In one of my first articles on here on Hive, I wrote my musings on motherhood and how I feel about having children one day. I stated clearly that I would very much love to be a mum. I also talked about the challenges of having kids rounding my write-up with how not every woman wants that which is okay. In relation to that topic, I'm going to explain why I am Pro-choice.
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If you are unfamiliar with the term, pro-choice in simple terms means that you support the belief that women should have the right to choose abortion or not. In other terms, you don't think abortion should be illegal and criminalized. I'm pro-choice because this is what I believe and I'll explain my reasons.
The major argument that pro-life have is that abortion is murder. This school of thought stems majorly from a religious angle. It is one of the ten commandments from God. Christians also believe that children are a blessing after all the Bible instructed that we should be fruitful and multiply. For all these reasoning, it is easy to forget that not everybody is religious, Christian, or Muslim. Secondly, not everybody's actions are based on moral or biblical grounds. I mean people are atheists and agnostics. The fact that you think that way doesn't mean they reason or believe it even.
I'm pro-choice because only a woman has the right to decide whether she wants to have a baby or not. Women themselves should be the ones to decide if they want to keep a baby and raise a child. We often forget the struggles that are accompanied by motherhood - carrying the child for a full term with all its discomfort, labor itself, caring for a newborn, and raising a whole human. The only person who experiences this is the woman, not her partner, not the government or society. So if this person says she doesn't want to because she's not physically, mentally, or financially prepared for it, why is that a crime? Women should not be compelled to take care of another human being at the expense of their well-being. Pregnancy and motherhood cause a hiatus in women's life. It can disrupt her education, career,d business.
Criminalizing abortion also denies women their fundamental human right - the right of choice. The government doesn't force occupations or means of living on citizens because that's authoritarian and an infringement on their constitutional rights. Hence it doesn't make sense that a woman should be forced to carry on the most difficult job in the world, mind you, it's unpaid. Women that are forced to give birth do so with pain and anger as opposed to the normal reaction to the arrival of children which is celebration and happiness. Children that are born under such circumstances end up being neglected by their mothers in most cases and the people who advocate for the abortion ban are usually nowhere to be found to take up the responsibility that they imposed on another person.
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Abortion bans don't reduce the number of abortions. Countries, where it is criminalized, have a higher rate of abortion compared to countries where it is legal. The only thing that comes out of banning abortions is unsafe abortion that kills and causes permanent harm to women. People would not stop having sex, because it is natural. Pro Pro-life is therefore not the solution to stop premarital sex because it would still happen. What should be done instead is educating people about safe sex and contraceptives. The irony of this is that it's the people who are pro-choice that provide this service and information.
I am pro-choice because I believe that criminalizing abortion is deep-rooted misogyny. Society is used to dictating what women should and shouldn't do with their bodies. They have gotten so comfortable with enforcing their beliefs on women. It is viewing women as nothing but a vessel for childbearing not a human with emotions and choices. If pregnancy is the punishment for sex, what punishment do men face because I'm 100% sure a woman didn't impregnate herself. I believe it is utterly wicked to force a woman to become a mother against her wishes.
Most importantly, men shouldn't be making laws concerning women's bodies. Whether a woman chooses to have a child or not is entirely up to her to decide. Someone said if men could become pregnant and carry babies, we wouldn't be having this conversation and I couldn't agree more.
