This is to all our sisters who were forced into an unwanted pregnancy, who lost their lives carrying a secret pregnancy, who had an abortion, and to all the women who once suffered in silence becoming mothers.
As we seem to advance long from history, it seems as if we took a big step back to the 70s when abortion was a huge issue for women’s rights. Coming into the 21st century, it seems we have had a big step down, starting with the overturn of Roe V. Wade, which makes it illegal for women in certain states to have an abortion, protecting the human rights of fetuses yet ignoring women’s rights to their own choice to their bodies. The fight for keeping abortion legal has been one of the biggest fears women face in today’s date, where their reproductive rights could be revoked by the law. As of right now, there are 13 states that have already banned abortions, with six states that have strict laws that interfere with having an abortion at 6-12 weeks and five other states that have limited it to 5-22 weeks. We have to remember that there are 40% of women living under restrictive laws, which makes about 753 million women of reproductive age that are restricted to abortions as of now. ( Center of Reproductive Rights). The fight of these courts to ban abortions and not recognize that abortion care is essential health care and the fundamental rights of all these women and girls is a serious problem since there are millions of women in areas where now they have restrictive ban laws that go against their rights.
The fight to keep abortions a legal and safe procedure for women all around the world is very important to fight till the end. We have to remember nearly 70 million women have wanted pregnancies a year and about more than half of these women terminate their pregnancies. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 20 million women have unsafe abortions every year. These unsafe abortions are responsible for the deaths of nearly 70,000 women annually. Governments have warned women that if they go against these restrictions in abortion ban states they as well will have to face the consequences of criminalization for going against the right of the fetus as a human being.
Abortion goes deeper than the termination of an unwanted child but the rights of women, the right to personal privacy, and their right to the First, Fourth, Fifth, Ninth, and Fourteenth Amendments. Abortion is as important to women’s mental health for instance, Illnesses, abuse, exploitation, unwanted pregnancy, maternal death, disabilities, and diseases are all linked to poor reproductive health. (Ara, I. et al 2022). Abortion comes as far as the child’s mental health as well; the diseases transmitted, feeling unwanted by their own mothers, lack of stability, having no shelter, no food, no clothes, and many other obstacles that bring a child into a suffering world. The same goes for women, who often lack stability, are going through abuse, lack finance, have mental health issues, diseases, old age, rape, and, most important, risk to their health, where many females can die from giving birth.
When these decisions are made about women’s bodies, they are often made by men who have no idea of the negative effects it brings to women. Their mental health is at stake, as are their lives and their freedom, women are often shamed for the choice they believe is best for them. No woman should have to struggle or suffer in silence alone because they are obligated to bring a child into this world that they aren’t physically or mentally stable for. It’s important to know the real reasons why illegal abortion became legal in the first place because of all it’s negative outcomes of women losing their lives. We live in a scary world where women aren’t taken importance, especially in very important issues like this one.
