Dear Next President,

Can you imagine a little kid sitting at home alone because their single mom is working her butt off to support them, when she wasn’t even planning to have a kid in the first place? Their single mom who had to drop out of school to support them? Not everyone can be prepared to raise a child right off the bat, they need time. Abortion should be supported because you aren’t killing a baby, some women can’t support the child after birth, and modern abortions are actually safer than before.

Murder? No, when a woman gets an abortion the child is not developed, it’s still only a fetus, so you’re not killing a baby. “Baby” means a very young child, newly or recently born. That means after birth, when it’s fully developed, it’s a baby. Studies show most babies can survive on their own after 28 weeks of gestation. Up until the point of birth, or the time it can survive on its own, the fetus is developing, it cannot survive by itself, and it’s not yet considered a baby. Abortion is simply ending a pregnancy, the actual definition being “The cessation of pregnancy or fetal development.” Many people against abortion argue that ending a pregnancy kills a baby. The common fact between both of these arguments is that abortion ends a pregnancy. So if ending it means stopping fetal development, and the fetus is not an actual baby, then you’re not killing a baby.

The average cost to support a child, which goes up every year, is over $245,000, not including college tuition or inflation, not everyone can support those costs. That cost was only determined up to the time when they turn 18, so if your child lives with you past the age of 18 it’s even higher. Not everyone can support a child, and many don’t want to. A 2004 study showed 74% of women said a child would interfere with her education, work, or ability to care for other dependents, and 73% said the baby would cost too much. To support a child you need to pay for food, clothes, toys, etc… Plus, many parents buy their children things like phones and computers, so it costs even more. If you’re not in a good financial spot it can be very tough to support a child.

That’s not the only thing that can put a family in a tough spot, teen mothers have school to finish and they have to start thinking about work and college. They haven’t even got their own life in order yet, but then they have a kid and they have a whole new problem to fit into the equation. Having a child could cause her to drop out of school and work full time. That isn’t good for her or the child. She could go work full time, and then the child is always alone and they learn to grow up like that. How will that affect how they raise their children in the future? She may work all the time, but they use that money right away for food, clothes, a home, etc… That kid is going to grow up in poverty, what money will they use to support themselves in the future? If someone is going to support another human’s life for the next 18 years, they need to be in a position where they can, and are ready to. One of the most frequently stated reasons was that the baby would have too big of an impact on her life, or (for some), the other children’s life. Abortion would allow the woman to get ready for a child and be prepared to give them a good life.

Adoption is always an option, however, according to Sparrow International, numbers released in 2003 show there are between 143 and 210 million orphans worldwide (not including abandonment) and a little over 300 million in the U.S.A. 250,000 children are adopted annually, 14,505,000 children grow out of the system before being adopted each year, and studies also that 10-15% of these children commit suicide before age 18. Those kids grow up with hard lives, struggling and it could affect the people around them. No one wants their child to suffer, especially when it could affect the rest of their life in a negative way.

Of course, many children do get adopted into a nice family. Most children who are adopted move into a great home where they are taken care of. There is always a chance they will be fine. Can you imagine, though, how your child would feel growing up without a home? Getting out of the system with nowhere to go? Can you imagine being a little kid and watching everyone else get adopted, but you just sit there with no one to go home to? Well, that’s always a possibility, and it does happen. With abortion, they can take time to prepare for a child until they are ready. Otherwise the baby is forced upon them and their entire life is affected in a negative way.

Modern abortions are safer than they were before, for multiple reasons, the first being medical procedures. Before now, abortions were done using tools and mechanics, which put the woman at more risk. Her body parts could be damaged permanently and cause long-term effects, like problems giving birth later on. With modern medicine there are no long-term effects like cancer or infertility and they have found ways to manipulate biology to create a safer procedure. As a result of modern medicine, risks during subsequent births have decreased immensely. According to a study led by Gordon Smith at the Cambridge University, the risks during subsequent births decreased and eventually stopped entirely between the 1980s and 2000. That means abortion is much safer now and the risks are almost nonexistent compared to what they used to be.

Another reason is that nowadays we have clean hospital rooms and neat procedures, unless they are done illegally. In some places, abortions are done illegally and can cause many more health risks. Illegal abortions are done by people lacking the necessary skill, people using minimal medical standards, or both. Now that we have it legal in many places, it’s a million times safer. If abortion is banned then people go back to how they did it before, putting many women at risk. So abortion should be supported not only because it’s safer now with modern medicine, but also because it can cause a lot more health risks if banned.

The Supreme Court has already made abortion legal, so what’s the point of this letter? Well, at the federal level abortion is legal in all states. Some states, though, don’t agree with this and they have been passing laws to make it harder to get an abortion. They aren’t outright banning it, but they have certain limitations. In some states, the limitations are very complicated, so much to the point where women find it too hard to get one. Florida, Rhode Island, and South Dakota, for example, won’t allow abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy. Then some states, like Nevada, Mississippi, and New Hampshire, limit public funding. The states have enough power to weave around the federal laws and make up their own, which is not good in this case. I urge you to take away some of their power, and make sure abortions are completely legal and easy to get in all states.

You aren’t really murdering a baby, not all women can support a child, and modern abortions are much safer, so we should allow women to make their own choice, and support it. America is supposed to be a free country, if abortion is what the women want, we should support their choice. The government shouldn’t have all the power over our choices, and if a woman wants an abortion we should allow that to happen. It’s not fair to her or the baby, if someone else makes that choice for her.

Sincerely,

Amaris Hamilton