Dear Next President,

Murder is not a game. Let me ask you this- if you decided to take a person’s life, just because of their inconvenience to you, would you feel any guilt at all? Or would you say that life would go on as it had been and forget about the whole thing? Well by supporting abortion you are sending the message to millions of young women that the murder of their child isn’t a big deal and no guilt should be felt. Well I beg to differ. I realize that many people view abortion as a feminist issue, but it is not that. According to the Guttmacher Institute, there are 1.06 million abortions every year in the US alone. 1.06 million deaths of innocent American lives that don’t have a voice for themselves. Is that, Future President, what you want to promote in this country? I surely hope not. Abortion is an issue that should be and can be solved, and I am going to explain to you how and why.

As a Christian, a female, and an individual who was adopted at birth, I have many reasons to feel that abortion is wrong and is an issue that should be stopped. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 50% of women in the US who have abortions are under the age of 25, ages 20-23 being 33%, teenagers accounting for 17% and girls under the age of 15 account for 1.2%. This explaining that the majority of women who have abortions are young impressionable women who are very likely to deal with stress for the rest of their life after taking a life that they could’ve kept alive. While I do have many reasons to believe that the murder of a child to be born is wrong, I realize that many young women in our country are lead to believe that abortion is an issue of women’s rights and feminism, not the child’s right to life. Important leaders like you, future president, are who these women are looking to for input on how they should go about with one of the most important decisions they could possibly make. By making abortion legal, they receive the message that this isn’t a big deal and is yet nothing but a feminist issue. Yes, nothing but a feminist issue that puts our women in psychiatric treatment, gives them suicidal thoughts and stress for the rest of their lives. It’s alright, it’s just a women’s rights issue.

According to a study of medical records consisting of 56,741 California patients, women who have had abortions are 160% more likely than delivering women to be hospitalized for psychiatric treatment in the 1st 90 days following their abortion.This being said, abortion is not only causing harm to the child but also harm to the mother. While there are psychological effects on the woman, there are also physical effects. A study done by Britain’s Royal College of Psychiatrists showed that women who had abortions are 81% more likely to have mental health issues and that their chances of suicide and substance abuse are greatly increased.

Now, I do believe that women are in charge of their own bodies. Some may argue that it’s the woman’s choice to abort her child or not. I realize that many people believe that it’s a personal decision and the woman should be able to go about her life without the inconvenience of the child. I also realize that many believe that the child feels no harm when it’s aborted or that it doesn’t matter because it doesn’t know it’s alive. Yes, while she does have a choice, is she making a right choice? Is mental health issues and suicidal thoughts along with stress and regret for the rest of your life a good choice to be making? Executing a young innocent life is what does this to the woman, so I see no need to argue that any woman should be “pro” for this choice.

Before I was born, my birth mother decided to set my twin brother and I up for adoption as she would have been a single mother and felt we would have a better life with another family. Now my birth mother didn’t set us for adoption thinking that we were some unliving item at the time and it wouldn’t make a difference if she aborted us or not. She, as a responsible woman, recognized us as unborn life. As a Christian, I am very thankful she made that choice to keep my brother and I living and didn’t kill innocent life, as this goes against the word of God.(Exodus 20:13- “Thou shalt not kill.”) Not only does this go against The Word of God, but hopefully goes against most people’s values and conscious. Adoption is free, and any pregnancy related expenses are paid for by the adoptive family. Abortion can cost anywhere from $500-$3000, and not to mention a child’s life in the package too.

Again, as I do understand that many people believe that the child isn’t feeling any harm when it’s aborted or it doesn’t affect the child because it doesn’t know it’s alive, I would like to say if my mother thought that I would be dead. I would’ve felt pain; and though I was unborn, it doesn’t change the facts of what happened and how. Is that what you want to support in our country, Future President?

In 2004 a survey done by Planned Parenthood’s research affiliate of 1,209 US women proved that the majority of women’s abortions are not caused by rape,incest, or health issues. The primary cause is the inconvenience for themselves. In fact, only .5% said they had abortions because they were raped, 7% had abortions due to health issues, yet 92% said they had abortions due to “social” issues, meaning their lives would be inconvenienced. I would like to think it would be pretty inconvenient for the child to be aborted as well.

I believe that contraception and adoption are alternatives to abortion. If these choices are impressed more so upon our American women than abortion, we would save many lives and the effects would be more positive on the US women and children. A study in Russia between 1988 and 2001 showed that while contraception increased by 74%, abortion actually decreased by 61%. This meaning that contraception is a great alternative to abortion because nobody is getting killed or inconvenienced. It is much safer for everyone as the actual abortion process can cause excessive bleeding, abdominal pain, scarring of the uterine lining, sepsis, and death according to the American Pregnancy association.

Emphasizing the use of contraception in our country starts in our education. However, if abortion is promoted more often, this will again lead to more and more innocent deaths as I have stated before. Another solution that I personally feel very strongly about is adoption.

Future President, I ask you not to take the idea of abortion lightly, but to do something about it, to stop or at least prevent it. According to the March of Dimes, 60% of pregnancies in the US are unplanned. It is how the mother decides to deal with this unplanned event that truly has an impact. I would appreciate it if you didn’t view those unborn children, as worthless lives, but as a child that would have the chance to grow up and live with loving parents as I have. I want you to realize how thankful I personally am that my birth mother didn’t view me as a worthless life, as some object that aborting it wouldn’t make a difference in life. I truly hope that you, future President, realize what a wonderful life and parents these children could have if only their right to life was an important issue to people like you in our country.

Sincerely,

Maddie

d“Home - AbortionNO.” AbortionNO, http://www.abortionno.org/.

RN, By Sarah Barnes. “The Long Term Effects of Abortion on Women.” The Long Term Effects of Abortion on Women, http://www.the-gospel.org/stdy_fmly/abortion_effects.php.

“Guttmacher Institute.” Guttmacher Institute, https://www.guttmacher.org/.

“Abortion Facts.” Students for Life, 26 June 2013, http://studentsforlife.org/prolifefacts/abortion-facts/.

Adoptions, Inc. American. "American Adoptions -- America's Adoption Agency."American Adoptions. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2016.\

"Emotional Side Effects After an Abortion." American Pregnancy Association. N.p., 02 Sept. 2016. Web. 29 Sept. 2016.