Dear Future President,

Even though I am just an 8th grader, and I can’t influence the government very well, I still have very strong opinions about what is going on. Young women’s opinions should be valued because we are growing up in this world and this will be our future. I do know that abortion is a very touchy, but serious issue. Abortion should not be legal because it is seen as a way to get out of a bad situation, resulting in so many abortions every year. While some people believe that a woman has a right to her body and it should be her decision, I disagree with that. This is a topic that I care about, and I hope you can consider my thoughts, Future President.

There are many reasons that there are around 1.1 million abortions every year. One reason is the inability to support a child. Suppose a teenage girl gets pregnant, and there is no way she can support a child. She doesn’t have a stable job, she is still in school, and her parents refuse to help her, they say this is her own problem. There is no other option, right? Another reason is unwanted pregnancies. Once again, say a teenage girl gets pregnant. She doesn’t want to have this child, she is still getting her education. She wants to be able to support a child before she has one, so she just might as well get rid of it. That is what most people think, am I right? One more reason, one that is very different, is the case of rape. I believe that this should be an exception to this issue. If it was me in the case of rape, I would still have the child, but that is my point of view. I understand that this is not the woman’s fault, and she couldn't have prevented the pregnancy. I feel that if the woman really wants an abortion after rape, she should be allowed to have one.

Even though a lot of people don’t see this as one of the world’s huge problems, I believe it is. Abortion has a bit of a history, one that has went back and forth. In the mid-to-late 1800s, states began passing laws that made abortion illegal. By 1910 all but one state had criminalized abortion, except if the doctor decided that it was necessary to save the woman’s life. Around this time, a lot of women tried to get back-alley abortions. Although this was extremely dangerous, many women still wanted an abortion bad enough to get one. Before abortion became illegal, there was an estimate of 1.2 abortions every year.

Twenty one percent of all pregnancies in the U.S. end in abortion. There are many terrible effects of abortion. If the woman has children again, it can affect her kids by making them wonder what their sibling would have been like. They could be affected by thinking that there would have been another person in their family. The community could be affected in the way that they don’t support abortions, and they shame the woman for having one. That all leads back to the woman. She could be affected in many ways. If she was forced to get an abortion, she could be devastated that she lost her child. She could also be upset that that was the only thing she could do.

So, future president, what are we going to do about this issue? It is very important, and something has to be done. I think that a good solution would be to make strict laws on abortion, except the case of rape. Abortion should not be the solution to every pregnancy. Many women could die of unsafe abortions if this continues. Children could be seen as “lucky to be alive” if so many abortions keep happening every year, also there could be many arguments and protests because of people disagreeing on the issue. If we make abortion illegal, that could also bring the rate of teen pregnancies down, since the woman would have to keep the child and she couldn't get rid of it. Would this help our future world? I think it would. So, future president, what will you do?

Sincerely,

Jaycee