As human beings, we are put into situations where we may have to make very difficult decisions. . .possibly even choosing between the potential of life and the existence of life. No one wants to be forced into this type of scenario, but despite our best efforts, these situations do arise, more often than most of us imagine.
Personally, I find the taking of life–or potential lives–very difficult. However, too many situations in women’s healthcare and reproductive rights fit into gray areas where there should not be a moral absolute.
I am incredibly grateful that I've never been in a position to make that choice. But anyone who deals in absolutes with this issue may be thrust into a situation that forces them to reconsider at some point in their lives.
The difficult decision of whether or not to have an abortion is one that should belong in the hands of a woman and her doctor, taking into account many factors: the risk to a woman’s physical and mental health, the circumstances under which the woman became pregnant, and the woman’s ability to care for a potential child.
In many situations, it isn’t a choice between the potential life and the existence of life. It is only a choice regarding the existence of life. Several medical procedures fall under the category of abortion, even for situations where a medical determination has been made that a viable life has not or will not develop (e.g. ectopic pregnancy, etc.) and there is no life to save.
If the overall goal is to reduce abortions, the best way to accomplish this is NOT by stripping women of their right to bodily autonomy, but rather by reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies. It has been proven repeatedly that both sex education and easy, inexpensive, non-judgmental access to birth control are what brings pregnancy rates down.
With the overturn of Roe v. Wade, we have seen fifty different abortion policies implemented. Everything from total abortion bans to no limitations at all. Currently, the state a woman lives in dictates her rights, her ability to make her own health decisions, and her access to the healthcare she and her doctor determine she needs. Our Constitution and our nation calls for equality for all. Yet, women no longer have equal rights throughout our country and that simply must change.
Original source can be found here.
