One
of the issues that matter to many citizens is that of reproductive
rights. I have to say first and foremost that as I do not have children
and do not run the risk of unexpected pregnancy, I have very little
place to decide how others choose in this matter. I am not burdened
with the situations of an unexpected and unwanted pregnancy, and for
this reason I cannot reasonably claim the right to decide how others are
to adapt to these situations. Legally, I am in agreement with the fact that it is up to those who have to bear the brunt of bearing a child and raising a child to make this decision. I am grudgingly pro-choice, not because I think that abortion is somehow desirable--by my moral view, it is not--but because of the public health risks of back-alley operations with unsterilized and unsafe equipment. I personally believe that abortion is undesirable, and I will even go as far as to say that the vast majority of abortions are not chosen flippantly, but are the last resort in a series of grueling decisions made by the mothers. As I said, the vast majority of abortions are due to unexpected pregnancy, and a potential parent choosing not to bring the child into the world, almost always for very valid reasons: she may not be able to care for the child due to financial distress. She may not have the resources to work the multiple jobs to afford diapers, food, and medicine. The prohibitive costs of childcare only add to the burden, and she’s terrified because she can barely take care of herself financially, let alone another life. Abortion, to many women in this situation, is the only solution that they can decide makes sense in such a despondent situation, despite being wracked with shame and guilt well into the future. Were this choice to be taken away in the current context, we are condoning bringing children into the world irresponsibly, subjecting them to years of suffering, neglect, and resentment. No child should be subjected to this. Rather than rolling over and pretending the issue is closed with this, I think there is a third option that we should consider. Rather than outlawing/criminalizing abortion (which only ensures an unsafe black market and does very little to actually put a stop to the practice,) why don’t we rebuild our society in such a manner that abortion is obsolete? Like I said, women do not choose abortion as if it were a fun and easy process with no emotional aftermath. It is not. They choose it because it’s the best option that they see in their particular situation. This means that we can do a lot as a society to prevent abortion by helping her with other alternatives, reducing some of the burden. And we do this by waging war, not against the women that choose them, nor the doctors that perform them, but against the very situations that create the situations that make undesired pregnancies possible. The first step--and by far the most cost-effective--is to prevent unwanted pregnancies are a return to teaching comprehensive sex education in school. There has been a current trend toward abstinence-only sex education over the past fifteen years. While the motives behind this are noble, this type of education is only as effective as a person’s willpower to resist his or her own natural, healthy drives. It teaches plenty about resistance, but tragically little about how one can behave responsibly and ethically in the event that one should have a lapse in good judgment. The lack of knowledge and undermining of trust in birth control methods often presented in abstinence-only education has led to a marked increase in teen pregnancies and the spread of sexually transmitted illnesses. By taking effective measures such as increasing knowledge of and encouraging the use of birth control methods as a backup plan for abstinence, we leave our young adults in a position of responsibility. This alone will greatly help to reduce the pool of potential abortions, and will have the side affect of a heightened ability to stop the spread of costly and stigmatizing sexually transmitted illnesses. The next step is that occasionally, birth control will fail, or there will be situations such as rape or coerced intercourse that result in a pregnancy, or a couple may suffer tragedies that make it next to impossible to bear the costs of raising a child. The pro-lifers argue that the errors of the parents should not be a reason to destroy a life. As the pregnancies from rape, incest, or coercion are in the minority as compared to those who find themselves without adequate resources to raise a child, then it stands to reason that the lion’s share of these abortions can be prevented by removing the obstacles to being able to raise the child. Those obstacles are the costs of adequate healthcare, the prohibitive costs of childcare, and the lack of adequate opportunities for self-betterment to expectant mothers. The first of these obstacles to childrearing can be easily settled with a National Health System. Of all industrialized nations, only the United States lacks such a system at this time. This could help with the costs of prenatal and postnatal care, and provide a dependable resource of both treatment and prevention of childhood diseases. The second obstacle to childrearing is daycare. Thirty years ago, it was not uncommon for a family to have a stay-at-home parent. These days, even in two-parent families, childcare has become a necessary expense that allows parents the necessary time to work for a living. In a single-parent family, childcare is not only necessary, but vital to providing a safe, stable upbringing. Unfortunately, those that need it the most are able to afford it the least. This can be resolved either by introducing publicly funded daycare programs (which would provide jobs to social workers, teachers, and childcare specialists) or voucher systems for private daycare in areas where a public daycare center may not be readily available. The third obstacle is that of a lack of betterment opportunities to mothers and expectant mothers. Many women are left with the choice between raising their child or seeking a career. Working a full-time job as well as part-time jobs to pay for household and childcare expenses leaves little time to be a parent, let alone time to take courses and training that will allow them to earn a better wage so that more hours may be spent with her child. If we can manage to keep education prices affordable, investing more into online education (which is offered to some degree by most public and private universities) will allow this problem to be resolved. Finally, there is always the adoption and foster-care system. There are a number of couples and single persons that do want to have children, but for reasons of biology are unable to do so. Many themselves were adopted and want to share their same good fortune with another. We must lessen our restrictions on adoption, so that children will have a greater chance of growing up in homes where they are loved, wanted, and cared for. In short, despite my affirmation that life is a given right, I do not believe that criminalizing abortion will result in eliminating the practice, and will only lead to dangers for the mothers and a poverty-stricken existence for the children, and it is for that reason alone that I stand against anti-abortion legislation. If we are indeed serious about putting an end to abortion, we must oppose it by providing realistic alternatives: working to teach effective birth control to prevent unwanted pregnancies, and providing options that reduce the burdens that make parenthood undesirable, and finally, to facilitate putting unwanted children into the care of loving families of choice. This will put an effective end to a most tragic practice, rendering it all but obsolete. It will not only allow these children a right to life, but a right to a decent and dignified life. |
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