Pham 1 Anny Pham Ms.

Rogers WRTG 1010 8 January 2014

An Argument to Uphold Abortion Rights In 1973, a major victory for feminists took place with the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case. In Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruled that individuals should be free of government interference when making decisions about their reproductive options. This ruling included a womans right to an abortion if she so wishes, provided that the abortion took place before fetal viability, and after viability, if her health or her life is in danger (McDonagh). Currently, this right is in danger of being overturned because of the decline of Americans overall support for abortion (Saad). However, a womans abortion rights should be preserved. The pro-life movement undermines the separation of church and state, continues to oppress women, removes a womans right to consent what is done to her, and restricts womens rights. The separation of church and state is fundamental to Americas governmental system and the pro-life movement is threatening this policy. The US Constitution calls for the separation between church and state, as the US Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled despite the fact that the exact language is absent in the Constitution. The separation of church and state has allowed religion to flourish freely and has been a major contributor to democracy by protecting the rights of religious minorities ("Promote separation of church and state"). Rabbi Dennis S. Ross states that the abortion debate is, at heart, a debate over church-state separation (D. Ross). The prolife position is usually based on religious beliefs ("Abortion ProCon.org"). There have been

Pham 2 instances of politicians using their positions in public offices to help support or oppose bills depending on whether or not it upholds their own religious beliefs. Former Rep. Dale Kildee eventually supported the Affordable Care Act bill in 2010, but only after his parish priests reassurance that a vote for the measure would not jeopardize his place in the hereafter (Ross). Also, the American publics views on abortion are strongly related to their level of religiousness, with support being the lowest amongthose who identify with a Protestant religion (Saad). Therefore, it is clear that religious ideology is a major factor in an individuals decision to support or oppose abortion and it is not right and just to force the teachings of any one faith onto others through anti-abortion laws, especially in America where church and state are two separate entities that should not be combined. Not only would it violate the rulings of the US Supreme Court, but it would be oppressive to religious minorities and even undermine democracy. The pro-life movement continues to oppress women. If the pro-life movement were to remove a womans right to abortion, they would be practicing what Loretta Ross calls reproductive oppressionthe control and exploitation of women, girls and individuals through [their] bodies, sexuality, labor and reproduction (L. Ross). If the pro-life movement is able to pass legislation that defines a fetus as a person and therefore cause abortion to become illegal, in expanding rights to the fetus they would also restrict those of the pregnant woman (McDonagh). It is rather strange to think that an entity whose status as a human being has no consensus in neither biology, medicine, law, philosophy, theology, and even society as a whole would be allowed to have more rights than a woman. Due to the subjective and unscientific nature of the claim that fetuses are human beings, we must give the benefit of the doubt to women, who are indisputable human beings with rights (Arthur). To demand legal rights for

Pham 3 fetuses is to legalize the reproductive oppression of women, giving an entity whose personhood is questionable more rights than a grown woman. Making abortion illegal would remove a womans right to consent to what is done to her own body. Eileen McDonagh briefly states a few of the effects that pregnancy burdens onto a woman, even if it is a completely normal pregnancy: Medically, even a normal pregnancy is a massive transformation of a womans body, one that raises her blood pressure, and her heart rate, elevates her hormones to 1,000 times their base level, reroutes all of her blood to flow through the body of the fetus, and grows a new organ in her body, the placenta. (McDonagh) Additionally, there is research that supports the notion that unwanted pregnancies, but not abortions, are a mental health risk to women. The Huffington Post reports the following on an analysis by the U.Ks National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health: About 11 to 12 percent of women in general suffer from mental health issues like anxiety or depression, but among women with unwanted pregnancies that figure rises to about one-third, he said. For women who later had an abortion, there did not appear to be any further increase in their rate of mental health problems. (Cheng) Also, the fetus itself is in a parasitic relationship with the woman (Arthur). A woman does not just passively carry a fetus to term. A fetus causes a massive transformation of the pregnant womans body and if the fetuss continued existence in her body is against her consent, she is being injured by the fetus (McDonagh). As Joyce Arthur states, if [a woman] continues the pregnancy unwillingly, her rights and bodily integrity are violated (Arthur). Even if the fetus were to be defined as a human being legally, a human being does not have the right to use the body of another human being, especially without their consent. Without a womans consent to loan out her body to the fetus, it is placed in the same legislative and legal category that criminalizes marital rape (McDonagh). Just because a couple is married, that does not

Pham 4 automatically give the husband the right to have sexual intercourse with his wife without her consent. Without consent, sexual intercourse is rape. In this same sense, without a womans consent to remain pregnant the fetus is ultimately injuring her and putting her at risk for serious mental illnesses. Finally, the pro-life movement opposes the right of a woman to her own body. If a fetus is in a womans body without her consent and is injuring her, she has the right to an abortion to defend herself with deadly force against the serious harm of even a medically normal, nonconsensual pregnancy (McDonagh). Also, many women who choose abortion dont have the financial resources to support a child and giving women reproductive choice protects women from financial disadvantage ("Abortion ProCon.org"). This is especially true if the mother is a teenager due to the lack of future education and poor employment prospects of teenage mothers (Russo). It ultimately the womans decision whether or not she wants to carry the pregnancy to term, considering the many effects that even a normal pregnancy has on her body. It is also her right to decide if she is even able to support the child and herself after it is born. If the mother is already dealing with tough situations it would burden not only her, but the child as well if she were forced to carry the child to term. Only the woman knows best if she is able to offer the child the support needed to give it a happy life. Anti-abortion laws would remove the simple and fundamental right for a woman to choose what she does to her body as well as her future. Some may defend the pro-life movement by saying that a fetus has the potential of becoming a human being. This does not necessarily mean that the child will be born into a happy life; the child may actually suffer. Abortion gives parents the option to choose not to bring babies with severe and life-threatening medical conditions to full term. Anti-abortion

Pham 5 laws would basically sentence a child to life with an acute handicap. In addition, no child should come into the world unwanted ("Abortion ProCon.org"). In fact, Nancy Russo summarizes what several studies and extensive research on the development of children has concluded on the topic of unwanted children: In summary, there is a substantial literature that documents the serious health, social, psychological, and economic consequences of unintended and unwanted childbearing.Further, evidence suggests that even in advantageous social and economic circumstances, when a pregnancy is unwanted and the women requests an abortion, to deny it forces her to bear a child at risk for psychological problems that are long lasting. (Russo) Some of the effects of unwanted childbearing on children include having a less secure family life and becoming more likely to engage in criminal behavior, be on welfare, and receive psychiatric services. Unwanted children were also found to have lower self esteem than their peers (Russo). Making abortion illegal would remove the option of the parents choosing to not let the child suffer, both physically and mentally. As the abortion debate continues, it is important to keep in mind that the pro-life movement may be trampling on church-state boundaries, supporting the legalized oppression of women, removing the right for a woman to consent what is done to her, and severely restricting a womans rights to her own body. We must also remember that abortion is a serious decision that a woman has to make that is based on not only her own will to carry the pregnancy to term, but also whether or not the child would be born into a happy life. The pro-life movement would rather prioritize the rights of what is questionably a human over those who unquestionably are, and they sometimes forget, during their efforts to save that questionably human entity, the effect that their anti-abortion laws would have on the mother and the childs lives.

Pham 6 Works Cited "Abortion ProCon.org." ProCon.org. ProCon.org, 15 Oct. 2013. Web. 9 Dec. 2013. Arthur, Joyce. "Personhood: Is a Fetus a Human Being?." Pro-Choice Action Network. ProChoice Action Network, n.d. Web. 9 Dec. 2013. Cheng, Maria. "Abortion Not A Mental Health Risk But Unwanted Pregnancies Are, Studies Find." The Huffington Post. The Huffington Post, 08 Dec. 2011. Web. 8 Jan. 2014. McDonagh, Eileen. "Adding Consent To Choice In The Abortion Debate." Society 42.5 (2005): 18. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 9 Dec. 2013. "Promote separation of church and state." Church and State. Church and State. Web. 8 Jan. 2014. Ross, Dennis S.. "Congress, Abortion, and the Separation of Church and State." RH Reality Check. RH Reality Check, 23 Sept. 2013. Web. 9 Dec. 2013. Ross, Loretta. "Understanding Reproductive Justice: Transforming The Pro-Choice Movement." Off Our Backs 36.4 (2006): 14. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 9 Dec. 2013. Russo, Nancy Felipe. "Psychological Issues - When Pregnancies are Unwanted." Pro-Choice Forum. Pro-Choice Forum, 05 Mar. 2002. Web. 9 Dec. 2013. Saad, Lydia. "In U.S., Nonreligious, Postgrads Are Highly "Pro-Choice." Gallup Poll Briefing (2012): 2. Business Source Premier. Web. 9 Dec. 2013.