly there is no problem with women getting sexually assaulted as long as the population numbers go up right? Wrong.
I don’t understand why people in their right mind would even think of banning a woman’s right to an abortion. I as a 14 year old female am very aware of the risks/probability of getting sexually assaulted and conceiving, and I know for a fact that the majority of the females getting sexually assaulted are in no shape or form able to support and care for a child of their own. So why should they?
So, if a woman can’t support her child, why should she have to have the responsibility of keeping it? That could lead to homelessness and mental illnesses which is just a gateway to an entire world of other life changing problems.
Also think about women who aren’t being sexually assaulted but they conceive and have life threatening medical problems. Why should they be obligated to keep the baby when that means there is a great chance they could die? Still losing a life to gain a life, they cancel each other out. So, there are no reasons why abortion should be illegal.
In the 2022 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Roe v. Wade allowed a person living in any US state to exercise the right to an abortion at their own discretion through the end of the first trimester, around the twelfth week of pregnancy. But within time, Roe and Dobbs, activists and policy makers in many states sought to change legal protections for reproductive rights. Due to covid in 2020 with rapidly decreasing population rates, the states considered abortion as a “nonessential service.” This means that since people are dying of illness, other women should be held accountable and should be responsible for increasing the population.
People who believe that abortion should be illegal also known as “Pro-Life” normally object to abortion for religious or ethical reasons, thinking that the procedure amounts to the killing of what they consider to be a human life.
According to Gale in Context Opposing Viewpoints, Accordion to and article in Gale in Context, “Supporters of abortion rights, who typically identify as “pro-choice”, consider it an issue of human rights, asserting that individuals should be able to make medical decisions about their own bodies and lives.”
In the weeks leading up to May 14, 2022, Grannies from San Francisco California made a petition/ group to protest against the overturning of Roe v. Wade. They named themselves “Raging Grannies.”. They believed that decades ago they fought for their reproductive rights and they can’t just be taken away, risking the lives of people in the US without a fight.
No woman should have to go through the pain and agony of being raped. That is something that will stay with them forever.
Some may argue that abortion can be legal for the first trimester of a pregnancy but not for the second or third. This might seem reasonable but it’s not. There have been hundreds of cases where a woman didn’t find out she was pregnant until the 2nd or even 3rd trimester of their pregnancy. So the ban of abortion would affect them even though they didn’t know they were pregnant. Should they have to give birth even though their personal situation could align with a woman who has been sexually assaulted.
You know, maybe if the sexual assault cases werent so high, there wouldn’t be as many abortions in the US and the population would balance itself out.
