Dear Future President,

It is important to keep abortion legal and make it accessible. It is a very controversial subject, but when it comes down to it, it should be the woman’s choice. She should be able to decide what happens to her body.

As a strong, independent female living in the United States of America, abortion is a very important topic to me, but I also have a personal connection with it. My grandma has three daughters, including my mom who is the youngest. In between my aunt and my mom, my grandma had another pregnancy. She wanted another baby and was happy to receive the news that she was pregnant for the third time, but unfortunately the baby was unhealthy. The baby wasn’t developing correctly and the pregnancy was making my grandma sick. It wasn’t an easy decision for them to make, but they decided to abort. They had two young children already and busy schedules with time-consuming jobs. The baby already wasn’t healthy and there was a good chance it wouldn’t have made it through childbirth. The decision to abort that baby allowed them to have another one: my mom.

Many people who are pro-life say that we shouldn't dictate another being’s life by aborting them, but telling a woman that she can't abort her baby is telling her what to do with her life, contradicting their beliefs. A woman is raped every two minutes in America (Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs), and it’s possible for her to get pregnant. The woman whose body is going through this should be able to chose what happens to it. However I don’t believe this to be the only circumstance where abortion should be an available option. This is a very controversial topic, but should be allowed especially if it is affecting the health of the mother and/or fetus, the child wouldn’t be born into a loving and safe environment, or the family can’t support it.

Abortion is a taboo subject, especially when it comes to religion. In Alex’s letter, he states “Abortion offends God” (Letters to the Next President). Many religions including Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam teach that abortion is wrong (BBC). Those religions are entitled to believe that and be against abortions, but to make them illegal is taking away the freedom of religion to those whose have different beliefs.

Sometimes the woman isn’t in the position where she is able to take care of the baby and needs to abort. If unable to legally do it, women will find illegal and unsafe options instead. About 68,000 women die annually because of unsafe abortions, making it a leading cause of maternal mortalities (13%) while 5 million more will suffer long term effects. About 48% of all abortions are unsafe (National Center for Biotechnology Information). To help protect these women, abortions need to be legal and made available to those in need of them.

Abortions need to be legal and available for the health, safety, and freedom of women. Being pro choice and allowing abortions doesn’t encourage them, it just makes it an option for those in need.

Sincerely,

Julia Schultz