Ban-aid Can't Help This Wound

By Kassidy Thomas

News Feature Editor

October 2021

Many Americans with uteruses within the past few decades have feared their reproductive rights being stripped from them. On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court made a decision to legalize abortions when Jane Roe filed a lawsuit against senator Henry Wade because she thought the state laws were unconstitutional, this is also known as Roe v. Wade. Recently, Texas has banned abortions after six weeks, which has many people terrified of Roe v. Wade possibly being overturned.

Reproductive rights are not debatable, they are a human right. The Declaration of Independence states that “all men are created equal” yet cis men get all the reproductive rights they want and people with uteruses are debated over brunch. It should be a given that the people who are able to give life should do whatever they please with their bodies.

Cis men should not even have an opinion on bodies that are not their own. 90 percent of the people who created abortion restrictions aren’t even people who have uteruses, and it is unacceptable. These cis men are not able to give birth, so they cannot understand the circumstances that others are put in when pregnant and making a decision on whether or not to keep the baby. Throughout systematic oppression the patriarchy has made it seem as though cis men can control whoever they want which is unfair.

If abortions are being taken away then should reverseable vesectomies be required for men to prevent pregancies? Because in this case it would reduce unsafe abortions, but then would the cis men argue that it is against their bodily autonomy? Would they finally understand how others feel when they try to put restrictions on others' bodies? They don’t understand the stress put on someone pregnant when debating an abortion, which is why they should get no say on the topic.

Keeping abortions legal not only gives women bodily autonomy but it prevents deaths from unsafe abortions. According to the World Health Organization, each year there are between 4.7 percent - 13.2 percent of maternal deaths due to unsafe abortions. Overturning Roe v. Wade would not stop abortions, it would stop safe ones and lead to more death by women and the childen which would contradict any pro-lifer’s argument. Many of them don’t want to “kill” these babies yet are okay with women dying due to unsafe abortions.

We not only have to think about the women who would die from unsafe abortions but the amount of women who get pregnant from rape and incest, and women who cannot survive childbirth, etc.. It is unfair to take away that woman's choice to abort a child that will remind them of their trauma for the rest of their life or possibly kill them.

And some people may say, “You can always put them in the foster care system” but do not seem to realize how terrible the system is. In 2019 there were 251,359 children in foster care who were victims of abuse. And 1 in 5 will become homeless after the age of 18. This shows how kids given to the foster care system are more likely to end up living in terrible conditions compared to others. This just proves that pro-lifers aren’t for life but are for birth and don't care about what happens to the child afterward.

Whether or not you would get an abortion, no one should ever be forced to have a child that they do not want. People should never have to worry for the rights to their body, no matter who they are. If it is not affecting you personally then it should not be up for debate.