Abortion has always been a divisive topic but it’s been around for countless years. Pregnancy has also always been sacred but a woman’s life has always meant more. As a medical necessity, it’s a big part of women’s rights, yet the right to abortion has been consistently challenged all the way up to the highest court of the United States.
Roe v. Wade gave the right for women to choose if they’d like to have an abortion or not in 1973. Unfortunately, in 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and left the ability to decide for women in the state’s hands. States like Alabama and Louisiana have already decided to take control of women’s bodies – women in these states face a sad reality.
Carrying a baby to term is already a physically and emotionally distressing process, not to mention the ultimate stress to the wallet, but when a pregnancy is unwanted and a woman is forced to give birth, there’s no positive.
So not only is there precedent that governments can challenge the right to self-autonomy but also the precedent of leaving women who don’t even want to be pregnant to shoulder a considerable amount of medical fees.
With recent developments like the government shutdown putting medical insurance in grave danger, women are left little to rely on.
The overturning of Roe v. Wade gave women just another caveat to how they live their lives – don’t get pregnant. It’s unfair to all women because it forces them into an unwelcome situation, even if they did have sex, but it becomes especially dangerous concerning teenage pregnancies.
In states that have already placed heavy restrictions on abortion care, teenage girls are forced to keep the baby. The reality is that in a changing America, choice is a luxury.
Teenage girls are at a significantly higher risk of health complications when carrying a fetus, not to mention just how harmful it is to the future prospects of the teen.
It’s shameful to say a child is a regret – there are no support groups for women who didn’t want to give birth – it’s equally culturally loathsome to say that a child has ruined lives.
For women who did want to be mothers, their priorities certainly changed to center their child – it’s an obvious choice to make. But even if they did want to carry their child to term, that change of priorities left others like education, their career or their relationships in the dust.
For women who did not want to be mothers, however, that changing priority is exponentially more harmful. Mounting medical bills, postpartum care for both the mother and child and the realization that so many of their aspirations died when their baby was delivered is crushing.
Before, no matter how much help their family or how little help the government would give, pregnant teenage girls were forced to weigh the option of their chosen future and education or becoming a mother – now, it’s a choice they’re not even allowed to make in 12 states.
For that reason, these young girls are only given the option to keep the baby. They aren’t given a safe option to terminate the pregnancy even though it’s common sense that a teenager would not be both financially and emotionally ready for the challenge of pregnancy and taking care of a baby.
The ability to cover the expenses of having the baby along with the physical, mental and emotional states they go through are not only now expected but forced on these poor women.
