It took a pregnancy scare for me to go from pro-life to pro-choice. As a baptized Catholic, I was raised to believe that abortion is a sin.
Protesters outside of Planned Parenthood buildings continue to call women murderers and baby killers. Abortion is a sin in their eyes because the Bible talks about God creating life. Nowhere does the Bible say anything about abortion. It’s not a sin and it doesn’t make women horrible people if they choose to do so.
Two years ago I was put in a situation I never thought I would be in. I was three weeks late for my period and feeling nauseated. I thought I was pregnant.
I was terrified. I was still in school, living with my parents with a part-time job. I want children one day, but at 21 and with hardly any money, it was not the right time.
I was brought up to believe abortion is a sin, yet it was the first option to come to my mind. It turned out to be a false alarm, but it changed my views on abortion. I am now pro-choice. When I told a close friend about what my choice would have been, he told me that I would’ve been a murderer had I chosen that path.
A woman is not a murderer if she gets an abortion. We kill things that we don’t consider murder on a daily basis, like killing germs or squashing a spider. We don’t bat an eye over it — we just see it as a way to get rid of something to help a situation. An abortion is no different.
Women are sometimes put in situations where having a baby is not part of their plan. A four-week old fetus is the size of a poppy seed, much smaller than a spider, and has not yet formed organs or tissue. The fetus is attached to the woman, and if she were to die so would the fetus; it’s a part of her. Therefore she has the choice to abort it if she feels it’s best.
Women have many reasons for choosing abortion. According to Life News, 40 percent of women choose it for financial reasons, 36 percent due to bad timing, 31 percent because of issues with their partner, 29 percent because they already have other children and 20 percent say it would interfere with their future plans. Fewer than 20 percent say they’re not emotionally or mentally ready to have a child.
Rape plays a factor in abortions. Every 107 seconds a victim is raped in America; 44 percent are under 18 and 80 percent are under 30, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. A study from the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology found 5 percent of women have gotten pregnant because of rape. Though a small percentage, it still happens. Women are already traumatized enough from sexual assault.
Precautions can be taken to prevent pregnancy right away like Plan B, the morning-after pill, that stops pregnancy.
Women have the right to choose what they want to do with their body. It doesn’t make them murderers, it doesn’t make them sinners and it doesn’t make them horrible people.
