Dear Next President,

Did you know that according to Wikipedia’s “Abortion in the United States by state” page, before Roe v.s. Wade, abortion was illegal in 30 states? Abortion needs to be a right and that means making sure that Roe v.s. Wade cannot be overturned. In order for this to happen, there need to be Supreme Court Judges constantly backing it and making sure it isn’t revoked because the scary reality is that if many conservative politicians got their way, Roe v.s. Wade could easily be abolished.

I feel very strongly that abortion needs to be legal. Making it illegal would only make it unsafe, because they would still be performed but they would be done later in pregnancy, which makes the process much riskier. According to Guttmacher Institute’s “The Public Health Impact of Legal Abortion: 30 Years Later” article, “more than half of women obtaining abortions after 1980 did so at eight weeks' gestation or earlier. Obtaining abortions earlier in the pregnancy makes the procedure safer, because earlier abortion is associated with a reduced risk of complications”. Roe v.s. Wade was passed in 1973, so this statistic clearly shows that making abortions legal makes them much safer, because access is easy. When women have easy access to abortions, they can get them earlier along in pregnancy which reduces risks for their health.

Legal abortion means that there are open clinics that can educate the public and provide ways to prevent pregnancy, therefore reducing the rate of abortions performed each year. Abortions will always be happening, but clinics (like Planned Parenthood) also advocate for comprehensive sex education that includes information about contraceptives and birth control, and is not just abstinence-only. This provides people with a deeper understanding for safe sex, which in turn, leads to fewer abortions. According to ThinkProgress’s article “Abortion Rates Dropped Sharply. What Caused It?”, abortions in the United States have dropped 12% since 2010, and the only two states where the rates have increased are in Michigan and Louisiana. ThinkProgress says that since there are very strict regulations in Texas, women go to Louisiana and the same thing happens with people going from Ohio into Michigan. Abortion rates are lower today than they were before Roe v.s. Wade, so overturning it would only make abortions more common.

Finally, legal abortion means a woman has the right to choose what is best for her own life. Even if you take away all of the statistics that show how beneficial legal abortion is, the fact still remains that by banning it, you’re saying that you don’t trust a woman to make the decision she feels is best for her own life. This is a backwards way of thinking and it is thoroughly degrading. No woman wants to have an abortion, and wanting them to be legal does not mean that some women hate babies. It is an extremely traumatic thing to go through and it is a very difficult decision to make. However, it should be an option because every individual has the right to choose what they think is best for their body.

To conclude, abortion is currently legal and we need you to keep it that way. All it takes is appointing the right people to the Supreme Court so they can ensure Roe v.s. Wade is not overturned. This is a cause I am deeply passionate about because it is not only statistically safer, but it also gives women the basic respect of trusting that they know what is right for their bodies. It is because of this that I ask you to make sure that women's reproductive rights are a priority in your presidency.

Sincerely,

Sarina

10th Grade

St. Paul, MN