Get your laws off our bodies: The Global Health Crisis

At least 22,800 women die each year because of unsafe abortions. Ninety-seven percent of those abortions occur in developing countries in which abortions are either limited or outlawed.

This topic is particularly consequential because throughout history women have fought endlessly to enjoy equal protection from the law. Despite the outcome of Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court case that led to abortion being implied as a 14th amendment right in 1973, the ruling was recently overturned. Today eleven states have prohibited abortion procedures. 

Suppressing the fundamental right to have access to an abortion will stimulate health-related issues, and leave children without proper care.

After the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the case that gave rise to the overturning of Roe V Wade, apparent health issues have arisen demonstrating the dire medical crisis that our country is facing. Epidemiologist and researcher Caitlin Gerdts looked into data that represented women who carried unwanted pregnancies to term, and the physical health consequences that came with it. Her results showed, “women who gave birth reported potentially life-threatening complications, such as eclampsia and postpartum hemorrhage, whereas those having abortions did not.” Through the data in the Turnaway study, “one woman who had been denied an abortion died from a condition that confers a higher risk of death among pregnant women.” (Gerdts, et al) 

Thus, this demonstrates the importance of having the right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy, as no child or woman of any age should be forced to carry a baby that will harm their health and may even result in death. Some people say that having an abortion is the equivalent of murdering a baby, but what about the lives of all of the mothers that have been taken because they could not endure giving birth? Because of the health risks, women are left with the choice to have illegal unsafe abortions, causing even more deaths and health complications.

 The purpose of having laws is to prevent citizens from committing crimes or violations. Taking away a critical right, however, will not necessarily prevent women from having an abortion. All it will accomplish instead is push them into finding more dangerous solutions. 

In addition to medical problems, banning abortions forces girls and women of all ages to support a child whether or not they can afford to care for the child. Researcher Diana Greene Foster observed the socioeconomic and developmental consequences in children born into families that were denied an abortion when she explains, “From 6 months to 4.5 years after their mothers sought abortions, existing children of women denied abortions had lower mean child development scores…and were more likely to live below the Federal Poverty Level… than the children of women who received a wanted abortion.” (Foster, et al)

An unpleasant result of the ban on abortions is that children’s lives are being put at risk. Being able to provide shelter and food to a child is crucial, but many are faced with no other choice but to have a baby in a home that lacks those necessities. 

Although some people argue that having an abortion is immoral and unsympathetic to those who are not able to have children. This view fails to account for the thousands of neglected children in the foster care system. Yes, adoption is a reasonable option for women who cannot take care of a child, but adoption is not the most popular outcome as there are strict financial requirements, along with strict policies that are in place, leaving thousands of children in alienation, and without a home. In the United States about 135,000 children are adopted each year. However, at the same time, more than 250,000 children are placed in the foster care system. 

All in all, the right to control our bodies is being taken away from women once again. Our health and future generations are being put at risk because the government disregards women as human beings. It is of the utmost importance that women should always have access to abortions no matter what the circumstance is. There should be no debate on this topic because as humans we have the right to protect ourselves in situations like this. Because of this, day by day, our world continues to fall more and more into the control of the government. How different is our world becoming from George Orwell’s novel, 1984? They seem to be getting hard to distinguish.