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The Quest For Our Rightful Abortion Rights: A Powerful Insight into Pro-Choice Vs. Pro-Life Debate
Natasha Lopez
Abortion rights is a complicated yet powerful topic and one that needs to be discussed and especially heard more and more by women who are affected by it or might be susceptible to it. We'll explain why.
As with all things that concern women’s independency, abortion rights have always been met with plenty of resistance. Feminists have been fighting non-stop since the 60’s for granted access to reproductive rights and Planned Parenthood without shame or judgment. Yet, after all the time that has passed and countless abortion rights movements we find ourselves submerged in the same type of rhetoric, which means there have been little to no changes in policies.
Recently, in one of the saddest and most indignant cases related to this, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion, a decision that left the legal matter to each state –many of which, of course, opted for restrictive measures. This historical event put the debate for abortion rights in the forefront of everyone’s mind, whether they reside in the U.S. or not.
Though it might feel ridiculous having to explain why women and pregnant people deserve the rights over their own bodies, it seems as if now more than ever, it is time to clarify why abortion rights are so freaking important.
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Abortion Rights: Why They Freaking Matter
Let’s start by making a precise yet necessary statement: the legalization of abortion is not a topic that can be dismissed. People all over the world get abortions, whether it is legal or not wherever they are, people resort to pregnancy terminations whenever they need it. Its legal status exists to ensure safety and ease during the process.
When we are talking about why abortion rights matter, we first need to understand that abortion is an occurrence that will not stop just because it is criminalized, and it is the State’s responsibility to not let it become a healthcare problem and a violation of human rights.
Let’s touch up on these negative repercussions of its criminalization one by one to really assess the damage and comprehend why, indeed, abortion rights are so goddamned important.
Healthcare Emergency
The risks that arise from unsafe abortion represent a Healthcare Emergency. According to WHO, about 13.2% of maternal deaths can be attributed to unsafe abortions –this is not just a little amount. When we think about how this number is referencing pregnancy-related deaths around the globe, it becomes an alarming rate that clearly shows us how bad things are looking right now regarding abortion rights.
We are talking about hundreds of thousands of pregnant people who die due to illegal practices of abortion. Not to mention the fact that the amount of people who experience some type of non-fatal pregnancy risks is also incredibly elevated.
Therefore, to correct and establish the reasons why safe abortion and abortion rights matter, we need to remember that these are not just statistics. It does not end in a number, or a graph, rather, those are simple representations of many, greatly varied backgrounds. These are the real lives of people, lives that we are losing due to ignorance and restrictiveness in our policies.
And that's the thing: we are creating an environment where problems regarding healthcare are not seen as such, because we are forgetting the humans behind the numbers.
Abortion Right and Individualism
Now, some may argue that the right to abortion should only be permitted in cases of rape, abuse or when the pregnancy represents a threat to the pregnant person. The problem with this argument is that it takes the humanity out of them; it implies that someone needs to be harmed severely –or be at risk – for their autonomy over their bodies to be valid.
This is the exact kind of message this premise is trying to send, the idea that a pregnant person is not viewed as a person, but as a carrier of someone else’s life. There is a complete disregard for individuality that is present in this claim; it deliberately overlooks the multiple decisions that a pregnant person has to make on every level – whether they lead to pregnancy termination or not.
But of course, the reason why abortion rights are often not considered as a personal matter, has a lot to do with the concept of parenthood, religion, and what birthgiving means to parts of society
The False Morality behind Abortion Rights Bans
The main argument regarding abortion rests on the premise of "saving lives", a belief sustained on the idea of conception as definite indication of the existence of new life.
In simple words, though conception just implies that someone got pregnant as a result of fertilization, there is a spiritual connotation given to the word that focuses on the sacred existence of human life, more than on the actual conditions needed for that classification.
Though as a personal view, this is completely valid, the problems arise when it is presented as a universal truth that everyone must subscribe to. The point of governments separating religion from their political courses of action is to create policies that do not have biases and can be as neutral as possible.
In reality, the influence of collective religiousness is so important that it derives on laws against human rights – which are what many international organizations consider abortions bans to be.
Interestingly enough, some scholars affirm that these religious beliefs have not always been behind the main arguments against abortion. In fact, there is historical evidence of abortion as a common practice during the 17th and 18th centuries, changing only towards the end of the latter due to economic reasons.
Although this specifically references abortion in the U. S., there is evidence of abortion being a common practice for years all over the world, only formally condemned and penalized much later in time.
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Pro-Choice vs. “Pro-life” = Freedom vs. Oppression
But taking it back to why is abortion a false morality, let’s consider two important points:
The first one is that individuals (Women who can birth babies) who already exist and function in society are being policed under the idea that their ability to conceive is more important than their life. The second one is that there seems to be a collective worry over the lives of unborn babies, but the same concern is not as presented as passionately when it comes to children without homes all over the world.
“Pro-lifers” have even gone as far as to tell women and pregnant people that they should give their babies up for adoption instead of having an abortion early on; these are the claims of people who ignore the unattended flaws of foster care systems all over the world.
The lives that they are trying to save are just a resting concept, while the lives they are harming and ignoring are alive, breathing and being oppressed. This argument should be enough when it comes to women asking for abortion rights.
Choosing Abortion is Not a Commodity
So, ultimately, the problem ends and begins with the right to choose. For most of the affected by the establishment of abortion bans, being able to choose is fundamental for the healthy development of their lives. It is not a luxury, it is not a lighthearted thought; choice represents for them a critical moment that changes the course of their lives. If we are taking the abortion choice away from women deliberately, what is protecting the rights of women in other scenarios; the right to fair and equal pay, the right to say no to sex, and the right to vote?
Abortion rights have to be respected as well as any other human right; we need to start looking at the lives that bigoted opinions affect in the present day, not the hypothetical ones that others decide to have more value.
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