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| via Vox.com |
In recent times the US has shocked the world again through politics. Alabama is trying to impose a complete ban on abortions with very restrictive laws to prevent one to get an abortion at all costs. Some other states like Missouri and Louisiana may be following in their footsteps.
The nearly complete ban law goes like this:
- Ban on all abortions at any stage of pregnancy
- only exception is pregnancy poses a serious risk on the health of the one pregnant (meaning no exceptions for rape, incest, or fetal viability)
- A doctor that performs an abortion could face 99 years in prison (that's 89 more years than a rapist can face)
Why might this be dangerous or bad? Well, for one it takes away the person's right to choose. Many might argue that it was the woman's choice to have sex, yet that argument is never made to men when they are expected to take on the role of parenting like the woman is. Additionally, this law may have no exceptions to rape or incest. Meaning a victim of rape and/or abuse from a family member, must carry out their pregnancy no matter what.
For example, a story of an 11-year old rape victim is pregnant with the rapists baby went viral over social media. If this law were enacted, the young girl would be forced to give birth. This is only one of the many unfortunate cases that arises in the midst of these laws. Finally, these laws are extremely dangerous because whether legal or not, people will receive abortions. Making it legal will ensure back alley abortions will not happen. Legal or not, this issue should be about the safety of the person carrying the child
Additionally, the politicians that are supporting these laws are white and male. People who will never truly understand pregnancy and female reproduction. Thus possessing a complete bias from those who may be getting an abortion.
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| via @feminist on Instagram |
A major argument that commonly goes on when debating abortion is the stance of the catholic church. The Catholic Church opposes abortions and many of the politicians who oppose abortion are Catholic. This creates an unfair bias in a society that holds many religious beliefs and standards. Abortions is one of those cases where church and state must be separated.
This clip from the talk show "The View" discusses this topic as well.
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| via The View on Youtube |
When a politician's religious views are enacted in their practice, this is potentially dangerous for those who do not share similar values. To force your religious values on to others in the mass is unjust and wrong. Although the right to religious practice is important, so is a person's right to choose is just as important.
If Catholics truly cared about the prevention of abortions, they would advocate and help fund initiatives of sex education, and access to birth control. Which are proven things that decrease abortion rates. This is not to silence the views of Catholics as a whole or to restrict politicians from expressing their religious beliefs. This is about including everyone in the discussion when producing laws.
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| Made by me via Adobe Illustrator |
I saw this whole thing go down on social media myself as well. The controversial news inevitably made a lot of people, especially women, angry, and I knew the kind of things that people were saying, whether they were pro-choice or pro-life. Personally, I believe in the person’s right to choose, and that the state should not force their pro-life opinions onto their citizens. I actually never thought about the fact that people would try to get illegal back alley abortions. I completely agree that these abortion laws would just make things more dangerous for the women in these communities.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, women SHOULD have a choice to have an abortion or not because as you stated above, rape victims would have to have this child and it isn't fair to them. What I do not understand is why the government keeps inflicting decisions that apply to everyone but themselves. For example, Doug Ford is making educations cuts but he himself didn't even graduate. So why are these male politicians deciding how women should live their lives and forcing Catholic beliefs onto them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what everyone is saying here. The reality that women can no longer decide in a life-altering event is just quite baffling. These politicians clearly know no better and decide on things that only they believe in. Victims of rape will now have to live and take care of a child that were caused as a result of this, reminding them everyday of the torment that they have went through. The fact that politicians can just decide to enact laws like this is honestly just sickening.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. I witnessed a lot of mixed reactions to this abortion ban on Instagram. At first, I didn't believe that this ban was real, but when I did realize it I was shocked. It makes absolute no sense for male politicians to make this decision for women. Specifically, I don't believe it is fair for politicians to enact laws, like such, that don't affect them. They won't understand the mental and physical problems that will arise. Just thinking about the fact that rape victims will have to go on with the birth opposed to abortion is horrendous.
ReplyDeleteI was made aware of this ongoing issue through social media, as mary ward students many of us can agree that our friends, peers and just other students attending (that we follow) were sharing their opinions and posts about these new absurd abortion laws. Overall, this entire thing made women especially angry, and they have a right to be. The simply fact that majority of men are releasing these laws and governing what women can and cannot do with THEIR bodies is ridiculous. I'm not much of a deep reader But through the news and connecting dots I listened in on the news and further understood the controversy. Through your post, hearing your own perspective and reasoning, I agree with you because women deserve to have the choice and opportunity to have or not to have an abortion and not feel pressured and or worried about being imprisoned for that choice.
ReplyDelete^^^ Braeden Khargie, ASM201-01, Molloy #63
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ReplyDeleteI saw many people sharing their opinions about abortion on social media and I strongly agree that abortion should be legal due to various reasons. I find it ridiculous and disgusting how men get to decide what a women is able to do. It is their bodies and therefore it is their choice. Men don't know what it feels like to be in this position. It is not okay to force women to have kids they don’t want or can’t support. Abortions are still going to happen regardless, all these new laws are doing is taking the right to do it safely and putting their life in danger.
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ReplyDeleteI've seen so many posts about this issue on social media. It's unfair that abortion rights are being taken away from women. I remember seeing this one post about an 11-year old girl who was raped. But because of this new law that was passed on, she had no choice but to keep the baby. It's ridiculous, isn't right? Why should male politicians be able to decide on how you're going to live your life? After reading your post, I would like to say that I agree with you because there's no reason that women should be forced to keep what they can't support.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you!! The law is honestly disappointing. What baffles me is the idea that men should be deciding what WOMEN should do with THEIR bodies. They don’t have a uterus, they can’t carry a child, and they don’t experience childbirth, so what gives them the right to decide what happens? Their stance in politics? Stance in politics means nothing when women will turn to drastic measures in order to abort a child. This law won’t be making abortion illegal. It will be making SAFE abortions illegal. Just because they ban it, does not mean people will still do it. Passing this law restricts the female’s decisions on what they can or can’t do with their body. Female’s are not the root of this abortion problem. What does this say to women who were raped? Was it their fault? Alabama has got to be KIDDING us.
ReplyDeleteWomen should have a choice on whether or not they can abort. If a women gets raped, gets pregnant, and has the child, she could still be traumatized from what happened and take it out on the child; this has happened many times before. Rape also causes great difficulty, during and after pregnancy, with many potential negative consequences for both the victim and the child, including death. Rape victims usually have no other choice but to abort, they’ve suffered enough, why give them more to worry about?
ReplyDeleteI agree They really should advocate and help fund initiatives of sex education, preventing unwanted pregnancy from the very beginning. Abortions will happen indefinitely, banned or not. Banning safe abortion would have many unfortunate consequences for those that have no other choice but to seek for unsafe and illegal abortion. Not to mention, Pro-life advocates are always talking about how precious life is, and how the mothers shouldn't kill them off, but the second they're out of the womb, no one seems to care. What would happen to the child? If the mother is young, the child would probably go into the very flawed foster-care system. Women should have a choice, It's their body, they should have the right to choose on what they want to do with it. This ban is a bunch of cow turd.