Woman Vs Society: Pro Life and Pro Choice Views on Abortion

Introduction

Abortion is such a contriversal topic in today’s society and everyone has a different opinion and view on it which causes many issues to rise. Society in general has a really negative approach on abortion and essentially are pro-life, meaning they oppose it causing some women to look down upon themselves if they even consider abortion. Another way some view abortion is pro-choice, meaning they support abortion and that believe it should be legal. Some look at it as it is a woman’s right because it is her body, while others view it as every life matters even an unborn child. Double consciousness is a theory formed by W.E.B Du Bois believing an identity crisis is happening, and there are several views on a specific matter. Double consciousness is occurring in this matter of abortion because it is a life or death situation for an unborn fetus and society may view abortion one way, while a woman going through it, or just other people in general may view it a completly different way and even feeling degraded for thinking that way.

Abortion is a hard decision any woman would have to decide on. Imagine a young girl was raped, ends up pregnant and abortion is illegal. She has no choice on something so huge that will impact the rest of her life. With such a negative point of view on the matter from society, females are scared to go to Planned Parenthood or even the doctors office to talk about abortion because of what society may think. There are even protesters outside of facilities shaming women who do have an abortion, “..it’s like really annoying when those people stand outside the clinic all the time. At the clinic there was the people that are really against abortion. And I just don’t think – like obviously they’re Christian or religious - but I don’t think they really have the right to be there because obviously at the end of the day it’s your choice” (Beynon-Jones). Imagine going to a hospital or clinic and trying to look into the option of abortion and are bomarded by protesters attacking you and your right, it is your right till it is illegal to have an abortion. Nobody should be criticized by strangers who decided to wake up and protest outside a clinic because of their own personal beliefs and opinions. Research was done in England, women who have gone through an abortion avoid discussing about it to avoid trouble or uncomfort in a conversation, “...many (although not all) constructed speaking as a “woman who has had an abortion” as difficult” (Beynon-Jones). In my opinion, it should not be normalized for a woman to have to fear what society may think or say for making a choice dealing with her own body.

Pro-life and Pro-choice

So why does some of society view abortion so negatively? The main argument pro-life advocates state is that the unborn fetus is still a human and that all lives matter. So since it is living they believe consequences are necessary, “A new human life begins when a zygote is created. A zygote contains its own unique DNA; it is undeniably human. If given the proper nutrients, it will grow and develop just like any living person outside the womb” (Irvine). Many in society call abortion a form of murder, which is taking it to far in my opinion. I think society is not truly taking a step into a woman’s shoes to understand and consider her feelings on abortion and all the factors that go into it. Another argument society will make is involving religion into the issue, the catholic church is against the idea because every life is significant and the idea of abortion should just be eliminated (Lopez 513). Obviously, everyone practices a different religion or is not religious at all so of course it will differ on how they may see abortion and affect their opinions tremendously. Treating everyone fairly with kindness is something practiced in a lot of religions, so ripping people apart for their abortion may not be morally correct either. Since it such a major topic, I feel like society should not impose this idea that women are “baby killers” and guilt them for their decision that is hard enough to make.

There are many factors that may trigger any female to believe abortion is the best move for them. Some women face the risk of not making it through childbirth, so esentially abortion would save their life. Like I had mentioned previously, women being raped, I could not imagine how hard it would be for any female to become pregnant after non-consensual sex and not having the option of abortion. More reasons are low income situations so not having the means to support a baby, and having a child end up in the foster care system can be a mess, “In 2017, the rate of children in foster care rose in 39 states” (Sepulveda and Williams). The number of children in the system in 2017 was 443,000 (Sepulveda and Williams). That high number is just heartbreaking, these children could potentially be just bouncing from house to house, which could lead to emotional or mental issues later on as they get older. Society seems to not take all this into consideration, a woman should be able to decide what is best for her and society should agree to disagree.

Many interviews have been conducted to get insight on woman who had abortions and their feelings throughout it all. Many things the interviewees said sounded like it was a cry of frustration maybe dealing with everyone else’s opinion, “’I’m getting so infuriated with how people react to abortion. It’s just like, it was my personal choice. It’s not anything that you had to do. I didn’t force you to have an abortion of your child or anything like that so there’s no reason I should get people’s hate” (Beynon-Jones). This woman is completely right in my eyes, it is her personal choice that is not affecting anyone in society. For some reason everybody has an opinion on abortion that is completely unnecessary to be heard or shared at all times. Women feel like they cannot discuss what they went through, which is unfair, and society honestly is to blame for their insecurity. Their voices should be able to be heard without the degrading and hatred that many who are against abortion put out there. Agree to disagree could be a resolution for this conflict on the abortion debate. Society does not know the backstory on why a woman even went through with abortion yet they feel like it is their place to judge. Another woman who was interviewed also believed that nobody had the right to say abortion is wrong, “ It’s not like I got pregnant and then just decided, “Oh yeah, I’ll just have an abortion for fun sort of thing.” That kind of annoyed me which is why I also think I took part because I don’t think that you should give people who have terminations a bad name. I don’t think that’s really fair because you don’t understand other people’s circumstances. I think the worst thing is that obviously it’s going to be a hard decision for some people anyway” (Beynon-Jones). Could not have said it better myself, if you don’t truly understand or even try to understand why a woman may choose abortion, you have no reason to devaule them and the decisions they make. Abortion is such an important and contriversal topic so I get why some people have such strong opinions for or against it but it does not make it okay to judge someone for what they decide on. I could not imagine the amount of stress that comes along with choosing to abort a fetus, so people putting their two cents in definitely will not help the situation. At the end of the day, you cannot please everyone so I do hope woman stop fearing over the thought of abortion because of what society thinks or might say.

Reflection

Making abortion illegal is something that has made the whole situtation even more publicized, it has blown up on social media, the news, protests, etc. The illegalization of abortion plays a big role into double consciousness. Personally, I believe it should be legal in all fifty states while so many people I follow on Twitter or see on television believe it should be illegal as soon as possible. Some history on abortion according to Planned Parenthood is that it became fully legal in 1973. A woman named Jane Roe took it upon herself to go to the Supreme Court to be able to legally terminate her pregnancy (Roe v. Wade). This huge debate was known as Roe v. Wade, and Roe ended up winning and allowing abortion to be considered a human right, “To reach its decision in Roe, the Supreme Court drew on decades of case law that established that the government cannot interfere with certain personal decisions about procreation, marriage, and other aspects of family life” (Roe v. Wade). Jane Roe going and fighting for her right has tremendously helped so many women who are in the same position she was. Your personal life decisions that involve your body should absolutely not be able to be taken away from you, kind of similar to the idea that divorce if was illegal that would be wrong Although, I know that not everyone has the same opinion as I do. More recently, the heartbeat bill is trying to be passed to not allow women to terminate their pregnancies when a heartbeat from the fetus is detected, which would restrict women from their rights that have been legal for over forty years now. The legalization of abortion is something not everyone views the same way, many are fighting against the bill while others are fighting for it to be passed in all fifty states.

I completely see both sides on this debate of abortion which I feel like everyone should but sadly that is not the case. Obviously, I am more leaning on the pro-choice side of the argument. I can see why someone would consider it a crime to abort a fetus because it does have a heartbeat, although the baby would not even be close to being fully developed when an abortion should be done. If a women wanted to get an abortion a month before her due date, I believe that is one hundred percent wrong and should not be allowed. Another way I could see it is wrong is if the father of the baby one hundred percent disagrees with the idea, I feel like the man should have a little bit of say into it but again it is solely the woman’s choice because it is her body. If abortion did become illegal, I think there should be a certain time stamp like twelve weeks or earlier it should be allowed to be done. When the baby develops a heartbeat, it could be too early on to tell a woman is pregnant or have any symptoms at all to have the chance to get to a clinic and explore the idea of abortion. Abortion is not an easy thing, you have to think there are medical expenses and a mental drain on some woman to make this decision for themselves. Although, I see where some are coming from because it is essentially a life that is living inside the woman that some believe should not be ignored.

Conclusion

The topic of abortion is something very hard to talk about these days because some may get offended and people simply do not believe in the same things which is completely understandable. A woman may feel lost on what to do because of the judgement and backlash that those who do go through with abortion get. A woman thinking about abortion can have the right intentions to terminate her pregnancy due to multiple reasons that are important to her, like health or finacial reasons for example but may end up feeling as if she is wrong because of what society says. It makes it extremely difficult to feel this way because you are constantly thinking of how society will perceive you if you go through with this decision that is already hard enough to make. Double consciousness is in full effect when it comes to abortion. Sadly, you perceive yourself one way for going through with an abortion while society perceives it a completely different way, making it more difficult for a woman to think clearly on her actions and reasoning. Society alters the way you think and feel on so many topics, making it seem like you are a bad person for decisions you make which are essentially your human rights.