"Why Would a Woman...."

            Abortion to me is not necessarily about what should or should not happen to the potential baby in question, but is the option to decide what should or should not happen to your own life. From a moral point of view, I can appreciate the different beliefs of others, including different religious, politics, and social norms. However, as a woman, and thinking about all I see for myself in the future, I cannot imagine something as life altering as an unplanned child without having at least the option of abortion.

Pregnancy is circumstantial, and can be an extraordinary event in a woman’s life. But it also has the potential to alter the course of a woman’s life in a way she may not have been planning for. Babies take money, love, commitment, responsibility, stability, time, and so much more. In the famous case of Roe vs. Wade, a young woman named Norma Leah Nelson was impregnated three times out of wedlock by the time she was 21. Back in the 1960’s, being pregnant even once out of wedlock was a crime against society, and even more importantly against god. The consequences of an unplanned and “illegitimate” pregnancy were often fatal, ruining a woman’s reputation and future. The only control a woman had over her situation and body was dictated by strict laws that stated she could only obtain an abortion for her own medical necessity or in the case of a rape.

Norma requested an abortion for her third child, claiming it was the tragic result of a gang rape. Her lawyers took her case all the way to the Supreme Court, who eventually ruled in her favor and stated that the U.S. Constitution granted a woman’s right to privacy. Because of this decision, abortion became more readily available to women who sought to end their pregnancies. This decision also  increased the health and safety of abortions, making the procedure much less threatening the patient’s life.