Dear Future President,

One of the most controversial parts of this 2016 election is the topic of abortion. Abortion is such an emotional topic because it makes people think of their moral values, but when our government leaders debate whether or not to make abortion legal, they have to put their focus on whether it follows our constitutional guidelines, not our religious guidelines.

Critics are having a hard time accepting abortion because they see it as unfair to the baby who has no chance, but then how would it be fair to the parents who have to keep the baby? The mother's life changes intensely. What if the mother is still in high school and she can’t afford the baby? What if the father leaves the mother all alone to raise the baby? What if the mother isn’t strong enough to give birth to a baby and has a great chance of dying during birth? If the critics are so “pro-life” then why aren’t they considering the safety of the lives of the mothers? By not legalizing abortion we are not giving these mothers the chance to provide a safe and loving home for their children, we aren’t giving these babies the chance to have a family that makes them feel wanted and loved.

One of the main reasons that our nation should make abortion legal is the fact that it goes along with the rights granted to us in the Constitution. When Abraham Lincoln wrote the 13th Amendment we abolished slavery and gave everyone the right to control their own body. The United States government cannot control what a citizen does to him/herself, such as self harm, and abortion should be considered as one of those self made choices. The woman who is pregnant is in control of her own body. The choice is all dependent on what the woman wants. If she does not want children, the she can’t be forced to keep them. If she wants children, no one is able to take that away from her. The outcome of the court case of Roe vs Wade, gave women the chance to abort the child before it reaches the age of 28 weeks, otherwise the mother is obligated to carry the baby for the full amount of time.

Money is obviously something that does not grow on trees. The younger you are, the most likely you are not to have the highest paying job. So if we force young mothers with no job to have babies, we are putting more people under the poverty line. 67% of teen mothers end up living in poverty. Poverty is already a big enough issue in our country, so if we can find a way to avoid expanding this issue we should use it to our full advantage. We are setting up mothers for failure. By giving young parents even the chance to live in poverty puts the mothers and the child's life in danger. Living in poverty can cause depression or cause dependence on alcohol or drugs. This could affect the child growing up and start acting as their mother did. Suicide is another devastating result that could come from depression. This increases the loss of human life and increases crime. To avoid any of these horrible results from happening, abortion should be legal in the United States.

Abortion should be legal is to help protect the lives of many women. A woman who becomes pregnant due to an act of rape or incest is the victim of a horribly violent and morally reprehensive crime. The woman is then forced to remember the horrible act forced upon her for the next nine months while she is carrying the baby that she doesn’t want and which the baby will be half the mother and half of the father/her rapist. The victim of these horrible cases of rape that result in pregnancy can be as young as 12 years old. Think of your own daughters. Would you really want to force your own young daughter to give up her life because she is the victim of someone else’s horrible act upon her. Abortion is an escape that the victim should be able to have access to.

Abortion is such a controversial topic because many people take in their own moral values to use their decision. The best solution for an issue like this is letting every individual make their own decision; our Constitution gives us that right. If someone disagrees with abortion so strongly, then they shouldn’t be forced to have anything to do with it. But if someone believes that they need to have an abortion, who are we to tell them they can’t. This would allow for women to have full control of their own body, and gives them the chance to create a healthy and prosperous life that will maybe be ready for children eventually. We don’t want to force anyone to do anything they do not want to do, especially something as immense as motherhood. Please as the next leader of our free nation, take this into great consideration when you are thinking of your own daughters. I put all of my hope that you will continue to lead the United States of America into the great country it has become today.

Sincerely,

Daelin Ruetz