Dear Future President,

                       I know that abortion can be a difficult topic to discuss. There is constant controversy between the people who are considered pro-choice and those who are considered pro-life. As an american citizen I believe myself to be strictly pro-choice. I believe that the decision to have an abortion should be the mothers decision. The government should not have a say in the mothers decision. I feel as if telling a woman that she no longer has the ability to control what she does with her body is a violation of basic rights. People may argue that adoption and foster care is always an option but as a former child of the foster care system I completely disagree with that statement. You never want your kid sitting all alone wondering why no one wants to adopt them and why their birth mother decided to give them away. There are also a lot of other factors that come into play as well when bringing up the topic of abortion. Like what if the  mother is addicted to drugs with no source of income and no home to raise the child in. There are places to go to receive help but it is always up to the mother to take advantage of these resources. Some people are not ready to admit that they need help. Without the option of abortion a baby would be born addicted to drugs and thrown into the foster care system until someone could be found to give that child a permanent home, but even then a permanent home is not always promised. Not to mention the amount of problems a child who is born addicted to drugs could have. A common argument that I hear is that if people are irresponsible and have unprotected sex then it is only right that their option of abortion be taken away. To some degree I agree that statement but accidents always occur. It is unfair to tell someone that because they made one mistake it has to effect the rest of their life. I feel that the choice to take away abortion is a violation of women's rights. The thought that women should be punished for making the decision to have an abortion is completely repulsive. But even if people agree with the idea that women should be punished for having an abortion then why shouldn't the men be punished too? It takes two people to conceive a baby.  I believe that saying women should be punished but not men is absolutely sexist and goes against everything we work towards in our nation regarding equality. Those are the reasons that I believe that abortion should be decided be the woman and not by the government.

Sincerely,

Tabitha C