Dear President,

I think that you should take a closer look at abortion problems in the United States. According to Alternet, in Idaho, Iowa, Utah, Louisiana, Kansas, Virginia, Mississippi, Indiana, Ohio, North Dakota abortion is virtually illegal. This should be changed right away.

In my opinion, it is only fair to let the pregnant woman do what she wants with her baby. If she decides to have an abortion, there should be no one declining this request. After reading an article on Business Insider called “Here’s What Happens When Women Are Declined Abortions," I learned that women who are denied the opportunity to have an abortion take on many struggles. One negative thing that can happen to women is increased anxiety. If a woman is denied the option of abortion, she can get very anxious. Part of the reason people have abortions is because they are not yet financially able to supply children with the necessary sustenance. If she is forced to have the baby, she might even have to go hungry for it to live, which is not a good risk to take. Which leads me to the next topic: would a woman going through pregnancy have a higher risk of dying than a woman going through abortion? As stated by ProCon.org, a pregnant woman giving birth has a 8.8 in 100,000 chance of dying. A woman going through the abortion procedure only has a 0.6 in 100,000 chance of dying, which is 14 times less than dying through giving birth. Even though these chances are slim, it still can happen to anyone, even a healthy woman. Take my mother’s close friend. She was a very healthy person when she became pregnant. However, when the day to have her baby came, she sadly passed away.  If death is a real risk, why should women not be able to make this decision?

Another reason for abortion to be legal is the raping of women. If a woman is raped and becomes pregnant, her baby is technically unwanted. So why should it be semi-legal in a state to be raped and then not allow the woman to have an abortion? As specified by The Daily Beast, semi-legal in some states means that women can be raped as long as their perpetrator is their spouse. The following states have semi-legal raping laws: Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Connecticut, and Idaho. As you can clearly see, most of the states with semi-legal raping laws are on the list above of states where abortion is virtually illegal. A woman should not have to have a baby if she did not want to create it, especially if she is a minor or in a bad fiscal situation. It makes me sad to think of all the women being declined abortions and not being able to support their families.

Because you are president, one thing you should do is make sure all states allow abortion so the law is uniform throughout the country. Abortion being easy to access in every state would be a dream come true for pregnant women with babies that they did not want in the first place. Imagine a country where you had the opportunity to decide whether or not you wanted to have a baby. Pretty amazing, right?

Lastly, I would like to make a point about the our rights. In fact, according to ProCon.org, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that abortion is every woman’s basic right. Roe Vs. Wade includes a “privacy” statement, which our Supreme Court judges said applied to abortion. They said, “This right of privacy… is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy.” This section of Roe Vs. Wade can be interpreted as meaning that women have the right to decide if they want to discontinue their pregnancy. This quote goes to show that people who want abortion to be illegal are going against our own court. It is bad enough that some people are going against our Supreme Court, but on top of this people are putting women in danger and making them follow through on something they do not want to do.

To sum up my argument, abortion is a very challenging topic. To others, it may seem like murder, a crime even. But it is not. It is a woman’s right, choice, and risk.

Good luck In office,

Sofia G

Sources:

Allen, Samantha. "Marital Rape Is Semi-Legal In 8 States." The Daily Beast, 9 June 2015. Web. 5 Nov. 2016.

Calderone, Julia. "Here's What Happens When Women Are Denied Abortions." Business Insider. Tech News, 9 Dec. 2015. Web. 5 Nov. 2016.

DeFrancesco, Tracey, ed. "Should Abortion Be Legal." ProCon.org, 30 June 2016. Web. 5 Nov. 2016.

French, M. "Abortion Statistics." Voice Of Revolution. WordPress, 18 Jan. 2009. Web. 5 Nov. 2016.

Marcotte, Amanda. "10 States Where Abortion Is Virtually Illegal For Some Women." AlterNet.org. Independent Media Institute, 12 June 2011. Web. 5 Nov. 2016.