Jordan B. Virginia

Funding Abortions

This letter gives a brief insight as to how funding abortions would benefit women, specifically those who live in poverty.

Jordan B. 

10-28-16

Dear Mr/Mrs. President,

Foremost, congratulations on being given the honor of representing our country. I know you are well aware of women’s reproductive rights and the struggles they have to go to in order to practice them, but I still have some concerns on the availability of abortion for women who live in poverty.

Although abortion is legal, there is a still a problem with the lengths women have to go through in order to receive the service, specifically those who live in poverty. Clinics and organizations that provide the service, should be funded by the government more in order to provide the assistance needed. There would be less back-alley abortions, it would prevent them from having to raise a child that they cannot provide for, and people would be taught to take safer measures when it comes to sex.

As I am sure you know, the use of Back-alley abortions has always been an extreme problem within the female community. It has caused thousands of deaths and medical problems for women worldwide, which is why there needs to be more action on government funded clinics. According to Forbes, medicare is one of the few insurances that have abortion services funded by the government, but they only provide for women in cases of rape and insest, (Conover). Although that does help tremendously, it does not benefit women who do not experience those situations, but still become pregnant and are not able to pay for an abortion. At Planned Parenthood it can cost up to 15000 for an abortion, (In-Clinic Abortion Procedures), which a person cannot afford if they live paycheck to paycheck, thus leaving them to go to extreme lengths in order to terminate the pregnancy. In fact, one in eight women die from unsafe abortions and many suffer long term consequences such as anemia, continuing weakness, and chronic inflammation (Facts and Consequences). This causes women to live with medical conditions they would not be able to afford to fix because majority of government insurances only provide a limited amount of coverage, due to the fact that these insurances do not advance as medical technology does. This causes women to go into more poverty and causes dangerous life threatening problems regardless if they give birth to the child or not.

Raising a child while poor does not help the parents nor the baby. It prevents the mother from giving her child the best opportunities possible and a life that is beneficial for the both of them. If a women cannot afford an abortion, then how would they be able to afford to raise a child? All parents want the best life possible for their children, which must be heartbreaking when they know they cannot do that. Especially when they are growing older and advance in education that requires more money to provide for them.

You may be thinking that if a woman cannot afford a child they should not be having sex, but sex is virtually inevitable as it is one of the most natural acts in human nature. In order to prevent unwanted pregnancies, though, the funding gone to clinics would provide physicians to teach people about safe sex, proper percussions, and even give out free condoms and birth control. This would be beneficial for not only women, but men too. If more men were also educated on the subject, it would prevent them from leaving once they have found out they have impregnated a woman. In fact, one out of three children live fatherless (Father Absences + Involvement). If men knew more on this subject, they would be impregnating less women rather leaving them to fend for themselves without the extra money needed in order to raise a child. It could possibly hinder the increasing poverty for women when raising a baby alone.

In conclusion, funding abortion clinics would cause less women to go into deeper poverty, it can help educate others, and stop the rising numbers in underground abortions that extremely harmful. This could also buffer the harsh stigma around abortion and provide better opportunities for women who need to get one.

Sincerely,

Jordan B.

Citations

"Abortion Information | What Are Your Options?" N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.

Conover, Chris. "Are American Taxpayers Paying For Abortion?" Forbes, 2 Oct. 2015. Web.

"Facts and Consequences: Legality, Incidence and Safety of ..." N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.

"Fatherhood Data & Statistics." N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.

"History of Abortion – National Abortion Federation." N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2016.

Eastern View High School

AP Language & Composition

AP Language & Composition students (11th grade) from Eastern View High School in Culpeper, VA are tasked with researching platforms, crafting political cartoons or pieces of satire, and writing letters and op-eds

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