I feel that abortion is an especially important matter this election because I believe in a woman’s right to choose. However I may or may not feel about abortion personally, that should not affect another woman’s ability to obtain one if that is what’s right for her. Trying to pass anti-choice legislation only harms women as the pro-life movement aims to defund Planned Parenthood and reverse the Roe v. Wade decision. I respect and appreciate religious freedom, and that is a part of why I am pro-choice. For example, abortion is not an issue in Judaism as they interpret the scripture to value the mother’s life over the fetus. So if we were to outlaw abortion that would infringe upon a Jewish woman’s religious freedom. Our country is also not a theocracy as one of our founding amendments is the separation of church and state. In Latin America, abortion is outlawed even in cases of rape or incest. This has led to staunch policing of women to the point where some are going to jail for 30 years for having miscarriages due to being wrongly accused of self-aborting the fetus. Miscarriages are common and so I’m sure these women are constantly terrified of being criminalized for it, which is something I haven’t ever had to worry about living in America. I am thankful for this privilege in my lifetime and I hope it remains. Also, defunding Planned Parenthood is ridiculous because it provides many much needed services to women, not just abortion. If it was defunded we would take away access to cancer screenings, STI prevention and treatment, and contraceptive services. This would also mainly affect low-income women and women of color. Women’s health is important and should not be mandated by the government. There are better ways of minimizing the number of abortions rather than outlawing it altogether, because that would be unconstitutional.

 I feel that the pro-life movement’s efforts are misplaced when they try and outlaw abortion. If they wanted to effectively minimize abortion, they should endorse contraception. I realize this as being conflicting towards the group’s religious beliefs, but I feel that this would be the only valuable way to prevent abortions. I also think we need to have better sex education as that would help teach people all methods of preventing a pregnancy. Along with maintaining funding to Planned Parenthood and defending a woman’s constitutional right to obtain an abortion, I feel that you should implement the anecdotes aforementioned. We need to emphasize that women have control of their own bodies instead of constantly reinforcing their objectification.